Blogging

2016 Blog Report: Top 10 Posts & Referrers of the Year

Well, here we are again at the very beginning of a brand new year. I can’t say I’m sorry to say good bye to 2016. The last few days have been particularly somber with the tragic deaths of George Michael, the incomparable Princess Leia, and her heartbroken mother Debbie Reynolds. And then earlier this year we lost R2-D2 (Kenny Baker), Prince, Alan Rickman, Gene Wilder, David Bowie, Florence Henderson, Leonard Cohen, Ron Glass… Ugh, enough already.

Fortunately, in our own family, this year has been busy but positive. My youngest started full-time preschool, and my oldest is rocking Grade One like Mick Jagger. With both kids in school, I’ve had more time to blog and I’ve been working a couple of days a week at my social worker job. It’s been a few years since I’ve had the time to work outside the home, and I’m really enjoying it.

On the blogging front, I’ve connected with many new partners over the last year including several exciting opportunities to support some non-profit and public service campaigns that I feel passionate about. You may have also noticed that the website has gotten a brand new logo and a face lift for 2017! It was long past time to update things, and I hope you find the new website useful and easier to navigate.I’m amazed and awed that last year I saw almost 350,000 visitors. I’m so grateful to all my readers, new and old, who took the time to visit with me. I especially want to thank those of you who come back over and over, who’ve gotten to know me and my family, chat with me on Facebook, enter all my awesome giveaways, and are the core of the This West Coast Mommy community. You are the reason I’m here!

At the end of every year, I like to take a look back to see which posts were the most popular, how many people visited, and where my traffic came from. If you’re a stats nerd like me or just curious, here are some of the highlights from This West Coast Mommy for 2016.

Top 10 Viewed Posts

My most popular posts this year were a mix of cloth diapering posts and paleo recipes, plus a fun Halloween post that did really well this October and a post about night weaning that many moms found helpful. Did you miss any of these? Take a look!

1. 6 Ways to Fold a Prefold Diaper

6 Ways to Fold a Prefold Cloth Diaper | In this cloth diaper tutorial, I show you how to fold a prefold diaper 6 different ways, with tips and recommendations for each.

2. Whole 30 Paleo Cabbage Rolls

These paleo cabbage rolls take a while to make, but they're so worth it! Gluten-free, grain-free, and Whole30 recipe.

3. 9 Common Cloth Diapering Mistakes

9 Common Cloth Diapering Mistakes and What to Do Instead

4. 30 Whole30 Slow Cooker Recipes

30 Whole30 slow cooker recipes - gluten-free, dairy-free, and sugar-free. No grains, no artificial sweeteners, no legumes, no alcohol, no processed foods period.

5. Which Cloth Diaper Inserts, Doublers, or Liners Should I Choose?

Which Cloth Diaper Inserts, Doublers, or Liners Should I Choose?

6. Whole 30 Slow Cooker Green Curry Chicken

Whole 30 slow cooker Thai green curry chicken

7. Paleo Spicy Cashew Chicken Stir Fry

Paleo Spicy Cashew Chicken Stir Fry

8. All About Using Cloth Baby Wipes

All About Using Cloth Baby Wipes

9. 27 Family-Friendly Animated Movies for Halloween

27 Family-Friendly Animated Movies for Halloween - organized by suggested age groups.

10. I Am So Done: Night Weaning in a Week

Tips and strategies for night weaning in a week.

Traffic Sources

But how are people finding This West Coast Mommy? Here are my top traffic sources for 2016. Like last year, Google is by far my top traffic source, and Pinterest and Facebook remain at #2 and #3. These three are my main traffic sources, sending more than 50% of my traffic.

Next comes Twitter referrals, then visitors from Contestgirl, my favourite giveaway listing site. Visits from email subscribers remains steady, and I get a lot of traffic from my best blogging buddy Lindsay over at Maman Loup’s Den. We work together on several major events throughout the year (like our Made in Canada Baby event, Black Friday Sale Directory, and Boxing Day Sale Directory), so it makes sense that we share a lot of readers. Online Sweepstakes is another giveaway site I list my giveaways on, Yahoo search engine is still sending some readers, and rounding out the top 10 is Yummly, the largest food site in the world (go visit my recipes page there).

Top 10 Overall Traffic Sources

  1. Google/Organic
  2. Pinterest
  3. Facebook/Mobile Facebook
  4. Twitter
  5. Contestgirl
  6. Feedpress/RSS
  7. Maman Loup’s Den
  8. Online Sweepstakes
  9. Yahoo
  10. Yummly

Top 10 Referring Blogs

I’ve also put together a separate list of the top ten blogs who sent traffic my way this year. This is a great way to find new blogs that have similar content to This West Coast Mommy!

  1. Maman Loup’s Den
  2. Conservamom
  3. Pawsitive Living
  4. The Monarch Mommy
  5. Paleo Grubs
  6. Paleo Forever
  7. Mommy Moment
  8. Viva Veltoro
  9. Change-Diapers.com
  10. Intoxicated on Life

So there you have it. If you have a year end blog report of your own, please feel free to share it in the comments so I can visit and read yours too.

Happy New Year! Cheers to 2017 and another year of blogging!

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