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 40% of the top 10 list consisted of gun and gear articles, despite those articles representing less 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 two of the top ten articles were actually written in 2025. 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 2024 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 2025.
10. More Important Than The Bug Out Bag…the “Get Home” Bag– 2,417 page views
9. Tactical Training Scenario- “They’re Putting On Ski Masks”- 2,659 page views
8. “Shotguns” Without Stocks– 2,676 page views
7. My Thoughts on the Ruger LCP .22 Pistol -2,910 page views
6. The New FBI Qualification Course- 3,241 page views
5. Five Parking Lot Precautions– 3,864 page views
4. The Definitive Guide To Flying With Guns– 3,902 page views
3. An Alternate Look at Handgun Stopping Power– 6,384 page views
2. 20 Rules for Travel Survival– 9,364 pageviews
1. How to Spot a Bad Guy- A Comprehensive Look at Body Language and Pre-Assault Indicators– 10,432 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 2025.
