Let me guess.
Right about now you’re looking back and wondering where the hell 2014 went.
Seriously, how can twelve whole months disappear so damn quickly?
Regardless, it was an interesting year for us bloggers.
In January, Matt Cutts announced the death of guest blogging (although it still seems to be in rude health almost a year later).
In the summer, Google killed off its Authorship project, which sucked if you wanted more recognition for your content. (But, hey, at least you didn’t write a 15,343 word guide on the topic.)
It was also the year that blogging platform Medium gained some serious momentum (though you know you still need your own blog, right?)
And a brand new social network called Ello created a lot of buzz in a short space of time and then faded into the background almost as rapidly.
But as another blogging year approaches, it’s important to celebrate the highlights of the one about to pass.
So let’s get started.
What We’re Proud of Achieving in 2014
It was a big year here at Boost Blog Traffic:
- We more than tripled our blog traffic compared to the previous year.
- We added more than 20,000 new subscribers to our email list.
- We launched our first continuity program – Serious Bloggers Only.
- We completely overhauled our flagship guest blogging program.
- We held our first live event – a three-day workshop in Florida – for members of our premium Blog Launch Formula program.
Of course, much of this would have been impossible without our awesome readers. So thank you – we deeply appreciate your continued enthusiasm and support. We’ve said it before, but we’ll keep saying it – you guys rock. 
We also published some knockout content in 2014 – and the majority of it was from our talented guest authors. So let’s review some favorites.
Favorite Posts of 2014
At Boost Blog Traffic, we pride ourselves on publishing some of the best blogging content on the web. Maintaining high standards can be tough and we certainly push our writers to their limits, but the results speak for themselves.
Of course, with the bar set so high, choosing a handful of favorite posts is all the more challenging. But I’m going to attempt it anyway.
So here they are, my favorite posts of 2014, in the order that they appeared on the blog.
An Open Letter to Writers Struggling to Find Their Courage
Jon started the year on typically bombastic form with this rallying cry for writers stuck in jobs that keep them from fulfilling their dreams. It’s a powerful piece of writing and all of the familiar Morrow motifs are in place: the empathetic “mind reading” opening, the evocation of strong emotions, the use of a personal story to reinforce the main argument.
7 Simple Edits That Make Your Writing 100% More Powerful
This post – from our resident copyeditor Shane Arthur – started out as a high concept pitch: “Let’s demonstrate good editing by showing it at work within a post” and evolved from there. So in this finished post, you can see two versions of the opening – before and after editing – which brings the concept vividly to life. What’s so distinctive about this idea is that the post doesn’t just include an example – it is the example.
49 Creative Geniuses Who Use Blogging to Promote Their Art
Leanne Regalla cleverly engineered this post to be popular from the outset. By celebrating a group of successful bloggers (each with their own social following), she created a small army of powerful people who could promote the post for her once it was live. After all, who wouldn’t want to help promote a post declaring them a genius?
How to Craft Tweetable Quotes That Spread Your Content like Wildfire
John Corcoran is an ex-White House speechwriter who knows a thing or two about communicating ideas to have maximum impact. In this post, he applied principles from Chip and Dan Heath’s bestselling book Made to Stick to a very specific domain – tweetable quotes. What’s awesome about this post is that it actively demonstrates the concepts it sets out to explain by embedding several tweetable quotes within the post – which also helped the post to spread.
Blogger Outreach: How to Get Influencers to Promote Your Content for Free
Brian Dean’s an SEO powerhouse, and his site Backlinko is one of our favorite blogs. This detailed post about connecting with influencers should be required reading for any serious blogger – having the right connections makes a huge difference. It’s packed with concrete examples – including email templates for various scenarios – and is a great post to emulate if you’re trying to explain a complex process in an engaging way.
The Guilt-Free Guide to Earning an Honest Buck from Your Blog
We know from talking to our readers that many struggle with the whole concept of making money from their blogs. Some are motivated by profit, but many feel uneasy when thinking about their blog as a business or overtly “selling” anything to their readers. Gary Korisko’s post does a great job of explaining why sales doesn’t have to be sleazy and, more importantly, why your blog will have more impact – and enable you to help more people – if you monetize it.
9 Plugins for Growing Your Email List That Work So Well It Feels Like Cheating
Sometimes you want to learn how to do something. Other times, you just want to know the right tool to get the job done. This post from Adam Connell is a fantastic resource if you’re serious about building your email list, and it’s on the favorites list for sheer usefulness – we refer our blogging students to it time and time again.
How to Run Your First Webinar (with No Skills, No Stress and No Budget)
One of the biggest obstacles to any blogger’s success is the fear of failure. Mary Jaksch tackles this fear head-on with her post about running a webinar and isn’t afraid to share a personal story of disaster early in her own blogging career. Both practical and inspirational, this post has everything needed to coax a reticent wannabe webinar host into action.
101 Writing Resources That’ll Take You from Stuck to Unstoppable
This post from Cynthia Lindeman reconfirms the power of the “monster” list post for getting attention in a noisy, crowded blogosphere. The simple format hides a ton of research, but it was worth the effort – the post received thousands of social shares. The lesson – if you pick a popular topic (in this case writing) and aren’t afraid of a little hard work, a list post is still really smart post to write.
How to Get Interviewed by Popular Blogs (Even If You’re Not a Big Shot)
We love publishing detailed posts that give readers everything they need to know about a particular topic. This post by Ann Smarty perfectly fits that bill and is aimed at readers who want to become that special breed of blogger – the sought-after expert. Ann lays out a practical blueprint for getting those crucial first interviews and includes a ton of examples to ensure that you know exactly what to do at each stage.
27 WordPress Hacks Every Serious Blogger Needs to Know
We’ve long held the view that if you’re serious about blogging, you must use WordPress as your publishing platform. So it’s safe to assume that many of our readers have a good working knowledge of WordPress. However, this list of favorite hacks from Buffer’s Kevan Lee takes WordPress mastery to a whole new level. Even seasoned bloggers will find something new here.
The Blogger’s Bucket List: 20 Must-Reach Milestones on the Path to World Domination
This post has a fun backstory. Kevin Duncan was a diligent commenter on this blog for several months, often sharing our content and linking to our posts from his blog. Since he was doing everything we recommend to get on the radar of a popular blogger, how could we not reach out to him? We asked him to pitch a few ideas and loved his “Blogger’s Bucket List” concept – this popular post was the result.
How Will You Ensure 2015 is a Huge Year for You and Your Blog?
So there you have it, some of our proudest achievements and favorite posts from 2014.
We’re already making big plans for next year, but what about you?
What are your blogging goals for 2015?
Because whatever your level of success in 2014, one thing’s certain…
You need to top it in 2015.
And that means setting bold goals for your blog now.
If you’re just starting out, pick a simple target. Like getting 1,000 subscribers by the end of the year. Or making your first $1,000 directly from your blog.
If your blog is more established, try this simple idea. Pick a metric – like traffic, or subscribers, or profit – and aim to double it by this time next year.
Then write out your goal and stick it somewhere you’ll see it every day. Yes, you’ll have heard this advice many times before, but this time actually do it.
In fact, write it out now.
By 31 December, 2015 I will …
And as you welcome in the New Year this evening, spend a few moments to visualize what great achievements it could hold for you and your blog.
Look good? Awesome! See you in 2015!
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