I often use Google Analytics to track this website’s traffic, and on that account I’ve set up a custom report that tells me how much traffic each blog post is receiving. This report makes figuring out my most popular blog posts quite easy, and every year I look forward to diving into this report!
There are always a few posts that surprise me that did or did not make the list. For example, I can’t believe what the fifth most popular post was this year (see below). Ha!
If you get a kick out of statistics like I often do, here’s a few breakdowns of top posts this year.
Top 5 Most Visited Posts in 2018
- Dear Mama Whose Heart is Twisted About Having Your Second Baby (published 2016)
- How to Paint Wood Trim (published 2015)
- Our Not-So-Secret Family Meatloaf Recipe (published 2016)
- What We’ve Learned After Our Daughter Nearly Drowned in a Backyard Pool (published 2016)
- The Great Milk Debate: Fairlife Vs. Regular (published 2017)
Did you notice that none of the most widely read posts this year were actually written this year? That’s because these specific posts have continually done well in Google searches and Pinterest, which is why they continue to have lots of traffic. I wanted to know further though which posts were the most widely read this year that were actually written this year. Here they are!
Top 5 Most Visited Posts Published in 2018
- Stitch Fix Review: February 2018
- Deciding to Get Out of the Active Duty Army
- Orangetheory vs. 9Round
- All About the Army Reserves
- Finding Our Forever Home
There are some topics that I enjoy writing about so much that sometimes I shock myself by how much my brain can crank out in just a few minutes. Like, did I really just type 1,500 words without looking up? It’s true that writing, documenting, and sharing are passions of mine, which is what made these five posts my top favorite ones to publish this year (in no particular order). Reading each of them back evoke very strong emotions because I can remember vividly how I felt while writing the post.
My Personal Top 5 Favorite Posts Written in 2018
- Closing, Moving in, and a Few Pictures: The first three months of 2018 were sheer chaos, but closing on our new home made all of the hard work and uncertainty feel so worth it. I was just so happy, so relieved, and so peaceful. I still am.
- The Highest High and Lowest Lows from our Eight Years in the Army: I remember talking to my mom and a couple girlfriends after I wrote this post, and they all echoed the same things – “Erica, we had no idea about the depth of some of the stories you shared in your post.” Our time in the Army really was filled with the highest highs and the lowest lows. It was wild.
- When I Think Back On Our Time Living in Kansas…: This posts still makes me teary! Manhattan, Kansas was a wonderful place to call home for almost four years. I left a piece of my heart there for sure. I’m glad I wrote this post to remember the emotion we felt as we left (reading the post made my husband cry, lol).
- Creating Keepsakes with Outgrown Baby Clothes: This was simply a fun post to create, mainly because I was excited to share one option for what to do with outgrown baby clothes.
- Our Family Indoor Lifestyle Photoshoot at Home: I had the hardest time paying for this session, thinking that we were wasting money, by oh my goodness – these pictures mean everything to us. They capture our Kansas home so well after all the work we put into it, and they capture the girls in their toddler stage so perfectly. We will definitely do another shoot like this in the next couple of years.
*****
Thank you for reading my site this year and contributing to many of these stats! I’d be so curious if any specific posts stood out to you, so let me know in the comments, if you’d like!
More: Top posts from 2015, 2016, and 2017
Hi! I’m Erica, and I absolutely adore sharing my life on this website with you! I come here almost daily to blab about all of the things related to being a regular wife and mother in today’s ever-evolving society. I share about our new home, what’s on our kitchen table, what we’re hanging in our closets, where we’re traveling to next, my crazy 5 a.m. work outs, how I make time for girlfriends, our faith, and much more. We always have a lot of balls in the air and somewhat thrive on the chaos. I believe in the power of story-telling as a form of inspiration and entertainment, so I’m here to do both! I was born and raised in north Alabama and recently re-planted roots here again after my husband transitioned out of the Army (he is now in the Reserve and it’s going so well!) I’m a super proud mom to three little girls (ages 7, 4, and 1) who seem to be the stars of the show around here (for good reason – they’re pretty great!) I’m so glad you found me and are here reading! I hope we can get to know each other here on the blog as well as Facebook and/or Instagram. xoxo