It’s time for the 2018 Blog year review!
I’m looking at stats today and they’re interesting.
No surprise, the top ten blog posts are all from past years.
Here are the top ten, in case you’ve missed one:
(The number in parentheses is where they are in the all-time order)
Whatever Happened to Kathleen Chambers? (7)
Bagpipes in the WWI Trenches (1)
Was it Really Well with the Spafford’s Soul? (6)
Who was Biddy (Mrs. Oswald) Chambers? Part 1 (3)
Why Did God Let Oswald Chambers Die So Young? (2)
How to Understand My Utmost for His Highest
Kathleen Chambers: Little Girl in a WWI Camp (5)
2018 Blog Review–70% surprise-free
What deductions can I make from this list?
I’ve been writing about Oswald, Biddy and Kathleen Chambers for nearly six years.
The same is true of World War I.
It’s hard to stand out in a crowd (Photo by Uzenk Doezenk on Unsplash)
Seven of the top ten are about those subjects.
Even still, I’ve been puzzled by the extraordinary interest in that Bagpipes post–written five years ago.
Why does it continue to garner such interest?
It turns out gamers like bagpipes and someone posted a link on Reddit!
What about those other three blog posts?
I’m not sure what has led so many people to read about the Spaffords.
I wrote that post in January 2014 while doing Chambers research.
The Spaffords ended up in Jerusalem, and I had considered writing about their Jerusalem Colony.
It was an interesting historic place and it slipped into A Poppy in Remembrance.
Horatio Spafford’s story of writing “It is Well with My Soul,” always garners interest–for good reason.
The rest of the story for Christians, however, may be problematic–which is why I wrote the piece.
Surprising 2018 blog year posts
I did not write many posts about the writing craft in 2018.
So, the “Writing a Novel out of Order” post’s appearance in the top ten surprised me.
I have no idea why “An Angel and the Apostle Paul” showed up. Perhaps people wondered about Paul in 2018?
(If, however, you google “Apostle Paul and Angel” my June 2016 post comes up in the number 1 slot.
(That’s also true of Bagpipes, Spaffords and I’m number 2 on writing a post out of order).
What about 2018 blog posts?
For posts that first appeared in 2018, three appeared in the top 100 most read posts of the last year.
The most read post written in 2018: A Book Cover for Poppy!
Themes from My Utmost for His Highest in A Poppy in Remembrance
The Hanson post was the first in a monthly series I wrote about Oswald Chambers’ students’ lives after he died.
What’s the point of all this?
It’s interesting to see what people seek when they visit the website. (60% come after a google search).
It shows me what people are interested in reading about and what I should continue writing about.
My “sweet spot” is history and putting events into context–whether Chambers, WWI or even Bible-related. Some people find my blog posts about writing important.
You’d do me a favor if, in the comments, you tell me what brought you to my website.
Anything different for 2019?
I’ll be spending January 2019 thinking and praying about what I’ll be working on next.
Certainly, I’ll continue writing about my experiences as a Bible study teacher, curious person, and traveler.
I just need to keep putting events–whether past, present or even to come–into context.
Here’s to another great year! Thank you for reading.
Tweetables
2018 top ten read blog posts–were written in a different year! Click to Tweet
Top 10 posts: WWI, Oswald Chambers, history and writing. Click to Tweet
Thoughts? Reactions? Lurker?