Sunday 3 January 2016

My 10 Most Popular Posts Of 2015

Now that it is a new year I thought that I would share my 10 most popular blog posts of the year gone by (excluding giveaways). For the last few month's I kind of feel like I have lost my way with blogging and was unsure of what direction this blog was heading in. So instead of listing my ten favourite posts of the year gone by like I did last year, I decided to see which were my most popular posts and this has helped me to decided what direction I will be taking this blog over the next few months.

I am really surprised with my ten most popular posts as some of them I honestly never expected to do as well as they have done, whilst other posts I really expected to be here are not. So let's have a look at my most popular posts from 2015.

1.) Slow Cooker Slimming World Campfire Stew Recipe. 

I never expected this post to do well at all, I was just trying out some new recipes and decided to post about slow cooker campfire stew, as I fancied featuring a recipe for a change. This post literally took me about 15 minutes to write up and I have hardly promoted it at all, but the views have gone crazy. This post was on Pinterest before I had even joined Pinterest as someone else had pinned it. I still get hundreds of views every single day from Pinterest and Google for this recipe a year later, which is crazy. I only wish all of my blog posts got as many hits as this one as it gets thousands of hits each month.


2.) Slimming World Week Three.

When I saw this post had so many views I wondered what on earth was going on and then I realised it was because it contained my Slimming World Syn free salt & pepper chicken recipe. Again this is all down to Pinterest as this recipe keeps getting pinned and viewed every single day. I do love this recipe but the photo that goes with it is terrible, I think I need to re-do the image for this one. I never in a million years thought that this post would do well at all, obviously, Slimming World recipes are popular.

slimming world salt and pepper chicken

3.) How To Grow Your Pinterest Account And Get More Blog Traffic.

I wrote this post back in the summer after I attended a workshop in Newcastle hosted by Pinterest UK. I only joined Pinterest last spring and had no idea at all how it worked so I was keen to go and find out more. I am glad I went as I learnt so much, most of which I am still waiting to find the time to implement. What I did learn and the little changes I did make have made such a huge difference to my traffic. I only have a fairly small Pinterest following of around 600 people and I am terrible for rarely posting on it, however, apart from Google it is my biggest source of traffic and on some days I even get more views from Pinterest than Google. I am going to spend the next few months really working on Pinterest to improve my traffic even more.

pinterest pen and book

4.) Gung-Ho Came To Newcastle.

I am not at all surprised to see this post in my most popular posts as this is one of my favourite posts from the year too. Back in September Chloe was invited to take part in Gung-Ho a fun 5k inflatable obstacle course by Alex Winters from CBeebies. This was such a fun event and got so much interest when people heard about it and was shared via Gung-Ho on their social media accounts too which boosted my views quite a bit. I loved writing this post and we can not wait to go again in the summer, if an event is near you then I really recommend going.

gung ho newcastle

5.) Jungle Jacks Soft Play At Eldon Leisure Newcastle. 

This is another post that I am amazed has done so well, I get so much traffic from Google on this one every single day. Back in the summer Eldon Leisure complex, inside Eldon Square shopping centre in the heart of Newcastle, had a make-over. To celebrate they invited local bloggers to the opening, however, I could not make it so they invited my little ones to try out the new Jungle Jacks soft play , which they enjoyed. I decided to write a quick blog post about it as I don't think many people were aware that the soft play was now there and now so many people land on my blog after searching for reviews of what it is like. This has inspired me to blog more about our days out and places to visit in our local area this year.

jungle jacks soft play sign newcastle

6.) Gro Hush Review.

I reviewed the then recently launched Gro Hush white noise baby calming device from the gro company at the start of 2015. We were sent this when Jacob was suffering from colic and was around 4 months old, so we did not get the full benefit of the Gro hush as it is recommended from birth. However this was a great little gadget that certainly helped settle a restless baby, it is well designed and portable and defiantly worth a try if you have a restless newborn.

gro hush

7.) A Collection Of Nursery Rhymes Book Review.

Back in the summer, we were selected to become Parragon Book Buddies, which means we get to review a wonderful Children's book each month. The first book we were sent to review was ' A Collection Of Nursery Rhymes'. This is such a gorgeous book filled with stunning illustrations and classic rhymes, making it perfect for any nursery. Book reviews normally do well but I was still rather surprised at just how well this post has done, I will be carrying on with my monthly children book reviews this year as I adore books.

child nursery book

8.) Lylia Rose Review & Wishlist.

This is a fairly recent post that I only published a few weeks ago so I am really surprised to see this in the top ten. Lylia Rose is an online ladies accessories store that stocks some gorgeous items at fantastic prices and is run by blogger and mum of two the lovely Victoria. I was sent a gorgeous makeup bag to review and also created a little wish list of items from the store and Victoria kindly gave my readers a 20 % off discount code. You should go check out her site it is lovely and great for gift ideas.

makeup bag review

9.)  Newcastle's Hidden Gems. 

This is actually a sponsored post written with Travelodge, it is all about my favourite places in Newcastle. I really enjoyed writing this post and showing what a fantastic city I live in, something that I am guilty of taken for granted. Writing this post made me realise that it is so much to see and do in Newcastle and I need to get out and about more and be a tourist in my own city more often. It has also prompted me to start writing more about things to do in Newcastle on my blog, after all, it is in my blogs name so it is expected.

tyne river and bridge newcastle quayside

10.) The Marriott Hotel Beamish Package.

Back in September, we were invited to spend a night in the Marriott hotel near the Metrocentre as part of their Beamish package, which included a fun family day out at Beamish. I love Beamish it is one of my favourite places to visit and I remember visiting as a child and is somewhere my own children love to visit too, as they love the trams and trains. I am not surprised this post has done so well as it got lots of lovely comments and is one of my favourite posts of the year too. Hopefully, as the children get older we can share more of our weekends and holidays away as we have lots planned for in the future.

beamish tram

So those are my ten most popular posts from 2015. If you have a blog were you surprised by how well some of your posts have done too?  








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6 comments

  1. Wow what a great variety of posts! I am bookmarking this to read through them - especially Pinterest. I need all the Pinterest help I can get! x

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    1. I thought you would have been great on Pinterest as you do some great recipe posts. I really plan on upping my Pinterest game this year as it seems to be where most of my traffic comes from xx

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  2. Fab post - they are all quite varied so I think variety obviously works well for you :D I'm going to check out my top 10 posts now - I didn't even think to do that xx

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    1. Oh you really should check out your most popular posts from the last year, I was so suprised with some of mine. It has helped me decide what kind of direction I want my blog to go in the future xx

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  3. I love seeing what everyone's else's top posts were :) I agree with you, I'm going to try and do more local posts this year, they do so well :) have a great year!r xx

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    1. Me too I am normally surprised when I see what people's top posts are , some are so random. I hope that you have a wonderful year too xx

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