As 2018 winds down, I’m looking back at my year in blogging. Here, in no particular order, are what I consider my best blogging posts of the year.
When you’ve blogged as long as I have, choosing the best blogging posts of the past year can be a challenge. For more than five years now, I’ve been blogging every single day. That means I have plenty of options to choose from!
Here are the posts about blogging that I think are definitely worth a read if you missed them the first time around!
1. ‘What Bloggers Could Learn from Comedian Jack Benny’
Jack Benny was a well-known radio and television comedian from the 1930s through the 1970s. He died in 1974, so there are plenty of newer bloggers who’ve never even heard of him.
But an interview with one of his co-stars years after his death revealed a fierce concern Benny had that he often shared with his fellow performers. And I thought it could easily be adapted by bloggers as well!
2. ‘The Blogging Question I’m Asked Most After 14 Years’
Back in February, this blog celebrated its 14th anniversary, a feat that even I find hard to believe. When people find out I’ve been at it for so long, they have plenty of questions.
But one always stands out.
3. ‘Does Setting Goals Really Help Bloggers?’
As one year comes to a close, many of you will sit down and come up with your goals for 2019. I’ll surely do the same thing.
4. ‘For Bloggers, the Biggest Lesson of GDPR Isn’t About Privacy’
But does it accomplish anything? Here’s my take on that subject…and why I still set goals year after year.
This was the year that many bloggers first heard of the GDPR: Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation. It shouldn’t have been the first time we heard about it, however.
With the deadline for compliance looming, everyone was suddenly scrambling at the last minute to make sure their websites were set.
And that should tell us something important!
5. ‘A Blogging Experiment: Last Week I Tried Doubling the Writing’
Back in October, I tried a little experiment out of frustration of having trouble getting as far ahead of schedule as I wanted to.
It was a simple little idea that anyone could do no matter often they post per week. Over the course of the next 8 weeks, I’ve been as far as 15 posts — for me, that’s two weeks — ahead of schedule.
6. ‘4 Things More Important to Me Than Your Blog Post’s Word Count’
Word count, the number of words per finished post, is one of those things newbie bloggers seem to obsess over.
My answer has always been the same when I’m asked how long a post should be: “Long enough to adequately cover what you’re writing about.” Sometimes, that might be 300 words. Sometimes, it might be 3,000.
But if you write well and make a compelling argument, even a 3,000-word post might not be too long.
In any case, I must have been frustrated by seeing the question one time too many. So I offered four things I think are far more important.
7. ‘Do Bloggers Ever Feel Like They’ve Run Out of Ideas? Of Course!’
This is another question I get fairly often when people find out I’ve been blogging for as long and as often as I do.
Yes, I give away the answer in the headline. But the reason I’m so quick to say so might just be worth a read.
8. ‘Nasty Blog Comments? Don’t Be Afraid to Take Out the Trash!’
Some bloggers feel they haven’t the right to remove mean-spirited comments from their blog. I’ve never really understood that sentiment.
It’s your site, after all. You get to decide what’s allowed and what isn’t.
So if you feel you need some kind of permission to do so on your own blog, please consider this post to be it.
9. ‘No, I Don’t Want to Create Clickbait Headlines!’
I saw a blog post from someone about how to write “clickbait headlines” for their blog. My definition of clickbait may well be different from yours.
But based on the way I define the term, a clickbait headline is one of the worst things you can do to your readers.
10. ‘Why an Evergreen Post Can Easily Save a Rainy Blogging Day’
An evergreen post is one that can run almost anytime. Many of the posts I do are evergreen to an extent. Topical posts, on the other hand, are in reaction to specific recent events and by nature need to be posted in a timely manner.
I try my best to always have an evergreen post or two already written in advance and on hold. It can make a world of difference!
Well, friends, that’s my list of what I consider my best blogging posts of 2018. I hope you find some helpful advice in those articles!
Thanks for reading and Happy 2019!