Happy 2022! I was going to do a 1-year update on my minimalist journey, but I decided to try something different instead.
At the end of 2021, I looked at the analytics and found out which topics were the most popular on this blog. I thought it would be fun to look back at what's been of the most interest in the past year. If you're a data nerd like me, you're gonna think this post is great, haha! Plus if you're a new reader, this will give you a chance to catch up on the highlights.
I also saw which searches led to the blog, which I'll share with you guys. I will consider whether I want to use those questions to write more posts in the future. If you see anything that interests you, please comment below and let me know you would like me to write about it.
- The most popular posts on the Minimalist Life blog in 2021
- Top referring URLs
- Search keywords
- What's changing in 2022 on the Minimalist Life blog
The most popular posts on the Minimalist Life blog in 2021
For the calendar year 2021, there was an array of posts that got the most views. However, I was excited to see that some top picks were about eco-minimalism since that's a topic that's so near and dear to my heart. Here's the run-down, in order according to Google Analytics:
Also on that list is my very first post from when I took over this blog: Minimalist Lifestyle: 5 reasons why life is easier with minimalism.
Top referring URLs
This isn't really about posts, but knowing how people found the blog might give some insight on the topics that are interesting to them. I won't go over the nondescript ones, like "Google," because it doesn't tell us anything.
Basically, the other referrers were www.makingsenseofcents.com, which is a finance blog, and www.theoffgridskoolie.com, which is about, well, an off-grid skoolie. Both of these sources track with topics covered on the blog before I took it over, and I suspect those links are dead since I changed the domain name. But it's good to know that people from the finance and nomadic/tiny living community found interest in this blog.
If you want me to write about either of these topics further, let me know. If you want to see what's already on there, here are a few choices about finances:
- Spending Money Where It Matters Most
- Early Retirement and Minimalism
- How to Make Money and Still Be a Minimalist
- Minimalism and Money: 7 Minimalist Philosophies About Finances
- What is a Frugal Minimalist?
And about RV life/tiny living:
There were also a couple of referrals from Pinterest. The most popular pins were for the following posts:
Search keywords
I found this information particularly interesting because I don't write posts based on keywords. I just write about what's most interesting to me and hope that people who also are interested in these topics find my posts and read them. So here are the searches people did most often to find this blog. If I have a post that matches the search exactly, the topic will have a link to that post. If there is no link and you'd like me to write a post about it, let me know.
- why introverts like minimalist clothing
- can you still be happy despite tragedy
- do introverts tend to be more minimalist
- how minimalism improved my life
- how minimalism changed my life
- how shortages affect minimalism practices
- minimalism misconception
I'm seeing a trend here as far as the topic of clothing has come up in 3 different places. The neutral capsule wardrobe post appears to be particularly popular. Is clothing related to minimalism something you want to hear more about? Let me know.
I hope you enjoyed this trip down memory lane. 😀
What's changing in 2022 on the Minimalist Life blog
After much consideration, I've decided to remove a few things. But don't worry, I don't think anyone will mind.
I'm going to start going through all the posts and taking out all of the affiliate links. While I understand that everyone (including me) has to buy things, there are plenty of other places to promote them. I don't want this blog to be one of them. It may take me a while though (there are almost 100 articles now), so please be patient as I go through them all and update.
See, this blog is a hobby for me. It cost me $0 to acquire it, it makes $0, and that's OK with me because when I took it over, I pared it down so that there are no operating costs (by shutting down the paid domain name, switching to a free web hosting platform, etc.). I don't want my decisions about this blog to be affected tainted by finances, so I made sure that wouldn't be an issue.
Plus, I looked around and it's nearly impossible to find affiliates that are actually minimalist in nature. And since I'm not using affiliate links, I can take down all the affiliate-related legal info that probably nobody reads anyway.
Also, rest assured that there will continue to be zero advertisers on the blog --unless Blogger someday forces it on me without my permission in exchange for getting a free blog. So if you ever see any advertisements, just know that I didn't pick them and therefore their presence is not an endorsement by me.
Lastly, I'm going to continue to be authentic in what I write. This isn't a change, but what will be different is that I will probably become more honest. I've been holding back on some of my opinions because I worried about maybe offending people. But then I realized that I only want readers who will respect my right to have an opinion, regardless of whether they agree with it or not - just as I respect others' rights to think for themselves. Anybody who disagrees and cannot tolerate my opinions can surely find another blog they agree with. Or, they can start their own blog and share their opinions with the world.
That's it--nothing earth-shattering, I just wanted to tell you what I have in mind. As always, I love to see comments and hear from my readers. Take care!
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