2010 Blog stats in review

Hey gang! The folks at WordPress sent me this review of 2010 regarding my blog. Thought you might find it of interest. Thanks for sharing the journey! God bless!

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

The average container ship can carry about 4,500 containers. This blog was viewed about 16,000 times in 2010. If each view were a shipping container, your blog would have filled about 4 fully loaded ships.

In 2010, there were 322 new posts, not bad for the first year! There were 212 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 1gb. That’s about 4 pictures per week.

The busiest day of the year was January 8th with 211 views. The most popular post that day was This Much I Know.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, mail.yahoo.com, mail.live.com, mail.parallax.ws, and sz0051.ev.mail.comcast.net.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for rope end, end of rope, maxine, rick alvey, and end of a rope.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

This Much I Know January 2010
18 comments

2

About iLife January 2010
5 comments

3

Good Stuff January 2010
6 comments

4

Morphing January 2010
4 comments

5

Recognizing the end of the rope August 2010

Christmas came early!

Ho! Ho! Ho! Already?!

YES!!!

Anyone who knows me knows that books are one of my favorite things in life! My resource page on this blog – Good Stuff – starts with this admission:

“Hello. My name is Rick and I’m a resource junkie. There, I said it! I feel better already. Hey, wait a minute. Is that a new book by John Ortberg?”

So yeah, the early Christmas has to do with books but in a brand new way. Here’s the deal.

WaterBrook Press has a “Blogging for Books” program. If you blog, are willing to read a new book, are willing to write a review of said book and will post that review on your blog along with some other web locals, then you get new books for FREE! How cool is that!

I just got the first one in the mail the other day – hence, the early Christmas. It’s a devotional for couples written by John and Stasi Eldredge. Stay tuned for an upcoming review once Susan and I have had a chance to read it.

Reading is one of the primary ways that I pursue a closer walk with God. It fits well with my contemplative nature. It’s one thing I can do on a daily basis to pursue God.

So, what are you doing today to pursue God?

It’s not over til it’s over!

So if you read my blog from yesterday  – On the wrestling mat with God – which version did you read?

“What? There were different versions?”

Yes, but only slightly.

I schedule my blog to post at 6:45 a.m. every morning. No, I don’t get up early to write it or post it. I am more of a late night guy than an early riser. But once I am up and around I jump online to make sure it posted like it was supposed to.

Yesterday as I was checking the post and rereading it I decided to edit one sentence and change the picture. So if you read the blog after 9:00 a.m. you saw the most recent update. I don’t do this on a regular basis. In fact, other than occasionally jumping on to correct a spelling error I missed its the first time I recall doing this. But this ongoing editing mirrors life.

There are many times when I consider a life situation or a relationship as “final” meaning there is not much I can do to affect or influence it in a positive manner. But as long as we have breath in our lungs it’s not over. There is still time! The paint isn’t dry! The cement isn’t set up! And that encourages me with life and with my walk with God.

I can get fairly discouraged with my lack of progress in becoming more like Jesus. Lately, I’ve become aware of some anger issues just barely hiding beneath the surface. But my life is a chapter in God’s story that is still being written, still being edited. He’s not done tweaking me or making the necessary changes that will enable me to enjoy greater intimacy with Him and better reflect His glory in how I do life.

What situation or relationship have you written off as “final?” Be encouraged and don’t give up yet!

It’s not over til it’s over!

I can’t help but wonder…

When I started blogging back in January of this year I really didn’t know what to expect. I was looking for an outlet to share some things God had been laying on my heart, but it felt very risky. You know that feeling of uncertainty when you first join Facebook and wonder if anyone will respond to your friend requests? Starting a blog was 100 times worse because you’re not joining a group, you’re doing your own thing and wonder if anyone will show up to share the journey.

Blogging has been both rewarding and challenging. I tell myself that it doesn’t matter how many people show up on a daily basis but I am encouraged by days when a lot of people stop by. I still don’t have any expectations and tend to just share whatever God has laid on my heart, but I can’t help but look for patterns in how frequently people view the blog posts. Do certain days of the week make a difference? Does the length of the blog or including pictures make a difference? Do certain topics tend to draw more attention?

I write the blogs ahead of time and schedule them to post early the next morning. So one of the first things I do when I get up in the morning is check the blog to make sure the new entry got posted. Yesterday I posted a blog entitled “Recognizing the end of the rope.” When I checked it in the morning I was surprised to discover that within a couple of hours of being posted it had already been viewed 72 times, about twice the daily average. Hmmm?

Periodically throughout the day I contemplated why it struck such a nerve; why it got so many views that quickly. (Feel free to offer any perspective you might have by leaving a comment). I concluded that the most likely reason was because it dealt with God’s grace and our common need to be embraced by it. But then later that evening I realized that perhaps people read the title and thought I was going to share some big news about reaching the end of my own rope! Ha! Who knows.

I enjoy that God has wired me to look for the flow of patterns or currents below the surface; the motives for why we do what we do. While I’m usually pretty good at discerning these types of unseen dynamics in various settings, I have to admit that after eight months I haven’t figured out much in regard to blogging. But that’s OK. It serves to remind me that God is the Storyteller and life is His epic story. I don’t have to understand how it’s all fitting together. I just have to be willing to do my small part, whatever it is on any given day, and trust that God is weaving together a story that will ultimately bring Him glory.

Thanks for sharing the journey!