Ron Graham’s Report
— for Apr-May-Jun (2nd Quarter) 2019
This page reports my work on simplybible.com for the information of those who take a special interest in that work.
Middle of 17th Year Online
We are halfway through our seventeenth year online —in the middle, but not in a muddle. Visits for the second quarter of 2019 were 471,452 compared to 279,463 for the second quarter of 2018. More details later in this report.
New on simplybible.com
In the 2nd quarter of 2019, I made 7 new Bible study items as additions to the website. They were...
Lessons and Quizzes
Spirit and Matter, Mysterious Connection
Quiz Questions, set 14
A Good Memory Can Be a Bad Thing
Half hour videos
YouTube ~Revelation 3,
YouTube ~Revelation 4,
YouTube ~Revelation 5,
YouTube ~Revelation 6.
The current focus for new items is YouTube video, and videos will take precedence over web pages for the time being.
70% of the Links Project
In addition to those new Bible Study items, during the quarter I made further progress in adding new links at the end of existing pages. These are links to related pages, together with a brief synopsis of the suggested lesson. Some cross references are also added as lookups, meaning keywords that, when touched, deliver a list of relevant lessons to choose from.
During the quarter I added around 400 new links. Now, of the 1412 study pages on the website, 1009 or 71% are now furnished with two synoptic links and some cross references at the end of the lesson.
Site Speed Progress
A preload link is being inserted into each page to help the page load faster. This task is 71% completed and remains a work in progress. This insertion is additional to the previously completed task of moving the page control scripts to the end of each page. That task improved the time taken for the initial blank page to fill up with the display of page content. We gained a 95% score for speed, and that was quite fast. However, the preload link now being inserted gains a 100% score for most pages. That means it takes about one second for a page to display. This can be a factor in the ranking that a page achieves in search engine listings.
Website Usage
The figures for page views over the quarter (total of pages opened by visitors) were as follows:
| Month | Pageviews | Visits |
| Apr | 230,613 | 158,412 |
| May | 233,682 | 152,773 |
| Jun | 247,586 | 160,267 |
| Quarter | 711,881 | 471,452 |
(Source Awstats).
That is an average for page views of around 237,000 a month or 7,900 daily.
For the twelve months to the end of June, the number of page views exceeded 2.7 million. (Source Awstats).
Page views Apr, May, Jun (Year Comparison)
Here are the figures (from Awstats) for Page Views comparing the second quarter of each year shown
2015 ❱❱❱❱❱❱ 252,653
2016 ❱❱❱❱❱❱❱❱❱ 381,734
2017 ❱❱❱❱❱❱❱❱❱❱❱ 437,569
2018 ❱❱❱❱❱❱❱❱❱❱❱ 445,493
2019 ❱❱❱❱❱❱❱❱❱❱❱❱ 471,452
The activity peak in the first quarter of 2019 has settled down in the second quarter as predicted. The second quarter has nevertheless shown a marked rise in visitors to the site compared to previous years.
Requests for PDF documents
In addition to pages viewed (as shown above) there were more than 4400 downloads of lessons in the PDF format:
| 2019 | DOWNLOADS |
| April | 1483 |
| May | 1564 |
| June | 1440 |
| Qtr TOTAL | 4487 |
(Source: Awstats)
Pageviews per Nation
As an indication of the site's outreach, here's a list of the countries in May 2019 in which more than 700 pages were viewed. (There are of course many other countries where less than 700 pages were viewed.)
PAGEVIEWS FOR NATIONS IN MONTH OF MAY 2019 United States........108,734 Nigeria...............16,410 South Africa..........10,350 Great Britain.........10,219 Australia..............8,747 Canada.................7,875 Philippines............7,225 Kenya..................5,776 India..................5,341 Angola.................4,554 Indonesia..............3,976 Ghana..................3,182 Malaysia...............2,643 Israel.................2,316 Singapore..............2,027 New Zealand............1,548 Zambia.................1,389 Uganda.................1,309 Jamaica................1,286 United Arab Emirates...1,122 Germany................1,006 China..................938 Tanzania...............784 Zimbabwe...............773 (Source: Awstats)
Video Work
At present the YouTube simplybible channel has 34 video presentations. There are now 278 subscribers.
During the quarter I made four half-hour videos to complete the set of six videos on the book of Revelation.
These were produced by editing and converting lessons from the Australian Video Ministry originally recorded on VHS tapes. Many years ago, the Bairnsdale church funded a machine that did a good job of converting these tapes to DVD so as to archive them for future use. Well the future has arrived in the form of YouTube. I am now editing and converting some of the archived lessons as videos for YouTube. The six Revelation videos already have had 693 views in total. You can inspect the video library at youtube.com/simplybible/videos if you wish.
Vanuatu Opportunity
As mentioned in my previous report, a number of people, from various islands of Vanuatu, are in Australia working in the orchards and market gardens. There's a large contingent here in Childers. Some of them are from families we know from our missionary work in Vanuatu two decades ago. Their coming to Childers for some months has opened up a door of opportunity for us. And they will likely come back to Childers later this year.
We were able to hire a bus on several Sundays so that several could come to church at Mungar near Maryborough. As many as ten to 23 were able to come on each occasion. They enjoyed the Bible study (using the Bislama Bible) and the worship. A meal followed, then, a look around the farm and various activities. On two or three Sundays we changed the venue to our home in Childers and I gave the lesson in Bislama.
On numerous occasions, we've also invited a few to share a meal at our home in Childers.
We made gifts of around 12 good quality Bibles, either the Bislama or the New King James. A packet of teaching material, some in Bislama and some in English was given with each Bible. Bundaberg church kindly provided "The Big Picture" booklet to include.
We also helped one member of the church on Tanna island to have his eyes tested and get reading glasses and eye drops that will keep his eyesight in good health. He preaches the gospel in Vanuatu and talks with some of the people here.
Thank You
Thank you yet again for continuing to assist me in the Lord’s work. Thank you for your prayers also, and your interest and belief in my work on the website. We reach and teach thousands of people, around 7000 visitors daily around the world. By sharing with me in this work, you make it possible for you and me to "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation".
Love and best wishes in Jesus.