2016 Reader Favorites
Each year we do a review and feature the top 20 posts of 2016. This is always fun to see which posts were the most popular by all of you (based on Google Analytic pageviews) and the favorite types of posts to keep doing in 2017! Are you ready to see the results?
- I wrote about The Benefits of a Content Calendar as a way to bring less stress to your blogging life. We all need this!
- You were excited to learn SEO Basics: What Search Engines Are Looking For. This post had a lot of meat to it: paid vs organic search results, internal linking, related content links. A definite one to read again!
- Traffic to your site is the key to your success, which makes sense why How To Create High Traffic Generating Blog Posts was such a huge hit. Or perhaps it was my bonus Buffalo Chicken Dip recipe, hmmm.
- A great way to grow your blog (and business) is to actively build real relationships and community with other bloggers and entrepreneurs… online and offline. Thus, I taught you how to Grow Your Blog by Building Relationships and Community. P.S. you got to meet some of my ‘squad’: Addison’s Wonderland, The Sunny Side Up, Zdesign At Home, The House of Silver Lining.
- We all need inspiration to keep us going at times, so Inspiration When Needed, was well…needed!
- Gmail Was Updating their DMARC Policy and it was affecting a lot of you, so all you gmail email users had to read this one!
- I did a Branding your Blog series – part 3 contained real life examples, which are always big hits!
- People want to know Why WordPress is so great and why they should choose this platform to build their blog on. We did some comparisons to help you make the right choice!
- It’s always good to know How To Hide an Image in a WordPress Post for Pinning – especially if it’s a long pin image!
- We gave tips and shared real life examples (#14 post above) during the series Branding your Blog – Part 1: Why It’s So Important was read by many.
- Many of you were curious to see whether you were making any of the 7 Common Mistakes Made In About Pages. Several of you were and FIXED THEM!
- Blogging is a lot of time and work, so learning how to Make Money Even If You’re a New Blog is important to new and seasoned bloggers. You also learned how to become an Amazon affiliate (or any brand you’d like to be an affiliate with)!
- Choosing a blog name is important, but if you chose a blog name that doesn’t tell your reader what you’re about, How To Create A Tagline That Rocks is key! I also shared a personal example of when I developed a line of laptop computer bags for fashion conscious women called Gudi Bags AND was featured on a nationally syndicated tv program – yep, this chica has been in marketing a looooong time!
- And a personal favorite, the 2016 Blogging Trends! (Psst – these trends are still on point for 2017)
- A lot of you were/are confused about Google Analytics and how to read them, so we taught you the basics in How To Use + Read Google Analytics: The Basics.
- Every blogger wants readers, which is why so many were interested in 7 Reasons Why No Ones Reading Your Blog (Plus How To Fix This).
- Who doesn’t like light, bright, airy photos?! We (Kelley Nan and I) provided you with PicMonkey Photo Editing Tips – for Light, Bright, Airy Photos!
- Instagram has been a heavy hitter and launched a bunch of new bloggers (who were successful on IG, looking for a way to expand their success), so when Instagram Changed Their Algorithm, a number of you were asking NOW WHAT? I answered you here.
- Swoon worthy photos are important to your blog (and social media platforms), so it didn’t surprise me that our #2 most viewed post for 2016 was How To Take A Light, Bright, and Airy Photo! (Psst… I also taught you how to do it using a super quick, free photo app called Snapseed).
- I teamed up with 13 other bloggers for a theme + link party type post… and thus my Spring Styling, Shooting & Sharing Tips became the #1 most viewed blog post of 2016! Note: This also ties back into #17 above and how you can grow your blog traffic by building a community with others.
It’s important to your blog/business to know what is working and what is not. And what is working, do more of it! This is what I call strategic marketing!!! Use your Google Analytics to help you determine this!
Take a look at your 2016 – then expand on your successes and abandon anything that wasn’t or isn’t working. And if you want to check out my 2015 Readers Favorites, you can see/read those here.
What does my 2017 look like? A couple of book product launches (How To Start A Blog AND How To Grow A Blog), a site redesign, more blog posts that I team up with others (like #1 above), and a few more ‘lifestyle type posts’ since I love all kinds of creativity (interior design, recipes, photography, sewing…) and it shares more of me and my life which a number of you have asked for!
Thank you SO much for all of your support, readership and love in 2016. Cheers to a successful, fulfilling 2017! Love you guys a ton and appreciate all of you joining me on this crazy, fun, blogging journey!!!
Look at you! Changing the world, one blog at a time! Thanks for always addressing our needs and answering our questions. And even more, thanks for your friendship! Wishing you the best in 2017! {{{HUGS}}}
Hahaha, I try! My favorite part is getting to meet and create friendships with people like YOU. Love you friend! May 2017 bring you MANY BLESSING!!! xo
I love that #1 was the blog hop you did with us! xoxo