Ron Graham’s Report
— for Apr-May-Jun (2nd Quarter) 2022
This page reports my work on simplybible.com for the information of those who take a special interest in that work.
Improved Search Results
I check every so often to see what pages visitors are reading. Previously there were a few pages that dominated, whereas now there are lessons being viewed on a wide variety of topics. The total number of pages being visited is lower, but the coverage of the website is considerably better.
Furthermore, about one in six visitors are coming to the site directly, not through a search engine such as Google. This indicates that the site has an independent following and doesn't rely entirely on search engines. It is likely that many users have "bookmarked" the site on their devices and visit the site thereby.
New Pages on simplybible.com
In this 2nd Quarter of 2022, we prepared 4 new study pages and added them to the website. This brings the number of study pages on the site to 1,538.
The new pages are...
Website Usage
Now here are the key metrics for the site in the second quarter (Apr-May-Jun) of 2022. The statistics are shown for each month of the quarter. They are lower than they have been, but are still very good results.
Note that in the following table Pages means web pages opened and viewed by visitors. Visits means the number of visitors who opened those pages. Google means the approximate number of clicks for our pages on the Google search engine. And PDF means downloads of the PDF versions of the web pages.
| Q2-2022 | Pages | Visits | ||
| April | 196,839 | 135,996 | 92,300 | 1,152 |
| May | 197,859 | 129,735 | 87,400 | 1,528 |
| June | 180,301 | 114,198 | 92,000 | 1,192 |
| Quarter | 574,999 | 379,929 | 271,700 | 3,872 |
| Av Day | 6,318 | 4,175 | 2,985 | 43 |
(Source Awstats and Google).
For the twelve months to the end of June 2022, the number of page views was 2.5 million. (Source Awstats).
Pageviews per Nation June 2022
Here's a list of the countries in which more than 500 pages were viewed in June 2022, the 3rd month of the 2nd quarter. The other months (April and May) were of much the same pattern.
PAGEVIEWS FOR NATIONS
IN MONTH OF JUNE 2022
United States.....110,948
Great Britain.......6,548
Canada..............6,298
Nigeria.............5,912
Philippines.........5,602
Australia...........4,737
Indonesia...........4,453
India...............3,667
South Africa........3,538
Sweden..............2,641
Angola..............2,34
Kenya...............2,241
Germany.............1,523
China...............1,186
Iran..................950
Singapore.............949
Russian Federation....931
Malaysia..............797
New Zealand...........777
Norway................610
Uganda................584
Netherlands...........541
Jamaica...............534
Ghana.................532
Zambia................445
Ukraine...............208
(Source: Awstats)
YouTube Videos
There are now 1,112 subscribers to the video channel. Since the channel's inception in 2007, there have been 63,000 views. We get about 800 views per month and about 80 hours of viewing. Be aware that a view is counted when someone starts watching; it doesn't mean they watch to the end. And a view counts whether the video is five minutes long or 30 minutes. Here's the thing: If someone searches YouTube for Biblical topics one of our videos may be listed and may be viewed. So having the videos "out there" is worthwhile.
Our YouTube channel is www.youtube.com/simplybible if you wish to have a look.
There are Always Maintenance Tasks
It's a challence keeping a big website up to date. There are always maintenance tasks. For example, here are the maintenance tasks done this quarter...
- Changing Computers. My old Mac computer is slowly dying after many years of service. This quarter I migrated my working files to another computer and installed the special apps used for the website work. That was actually a number of tasks, but all went smoothly enough.
- Modifying navigation tabs. The five tabs at the top of each lesson page include a "Next" tab that allows users to move forward through a series or set of lessons. I modified code in the style sheet and Javascript control files to provide a "Previous" tab as well. This is especially helpful on small devices like mobile phones.
- Google's update. There's a free service provided by Google, called Google Analytics, which I use to collect some of the data I provide you in my reports. Google is releasing a new version (4) and the old one will cease functioning next year. Fortunately, connecting to the new analytics was made easier because I had kept the former versions up to date.
- Updating sitemap. I provide a site map to help the "spiders" and "bots" (such as "Googlebot") that "crawl" my site looking for links to index on their search engines. That's mainly how people find the website. The "map" is an XML computer program written by me. I modify it on making each new lesson page. There are a couple of thousand entries. Recently I tidied up the code to make it easier to see and fix a mistake. The site map cannot be used unless it has "no errors to report", so to optimise indexing one has to submit it perfect. Fortunately it can be "validated" using a service online.
- Updating search index. The javascript program "SiFi" has been running for many years. Visitors used it 23,000 times in the three months Apr-May-Jun 2022. A small but essential part of the program is the "engine" that manages what the user enters and reads the data to construct an index for the user. This engine has not been modified for several years. It runs as good as ever and does not need altering. The data however needs regular updating to include new web pages and improve responses that are found wanting.
- Answering emails. I don't get email enquiries in great numbers, and most of those that I get are friendly. But usually there is a Bible question to answer and this can take some time and work.
Other Matters
CHURCH. We continued to hold Sunday morning services in our home, with one Christian lady still meeting regularly with us using Zoom. At the end of the quarter we had family from Scotland and Victoria staying with us and they attended two of our worship meetings.
VANUATU. We were blessed to have extra funds from certain Australian Christians sent to Tanna Island in Vanuatu to further help the church there cope with the recent emergencies. Miswel has acknowledged the help with thanks. He says the help will greatly bless those in need. Note that Miswel consults with the church on disbursement of the funds.
COVID ETC. I tested positive to the Covid19 virus and was very sick for three days. It left me with bronchitis. The doctor cleared that up with puffers, which gave me thrush, and the doctor cleared that up with oral drops. So, God be thanked, I survived three diseases in a row!
Thank You
Thank you for continuing to assist me in the Lord’s work. Thank you for your continued prayers and your belief in my work on the website. As I always like to say, "You are joining with me in obeying the great commission."
Love and best wishes in Jesus.