Blogging

2017 in Review: Blog Highlights, Top 10 Posts, and Referrers of the Year

Goodbye 2017. Hello 2018!

We’ve had a busy year here at This West Coast Mommy! 2017 has seen a lot of growth both on the blog and on the home front. Kay is having a fantastic time in kindergarten. Her reading is progressing in leaps and bounds, and she’s even reading stories to us at bedtime! And then there’s Tee who recently transferred to another Montessori school partway through her second lower elementary year. It’s been a big adjustment for both of us, with a huge jump from 20 to 200 students and significantly more driving for me, but overall it was a great choice for her.

With both kids in school full-time, I’ve been taking on a couple of days a week at my day job, providing mental health assessment and treatment for children and youth. I really enjoy the chance to exercise my professional skills, and I’m hoping to bring a little bit more of that to the blog in the upcoming year by sharing ways to incorporate some simplified techniques into your own parenting toolbox for healthier and happier kids.

In terms of travel, this year we visited Big White Resort in Kelowna, the Niagara region (thus fulfilling my dream of visiting Niagara Falls!), and Tofino and Victoria on Vancouver Island. I’m hoping to do some more travelling in 2018. Maybe somewhere sunny!

 

Our long-running birth stories series is still going strong, and I plan to continue these posts for as long as mamas are interested in sharing their stories. This year I was also honoured to be nominated for Vancouver Mom’s Top Mom Blogger. I still don’t know who put my name in (thank you whoever you are!), but thanks to all your votes and support, I won! I also have to express my undying appreciation for Samantha, our regular contributor whose little Riley stars in all our cloth diaper reviews. Sam and I even got to attend MommyCon in Vancouver together this past summer!

Over the last year, we had 425,000 unique visitors. Wow! I’m so grateful to all my readers, new and old, who have taken the time to visit. 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, and enter all my fun giveaways. You are the heart of the This West Coast Mommy community and 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 how my readers find me. If you’re a stats nerd like me or just curious, here are some of the highlights from This West Coast Mommy for 2017.

 

Top 10 Viewed Posts

My most popular posts this year were a mix of cloth diapering posts and fan favourite recipes, a DIY post that really took off on Pinterest, a collection of Valentine’s Day riddles (people really like these!), and a roundup of animated Halloween movies. 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. 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.

4. How to Roast Half a Turkey for Thanksgiving

How to Roast Half a Turkey for Thanksgiving

5. All About Using Cloth Baby Wipes

All About Using Cloth Baby Wipes

 

6. How to Turn an Old Coffee Table into an Ottoman

How to Turn an Old Coffee Table into an Ottoman

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

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

8. 9 Common Cloth Diapering Mistakes

9 Common Cloth Diapering Mistakes and What to Do Instead

 

9. 25 Valentine’s Day Riddles

25 Valentine's Day Riddles

10. 27 Family-Friendly Animated Movies for Halloween

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

 

Traffic Sources

But how are people finding This West Coast Mommy? Here are my top traffic sources for 2017. Google is by far my top traffic source, bringing close to half of my traffic. Pinterest and Facebook remain at #2 and #3. These three are my main referral sources, sending me over 70% of my visitors.

After that comes Twitter referrals, then visitors from my email newsletter. Next comes referrals from Contestgirl, my favourite giveaway listing site, followed by search engine traffic from Bing and Yahoo. Online Sweepstakes is another giveaway site I list my giveaways on, followed by fellow blogger Mama the Fox, and rounding out the top traffic sources is Yummly, the largest food site in the world (check out my recipes page there).

Top Overall Traffic Sources

  1. Google/Organic
  2. Pinterest
  3. Facebook/Mobile Facebook
  4. Twitter
  5. Feedpress/RSS
  6. Contestgirl
  7. Bing
  8. Yahoo
  9. Online Sweepstakes
  10. Mama the Fox
  11. Yummly

Top Referring Blogs

I’ve also put together a separate list of the top 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. Mama the Fox
  2. The Monarch Mommy
  3. Pawsitive Living
  4. Maman Loup’s Den
  5. Paleo Grubs
  6. Conservamom
  7. The Monarch Mommy
  8. Zephyr Hill
  9. Paleo Forever
  10. All Canada Contests
  11. Sonya’s Happenings
  12. Mama Banana’s Adventures

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! Here’s to another successful year of blogging!

 

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