Last Updated on 30 December 2021 by Colette
It has become something of an end of year tradition now to share my top performing posts of the year. I find it fascinating to dive in and look back through my traffic over the course of the year – to see what hit the mark and if there’s any surprises in there. Like last year, several posts which had been sitting pretty in my top ten for years (notably how to remove blue tac from hair and 10 reasons to use Google Keep) having dropped out completely with a number of posts that are just a few months old sneaking in there instead.
In terms of traffic to my website, I’ve had several record months this year – August beat my previous best month of December 2020 but was swiftly beaten again by October and then even higher traffic in November – I also had a record day of page views in November. Year on year, my traffic has doubled – and this isn’t because 2020 was as slow year, 2020 was already well up on 2019 – watching my figures this year has been really satisfying – there’s a lot of work gone into that!
So, without further ado, here’s my top ten most viewed posts of 2021:
10. Wish Dental Teeth Whitening – Review
This post was actually written at the very start of 2020, and whilst it didn’t quite make my top ten most viewed posts of 2020, it has snuck in there for 2021. Perhaps indicative of the widely reported trend for cosmetic dentistry and aesthetics procedures caused by us all constantly staring at ourselves on Zoom for the last two years!
Two years on I’m still thrilled with the effects of my dental whitening procedure and would definitely recommend it!
9. Where to visit Santa in York
Dropping a few places from 6 to 9 this year is my post featuring all the best places to see Father Christmas in York – a post which had considerably more events this year and which I seemed to be constantly updating over the last three months of the year! Hopefully it proved useful to those who read it. We didn’t actually get to see Santa ourselves this year as we had booked to visit the day that Storm Arwen caused rafts of cancellations!
8. Halloween Events in the Manchester Area
New for 2021 is a post listing Halloween things to do in and around Manchester – considering this is a new, seasonal post, the fact it hit my top 10 for the year is pretty impressive! Manchester is a great place to visit for Halloween and there’s always loads going on through October!
7. Where to see Santa in Leeds this Christmas
Sitting pretty at number 7 for the second year, is my round up of the best places Father Christmas in Leeds. After lacking in options last year due to lockdowns and restrictions, 2021 saw a lot more places to visit Santa in the Leeds area – many of which sold out long before December with people being keen to make up for missed experiences.
6. Christmas Days out in the Manchester Area
This post is just over a year old but it’s the first time it has made my top 10 most viewed posts of the year. Offering festive alternatives to Santa’s Grotto with details of all the light trails, ice rinks, Christmas markets and festive days out in Manchester – again I think people were keen to make up for missed experiences last year and hopefully this post will have given some inspiration!
5. Top Tips for Visiting Blackpool Illuminations
Jumping up from 8 to 5 this year is our tips for making the most of a trip to Blackpool Illuminations. Visiting Blackpool Illuminations is an annual family tradition for us and one we really missed last year with restrictions preventing us from travelling to Blackpool. It was so nice to be able to return this year – and to update this post with some new images and tips on where to get the best chips!
4. Bonfire Night and Fireworks Events in Manchester
November saw lots of uncertainty around bonfire night this year with Manchester City Council not announcing until the last minute that their usual Bonfire Night events wouldn’t be going ahead. As a result this post listing bonfire night and fireworks events in the Manchester area was extremely popular as people tried to find alternative events to go to – in fact this post was responsible for my highest day of traffic ever!
3. August Bank Holiday Festivals
With the last of the restrictions in England being lifted in the summer, and festivals finally starting to go ahead as planned, the world and his wife was looking for an August Bank Holiday festival to go to and who can blame them? What better way to celebrate the end of summer than living music and cider in a field!
2. Where to visit Father Christmas in the Manchester Area
Dropping from the top spot this year to number two, but considering it’s only relevant for about three months of the year I think that’s pretty impressive! This post has seen regular daily search traffic from the beginning of September as we all tried to make plans for the festive season – I’ve updated it constantly through the autumn with details of new places to visit Father Christmas or information about events which had sold out.
1. UK Family Friendly Festivals
Attending festivals as a family is something we’ve really enjoyed in recent years – but really missed in 2020 / 2021! This comprehensive post features some of our favourite family friendly festivals as well as some of those which are on our radar for possible future visits! It was my 3rd most popular post in 2019 and the 2nd most popular in 2020 but has absolutely smashed 2021, bringing in 17% of my total website traffic for the whole year!
So there you go – the top ten most viewed posts on my blog during 2021. A mix of old and new as ever, but this year the personal posts have dropped out of the top ten – in part because I’ve written far less of them, but perhaps more because I’ve nailed the SEO side of the more helpful content meaning we’re ranking higher on google for those!
Thanks for sticking with us for another year (my blog will be 10 yrs old this spring!). I can’t tell you how much I appreciate every single page view and comment on my blog or social media!
Here’s to 2022 . . . Who knows what will be on the top ten post next year, but I’d put money on it featuring festivals and Father Christmas! (As ever, do let me know if there’s anything you particularly want to see from us!)
Top ten most viewed posts of 2020
Top ten most viewed posts of 2019
Top ten most viewed posts of 2018
Top ten most viewed posts of 2017
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