Best of 2024 | The Year in Blogging

I love putting together this post at the end of every year because it means I get to think about my year of blogging. This is a hobby I purely pursue because it’s fun for me, but it is also one that takes a lot of work! There’s a lot that goes into maintaining a blog, whether it’s making my editorial calendar, writing blog posts, editing and adding pictures, responding to comments, and reading and commenting on other blogs. One of these days, I’m going to track all of the time I spend on my blog on a weekly basis! I’m sure it’s a lot more than I expect.

Anyway, in this post, I’m talking about some of my most popular and favorite posts of the year as well as some blogging stats. The only time I look at these stats is to put together this post, so it’s always a surprise to see how things shook out!

By the Numbers

• 84.800 unique views
• 20,100 visitors
• 1,006 words per post on average
• 3,000 comments
• 165 posts
• 135 countries represented in my views (with the United States, Canada, and Poland being my top three)
• 234 subscribers

I am happily surprised by these numbers – every single category saw some sort of growth in 2024. Unique views were up 34% from 2023, visitors were up 40%, and comments were up 13%. I added more countries to my traffic as well as 28 more subscribers. It makes me feel good knowing my little community here is growing and this blog is reaching more people.

I wrote more blog posts this year (+11) and my average words per post went up (+122 words) so I was not as concise with my posts as I was in 2023. What can I say? I like to write a lot of words!

My Top 5 Blog Posts of 2024

(Blog posts written in 2024, in order of most pageviews.)

1. And Now, Milton – The end of September and the beginning of October were really hard. I wrote this post the day before my mom and I evacuated to Ocala to escape our second hurricane in as many weeks. Hurricane Milton was estimated to make direct landfall on our city as a possible category 3 hurricane, and we knew we needed to get out of town. I found a VRBO that would allow us to bring all four pets – plus, it had a fenced-in yard to make taking the dogs out 1000x easier.
2. Inside a Panic Attack – After having a really bad panic attack one day in September, I decided to write about what it actually feels like. I’m proud of this post and I think it gives people a better glimpse of what it’s like to have an anxiety disorder.
3. Hurricane Helene – I wrote this post two days after Hurricane Helene happened. My car was at the Kia dealership and I had an insurance claim pending to see what would happen to her. I was without power at my apartment, but luckily, my mom’s house had power so I was able to stay with her. It was a really weird, scary time. I had never dealt with hurricane loss like this before.
4. No-Spend July: Recap #2 – I’m not sure why this post was one of my most popular of 2024, but apparently, it was a hit! I did a “no-spend” challenge in July and documented my progress every week on the blog, which was a great way to keep me motivated. This was only the second week of the challenge, but I was going strong!
5. A Monday Morning Coffee Date – This is another random post that made the top 5 and I think it’s because I published this post after I launched my new blog theme. I told everyone to click out of their feed reader so they could see the new digs, and apparently, you guys listened to me!

My All-Time Most Popular Blog Posts

1. I’m 27 and Scared to Move Out (+433 views)
2. On Being a Socially Anxious Introvert (+90 views)
3. 10 Things I Like About Myself (+372 views)
4. “What is meant for me is already mine.” (+1,036 views)
5. Rules for Living with a Dachshund (+175 views)

Another year where these five posts remain in the top spots. I first started tracking these stats in 2019 and this list has not budged since then! I’m impressed at how many views these posts continue to receive, even though they were written so long ago. We’ll see if any other posts can crack into the top 5 in 2025!

Other Favorite Posts

• All of my posts about my journey to a CPAP machine – I wrote all about my CPAP journey, from doing an at-home sleep study to doing an in-clinic CPAP titration study to my first week on CPAP therapy. It was a wild ride, especially considering I did my at-home sleep study in April and didn’t get my CPAP machine until the last day of August.
• My Bookish Red Flags – I fooled people with this post, as everyone thought I was going to talk about the red flags I see in my reading. Instead, I talk about some of the bad habits I have as a reader, such as reading my books in the bathtub.
• A Day in the Life of Eloise and Lila – Have you ever wondered how Eloise and Lila spend their days? Wonder no more! I wrote an entire post detailing their very busy lives. As expected, there were a lot of naps, playtime, and staring out the window.
• My Thoughts on the NYT Best Books of the Century – When the New York Times came out with their best books of the century list, everyone in bookish circles was talking about it! I finally climbed on the bandwagon a little late to talk about what I thought about the selections and what books I would have added to the list.
• Where Do You Keep That? – I wrote this post after listening to an episode of The Girl Next Door Podcast where they did a fun segment of this very name. And it spawned a whole new life in the blogging world, especially with Elisabeth (and now I’m copying off Elisabeth’s other posts to continue this series!)

If you’re a blogger, what’s a post you’re proud of writing this year? If you’re not a blogger, what are your favorite types of blog posts to read?