Well hello there! Today I want to talk to you about your Best of 2018 blog post. You know, the ones where you summarise all your favourite bits of 2018 on your blog. Have you considered doing one?

Perhaps you’ve *just* published it, perhaps it’s sitting half complete in your drafts folder.

Perhaps you think they’re only for certain types businesses, and not for you?

Perhaps you’ve seen the super fancy lovely slideshows set to music and thought “Not only do I not know how to do that, I also don’t know if I have that many images that I love and the very task seems daunting”?

You aren’t alone, and I’m here to help.

In this blog post I will not present different types of Best of 2018 blog posts but also, I’ll share with you how to make the most of this kind of blog post and the added SEO and marketing benefits of creating this blog post.

Your best of 2018 isn’t limited to those with lots of images (looking at you, wedding photographers!), and it certainly doesn’t always have to be a slideshow set to music. Of course this is a lush idea, but there are many other ways you could present your Best of 2018.

Where do you start?

Obviously, as your SEO Queen, I’m going to focus on the SEO benefits of having such a blog post and it’s also going to inform how you choose your content. Creating a Best of 2018 is not only a fabulous opportunity to reflect on how awesome you are, but also to repurpose the content that worked really well for you in the past year.

Blog your Top Ten Blogs using Google Analytics

One way to present your Best of 2018 is to create a blog post from your 10 most popular blog posts of the past year. To do this, just look at your Google Analytics. Then, go to Behaviour on the left hand side menu, click on Site Content, then All Pages, change your dates to the past year in the top right corner of the screen, and finally look at the nd look at the most popular content over the past year.

You can then link to each blog post and add one image from each blog post. The text you use to link to the blog needs to be something very relevant to the blog post itself such as “Dorchester Hotel wedding – Tom & Rachel” because you want to attract more traffic for Dorchester Hotel weddings, right?

Of course, you don’t have to add images, but if you’re an visual business then it makes sense to. Otherwise, you could just list them like this… ;o)

My Top ten blog posts were:

16 Ways to Take Care of Yourself When You Work at A Computer

How to Install a Cookie Notice (Because 2018 was the year of GDPR!)

My Business Story told almost entirely in GIFs

What I Learned from Not Blogging for Two Months as an SEO Expert

Where to Start with Building your Own WordPress Website (Domains, Hosting, WordPress oh my!)

52 Reasons Why Blogging is a Good Thing To Do

Guest Blogging And Why You Want To Do It Really

How to set up Google Analytics (and why the hell you’d want to)

Why is blogging important for SEO anyway?

How long should a blog post be?

Blog your Best Nine from Instagram

You could create a Best of 2018 blog post by linking to the 9 weddings/projects that were your most popular on Instagram, or simply using it as inspiration of course. This idea makes the assumption that

a) you have Instagram
b) you have discovered your best 9
c) you blogged about each project.

If you don’t have Instagram, then skip to the next idea.

If you didn’t yet publish your best 9 then you can look that up by searching on your app store for Best Nine.

If you haven’t blogged about each of the projects that were on your best 9 then you don’t even need to refer to the best nine and instead just link to the ones you did blog about and/or add the best nine images to your slideshow if you’re doing one, along with links to the photographers who took the photos.

Here’s my best nine of 2018 – it was a fun year! More of me laughing in 2019 to come (gotta give the fans what they want!) 🙂

Photography credits from top left to right: Pink cafe fun with @nataliejweddings in Paris 💖Drinking at @snapphotofest (and no doubt laughing at my own jokes) thanks @leeallenphotos💖(2nd row) Teaching at @blovedhive thanks @jessgracephoto 💖 Being styled by the FAB.U.LOUS @domandink at @warehouseuk 💖 A quote by my amazing “wife” @deadlyknitshade 💖@veronicadearly telling it like it is 💖 (3rd row) A shoot in Bristol with the talented @luisastarlingweddings 💖 Pink doors forever have my heart in Paris @nataliejweddings💖 More @veronicadearly hilarity 💖

Blog your Top Ten from Facebook Insights

You could go through your Facebook Insights and check the most popular content from there and use that to create your top ten weddings and link to those blog posts on your blog. (Why do I keep going on about linking to other blogs in your blog post? It keeps traffic on your site which is AVGT i.e. A Very Good Thing) If you haven’t blogged those projects and instead they’re popular just from image alone, then you can link to blog posts where you’ve worked with that particular photographer, or supplier, or collaborator.

Go to your Facebook Page Insights, click on Posts on the lefthand side, scroll down to All Posts Published, continue to click “See More” at the bottom so you can see all posts from the year. Then you want to focus on the posts that had the most blue & pink numbers (Engagement & clicks) NOT orange as this is impressions only and counts everyone who thumbscrolls over you.

Blog your Numbers of the Year

Some people have done this as Facebook or Instagram updates and that’s cool but that’s not driving the traffic to your website, and your website is your best employee. Why not let it work for you?

Create a blog post where you list your numbers of the year. And no, I don’t mean publish your turnover, but by reviewing the year in this way, you celebrate your wins! And you could create quite a quirky list depending on your brand 😉

Here are some examples of numbers you could share

X amount of weddings planned
X holidays booked
X continents travelled to
X cakes made
X berries picked
X cake tastings given
X amount of clients served
X cream teas served
X Ubers taken
X miles travelled
X planes caught
X amount of miles walked / run
X amount of first kisses you cried at
X amount of Mums you hugged
X amount of times you had to help a bride to the loo
X amount of babies born
X amount of Brooklyn 99 episodes watched whilst editing (I bloomin’ love Rosa, even though I am clearly an Amy)
You could link to your top 100 songs most played in Spotify (here’s mine – teehee)
X amount of colours you put in your hair this year (looking at you, unicorn haired friends)
X amount of hours you’ve spent watching Black Mirror Bandersnatch (11 and counting for me, gulp)

So you’ve created your blog post, what now? What’s the best way to share this on social media?

Here are some ideas for you:

• Choose an image from each of the 10 blog posts you’ve shared and share for 10 days.
• You can mix it up on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest.
• Pin each image to Pinterest with a detailed caption
• You can paste the link to your Instagram bio, you can say something poetic or a line from a song you love to accompany the image.
• You don’t have to always say it’s from your best of. Do not be afraid of repeating that it is, but at the same time you need to mix it up.
• Link to Best of 2018 blog post in your Autoresponder/Out of office
• Link to the Best of 2018 in your email signature
• Email out to the couples who are in it with a link to your Facebook and blog post for them to share it.
• Email the suppliers and collaborators you feature
• Tag your couples, suppliers, collaborators each time you post. This will be more effective if you post one image at a time.
• Email your list to tell them (if you have one!)

But wait, you haven’t even talked about creating a slideshow to music – how do you promote that?

Sharing the slideshow directly to social media will be most effective for engagement rather than just posting a link to your blog post with the slideshow in it. Make sure you still post a link to the blog post so your audience can continue to engage with you if they wish to.

Notes to Behold (this is my new meaning for N.B. 🤣)

• Don’t include images of clients that didn’t fit your target client. You will attract what you promote. If they were let’s say, a little tricky, don’t include them in your Best of post, no matter how awesome the image is.
• No one cares when you post it OR if you don’t post it but they do care when you DO publish it. You can publish this whenever you like! Your audience wants to hear from you! Your potential audience is eager to see your work!
• You don’t need to do all of these ideas I’ve listed here. Just choose one! 🙂
• Your website is your best employee, and your best employee represents your brand, promotes your values and works damn hard for you.
• Don’t have too many images – this will slow down your website a lot! No one wants to wait that long – be brutal with your culling (hence why I suggest top 10 for example)

But wait there’s more….

Now that I’ve planted these seeds, and you’re on board, you can use this information to spark future blog post ideas. What was popular this year? Blog more of that kind of content, particularly if it’s a good excuse for you to share your expertise. It reminds people they’re in the right place to find the solution they’re looking for.

Like I said at the start, you want to create great excuses to repurpose content you already have. You also want to have great reasons to link to other content ideally published on your website but if not then external links that are highly relevant to your brand (submitted weddings or shoots, collaborations, etc)

And finally, remember that your blog is not there for you to sell directly but to increase awareness, show your expertise and to increase engagement and traffic. Don’t forget to measure these factors on Google Analytics, and on social media insights. By taking the steps in this blog post, you can achieve fantastic results.

Let me know how you get on,

Maddy xo

Favourite