January 25, 2020

A Blog Series of Favorite Posts #8: My Most Popular Posts (and a little about blogging)

Most Popular Posts


This is the final post in my series of "Favorite Posts", I promise ;)  This one is a little different, because it's not about MY favorite posts. These are the most popular posts I've had since starting Runs for Cookies in 2011.

Sometimes I'm surprised by what people choose to read and sometimes I'm surprised by what people choose *not* to read. Either way, it's interesting! Sometimes, I'll crank out a post in two hours and it gets more page views than any post I've written in over a year; other times, I'll spend 16+ HOURS on a post (over a period of days, not all at once), and not many people read it. I guess it all balances out in the end!

A little about blogging...

The part that takes the most time (for me) is actually adding photos. When I first started blogging, I would just take a photo and upload it, which didn't take much time at all. Then people started stealing pics of me (before and after photos) and using them for selling weight loss pills or other things, so I started watermarking them.

Then a few years ago, I learned that I should have been resizing the photos before posting; when I post the high resolution original, it takes much longer to load and takes up more storage. I also learned I should have been "optimizing" them--I'm still not sure what this does, but I guess it makes it a little better for page loading or something?

So now, I spend time choosing photos to use on posts; then cropping and resizing them; adding watermarks on photos with people in them; optimizing them; and then adding them to the post. There is a way to do this as a batch, but I don't like to do that because I like to crop each photo differently or put the watermark in different spots. And sometimes, like in this series, I'll add a title photo. In other words, it takes a while!

As you know if you've been reading a while, my posts are usually (well, pretty much always) lengthy. Once I start writing, I tend to get off on tangents and I basically write the same way that I think. As I think about something, I write it.

Before I click the "publish" button, I always read the post once or twice to check for errors (and I'm sure I miss a lot anyway!). I'm a slow reader, so reading my lengthy posts takes time, too.

For those of you that continue to read, thank you! My blog has gone in a thousand directions over the years, so for whatever reason you read, I appreciate it very much.

When I started blogging, it wasn't for an "audience"--it was basically just an online journal so that I could keep tabs on my weight loss/maintenance. But over the years, I've gotten to know so many readers online and/or in person that I feel like I'm writing to share things with friends. It's great!

I was planning to include photos and descriptions of each of the following posts, but today is my birthday and I decided I want to just watch movies and play board games today with the family. So, I'm just posting the list. Here are the ten most popular posts over the last (almost) nine years...


My Most Popular Posts (for Whatever Reason):


1 comment:

  1. Happy birthday! It sounds like you had fun. I’ve been reading since 2012 and enjoy your blog. You’re an awesome writer😊

    ReplyDelete

I used to publish ALL comments (even the mean ones) but I recently chose not to publish those. I always welcome constructive comments/criticism, but there is no need for unnecessary rudeness/hate. But please--I love reading what you have to say! (This comment form is super finicky, so I apologize if you're unable to comment)

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