boyradd

Where in the World is Boyradd?

Luke 14:28 – Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?

Each year I do this. I like to look at my stats and see which countries my blog has been seen in and determine which of my posts were the most popular.

I started this blog in May of 2012 really as an outlet for the mission trip I was about to go on. I wanted to highlight the trip to Peru and talk about the work God is doing there. I also wanted to use this blog, early on, as a means to bring transparency to my life. To discuss what I have gone through with the divorce and explain my role in that and show how God has brought me through the tough times of my life.

In 2012, between May and December, Boyradd had a mere 1,359 views, an average of 6 per day.

By 2013, I started to move away from my personal testimony and more into apologetics, theology, and life in general. Between January and December of that year the blog posted 2,771 views, an average of 8 per day.

In 2014, the trend on my blog continued with posts about theology taking lead. Early in the year, the blog was not well read. My visitation was half of 2013 traffic for the same time. My total followers of the blog did not decrease, in fact they increased pretty nicely. Overall, by the time 2014 ended, I was down almost 15% year over year in readership.

If I was in retail, I would say I need to change my strategy. I would need to remerchandise or do a different kind of promotion.

Well, indeed I remerchandised about halfway through 2014 and saw some very nice results. My readership, in the final 6 months of the year increased. How? I started posting to Facebook and adding a feature image. That has seemed to do the trick, at least for now.

So here is where the interesting stuff comes in and I like reading these numbers. As a former restaurant/grocery operations guy, I spent a lot of time analyzing numbers. I actually like numbers.

What posts were my top posts in 2014?

Well, back in February I did a series on Unity or Heresy. That turned into a very popular series, but I also believe it polarized me a little. It was a clear departure from my normal writing style and I don’t think everyone was ready for it.

The other two that filled the top 3 were Predestination & Election and Spiritual Farting. Funny thing is that both of those posts were much older. The predestination post was done in 2012 and Spiritual Farting was done in 2013. It seems my older writing styles are much better received.

Also this year I started doing sponsored posts. My first one was about Lecrae’s Anomaly tour. I was given free tickets from Family Christian stores and took a whole bunch of family and friends to the concert and reviewed. It was fun. And it led to an increase in readership.

As for where the majority of my views came from, Twitter was my primary source. Facebook pulled a close second, but I only used Facebook for less than half of the year, so I think next year Facebook will outshine Twitter for me.

In 2014, I was read in 46 countries. This is down from 64 the prior year, but that is fine. There are some new countries on this list that weren’t on there last year. For example, North Korea made the list. That one surprised me! Pakistan is on there. And one that took me for a loop is Brunei Darussalam.  I actually had two views from there! And I don’t even know where that is! (for those who want to know, it is on the north coast of the island of Borneo in southeast Asia)

So what does 2015 look like?

Well, I plan on doing more sponsored posts. I am already working on a post for Max Lucado’s new book for Family Christian stores. I also plan on doing more Bible studies. This year I did the books of James and Habakkuk.

Of course there will be more personal stories. I like writing those the most because they are a part of me.

And this should go without saying, I hope that each and every post, whether a personal story or a Bible study, points toward Christ and gives you a desire to learn more.

I’ll be taking next Friday off from writing so I will catch you all in 2015. Be safe and enjoy this season with friends, family, and Jesus Christ.

Exodus 33:14 – And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”