Restorative Theology by the (modest) numbers

Mmm...charts; 2011 (blue) vs. 2010 (orange) visits

2011 marked the second full year of Restorative Theology's place in the theoblogoshere. As such, it is the first time that I'm able - using Google Analytics - to see some web traffic reports from one year vs. another. The good news is that visits were up 188% in 2011 over '10. The bad news is that average time spent on a particular page fell about 30 seconds, from 2:22 to 1:54. Given that my posts tend to be long, that means that people undoubtedly fall asleep pretty quickly.

From my personal and professional blogging experience, I was recently invited (actually I invited myself) to speak with folks from Mennonite-affiliated organizations who were interested in blogging and social media in their marketing. Professionally, I practice what I've come to call "narrative marketing," which eschews web advertising systems - like Google AdWords and Facebook ads - in favor of storytelling on blog posts and personal, conversational chatter on Facebook and Twitter. It is a qualitative approach rather than quantitative, which is consistent with my own ethos and that of my current place of work, the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding. So as I confess my low traffic here, it is done so unapologetically. I go for depth rather than breadth.

So to the folks who follow this obscure little blog, a big thanks for your readership and conversation in the comments, over Twitter, or on Facebook! I continue to ponder what shape this blog will take after graduation in the spring, when I will no doubt continue to read academic material but not nearly as much, and my practice will be refocused more toward "the real world." Stick with me and we'll see what happens...