July 2013 – Top Posts and Commenters

Here are the highlights from July 2013.  Thanks to everyone who read along and commented.  Your readership and participation in the daily discussions are what make The Stretched Community.  Thank you!  Overall, traffic was up from June (11.7%), and it was the best traffic in the six months since I stopped posting on Saturdays and Sundays.  Traffic was up 46.5% compared to a year ago.  The top 10 posts included two guest posts.  If you missed any of these posts, I hope you’ll go and check them out now by clicking below.  The post with the most engagement was Book Review: At The Crossing Of Justice And Mercy by Dan Erickson posted on July 16, 2013.

Top 10 Posts:

1. The Truth About Unconditional Love (Catherine Lee Daugherty)  July 8, 2013 (103)
   
2. The Impact You May Never Know (Matt McWilliams) July 9, 2013 (99)
   
3. When The Treadmill Stops Suddenly – 5 Tips For Handling Life Stopping Experiences February 11, 2013 (60)
4. Visiting Church on Vacation – 5 Reasons To Visit A Different Church This Summer July 18, 2013 (58)
5. I’m Back… July 15, 2013 (55)
6. Ten Things Every Small Group Leader Should Know March 7, 2012 (54)
7. Stretching To The Finish July 17, 2013 (53)
8. Ice Breaker – Prayer July 19, 2013 (53)
9. Of Bees And Bee Stings July 25, 2013  (50
10. Meeting A Member Of The Stretched Community July 24, 2013 (50)

Top 10 Commenters:

• • David Paul Stolpe (27)
  • Steve Y (22)
  • Larry Carter (16)
  • Carol Peterson (12)
  • Dan Erickson (12)
  • David (12)
  • TNeal (9)
  • Catherine Daugherty (7)
  • Dan Black (7)
  • Joe Lalonde (6)

As promised at the beginning of the month, I have randomly chosen someone from the top 10 commenters to receive a copy of Kingdom Journeys: Rediscovering the Lost Spiritual Discipline by Seth Barnes.  Your chances of winning increased the more you commented and the higher you were on the list.  This winner of this book is…(drum roll)…Steve Y.  Congrats to Steve!

For the month of August, I’ll be giving away a copy of The In-Between: Embracing the Tension Between Now and the Next Big Thing [A Spiritual Memoir] by Jeff Goins.  This month, the winner will be chosen randomly from those who are signed up for The Stretched Newsletter.  To find out more about how you can get the newsletter, click here.

Thanks to each and everyone for reading and for commenting.  I’m looking forward to August with The Stretched Community!  The month of August will include a few guest bloggers to help fill in the gap while I’m in Guatemala.  August should be a fun month!

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 July?

In case you’re interested, here are a few other interesting stats about July (based on Google Analytics):

• Visits – Increased 15.31%
• Unique Visitors – Increased 9.68%
• Pageviews – Increased 19.70%
• Pages Per Visit – Increased 4.00%
• Average Visit Duration – Increased 2.94%
• Bounce Rate – Decreased 4.75%
• New Visits – Decreased 3.78%