Today in History (and TheLeadCRA.com blog traffic statistics)

On October 12th:

• 1792 – the first celebration of Columbus Day commemorated the 300th anniversary of Columbus' landing in the Caribbean in 1492.

12-Oct-1999: A teacup yorkshire terrier
named George (the author's favorite artist
from the band The Beatles) is born.

• 1850 – The 1st women's medical school, the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania, opens.
• 1928 – An iron lung respirator is used for the first time at Children's Hospital in Boston.
• 1968 – The music single "Hey Jude" by The Beatles tops the charts.
• 1976 – The People's Republic of China announces that Hua Guofeng is the successor to the late Mao Zedong as chairman of Communist Party of China.
• 1997 – John Denver, American singer dies at the age of 52 in a private plane crash.
• 1999 – Sir. George Basil, a teacup yorkshire terrier is the only survivor in a litter of five (and subsequently adopted by this blog's author).
• 2010 – Returning via airplane to San Francisco with her boss after nine Site Initiation Visits in less than eight weeks, the blog author, NadiaBoBadia is offered (and accepts) a free upgrade to the First class cabin. Remarkably, NadiaBoBadia is still regularly teased by her co-workers for not agreeing to surrender the upgrade to her supervisor. 

12-Oct-2010: NadiaBoBadia enjoys a complimentary fruit and cheese plate,
watches some TV in her comfy First class seat, and sends a
free glass of wine back to her boss who has to ride in Coach.

12-Oct-2007: 
The Inception of The Lead CRA blog

Oh yes, and I almost forgot to mention that on October 12th, 2007 after 1.5 years working as an in-house CRA, I received an employment offer to become a Regional CRA and I launched "The Lead CRA" blog.  I have really enjoyed sharing my experiences these past few years and I am more committed than ever to maintaining and updated the blog.  

Today I am pausing to give a special thank you to my loyal readers; to both of you, thanks so much! ;)  I've made many new connections with other clinical research professionals, some virtual and some in-person, all priceless to me.

A Snapshot of Blog Activity to Date

Actually, the blog traffic has increased to the point that I have purchased my own domain, a server cloud, and considered relocating to Wordpress.  All that and the entire blog is still relatively small with less than 100 posts and pages published since inception.  Just in the past 12 months, LeadCRA.blogspot.com has welcomed 10,000 visitors (65% of the readers arrive via a search engine, 20% of the readers are subscribed or come directly through links, email, or referring sites).  Roughly 40% of my visitors are repeat visitors so I continue to strive to provide content that keeps you interested and encourages you to return.  

Google Analytics tells me visitors have arrived at leadcra.blogspot..com from 3700+
cities representing108 unique countries. I am surprised to discover that the content
has been translated into nearly 80 languages other than English. Wow!
(North America-54%; South Asia-11%, East Asia-7%; Western Europe-7%; SE Asia-4%...) 

These statistics may seem pretty pedestrian for any of the fellow geeks in the crowd, but because the content I write is very focused, specific, and niche, I'm really quite thrilled with the turnout.  I am grateful to have the opportunity to continue to author relevant and (hopefully) interesting blog posts.  Your comments and emails definitely keep me going, so let's continue to stay in touch.  I have ~200 all-time comments - thanks!

Since last Fall, I've received 75+ personal emails with feedback, suggestions, career advice/resume questions, and a variety of other reader-recommended topics.  You can read through the archives here. Thank you for your patience when I don't respond to email straight away; remember this blog is my hobby and not my day job.  Despite the fact that I still only update the blog just once or twice a month, the project continues to be fun and rewarding.  

What's Next?
I have some exciting new content planned for the blog and I am always open to ideas for new topics.  I'd like to see some of the content I have developed get published in a professional journal, referenced in other industry websites, or disseminated through other social channels.  Therefore, I am working on several of these efforts in parallel this Fall.  I hope you will continue to check-in (please accept a free subscription by clicking this link if you have not already done so) and I always encourage you to share LeadCRA.blogspot.com URL with other Clinical Research Professionals so that we can maintain and grow readership.

Thank you once again for following along!