As we draw closer to the end of the year I spent some time this week doing some reviewing of ProBlogger.
One of the things I looked at was to analyze popular posts. It got me wondering what type of posts were most popular on other blogs.
So here’s a reader question:
What Was Your Most Popular Post in 2007?
By ‘popular’ I’m thinking of posts that got a combination of traffic, comments and link love from other blogs. It’s up to you to define it as you wish.
I’ll share mine in an upcoming year in review post – but in the mean time I’d love to see yours. Feel free to leave a link, the title and tell us a little about the post and why it was successful.
This short series of one page how to guides created for a project I was working on, and only incidentally shared on my blog, have turned out to be the most successful of the year.
Fascinating question.
Our most popular post that originated in 2007 was a contest giving away Season 2 of the Muppet Show, but that’s no surprise since we get positively hammered over our contests. This is a very good thing.
Speaking non-contest, it was a Top 10 list about romances in anime and manga.
Funny, that: what are two things people advise you all the time to use to drive traffic? Contests and Lists. Go figure.
Someone submitted this post to stumbleupon and it has had over 14,000 views since.
How to relieve the pain of a bee sting in under thirty seconds
http://www.husbandhood.net/how-to-relieve-the-pain-of-a-bee-sting-in-under-30-seconds/
Oh, that’s easy.
http://hop-talk.com/2006/11/16/how-to-pour-a-black-tan/
Got, by far, the most views of any other post on my blog, with a HUGE spike just before St. Patrick’s Day.
It does really well in Google searches, which is the primary source of referals.
My other most popular post–which generated the most “buzz” in my niche–isn’t even on my blog, but was a guest post on another blog in a completely different niche. (And then got picked up by an online magazine.)
Hi! I just would like to update my comment here yesterday. My post about “Allowing a child to blog” is getting popular. There are comments from both sides, even when I post the same topic a Blogcatalog discussion. Thanks!
http://whatparentsshouldrealize.blogspot.com/2007/12/why-you-should-allow-your-children-to.html
A post with quotes from pregnant women has been very popular, I think in part because it was very organic and funny.
http://blog.almostadad.com/2007/10/pregnancy-quotes-right-from-source.html
My most popular post was a selection of my fave sunset pictures from Northern Norway this summer.
It got on the front page of Digg, then picked up on reddit, stumbleupon and other sites around the world.
http://blog.thomaslaupstad.com/2007/12/18/my-personal-top-5-favorite-sunset-pictures-from-the-summer-2008-in-northern-norway/
My article about Australian TV coverage of the 2007 Cricket World Cup was the most popular by far and led to:
– over $1000 in ad revenue :-)
– over 150 comments
– an interview with the sydney morning herald
– a mention on cricinfo
My most popular post was…strangely…one about romance novels, where I discovered Mills and Boon was like Playboy for women. Got the majority of hits from StumbleUpon.
My most popular post was the post about the 24,000 piece world’s largest puzzle. I think it was because it was very interesting news.
Here is that post;
http://planetapex.blogspot.com/2007/11/vida-worlds-largest-jigsaw-puzzle-with.html
Mine was demp.se/y/2007/07/19/the-simpsons-movie-spider-pig-clip-download
over 100 diggs
130 comments
55,000 uniques
my most successful was:
http://www.thedailycute.com/?p=139
simply because it is so darn cute! the goofiest wombat picture you’ll find around.
my stats say 8000 UV, but i know it’s more than that.
interestingly, my most popular post is a download. It is to a video that i posted more than a year ago. It is on the Mark Foley scandal. http://www.whereistheoutrage.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2006/10/foleyattorneycnn.wmv It is the most popular by far!!
Thanks,
My 5 Secrets To Success post was by far the most popular of 2007 on my blog…and it’s still going strong. :)
Mine was “Ten Tips for Keeping a Toddler Occupied on a Plane.” It was timely (posted just before Thanksgiving travel) and I think it struck a nerve with parents who are always worried about how the plane flight will go. Also, instead of listing a lot of stuff to buy (as most articles on this subject do) it provided simple, practical advice for keeping kids busy on air flights.
http://www.deliciousbaby.com/journal/2007/nov/16/ten-tips-keeping-toddler-occupied-plane/
Oh, I simply must get in on this action..
My most popular post this year is also my most popular post of all time: Stupid htaccess Tricks!
Thanks for the easy link, Darren :)
Without any doubt, the most popular post was on my own blog: Micro Billing Systems Beware.
It has received thousands of visitors, nearly 400 comments, and sparked off a dedicated forum on the topic.
It only started to get really popular several months after it was first written.
My most popular post in 2007 was “Meine ersten Erfahrungen mit Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5)”, a german post about my first experiences with the new Mac Operating System.
http://schweizweit.net/2007/10/28/meine-ersten-erfahrungen-mit-leopard-mac-os-x-105/
The funny part about this: It’s a off-topic post; my blogs niche is about public transport in switzerland, but it brought me a lot of new (loyal!) visitors. :)
My most popular post was one I wrote about making comments on my blog. This came about as a result of a link on another blog: Michele Martin’s “Six Reasons People Aren’t Commenting On Your Blog”. Evidence that you are right when you advise us to link with other blogs, especially those that are more established. Cheers, Sarah
It was just a throwaway post. A video I saw that I really liked.
Gever Tulley: 5 dangerous things you should let your kids do [TED]
http://www.aidg.org/component/option,com_jd-wp/Itemid,34/p,921/
Unwittingly proved your point about headlines that grab people.
I know it’s a bit late (was catching-up on some old posts and found this one)… my biggest hit for 2007 was a beginners guide to social media:
http://blog.sitemost.com.au/2007/07/29/beginners-guide-to-social-media/
I had none in 2007 as my blog just started in March 2008
but I will soon find out what is going to be the most popular for 2008