Another month has come and gone.  Traffic was a little higher than last month’s traffic.  About halfway through the month, I stopped posting on Saturday and Sunday.  The decision to stop posting over the weekend is not necessarily permanent.  But I’ve appreciated the opportunity to focus more on my family during the weekend and to focus on content quality during the week.  So far, I’ve been happy with the experiment.

This month’s top post was a guest post by Eileen Knowles (thanks Eileen), and there were two posts from last year.  The first two posts and the eighth post on list drew the most commenter engagement this month.

1. Stretching Beyond My Comfort Zone (by Eileen Knowles)  March 14, 2013 (104)
2. Ice Breaker – Share Your Blog Link  March 15, 2013 (96)
3. Ten Reasons To Attend FamilyLife Weekend To Remember  February 27, 2012 (80)
4. 1000 Miles – 1000 Blog Posts – Celebrating A Milestone  March 11, 2013 (68)
5. Ice Breaker – First Job  March 8, 2013 (67)
6. Meet Cody – Starting All Over Again  March 26, 2013 (66)
7. Ice Breaker – Easter Candy  March 30, 2012 (62)
8. Ice Breaker – Favorite Teacher  March 22, 2013 (60)
9. RePurposed  March 25, 2013 (58)
10. How To Use Milestones To Kick-Start A New Thing  March 12, 2013 (46)

Top Commenters:

• David Paul Stolpe (45)
• Larry Carter (21)
• Eileen Knowles (18)
• David (14)
• Bill (cycleguy) (9)
• Dan Black (9)
• TNeal (9)
• Joshua Rivers (7)
• Matt McWilliams (7)
• Joe Lalonde (6)

At the beginning of the month, I announced that I would be giving away a copy of Wrecked by Jeff Goins to one of the top 10 commenters.  The more frequent commenters had a better chance of winning, and the winner chosen randomly is…#4 Commenter – David (not David Paul Stolpe).  David, you’ll need to send me your contact information, so I can send you the book.  This month, I’ll be giving away a copy of Second Guessing God by Brian Jones to one of the top ten commenters.  Again, the more you comment – the better your chances to win.

Thanks to each and everyone for reading and for commenting.  I’m looking forward to April with The Stretched Community!

How was your month?  If you’re a blogger share a link to your top post in the comments?  What was your favorite Stretched post this month?  How were you STRETCHED in March?

February 2013 saw traffic slow down a bit from the previous months high, but it was still a great month for The Stretched Blog.  During the month, we focused on Truth for one week, we continued with a discussion of love based leadership based on Love Works by Joel Manby, and we continued to STRETCH through other posts.  The top post for overall engagement (based on comments and shares on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Pinterest) was “Say What You Need To Say” – a post that paid tribute to my grandmother.

The top 10 posts by pageviews were as follows:

1. Ten Reasons To Attend FamilyLife Weekend To Remember (150) February 27, 2012
2. Love Works Wednesday Link Up Week 3 – Kind (83) January 30, 2013
3. Be Still and Know – 5 Thoughts On Finding Stillness In A Busy World (82) January 31, 2013
4. Closed Mouth, Open Heart – Guest Post by Amy Mable (60) February 14, 2013
5. Love Works Wednesday Link Up Week 4 – Trusting (59) February 6, 2013
6. Truth: You Can’t Handle The Truth (57) February 18, 2013
7. The Stretched Oscars (56) February 25, 2013
8. Say What You Need To Say (56) February 7, 2013
9. Scars And Stretch Marks Revealed (53) February 26, 2013
10. When The Treadmill Stops Suddenly – 5 Tips For Handling Life Stopping Experiences (48) February 11, 2013
11. Ice Breaker – Listening (48) February 1, 2013

And the Top 10 Commenters:

1. David Paul Stolpe (51)
2. TCAvey (16)
3. Larry Carter (14)
4. Dan Black (13)
5. Amy (11)
6. Bill (cycleguy) (10)
7. Dan Erickson (10)
8. TNeal (10)
9. Michael Shaw (7)
10. David (5)

Thanks to everyone who reads The Stretched Blog and to those who leave comments.  You are all part of what makes The Stretched Community a community.  For the month of March, I will be giving away a copy of Wrecked by Jeff Goins to one the top 10 commenters for the month of March.  (The more you comment, the better your chances are to win.)

In the coming month, I am looking forward to continuing the Love Works Wednesday Link Up with Bill Grandi.  I’m also looking forward to celebrating a huge milestone for The Stretched Blog which will happen in the next week or so.  Finally, I’m excited for more stretching opportunities in the month ahead.

How was your month?  If you’re a blogger share a link to your top post in the comments?  What was your favorite Stretched post this month?  How were you STRETCHED in February?

It was another record-setting month on The Stretched Blog with traffic increasing another 3.37%.  I was extremely happy with this considering the typical drop off of traffic during the holiday period between Christmas and New Year’s Day.  As always I like to highlight the top posts from the month.  As you can see from the list below, there were three guest posts in the top 10 and four posts written prior to the month of December.  It’s exciting to see traffic continuing to come in for older posts.

1. Michelangelo Quote (November 18, 2012) – 221
2. The Power of the Next Question (May 20, 2011) -100
3. Musical Stretch (Guest Post by Dan Erickson) (December 5, 2012) – 69
4. I’d Rather Have A Root Canal (10 Things Worse Than A Root Canal) (December 6, 2012) – 59
5. Ten Things Every Small Group Leader Should Know (March 7, 2012) – 54
6. Walking The Tightropes Of Life – Balancing Store And Steward (December 3, 2012) – 52
7. In The Wake Of The Newtown, CT Tragedy – Turning To The Psalms (December 17, 2012) – 52
8. Ice Breaker – Top 5 Christmas Movies (November 30, 2012) – 52
9. Ringing Up Patience at Register Six (Guest Post by D’Anne Hotchkiss) (December 4, 2012) – 50
10. S-E-X on the Big Blue Bus (A Guest Post by Shawn Smucker) (December 10, 2012) – 48

Also, I like to recognize my top commenters from the month.  For this month, we have a new top commenter – my brother, David.  It’s been fun to have him involved in the conversation.

• David Paul Stolpe (17)
• Bill (cycleguy) (15)
• Dan Erickson (15)
• Larry Carter (14)
• Lulu (8)
• TCAvey (8)
• TNeal (8)
• Dan Black (5)
• Matt McWilliams (5)
• chris vonada (4)

Thank you to each of you who have made The Stretched Community what it is today.  I look forward to what lies ahead in January and in the year ahead.

If you are a blogger, how was your month of December?  What was your top post?  Share the link here.  Why do you think it was your top post?

It’s been a couple of months since I did a month in review post.  The past two months (July and August) have been a bit different here on The Stretched Blog.  If I look at the numbers compared to other months, it looks like I’m heading in the wrong direction.  If you take into consideration that I was on vacation for a week in July, I was away in Guatemala for over a week in July and August, and I’ve dropped most of my weekend blogging, the numbers make a lot more sense.  Actually, I’m quite optimistic about the future here on the Stretched Blog!  Here are the details for this past month:

Top Posts for August 2012:

1. Guest Post: Wondering by Leanne Stolpe (8/2/2012)
2. I Am A Missionary…And You Can Be One Too! (8/9/2012)
3. More Than Words (8/28/2012)
4. Ice Breaker – Jobs (8/24/2012)
5. Ice Breaker – Songs On Your Playlist (3/23/2012)
6. Re-Entry Reality – Back Home From Guatemala (8/6/2012)
7. Always Be Prepared – Lessons From A Smoke Alarm (8/22/2012)
8. Creative Expressions – Creatively Tapping Into Our Creator (8/8/2012)
9. Book Review: Love Does by Bob Goff (8/27/2012)
10. Ice Breaker – Memory Moment Songs (8/17/2012)

Top Commenters:

1. Tom Tarver
2. Larry Carter
3. TC Avey
4. Leah Adams
5. Eileen Knowles

Looking forward to September and the rest of the fall, I’m looking forward to a deeper level of engagement with the Stretched Community and the blog worlds of several bloggers who I read regularly.  I’m anticipating new stretching experiences that I hope to share here!  And I’m hoping to get involved with more guest blogging opportunities here and on other blogs.  It should be a fun time.

Thanks as always for your readership, comments, and encouraging support along the way.  You are the ones that make Stretched such a great experience for me.  Please keep it up, and don’t forget to refer your friends and fellow bloggers.  Finally, have a great month!

How are things in your world?  If you’re a blogger, what was your top post?  What other blogs should I be reading?