Written by: Greg Ellifritz
Last week, I posted an article linking to my most popular posts in 2020. In that article, I discussed how my “most popular” articles were not the same as my “best” articles.
I liked many of the most popular articles (ranked by page view), but I think other articles that I wrote were better. Not necessarily better written, but more valuable overall. Many other articles contained far more useful information than the ones deemed “most popular.”
What I consider my “best” are articles where I provide the most unique and valuable advice on a given topic. My “best” is doing what others cannot. All of my “best articles” contain ideas, tactics, or opinions that you won’t find anyplace else on the internet. I think my best articles contain information and analysis that is superior and unique when compared to other writings in the field.
Below is a list of just that…articles that I think were most useful and valuable for my average reader. I didn’t rank them in any type of order or preference. I think all of them are extremely useful.
One more thing…
Here’s a little “behind the scenes” look at what goes on with my website.
Only about 28% of my visitors come to the site directly or read my posts via email updates. The vast majority (72%) of my readers arrive at my site from either a social media link or a search engine.
The social media giants are notoriously anti-gun. The largest search engines are regularly directing searches away from websites with lots of firearms or self-defense related content. This “shadow ban” is very real.
My website pageviews peaked in the year 2016. In that year, I had 5,120,608 page views. Coincidentally, that was the year that search engines and social media sites began their effort to “de-platform” content they don’t like. My site is filled with content that the large social media giants hate.
I went from over five million pageviews in 2016 down to 2,981,315 pageviews in 2017 despite releasing more and better content. Since 2017, my page views have continued to drop. In 2019 I had 2,347,144 pageviews. This year reversed the trend a bit. Year to date pageviews are similar to last year with 2,252,968 pageviews.
Why am I telling you all this stuff?
You need to know about it because you probably find my writing via social media feeds or search engines. If you continue to rely on those methods to obtain my content, you will be seeing fewer and fewer of my articles in the future.
There’s a real good chance that you missed some of the articles listed below. Check them out. Even if you follow my site diligently, I predict there will still be some articles on my list that your social media feeds didn’t promote.
If you don’t want to miss any of my content, sign up to support my Patreon page. For as little as around $5 a month, you will get an email from me whenever I post new articles. The email contains the ad-free full text of each post. For those of you who like to copy and save my material, this is the easiest format with which to do that.
Patreon supporters also get exclusive bonus content not posted on the main site. I send details of my own personal firearms training program, share unique insights, and will be starting a bi-weekly question and answer session on Patreon. While I will always continue to give you all a whole bunch of free information via this site, I’m thinking that in the future I might save my best content for just my patrons. I want to reward the audience that best supports my work.
Without further ado, I present the best of 2020. These are the 20 most important articles I wrote this year in no particular order. I thank you all for continuing to consume my content.
The Future of American Policing
African Counter-Ambush Tactics
Damaged Defensive Ammunition
Questioning the Effectiveness of the .380 Auto Cartridge
Why I Don’t Carry an Expandable Baton
Reporting “Social Distancing” Violations
The Denver Pepper Spray Shooting
Body Armor for Armed Citizens
Tactical Training Scenario- Fire as a Weapon
Issues with Weapon Mounted Lights
Cops: The Young versus The Old
“I’ll Just Hold Him for the Police”
Low Round Count Shooting Drills
How to Spot a Bad Guy- A Comprehensive Look at Body Language and Pre-Assault Indicators
Born to Intervene?
Active Shooter Incidents 2000-2018
The “Date Night” Restaurant Robbery
“Watching a Murder”
Best Law Enforcement Fixed Blade Knife