Our 2014 Year in Review
A year that began as the Faughn Family of Four ended as A Legacy of Faith. This has been a major year of transition for our site, and we are amazed by the reception our family site has received. From Facebook likes to email subscribers to podcast listeners, we have been amazed by the way you have helped us get through the switch to A Legacy of Faith and then helped us hit numbers that we have trouble believing are real.
So, as we end this calendar year, here is our 2014 year in review, and our plans for 2015. Enjoy!
Top 14 Posts of ’14
As 2014 comes to a close, we thought it would be interesting to see what articles drew the most views this year. Here are our top 14 posts, by number of views, from 2014 (publication date in parenthesis).
#14: “Before Your Kids’ Eyes” : 6 Things Your Kids Need to See You Do Daily (March 28, 2014)
#13: Why Your Son Doesn’t Answer: Understanding a Boy’s Brain (February 12, 2014)
#12: Welcome to A Legacy of Faith (June 12, 2014)
#11: Our Tearful Announcement (September 15, 2014)
#10: 5 Mistakes Parents Making (September 30, 2014)
#9: 10 Budget Basics for Families (March 12, 2014)
#8: We Homeschool, but You Don’t Have To (or, “Why a Lot of Homeschoolers Give Homseschooling a Bad Name”) (January 17, 2014)
#7: 6 Small Things that Erode Marital Trust (July 9, 2014)
#6: The Implications of Goodbye (August 12, 2014)
#5: On Disruptive Children in Worship (October 21, 2014)
#4: The Main Issue is Not the Role of Women (or Instrumental Music or…) (December 11, 2014)
#3: A Response to Victoria Osteen about Worship (September 2, 2014)
#2: Dressing Our Daughter for Who We Want Her to Be (March 4, 2014)
#1: An Open Letter to the 4th Avenue Church of Christ (December 4, 2014)
Some Observations from the Top 14
From those top 14 posts, and the rest of the articles from this year, here are some things we observe.
1. Draw a line at #14. These top 14 were clearly the top 14 posts, but interestingly, starting at #15, there were a lot of posts clumped together in number of views. From #15 through about #30 the numbers were almost exactly the same, as far as the number of views each post had. It was almost as if it were meant to be “14 for ’14!”
2. Mondays are not a good day for blogging. If I am correct in my calendar-ing, only 1 post in our top 14 comes from a Monday. No matter who is writing the articles, the middle days of the week easily get more page views than Mondays on a consistent basis.
3. Lists still draw views. We do not write a lot of “5 of this” or “10 of that” kind of posts. But nearly every post like that we have written this year was in the top 14 of the year.
4. Surprise post tops the list. Our #1 post of the year is also the most viewed post of all time on our site. When I wrote it, I didn’t think it would draw many views, and did not worry about how “SEO-friendly” it was. Sometimes, just writing from the heart touches a lot of people, and that is really why we have this site.
Plans for 2015 at A Legacy of Faith
With the year 2014 behind us at the end of today, what are some of the things we are looking forward to in the coming year? Here are some goals and announcements for the coming year.
1. For one thing, starting tomorrow, we are going to experiment with a weekly podcast, instead of having just two episodes each month. Several will be shorter, “devotional-style” podcasts (including tomorrow’s New Year’s program), but we think this will be fun to try. The plan is to try this experiment for two months and evaluate how effective these weekly programs are. (Don’t know about the podcast? Click here to learn more and find out how to subscribe for free.)
2. We also hope to continue to grow our email subscription list. This is the easiest way for readers to get our posts, and we want to see the number of subscribers grow. (More about that in a moment.)
3. Finally, we hope to have at least one new book produced in the first half of the year, and a few of other things–from free printables to other materials–throughout the year.
Goals for 2015
As the year begins tomorrow, we have some goals for the site. We do not seek these numbers just for the numbers themselves, but because each number represents someone else who we are honored to help through this site.
Email subscribers (currently 612): This is a big goal, but we would like to get the number over 1000 this year.
Facebook fans (currently 921): Again, this is a lofty goal, but we’d like to see the number nearly double, going to 1700.
Podcast downloads (currently averaging about 450 per program): We know these numbers usually grow slowly, so we would like to see our number grow to about 600 per program.
Help Us Reach These Goals
Join our email list for free. We’ll never spam you, and you will simply get our posts delivered to your email inbox, plus we’ll send you a free eBook.
The final way you can help is to donate to the work we are doing on the site. We do not seek to make A Legacy of Faith a big money-maker, but it does take money to run the site, blog, and podcast each month. In recent weeks, we have received a few donations to help, and we are touched by each one. If you are willing to make a donation to help with our efforts, every bit helps. Click here to make a donation–of any size–to A Legacy of Faith.
As we bid 2014 goodbye, we say “thank you” again. We enjoy putting each article, printable, and podcast out there for you to enjoy. Just know that every page view, email, podcast download, and interaction through social media helps spur us on to keep doing the best we can do with our little corner of the internet. Thank you for making 2014 so much fun.
We simply pray that 2015 provides even more opportunities to share encouragement and information with you and your family through A Legacy of Faith.
Lord willing, we’ll see you next year, and we’ll keep trying to help your family survive the day, plan for tomorrow, and always keep an eye on eternity!
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Photo background credit: Matt Crane on Creative Commons
