One of the best parts about ChurchMag is the community of people that have come together around this concept that we can be nerds, have geek fun, talk about our faith as it integrates with technology, and equip others to do better ministry with the little tidbits of info that we find across the Internet. To promote this concept of networking within the community, we came out with a list of the Top 20 Church Tech Blogs to feature some of the best blogs doing it well.
Within this process of making the list, I came across some interesting data that you should know about. While there is no further research that has been done beyond the many hours of creating the formula and finding the results of the survey, there are some bold stats that you should be aware of:
- Social Media Impacts Audiences Directly.
If you want to know the reach of your blog, you honestly have to incorporate into your analytics the social media aspect of it. Standard Theme for WordPress does this well with their influence widget. Anything less, an Alexa rating, RSS subscriptions, or simple web traffic is an incomplete reading. - You Are Either All In With Google+ Or Not At All.
Everyone has some kind of investment with Facebook and Twitter, though we did not score people with personal accounts. Yet Google+ is the exception within the social media usage. For those that not only had the followers, but were active (it means nothing on influence if you have followers and do not engage with them) that was a common factor to being in the top third of the pack. In fact, Dustn.tv would have been significantly lower had it not been for his Google+ engagement and it shows how influential he really is on that network. - There Are A Lot Of Great Christian, Tech Blogs Undiscovered.
The best part about this whole process for me was being able to add so many great new Christian tech blogs to my RSS feed. We will see what content they deliver this year, but to know that so many like-minded bloggers are out there is reassuring. Look those blogs up and put them on your own RSS feed. - You guys love feeling appreciated.
Just a day after posting this list, nearly half of you posted your love for making it on the list, regardless where you fell. We love that humility and it shows how passionate you are about your faith, blogging well, and simply being recognized for your efforts. Keep writing great content and share it on social media! - Alexa is actually more accurate (at least this time) than I gave it credit.
One of the biggest reasons for doing this formula instead of relying on a list like Alexa is that they are too subjective. When you rely on a small group of people’s opinions that visit sites they are interested in, it sways the numbers (and does not include social media or RSS views). Yet, the numbers were fairly correct within the rankings with the exception of a couple of large fluxes with individual sites.
We would love to hear your opinion on that list and any other suggestions for Christian tech blogs for when we do this list again next year.
Paul Clifford (@PodcastinChurch) says
Once again, thanks for the honor. My traffic doubled on the day the list was posted and has remained higher than usual as a result (not double, but 10-20% higher).
I thought I was too small to be listed, but was so happy to be wrong.
Paul
Dustin W. Stout says
Thanks again for the kind words Jeremy! I keep trying to tell people that “there’s gold in them thar hills!” in regards to Google+. I think most people still don’t catch the vision, but that’s okay. All I know is I’m having a blast over there!
VietChristian says
Is similarweb.com more accurate than alexa.com?