This year, 2017, has shown a lot of growth after the 2016 breakout year, capping two years of amazing histories being written, and an awesome response from my followers. The blog now has over 1,060 followers in various media and over 30,000 unique visitors lifetime. There are now 241 different posts and over 61,000 views of those posts. This year, I have posted 75 articles, with a daily average of 84 views. I am extremely honored to have such a following. Thank you/Qa’pai.
The most popular topic, on the most popular day, 1/6/2016, was about the Paiute history of the area of the Malheur takeover. This year the most popular topic was the threats that President Trump presents to Tribal lands and sovereignty. My most recent article, about the original Belden map, also received a lot of attention.
I normally post the articles to Facebook, to my site Oregon Indian Territory, and they go automatically to Twitter and LinkedIn. After posting they are searchable through Google, and now I am finding that libraries are linking to the articles, there are links in a The Chech Republic website, on the University of Oregon media articles, and referrals and republishing to Patty Whereat-Phillips’ blog. In fact, Patty is my most loyal and vocal visitor. Teachers are now contacting me with edits to the articles, and to tell me they use the site for Native Studies and Environmental studies curriculum in high school and college. They say there is nothing else like the site on the Web. I hope to find a funding source for my work but at this time most granting sources to not fund these sorts of projects. If you come upon a grant opportunity that may work, please let me know. dgl.coyotez@gmail.com
The next year will feature more of the same, additional articles, but I will also continue working to produce several books from this raw content. My Tribal Stories of the Willamette Valley is coming along great and I hope to submit the complete manuscript in April 2018.
My goal for 2018 is to get to 100 visitors a day average, and reach 35,000 visitors for the year. Thanks again for all of your support and please donate to my blog so I can continue to pay for my coffee habit to keep me going. We take donations through Paypal at coyotezbookz@gmail.com.
I hope to hear from you in the next year, and don’t be shy about posting some question or comment on the blog. If you have something you think people should see, I am willing to host your article if you would like me too, just email me at dgl.coyotez@gmail.com, and we can arrange it. Please subscribe to my blog at WordPress directly, if you can, so that the articles come directly to you on email or Twitter.
Qa’pai, thanks everyone, and special thanks to my wife, Donna Lewis for helping me and putting up with me as this project takes shape.
David G. Lewis, PhD (Santiam, Takelma, Chinook, Molalla, Yoncalla)
Owner, creator, researcher, writer, graphic artist, social media strategist, publisher for ndnhistoryresearch