I can’t believe Belle Brita has been up for almost six months. I feel like I’ve been doing this for much longer. I love blogging. I love the blogosphere. I love the friends I’ve made doing this, even in such a short time.
Belle Brita is still new, and small, but like my blog’s namesake, she is mighty! And unlike her namesake, she’s growing. (Side note: no weight gain yet, alas. Still working on that).
So while my blog has only been up for 6 months, I still wanted to look at my top 10 most popular posts this year. It will be interesting to compare again with my blogiversary in July, and then again at the end of 2015!
A note on how I determined these. I used my WordPress Stats, instead of Google Analytics, to determine my most popular blog posts. I also excluded my home page and my Meet Brita page from the results. The difference in page views between the 10th and 11th most popular posts is only 13, but I doubt the ranking will change in the next few days before New Year’s Day. The 6th most popular post is beating out the 7th by only 2 page views, but that would be a minor change.
Information listed. Date is self-explanatory. Comments are only Disqus comments, not counting my replies. It would be too difficult to track down each time I shared to my personal Facebook page, which also garners lots of comments from family and friends. “Helped by” is a quick explanation of why I think that post is popular, including self-promotion techniques that worked for me.
Without further ado, I give you my top 10 most popular posts of 2014!
10. Feminism 101: Everyday Sexism in My Life
Date: 09/04/2014
Comments: 9
Helped by: I linked up with Kiersten and Kelly for the F-Word, Carolynn shared it to Facebook, and I often tweet it with the feminist hashtag #YesAllWomen
9. When My Secret Fiancé Officially Proposed
Date: 10/20/2014
Comments: 11
Helped by: I linked up with Jenna’s biweekly Coffee Date, and all my Facebook friends love hearing about my relationship with Dan.
8. White Eyelet Dress: What I Wore/Currently
Date: 09/03/2014
Comments: 11
Helped by: I linked up with all the fashion link-ups, plus with Anne and Jenna for their monthly Currently. Fashion posts tend to drive page views, especially when I’m able to combine them with other content.
7. When Life Is Even Harder
Date: 12/02/2014
Comments: 13
Helped by: Vulnerability. I understand that some bloggers don’t want to open up too much, and that’s fine. But readers resonate with honesty and vulnerability, especially readers who are my friends and family.
6. Stop Sharing Horrible Dating Advice
Date: 11/10/2014
Comments: 12
Helped by: I think both Kelly and Kiersten tweeted a link to this. Plus I’m pretty sure the topic really resonated with my target audience, aka women in their 20s and 30s.
5. That Time I Went on a Date with a Guy from OKCupid
Date: 07/29/2014
Comments: 1
Helped by: Most of the traffic to this blog post was definitely my friends and family on Facebook. I’d been blogging less than a month at this point, with understandably low traffic. Its continued popularity is probably due to my inbound linking from other blog posts on my relationship with Dan.
4. 30 Lessons My Parents Taught Me about Marriage
Date: 12/13/2014
Comments: 19
Helped by: Again, everyone on Facebook loved this. Also, both Dan and my mom shared it to their own Facebook pages, which increased its reach.
Bonus: I made my parents cry. Happy tears, obviously.
3. 7 Reasons to Vote in the Midterm Elections
Date: 10/10/2014
Comments: 8
Helped by: This is my most popular post via search engines. Most of the traffic for this post came–unsurprisingly–in the week or two before the election. Apparently there are not a lot of well-written pieces on the Internet about the importance of voting in the Midterm Elections.
2. Niort Living: Learning to Love an Ugly Apartment
Date: 08/28/2014
Comments: 9
Helped by: I linked up with an excellent monthly travel link-up, which always provides good page views AND comments. Plus after linking up with Be. You. Tiful., they featured me the following week.
Finally, the post you’ve all been waiting for…
My most popular post to date.
The post that was featured in TWO different link-ups.
The post that continues to get new page views every single week, and almost every day.
1. 6 Lessons I’ve Learned in My First 6 Months of Marriage
Date: 09/23/2014
Comments: 21
Helped by: I linked up with, and was featured on, both Turn It Up Tuesday and Hump Day Happenings. Plus two of my friends on Facebook shared it to their own pages, which increased my reach. And, again, everyone loves my relationship posts.