Several blogs that I read have posted their 2006 statistics over the last couple of weeks. Although mine pale in comparison, I thought I’d share them anyway.
Thanks to the good folks over at Google Analytics, the statistics are as follows.
Total visits: 457
Page Views: 1,937
And to help prove that you never know how people might find your web site, here are some of the search terms visitors used when finding my site.
define condemnation, jared barden blog, define jared, define a person that went crazy, flag+desecration+failed, define sports, bush iran war, anti-santa scripture, define: jared
As you can see, people were searching for all sorts of stuff when they stumbled upon my site. The search engine marketer in me has to point out that blogging can be a great way to bring traffic to a site, especially for a niche site where this is not a lot of online competition. Just a thought.
The other day I read an article that talked about people blogging just for the sake of blogging, not unlike someone speaking solely because they like the sound of their own voice. I hope this is not one of those blogs. I find blogging is a good outlet for my thoughts, views, etc. My mom always encouraged me to keep a journal, so I guess I’m living out that encouragement now.
Do I wish thousands of people read my blog? It would be kind of cool, I’ll admit it. However, if I can make a difference in just one person’s life, it would be more than worth it.
Over the past year I have debated whether or not posting such personal opinions on this blog was a good thing. Was I being too preachy? What if certain people read this blog, etc. etc. I finally came to the decision that it did not matter. I am not ashamed of who I am. Am I a Christian? Yes. Do I have outspoken viewpoints that might not fit in with the norm of society? Yes. That’s who I am. I won’t change that.
I want this to be a place where people are challenged, informed, etc. I want to be able to share my faith, and hopefully make a life-changing impact on someone’s life.
I believe I’m on my way.