Blogging/”Content Creation” is pretty akin to gambling. Some plays win BIG but if you play enough bad hands you just might lose your shirt. Luckily, all of our shirts are still firmly on our bodies but looking at the unexpected “wins” and “losses” of this past year is not only exciting but super informative! We never want to be a site that stops posting those fun, more random posts that connect us with all of you. Getting more eyes on posts is always the hope, and with some posts is the goal, but hanging out with you all every day is what drives us and has (IMHO) kept us here, still able to create. So let’s see what happened this year, shall we?
I was so happy to see this on the “hit” list! It was all thanks to a guy that I went on a couple of dates with that was living in an apartment he was freezing in last winter. Who says dating is pointless?? Just kidding. He’s great and we actually became friends. The part of this post’s success that was a surprise was how much traffic it got. I thought it was a useful post because most, if not all, of my apartments have had bad insulation. What can I say I love old buildings which typically come with lots of pros but good insulation is not one of them. This clearly resonated and I hope made a difference for my freezing friends!
Next up was definitely a “passion post”. I was three months into my Gel-X journey and all the EHD gals that were also doing it were equally as excited to show off their fun designs. I knew it wouldn’t be relatable to a lot of people but I know how desperate I always am to find new design inspiration which made me think others are too. So at first, the traffic was pretty low (“a miss” if you will). The EHD community didn’t care all that much (but if any of you listen to The Deep Dive podcast with June Diane Raphael and Jessica St. Clair, you much be changing your tune:)). But this baby was a sleeper hit and over time has accumulated A TON of views – mostly from Google. Fun fact: I often update the post with my new designs in case you want to check back in on it. I think for the holidays I’m going to dabble in some simple gems and I’m pretty excited about it.
Oh and Hot Tip! I was able to grow my nails with my gel extensions so now I no longer need them and instead use what’s called Gel Builder. I think it’s just a thick gel polish base that they put gel polish on top of to keep them from easily breaking. It’s also a little more affordable!
The shock we experienced when this post was a massive success was comical. We knew it would a little niche since it was about a business that’s only in Portland (so not super helpful if you lived anywhere else) but it’s important to all of us to promote companies that are making a wonderful difference in the world. Y’all this post got so much traffic which honestly made us feel really hopeful for the future. The way it resonated was so powerful and hopefully inspired people to look up similar businesses in their areas. And if you are in the PDX area you have to check out the ReBuilding Center. It’s wonderful and the people that work there are the best!
You might be asking why I was surprised that this post was a hit. These kinds of posts always do pretty well because seeing real bodies in varying sizes in clothing is always helpful. But y’all this wasn’t a normal “hit,” this was a STAR. Google was a huge factor in that because this was our #1 post for daaaysss. Also, while we all truly loved a least one of these suits each, the fact that they were all from only one brand made us wonder if the post would be as popular as our other swimsuit posts in years past. Well, it was beyond the previous year’s traffic and we are always so so grateful for your encouraging words. It shouldn’t be a big deal to simply wear a swimsuit on the internet (or even in public) but our societal body standards haven’t made it easy. So again, thank you<3>
DIY posts are usually a hit or miss. It just depends on what they are! I was a little worried about this one because a lot of the DIYs were pretty trend-forward which isn’t for everyone. I get that. But I am happy to report that minimally a lot of y’all were interested in at least looking. Phew. Plus, not to toot my own horn, but they were pretty cool:) More to come in 2023!
This one was truly shocking. Process posts are usually super popular – especially when it comes to Emily’s projects. Honestly, maybe it was just the opening photo. Ha. Renovation process photos are hard because either there isn’t enough structure to make them compelling or there is but it gives too much away. Another thing to be aware of is that all of our photos must be a certain ratio size and always be horizontal. That may not seem hard but let me tell you it’s not, not hard.
This traffic wasn’t “bad” but I expected it to be much better. Again, it’s process, it’s a DIY, and it’s personal. The blogging trifecta! But for whatever reason, it didn’t speak to a ton of you which is totally fine. I promise it won’t stop us:)
Also, a fun/tragic fact about the bench is that unless I want a cable running around my fireplace and turret…this cannot house my electronics hahaha. Someone (that someone is me) didn’t check which wall her internet was coming from. I don’t regret making this cabinet bench for one second but I will need to come up with another solution for my electronics…UGH.
A real swing and a miss but hopefully helped maybe a few of you. We try to think of pain points in our own lives and I was in search of a quality (and cute) purse that could hold my 16″ laptop. My beloved belt bag is useless in this department:) Maybe it was just too niche or not enough of a priority for people.
This one is even more baffling than the bathroom post! Exterior posts are usually super popular – especially exterior paint posts. It must be because painting the exterior of a house is SOOO intimidating because it’s pretty freaking expensive. I get that any help in that department is extremely appreciated. Can’t win ’em all!
With this one, I was also pretty stunned. It may or may not be a shock that a majority of our readers are not fathers. So posts like these are usually pretty popular since fathers are notorious for being impossible to shop for. But I guess this year or this post just didn’t pop. I still highly recommend looking at this post because they are great gifts that the dads in our lives truly love.
Storytime: I didn’t find out until after the fact that apparently, my dad wrote a father’s day post without telling m because he really loved writing the one he did the year prior. I didn’t ask him again because I didn’t want the team to feel pressured to say yes because he’s my dad. It’s understandably hard for me to be fully objective when it comes to him. So maybe if y’all want another Les Bunge father’s day gift guide in 2023 maybe I can persuade him:)
So those were all of our surprises! Are you surprised? Do you agree? If you get why some didn’t work we would love your opinion. But please never forget that we are people with real feelings so let’s keep the comments constructive<3>
Love you, mean it.
Opening Image Credits: *Design by Sara Ruffin Costello | Styled by Velinda Hellen & Erik Kenneth Staalberg | Photo by Sara Ligorria-Tramp for “The New Design Rules”
THIS POST WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED HERE.
