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Bible Blog Project (April, 2024)

Six months. The halfway point. We are officially halfway. Halfway left to go.

(I’m not panicking, you’re panicking).

Here’s the deal. If it weren’t for my self-inflicted claim that I could get to 20,000 visitors inside of a year, I would actually be really happy with my blog project. Things are going really, really well (from a technical point of view). My book sales are also going really well. Both of those I’ll explain further below.

I guess the reason I’m saying this is to temper expectations with your own online success. It’s so easy to come out of the gate thinking everything will fall into place, but even when it does, the dominoes don’t fall perfectly. Still, I’m making progress, so I’m happy.

What Happened in March?

By this point, my blogs are pretty much on autopilot. I’ve created a really good cadence and writing style that has allowed me to pump out almost 100 blog articles since November. Not all of them are ground-breaking, but they’re consistent and value-packed. In fact, the few days I’ve missed an email (for whatever reason), I’ve received a few emails asking me what happened. That’s always a good sign.

Still, I could use an editor. I’ve noticed several grammatical issues in my writing. I’ve caught most of them, but there are always going to be a few when you write fast.

What this type of success tells me is that most people will find an audience for their content somewhere. If you’re actively trying to find your audience and consistently delivering value to that audience, you will be successful. What that success looks like may change from person to person, but it will make an impact.

I know that because I believe in Isaiah 55:11, which says that God’s Word will not “return to Him void.” I’ve received emails from people who say that a daily Bible devotional has really impacted their spiritual life. Others have written in asking for suggestions for nearby churches. Still others have said it’s caused them to repent.

What greater impact can we hope to have as Christians?

Anywho, here are my stats from this month (lighter color is numbers from previous month). The referral traffic that I generated via email and paid ads have finally tapered off, so any hits I’m getting now are 100% authentic.

On a surprising note, organic search results have actually tripled this month. I have a few ideas why I think that’s happened, but it’s definitely a sign that my efforts are paying off. I expect those to continue to increase the more content and linking I do with the site.

What About My Kindle Books?

One of the areas I feel strongly about with members of the church is in writing long-form, sustainable content. There are already a few preachers I know doing this, but I’d really like to see more people creating content that is “to market.”

And by “to market,” i don’t mean watered down, simple, or fluffy. That’s a huge misconception.

I mean writing that intentionally tries to reach an audience.

A lot of writing that I see from preachers finds its way to brotherhood stores; there’s nothing wrong with that, except when you see that very few of those are bought outside of those stores.

We should want to write books that are accessible to a wider, religious audience. Books that are packed with doctrinal-yet-approachable material that people will want to read. We want the Truth to reach as many people as possible, not just those who happen to wander by certain shelves.

I’ll stop my rant on this subject there, but I say that to say that my writing is proof that this can work. People still love the Gospel, and, just as importantly, they will engage with material that they may not agree with. We should be challenging people’s perception of salvation. I believe it’s our duty to do so.

In March, I set an ambitious daily spend on Facebook ads that I hoped would get my books in front of more people.

It worked. Last month, I sold a total of nearly 450 copies of a single book, with an additional 24,500 pages read from Kindle Unlimited. That means my book was read almost 700 times altogether.

What a great testament to people’s hunger for the Word. I’m amping up the spend this month and am halfway through writing a second book. Prayerfully, it does just as well.

How Can I Help You?

Keeping in line with what I just said about writing to market, I know who my audience for Diakonos is. I know that, at the very least, you’re reading this because you want to improve your efforts in digital evangelism.

I do too! Because of that, I would really appreciate you dropping me a line at brady@diakonosmarketing.com and letting me know what you want to know more about. It doesn’t matter if the subject is big or small — I want to write what you will read.

So, you tell me. What can I help with?

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