Keep on Bloggin'

I'm going to take a step back today and be a little "meta" post (in the words of Troy and Abed from the TV "Community.") This humble little blog has reached another milestone of sorts. As of this post, the PA DeMolay blog has 400 posts. Thanks to those four hundred posts, we about to surpass 100,000 page views.

With that in mind, let's do a little recap / statistical analysis. This blog went live on January 4, 2010 - just a little over 3 years ago. When you take the number of days divided by the number of posts (400 / 1190), that's a new post every three days! Many blogs can't claim that kind of a robust content schedule, but we're proud that we have. This blog remains the most active and content driven communications piece in ALL of DeMolay International and Pennsylvania is the only jurisdiction operating this kind of site. All PA DeMolay's should be proud of that fact!

Now, on to the fun stuff. Who's looking at this blog? There aren't many surprises there - many of the countries are strong supporters of DeMolay and Freemasonry. The top ten views by Country are:

United States	58149
Philippines	6086
Brazil	5766
United Kingdom	3074
Canada	2579
Russia	1525
France	1475
Germany	1444
India	938
Bolivia	576

How are people finding us? Most views come in from the PA DeMolay home page or from a Google search for a DeMolay related topic. The top ten searches that lead people to view the PA DeMolay blog are:

mark william calaway	2281
eye contact	687
william penn	413
aiguillette	190
aiguillettes	183
john steinbeck	164
unplug	158
demolay	122
colonel mustard	74
kingdom of demolay	70

Finally, the most popular posts of all time are (you'll notice they tie directly to the most popular searches):

Senior DeMolay Highlight - Mark William Calaway Sep 19, 2011	7147
Eye Contact - not iContact Feb 13, 2012	3004
A Closer Look at Regalia: Part 1 - Aiguillettes Aug 19, 2010, 3 comments	212
Walt Disney, a DeMolay Feb 24, 2011	929
Unplugging and Taking Control Jul 29, 2010	840
The Wisdom of William Penn Apr 5, 2012	812
Flying the Flag of PA May 10, 2012	765
Senior DeMolay Highlight - Jejomar Binay Aug 19, 2011, 3 comments	702
Following our First Precept Jun 21, 2010	538
Senior DeMolay Highlight - John Steinbeck Apr 12, 2012	372

All in all, I'd say we have had a great four hundred posts and I look forward to bringing you 400 more!

Frat! ~ "Dad" Seth Anthony

Futurama

I realized last week that this humble little blog has recently passed some major milestones and is on its way to reaching a few more. This post is number 252 for the PA DeMolay blog. Our first post was created on January 4, 2010, just a couple months short of two years ago. While two years may not seem like a long time to some (and may seem like an eternity to others) in the world of the internet, that's an incredible amount of time. To our knowledge, there is no other DeMolay related blog that has been as consistently updated for any length as this one. However, anecdotal evidence doesn't make a case, so I'd like to share with you some statistics related to this site.

• Views to date: 23,394
• Most Views in a Single Month: August 2010 with 2,434 views.
• Average Views Per Month (Over the last 12 months) - Just above 1500
• Average Views Per Month (Last Quarter) - Just above 2000
• Most Popular Post A Closer Look at Regalia: Part 1 - Aiguillettes - Posted August 19, 2010 (767 views)
• Largest Referring Site: Google
• Largest Referral by Link: http://freemasonsfordummies.blogspot.com/
• Top Five Search Words:
• Unplug - 113
• Aiguillette - 100
• Aiguillettes - 79
• Colonel Mustard Costume - 29
• DeMolay - 24

Now some of you may be looking at those search terms and thinking "What in the heck?!?" Actually, those terms are good for the Blog. Why? While they may not be truly DeMolay related, they are bringing people to our Blog who are looking for something else. While they are here, they are probably learning at least a little bit about DeMolay, which is a very good thing! Just where do those viewers come from? Here is a break down of the top countries that check out this site:

United States 14,354 Philippines 1,567 Brazil 1,254 Canada 898 France 632 United Kingdom 486 Germany 241 Netherlands 186 Russia 175 Australia 166

Obviously the top four countries are all major areas for DeMolay, which explains their high hit rate. 

So, where is the blog going from here? That's a tough question. It's interesting to see how the blog has changed over time, but I know that it will continue to grow and prosper. As always, I'm open to new contributors and people who would like to have their opinion heard. Just drop your article in an e-mail to webmaster@pademolay.org and we can talk about posting it!

Also, in the coming months, I will be doing a new feature called "Active DeMolay Spotlight." Like our popular Senior DeMolay Spotlight series, these articles will highlight what some of our current members are doing in their homes and communities. This is a great way for Active DeMolays to get their name out there to College Recruiters  Community Leaders, and other DeMolays (hint hint for those of you thinking of running for Elected State Office next year!)

So, stay tuned for another year and see where the Blog takes you!

Frat! ~ "Dad" Seth Anthony

It's All in the Numbers

While I know everyone was enjoying our trip through Senior DeMolay land, we're going to take a quick diversion and talk about some stats I recently received. "Dad" Peter Brusoe, of Nation's Capital DeMolay, recently did a little bit of research about Chapter sizes and membership trends across all of DeMolay International. Let's take a look:

1. There are 681 Chapters in the United States. There are 3,134 counties in the United States (DC is considered one county for census)  If we assume one county/one chapter that means only 21.7% of our counties in the country have DeMolay.
   
   
2. The average size of a chapter in 2011 was 22.9 young men If these numbers do not change we are looking at an average size of 20.54 young men.
   
   
3. Only 35 chapters in the country are over 50 members.
   
   
4. 343 out of 681 Chapters have inducted someone since January 1, that's 50.36 %.
   
   
5. 162 Chapters out of 651 have less than 10 members and have not inducted anyone this year (23.7%).
   
   
6. 120 Chapters have achieved positive growth (17.6%)
   
   
7. Only 10 chapters have inducted more 10 young men or more.  71 Chapters have inducted more than 5 members. 95 chapters have inducted only one young man.
   

Upon receiving these numbers, "Dad" Tom Labagh, EO of PA DeMolay, tasked "Dad" Dave Berry, our Executive Secretary, to see how PA DeMolay fits into this scheme. Here are his findings.

1.  PA DeMolay’s 24 Chapters which meet in 21  counties. Currently, PA has 67 counties, meaning that 31% of the Counties have a chapter.
1. 19 Chapters that are the only one in their County.
2.  2 Chapters in Montgomery County.
3. 3 Chapters in Allegheny County.
   
   
2. Average Chapter size for PA DeMolay in 2011 is 30.6, making the average PA Chapter roughly 33% larger than the national average.
   
   
3. Three Chapters have over 50 members (accounting for about 10% of all of the Chapters with over 50 members in DeMolay International.)
1. Elizabethtown (77)
2.  George Washington (53)
3.  Lorraine (65)
   
   
4. 16 of 24 Chapters have inducted new members in 2011, which is about 66%. This is 16% higher than the national average.
   
5.  In 2010, 5 Chapters achieved positive growth (20% of Chapters.) Growth is defined as ending the year with more members than they started with, which accounts for majorities.
1. Susquehanna            300%              (12)
2.  Northeast                   175%              (14)
3.  Westmoreland           125%              (5)
4. New Castle Builders 100%              (4)
5. Riverside                    100%              (4)
   
   
6. In 2011, 1 Chapter has achieved positive growth (4%)
1. Susquehanna            125%              (10)
   
   
7.  In 2010, Northeast Chapter was responsible for 13% of new members.
   
   
8. In 2011, Susquehanna Chapter is responsible to 19% of new members.
   
   
9. In 2010, only 2 Chapters inducted 10 or more new members (8%)
1.  Northeast                  14
2. Susquehanna            12
   
   
10. In 2010, 10 Chapters inducted 5 or more new members (37%)
1. Northeast                   14
2.  Susquehanna           12
3. G. Washington           8
4. Elizabethtown            7
5. Pilgrim                        7
6. Erie                             6
7. Friendship-Bray        6
8. Delaware Valley        5
9. Lincoln                        5
10. Westmoreland           5
    
    
11. In 2011, only 1 Chapter has inducted 10 or more new members (4%)
1. Susquehanna            10
   
   
12. In 2011, only 4 Chapters have inducted 5 or more new members (16%)
1. Susquehanna            10
2.  G. Washington           6
3.  Friendship-Bray        5
4. Lorraine                      5
   

So, what kinds of trends do you see in these numbers? Share your comments below!