2017 Reader Favorites

Each year we do a review and then feature the top 20 posts for the year. 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 2018! Are you ready to see the results of our 2017 reader favorites?

20. I decided to renovate our homes small bathroom (aka powder room) and shared my Transitional Style Small Bathroom Design Inspiration.

19. Google search traffic coming to your blog is key to your success, which makes sense why so many read my 5 Ways To Boost Your Google Traffic on WordPress.

18. A number of you wanted to design your own websites, so my How To Choose A WordPress Blog Theme was just what you needed.

17. Most bloggers want to send automatic blog post emails to their subscribers AND make sure that the posts featured image is included, so How To Add A Featured Image In Your WordPress RSS Feed was helpful.

16. In September I made an Important Announcement letting y’all know that I am no longer just a marketing/business blog, but a marketing + lifestyle blog. This one change has catapulted my growth to new heights!!!

15. Working with brands brings income to you/your blog. In this post I teach you how to reach out to brands you’d like to collaborate with.

14. I. Love. Adobe Photoshop. It’s the #1 software I use to design with! For fun, I decided to teach my 5 Easy Steps To Using Clipping Mask With Text In Adobe Photoshop. And thanks to Pinterest (and my long pin design) this pin and post has received A LOT of traffic!

13. The top 4 categories of blog posts that get the most traffic are: Food, Interior Design/Home Décor, Fashion, DIY Crafts. So it’s no surprise that my Eggnog Layer Cake (food category) drove a lot of interest. Not to mention, it’s delish!

12. This one speaks for itself and was a reminder + inspirational boost… You Don’t Need Thousands of Instagram Followers To Be Successful.

11. BE AWARE! You should know (and How To Find Out) If Someone Is Using Your Photos. This is a must read for every blogger!

10. I get asked a lot of questions through my blog contact form and How Much Should I Charge For A Sponsored Post is one of them!

9. Remember how I said the Interior Design/Home Décor category generates a lot of traffic (see #13 above) to your blog? My Transitional Small Powder Room One Room Challenge Reveal was a winner!

8. I showcased a Simple, Elegant Thanksgiving Tablescape – that was also featured in REALSIMPLE. Eeek, this was such an honor!

7. Christmas time is HUGE! Huge for home decorating, for gift sales, for recipes, etc. My round up post of the Best Of Christmas Holiday Décor Favorites was well… HUGE!

6. As bloggers, we want to know what’s coming down the pipe – so my heads up on Stories Coming To Facebook Pages was one that got read quite a bit.

5. The first 3 seconds are critical to your blog. First Impressions Make Lasting Impressions so make your brand matter! I laid out the key elements that get judged on your website… and many of you FIXED these things on your blogs!

4. My very first home tour was a Modern Mixed Metal and Blush Christmas Home Tour AND it was during Christmas time (see #7 above)! You will definitely be seeing more home tours in the near future!

3. Nothing like a great cookie recipe for yourself, family or friends. My Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies were (and will continue to be in 2018) a hit!

2. The past two years I’ve designed a calendar printable for Lolly Jane blog’s yearly calendar printable round-up. This Free Modern 2018 Calendar Printable design just went live a couple of weeks ago and it is already my #2 largest traffic driving post for 2017! YOWZA

1. I launched a How To Start A Blog in 2017 campaign and rolled out my first ebook How To Start A Blog: Everything You Need To Know To Create and Start A Blog. Thank you, thank you, thank you… for making my How To Start A Blog post the most viewed blog post of 2017! And for the thousands of book sales!

It’s important to your blog/business to know what is working and what is not. Take those things that are working and do more of them! This is what I call strategic marketing!!! Use your Google Analytics to help you determine this!

Take a look at your 2017 – then expand on your successes and abandon anything that wasn’t or isn’t working. And if you want to check out my 2016 Readers Favorites, you can see/read those here.

What does my 2018 look like? A course product launch (How To Grow A Blog), more blog posts sharing my home, recipes, and posts that I team up with others (like #3’s Cookie Exchange above), and still ‘marketing/blogging type posts’ since we should never stop learning!

Thank you SO much for all of your support, readership and love in 2017. Cheers to a successful, fulfilling 2018! Love you guys a ton and appreciate all of you joining me on this crazy, fun, blogging journey!!!