Best of 2017 + Takeaways

Happy 2018 everyone! Wow, I cannot believe I am saying that! It seems like 2017 passed in a flash. Without a doubt the highlight of the year was our sweet Ivy Jean. She was born at the end of 2016, so 2017 seems like the year Russ and I learned to be parents together and really got to know our sweet girl. It’s been so much fun to see her personality develop and celebrate the first year of her life. I thought today I’d do a best of 2017 post by pageviews. It was really fun to look back and see what you all liked the most out of my content. It was a learning experience for me.

Best of 2017

#1 – How to Wear Ankle Boots with Jeans

This was without a doubt the number one post. It is my top post ever on the blog and definitely my top post of the year. It got shared a couple times by other bloggers for which I am very grateful and has done well on Pinterest. Honestly, I’m just plain thankful. I wish I could replicate the success of this on every post, but it makes me realize I should do more content like this!

#2 – How to Wear an Oversized Cardigan without Looking Frumpy

This was done at a reader suggestion, and again I am just so pleased it did well. Another learning experience for me in terms of the type of content that is useful and popular longterm.

#3 – 3 Ways to Style the Cutest Leopard Scarf

This post was a collaboration with Gina and Jo-Lynne, so I think the pageviews for it can be explained by the collaboration. This teaches me it is smart to reach out to other bloggers and think about ways to collaborate!

#4 – How to Create a Wardrobe that Lasts

Again, another how to type post that reaches across multiple domains.

#5 – How to Create Curls that Last on a Long Bob

I wrote this posts after many questions on my hair in preparation for taking a break when Ivy was born. It just barely made 2017. These evergreen content posts have been really beneficial to me, and I am learning it more and more the longer I blog.

Takeaways

The takeaways from this are pretty obvious: the posts that do best long term are not plain outfit posts, they are the how-to posts that contain more. These are the posts that take more time to write, so I do them less frequently. I would also note that I promoted a couple of these on Pinterest using a small budget and the payoff was huge in terms of pageview return. I have worked hard to up my Pinterest strategy in November and December and have seen a big increase in pageviews. Let me know if you would be interested in a full post on what I have done.

Happy 2018 everyone! So thankful for all of you and wishing you the very best!