Seth Godin once made a very powerful statement in a blog post.
“My most popular blog posts this year…weren’t my best ones. As usual, the most popular music wasn’t the best recorded this year either. Same for the highest-grossing movies, restaurants and politicians doing fundraising.
“Best” is rarely the same as “popular.” Which means that if you want to keep track of doing your best work, you’re going to have to avoid the distraction of letting the market decide if you’ve done a good job or not.”
I agree 100%. If find it amazingly interesting. I generally consider myself a “software” writer. I like talking about ideas and tactics rather than hardware. But that usually isn’t what my readers click on. This year exactly half of the top 10 list consisted of gun and gear articles, despite those articles representing than 3% of my total published writing.
“Most popular” is a very specific metric. It is an indication of broad or lasting appeal. The folks to which those articles appeal may not be the market I’m targeting as future students, but it is a group of people who like what I am writing and are sharing it with their friends.
I am attempting to create enduring content, not just “click bait.” While I write timely pieces, my overarching goal is to create articles that are just as useful as a reference in years to come as they are interesting today. By that metric, I am succeeding. Only three of the top ten articles were actually written in 2024. I wrote some of the others as far back as 2012. Three of the ten also appeared on the Top 10 Most Popular Posts of 2023 article last year. People are digging back and finding useful information. That makes me happy.
So, keeping that in mind that “most popular” doesn’t equal “best,” here were my most popular blog posts (by page views) in 2024.
10. Seat Belts and Appendix Carry– 3,179 page views
9. The Firearms Manifesto Part Three- A Comparison of .380acp Pocket Pistols- 3,477 page views
8. How to Spot a Bad Guy- A Comprehensive Look at Body Language and Pre-Assault Indicators– 3,545 page views
7. Best Law Enforcement Fixed Blade Knife– 3,972 page views
6. Recognizing the Sound of Gunfire– 4,178 page views
5. An Alternate Look at Handgun Stopping Power– 4,444 page views
4. The Best Coat Pocket Defensive Pistols– 6,293 pageviews
3. Cancer Update and 2025 Class Scheduling- 6,326 pageviews
2. My Thoughts on the Ruger LCP .22 Pistol – 6,720 page views
1. LE Weapon Handling During the Assassination Attempt- 9,193 page views
These are the top 10 posts by popularity, but I don’t think they all represented my best work. Stay tuned for next week’s compilation of what I think is my best writing from 2024.
