Bring on the next year.
2016 is this avocado:
It's this pizza:
And it's this beer:
2016 is this cookie:
via BuzzFeed/Food
19 Pictures That Pretty Much Perfectly Sum Up 2016
via BuzzFeed/Food
Saturday, 31 December 2016
via BuzzFeed/Food
Can You Look At These Labs Without Asking "Who's A Good Boy?"
So many good boys!
This is Campbell. He has something hanging from his mouth but he doesn't care. He's a good boy.
Flickr / CC BY 2.0 / Flickr: 23am
Charlie is a good boy, too.
Flickr / CC BY 2.0 / Flickr: quattlebaum
And so is Petey.
Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Flickr: jennnster
This is Abe. Smiling's his favorite. Abe is a good boy.
Flickr / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 / Flickr: cc_chapman
via Buzzfeed/Animals
21 Hilariously Accurate Tweets About Trader Joe's
“A list of people who need to calm down: everyone in this Trader Joe’s parking lot.”
via BuzzFeed/Food
Friday, 30 December 2016
21 Healthyish Prepackaged Snacks That Actually Taste Good
Better-for-you snacks that won’t make your mouth sad.
We hope you love the products we recommend! Just so you know, BuzzFeed may collect a share of sales from the links on this page.
Jenny Chang / BuzzFeed
Quinn microwavable popcorn made with organic, non-GMO corn and popped in a chemical-free paper bag.
Serving size: 3 cups popped
80 calories
3g protein
1g fat
160mg sodium
0g sugars
3g fiber
Get them on Amazon for $4.08+ per box. Available in seven different flavors.
Dairy-free chia pudding cups high in omega-3, protein, and fiber.
Serving size: 6 oz. (one pod)
164 calories
3g protein
10g fat
0mg sodium
10g sugars
5g fiber
Get them from AmazonFresh for $2.72+ per pod. Available in vanilla bean, blueberry, mango, and banana. Or make your own chia pudding by combining chia seeds and almond or coconut milk, and refrigerating until thick. Add fruit, extracts, sweeteners, spices, or toppings as desired.
@thechiaco / Via instagram.com
via BuzzFeed/Food
24 Movies You Probably Missed This Year, But Should Definitely See
1. Author: The JT LeRoy Story
Magnolia Pictures
In the late '90s and early '00s, a San Francisco woman named Laura Albert pulled off the kind of fame more associated with being a rock star than an author. But an author she was — from a novel, a short story collection, and a novella, Albert became a favorite of celebrities like Courtney Love, Winona Ryder, Billy Corgan, and Asia Argento, who'd support her and call her and fill in for her at readings when she claimed extreme reticence. The rub was, she did this by lying — grandly and spectacularly. Albert was publishing her work under the pseudonym and persona of JT LeRoy, a twentysomething man from West Virginia who claimed to be drawing from real, troubling experiences of underage sex work, abuse, and addiction. When the excuse of shyness no longer cut it, Albert recruited her sister-in-law Savannah Knoop to put on a wig and sunglasses and play LeRoy in public — a gambit that, astonishingly, worked, until it didn't.
It's a hell of a tale, and documentarian Jeff Feuerzeig (The Devil and Daniel Johnston) lets Albert tell it, ethical queasiness and all. It's an approach that feels, at first, like giving a fraud an unearned platform on which to defend herself, unchallenged. But the more Albert talks, the more her quicksilver ability to build herself up as the tragic hero, offer up trauma as a narrative spine, and demand empathy pulls you in. She is, huckster or not, an incredible storyteller. You may not come around to her side, but you definitely understand why she was able to fool so many people with such outrageous prevarications and such a cunning positioning of pain as proof of artistic authenticity. Author: The JT LeRoy is an unsettling watch, but it's also the kind of thing you can't get out of your head. —Alison Willmore
Where to see it: Author: The JT LeRoy Story is available for rent and purchase online, as well as on DVD/Blu-ray.
2. Cameraperson
Janus Films
Kirsten Johnson is a cinematographer who's worked with all sorts of big names in the documentary world — like Laura Poitras (Citizenfour), Kirby Dick (This Film Is Not Yet Rated), and Michael Moore (Captain Mike Across America). She had been the woman operating the camera in situations around the world, dangerous, intimate, intense, and scenic. Johnson calls Cameraperson, which she directed and cut together out of outtakes, extra footage, and home movies from across her career, a "memoir." It's a label that feels at once accurate and like it falls short — Johnson's created a montage of moments that give insight into her experiences while providing constant reminders that there is nothing objective about the recording of images.
An interview with a young woman getting an abortion, which focuses on her hands to preserve her anonymity, breaks so that the subject can be reassured that she's not a bad person. A child plays with an axe while Johnson audibly frets over safety, but keeps filming. Footage of Johnson's mother, in the throes of Alzheimer's, raises questions about consent but also about the power of the camera to preserve a moment in someone's life as their sense of self continues to slip away. Johnson weaves her argument so deftly and subtly that it's only until halfway through her unusual film that you realize she's making one at all. —A.W.
Where to see it: Cameraperson is still in a few theaters. It'll be released by the Criterion Collection on DVD/Blu-ray on Feb. 7.
3. Denial
Laurie Sparham / Bleecker Street
A sadly timely film given our current political climate, Denial focuses on a 1996 court case where self-appointed Nazi expert David Irving (Timothy Spall) sued Holocaust studies professor Deborah E. Lipstadt (Rachel Weisz) for libel after she called him a Holocaust denier in one of her books.
The film is fascinating because I, for one, had never heard of this seemingly insane court case (turns out in England, the burden of proof lies with the defendant! WHAT?) and boasts tremendous performances from Weisz, Spall, and Tom Wilkinson as the head of Lipstadt’s legal team. —Jarett Wieselman
Where to see it: Denial is available for purchase online, and will be out on Blu-Ray, DVD, and On Demand on Jan. 3.
4. Don't Think Twice
The Film Arcade
Don't Think Twice is a drama about comedians. In his second film, standup-turned-director Mike Birbiglia stars as a member of a New York-based improv troupe called The Commune. Its members are famous and credible in a hyperlocal and extremely poverty-stricken way that Birbiglia understands with unwavering accuracy — his deep knowledge of the New York comedy scene and the people in it gives the film a startling melancholy.
The Commune's members are played by Birbiglia, Chris Gethard, Gillian Jacobs, Keegan-Michael Key, Kate Micucci, and Tami Sagher, a group of talented goofballs slowly having to come to terms with the fact that they're not all going to make it into fame and fortune, and that fame and fortune may not be the secret to happiness anyway. There's an SNL-type show called Weekend Live that everyone yearns to join, there are relationships stretched by uneven success, and there's a palpable sense of staying too long at the party. Don't Think Twice is a sweetly sad film about realizing that it may be time to revamp your dreams. —A.W.
Where to see it: Don't Think Twice is available for purchase online, and it's also on DVD/Blu-ray.
5. Green Room
A24
Even before his tragic death, every Anton Yelchin performance felt like a gift. He was one of the most talented actors of his generation and consistently chose increasingly fascinating projects. Since Yelchin’s untimely death in June, the small handful of his films yet to be released have felt even more precious. So if you missed Green Room in theaters when it was released in April, brace yourself for an unrelenting thrill ride.
The film follows four members of a punk band (Yelchin, Alia Shawkat, Joe Cole, and Callum Turner) who unknowingly agree to perform at a neo-Nazi skinhead bar in the middle of the deep woods. Then, following an incendiary yet surprisingly successful set, the foursome find themselves locked in the venue’s green room with a dead body, cut off from the outside world, and surrounded by a horde of malicious men determined to keep them from reporting the crime to the cops. It’s an incredibly tense cat-and-mouse game with some of the grizzliest special effects seen all year. There’s a sterling turn from Patrick Stewart as the neo-Nazi leader who might actually be a potential ally, but Green Room belongs to the deeply human character Yelchin conjures up. —J.W.
Where to see it: Green Room is streaming on Amazon Prime. It's also available for rent and purchase online.
6. Everybody Wants Some!!
Van Redin / Paramount Pictures
Few of us have gotten to experience the charmed life of a swaggering star athlete in the '80s, but, courtesy of Everybody Wants Some!!, it's a lifestyle we can slip on like a worn-in T-shirt. Richard Linklater's spiritual sequel to Dazed and Confused, Everybody Wants Some!! is really a testament to the filmmaker's incredible gift with hangout comedies. He manages to make a movie about a group of testosteroned-out jocks getting loaded and getting laid into something not just downright lovable but crazily rewatchable.
It might have something to do with the charms of his charismatic, easy-on-the-eyes cast, which includes Blake Jenner, Ryan Guzman, Tyler Hoechlin, Wyatt Russell, and a scene-stealing Glen Powell. Or it might have to do with Linklater's abiding faith in the transformative powers of college to open the eyes of even a group of dudes as comfortably settled in their identities as his baseballers. Long stretches of shooting the shit with new people in Everybody Wants Some!! have the potential to expand the most unmotivated of horizons. —A.W.
Where to see it: Everybody Wants Some!! is available for rent and purchase online, and is also on DVD/Blu-ray.
7. The Fits
Oscilloscope Laboratories
Writer/director Anna Rose Holmer's fable about adolescence unfolds with haunting dreaminess within the seemingly mundane confines of a community center in Cincinnati. That's where 11-year-old Toni (Royalty Hightower) has been hanging out and training with her brother, and it's where she starts to feel the creeping in of adulthood in the gender divide that appears among the older kids: The girls all drift toward the dance team, while the boys do boxing.
Toni gamely joins her assigned side, but doesn't find dancing easy going, especially when what's either an epidemic or an instance of mass hysteria hits the girls, sending them one by one into ecstatic fits. It's maybe a metaphor for the milestone that is menstruation, but The Fits is better left unparsed — that's how eerily and elegantly it renders the mysteries of growing up. —A.W.
Where to see it: The Fits is streaming on Amazon Prime. It's also available on DVD/Blu-ray.
8. The Handmaiden
Magnolia Pictures
There’s nothing quite like a Park Chan-wook movie. From Oldboy and Lady Vengeance to Stoker and Snowpiercer, the South Korean auteur has developed a singular sense of storytelling and a visual flair that continually surprises, confounds, and delights. His latest is no exception. The Handmaiden takes place in Japanese-occupied Korea during the early 1900s and charts a young conwoman's journey as she conspires with a conman to rob an heiress of her fortune.
If only it were that simple. One of The Handmaiden’s greatest joys is discovering the boundary-pushing twists and turns for yourself. So go in knowing as little as possible and brace yourself for one of the year’s most gorgeous, erotic, hilarious, and satisfying films. —J.W.
Where to see it: The Handmaiden is still in theaters.
9. Hunt for the Wilderpeople
The Orchard
One of 2016’s most joyous performances came from Julian Dennison, the now 14-year-old star of director Taika Waititi’s charming comedy. Dennison plays Ricky, a juvenile delinquent whom social services places with the loving Bella (Rima Te Wiata) and her cantankerous husband Hec (Sam Neill). Bella and Ricky develop a quick love for one another, so when she suddenly dies, Ricky flees, fearing he’ll be put back into the system.
Unable to let the boy wither and die in the harsh New Zealand wilderness, Hec sets out to find him, which he easily does because Ricky is woefully unequipped to rough it. But their adventure is unexpectedly extended when Hec injures his leg, forcing them to camp out for weeks and forcing Ricky to become a truly competent caretaker. While Hec recoups, the authorities mistake the trip for an abduction and a series of unfortunate events lead them to believe Hec is a pedophile. Soon, the two become the focus of a national manhunt that culminates in some genuinely hilarious, deeply touching, and adrenaline-pumping scenes. —J.W.
Where to see it: Hunt for the Wilderpeople is streaming on Hulu. It's also available for rent and purchase online, as well as on DVD/Blu-ray.
10. The Invitation
Drafthouse Films
As someone who has watched a lot — A LOT — of thrillers over his 35 years, it takes a truly inventive screenplay to surprise me. So when I say that The Invitation genuinely had me guessing right up until its big final act revelation(s), trust in that.
The film opens on Will (Logan Marshall-Green) making his way to a dinner party thrown by his ex-wife Eden (Tammy Blanchard, in one of the year’s most unnerving performances), who basically disappeared following the accidental death of their son, which fueled their split. Eden reemerges to introduce Will and their friends to her enigmatic new husband, David (Michiel Huisman).
The night has a dark energy coursing through it seeing as it’s the first time Will has returned to the house where his son died — but more than that, he can’t shake the feeling that there’s something wrong with Eden, a fear that gains more and more credibility as the night goes on. But is the setting clouding his judgement or has Will tapped into something more sinister at play with his ex and her new husband?
I won’t go any further for fear of spoiling one of the year’s most exhilarating guessing games, but I will add that a script and performances are only as good as the eye behind the camera, and The Invitation’s greatest strength is that Karyn Kusama is calling the shots. —J.W.
Where to see it: The Invitation is streaming on Netflix. It's also available for rent or purchase online, and on DVD/Blu-ray.
11. Kate Plays Christine
Grasshopper Film
Kate Plays Christine is one of two movies that happened to come out in 2016 about Christine Chubbuck, the TV news reporter who killed herself during a live broadcast in 1974, and who became a grim, sad after-the-fact symbol of a year in which media seemed to implode. While Antonio Campos' Christine had Rebecca Hall in the role of Chubbuck in a more straightforward biopic, Robert Greene's Kate Plays Christine tries something more experimental and more provocative.
It follows actor Kate Lyn Sheil (House of Cards) as she goes through preparations to play Chubbuck herself, researching the late woman's life in Florida, rehearsing, and going through costuming. The result is a testament to acting as a form of detective work, as well as an interrogation of why someone would want to make a film about Chubbuck in the first place, using her depression and loneliness as uneasy symbols of something larger. —A.W.
Where to see it: Kate Plays Christine is available for rent and purchase online.
12. King Cobra
IFC Midnight
via BuzzFeed/Travel
8 Female Movie Characters Who Were Defined By Their Relationships To Men In 2016
What are moms, even.
Half of human beings are women, but far fewer than half of protagonists in top-grossing films are female. However! A thought that has occurred to some Hollywood geniuses is, Women: Maybe we should put them in our films? And sometimes those films do well at the box office, if not better!
However, one funny *effect* is that, often, filmmakers and screenwriters will feature a woman in their movie but then have everything in her life almost exclusively revolve around men. In 2016, we’ve seen women who were driven to a bizarre degree by weird relationships with their boyfriends, their dads, a male deity, or — for one sad mom — her superhero son and his awful friends. It sometimes seems as if the imagination is only big enough to accommodate one central female character, and anything more (say, a relationship with her mom or a friendly female teapot) would be distracting, even unbelievable.
Without further ado, here are eight female characters from major motion pictures and the male characters who had an outsize impact on their behaviors and fates! (Major spoilers for movies and the logic of patriarchy.)
1. Aurora, Passengers
Release date: Dec. 21, 2016
Men who shape her fate: Her dad, her kidnapper-boyfriend
How they mess with her: Aurora's dad, who died when she was a teenager, was a writer, a war correspondent, a bold and sometimes reckless man of the world. Aurora, played by Jennifer Lawrence, spends her whole life trying to live up to his legacy, which is why she ends up on a spaceship headed to a space colony. It's on the spaceship that another man, Jim (Chris Pratt), sees her in hibernation and decides he wants to wake her up so they can have sex. Jim ruins everything Aurora had planned for her life, but she is ultimately okay with it.
Columbia Pictures
2. Jyn, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Release date: Dec. 16, 2016
Men who shape her fate: Her dad, her adoptive dad
How they mess with her: Jyn (Felicity Jones) has a dad who has been building an incredibly dangerous weapon for the Galactic Empire, which — as we all know — is basically pure evil. Because of his work, he was abducted, Jyn's mom Lyra was murdered, and little Jyn was raised by a bonus father figure, with whom she also has issues! Jyn spends much of her energy and time confronting her complex relationship with each dad: First she gets into a big argument with her stand-in father, who raised her but then abandoned her when she was still a youth; then she tries to reunite with her biological father all the while trying to convince a bunch of people that he's not pure evil. Eventually, she dies — because she's developed principles, but also to finish what her father started.
Lucasfilm Ltd
3. Carol, Office Christmas Party
Release date: Dec. 9, 2016
Men who shape her fate: Her dad, her brother
How they mess with her: Carol (Jennifer Aniston) is a hardworking, competent executive who works at her late father's firm, but he always gave more attention to her brother, even though she's extremely smart and accomplished. As a result, Carol is a textbook resentful bitch. For some reason, her incompetent brother and his enabling co-worker are the heroes of this movie, and she's the antagonist for most of it. So the thing that makes her the antagonist is that she's good at her job? What will filmmakers think of next!
Glen Wilson / Paramount Pictures
via BuzzFeed/Travel
34 Of The Best Cast Reunions From 2016
Including probably the closest thing we’ll ever see to a true Friends reunion.
High School Musical
Ten years after High School Musical first aired on the Disney Channel, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, Corbin Bleu, Lucas Grabeel, and Monique Coleman reunited in honor of the anniversary in January.
Disney Channel/Image Group LA
Harry Potter
In 2016, the Weasley family was back at it again with another reunion! Rupert Grint and his fictional little sister Bonnie Wright hung out together at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando in January and shared this picture on Instagram. Grint and Wright were also joined by Evanna Lynch, Matthew Lewis, and Katie Leung for a fan event at the theme park that weekend.
Bonnie Wright / Via instagram.com
Friends
Five of the six Friends cast members reunited on stage in February to honor television director and Hollywood legend James Burrows, who worked on a number of shows, including theirs, Cheers, and Will & Grace. The only missing "friend" was Matthew Perry, who did send in a video. But considering the many past iterations of so-called Friends reunions, this was a pretty impressive gathering.
NBC
The Nanny
Back in March, The Nanny's Fran Drescher and Charles Shaughnessy adorably reunited to help celebrate the 83rd birthday of Renée Taylor, who played Fran's mom Sylvia on the show.
Charles Shaughnessy / Via Twitter: @C_Shaughnessy
via BuzzFeed/Travel
23 Painfully Awkward Situations Illustrated By Crap Taxidermy
Apparently stuffed animals are super awkward. Via @CrapTaxidermy.
When you accidentally call your teacher "mum".
When the waitress says: "Enjoy your food" and you reply: "Thanks, you too!"
When you realise you've just sent an email to your boss that ends with: “Love You XOXO.”
When you're about to shake someone’s hand and they go in for a hug.
via Buzzfeed/Animals
People Are Dying Over This Cat's Face After He Was Caught Stealing A Cinnamon Bun
And Percy has ZERO remorse for it.
Meet 19-year-old Sophia Lindner from Ardmore, Philadelphia, and her family's cat, Percy. The Lindners have had Percy for six years now, and for six years, Percy's been up to no good.
Lindner told BuzzFeed News their cat has been mischievous since the day they got him. Especially when it comes to getting human food by any means possible.
"Even though he knows the rules, he will still try to sneak around them," she said.
She then went on to list all of the things her family's caught Percy with that he knows he's not allowed to have: "Chocolate cupcakes, PayDay bars, popcorn, ham, chicken, beef jerky, pasta, Cheez-Its."
"He knows how to steal out of tupperware containers, cupboards, and backpacks," Linder said.
Sophia Lindner
However, on Christmas every year, it's become tradition to make cinnamon rolls in the morning, so Lindner specifically and firmly warned Percy to not try anything. She said their cat understands the word "no" very clearly now.
"He knows that the word 'NO' in a low tone means 'don’t do whatever you’re about to do'," she said.
Lindner explained that she had to repeat "NO" and "GET DOWN" several times.
Sophia Lindner
via Buzzfeed/Animals
This Puppy Fetching Her Crying Owner A Napkin Is Proof We Don't Deserve Dogs
They are too good for us.
This is Lovelace, a pure bred Maltese from California.
Mayrelyn Phan
She’s super considerate.
Lovelace’s owner, Mayrelyn Phan, told BuzzFeed News she was watching the TV show The OA when she started sniffling and tearing up.
“I had a tissue just laying on my bed, and Lovelace went over to get it and came back to give it to me,” Phan said.
via Buzzfeed/Animals
27 Tweets That Prove That Dogs Are The Biggest Divas
“Boone is demanding nose boops. It is a fairly boopable nose, as far as dog noses go.”
via Buzzfeed/Animals
Your Epic End-of-Year Blog Audit Checklist: Where You’ve Been and Where You’re Headed!
The best way to look over all you’ve done and gather your thoughts about where you’d rather be next year is to go through your blog and social media and audit your performance. What went right (and how can you replicate that)? What went wrong? What felt yuck and what are you excited about doing again in 2017?
Last year’s audit checklist was so popular I thought I’d update it for this year and send you off on your merry way with a drink and a pen to revel in your year of blogging. May the force be with you!
Feel free to download the PDF checklist if you’re a paper-and-pen kind of blogger – you can download it here: problogger-end-of-year-blog-audit-checklist.
How to Do an End-of-2016 Blog Audit
Grab a pen and notebook, a fresh Google Doc, a spreadsheet if you’re into that sort of thing, or anything else you’re happy to take notes on or in, and go through each section of your blog thoroughly. What worked, what didn’t, what did you hate, what will you change for next year?
As science historian James Burke said once “you can only know where you’re going if you know where you’ve been”. True dat.
“You can only know where you’re going if you know where you’ve been.” – James Burke
So let’s get stuck in.
Content:
You’re going to have to look at some stats for this, so open your WordPress Jetpack or Google Analytics and be prepared to dive in. First though, a look through the posts themselves:
- How long were posts? Did you have a variety of word lengths? All long? All short? Which performed better? What would you say your average post word count would be?
- What were the most popular posts? Overall, and for each category of your blog?
- What type of posts worked? What resonated with your audience?
- What fell flat, or just quite didn’t make it?
- Did you write to your niche? Or did you branch out? Was that a wise choice?
- Were you helpful?
- What posts got the most comments/emails? Which one seemed to touch a nerve in your audience?
- What was shared most?
- What did you enjoy writing?
- Where are you sourcing images? Are you making or taking your own? Could you start? What other options are there (you can find a selection of places that have collections of free, no-attribution images here), what program are you using to create and personalise your images? Is it enough or should you try something new? What are your image sizes? Are they optimal? Have you changed blog layout and now some of them are poorly sized? Make a note of them so you can update later with a better image.
- Which day of the week got the most traffic? What were you publishing on those days? Was it consistent with your brand?
- Was your overarching theme this year consistent with your brand?
- What search terms got the most people to your blog? are you providing content for them?
- Does each post have a good image that’s formatted correctly, a keyword-rich headline, and is it pleasant to the eye? Is there enough white space, and are there calls to action where necessary?
- Were you providing enough value?
Back End
The nitty-gritty that we usually ignore unless something has gone wrong. Do a cleanout!
- Are your plugins still working for you? What can you delete? What needs updating?
- What do you have as a 404 error message? Can you make it more useful to the reader who finds themselves there?
- Do you have broken links? (one way to find out is to use a broken link checker, or install a plugin that will do it for you). Can you update them?
- What is your SEO plan? Are you inserting key words in all the right places? If you have Yoast installed, is there a green light on the majority of your posts? What can you do to improve in the new year? (Moz has a pretty comprehensive post here on doing a full SEO audit if you feel you need that much depth, and a content audit here).
- Have you filled out the alt-text field on all your images with keyword-rich descriptions? (remember, this is what Pinterest pulls so make it user-friendly)
- What have you been using to track metrics/traffic? Is it working?
- Create a Google Analytics report about what has happened on your site, and who is reading it (and on what device!) Darren has a great tutorial here on how to find the most useful stats in Google Analtyics and use that knowledge to set up your next year of blogging on the right foot.
Design
We eat with our eyes, as they say, and readers will make snap judgements about you and your blog based on how it looks when they get there. What does your design say?
- Is it functional?
- Is it reader-friendly?
- Is it pleasing to the eye?
- Does it describe you and your blog at a glance?
- Have you stayed consistent with colours and fonts?
- Are there any widgets that need removing?
- How is your sidebar working? What can you shuffle around or delete entirely?
- Are you making the most of the bottom-of-the-blog real estate?
- Are the ads old? Can you write to the advertisers and offer them a new deal?
- Are you making the most of your design to point to where you could make an affiliate sale?
- Are there several points on the page where readers can follow you?
- Is your newsletter signup box prominent? Do you have more than one?
- Is that pop-up box worth it?
- Are your social media icons in the right order (you might want to put your most popular sites at the front). Are they linked to the right place? Are they the right size or colour?
- Do all the links on your homepage work?
- What can you remove from the design to enhance the look of your blog?
- What are you using for social sharing? Do you like it? are people using it? Can you find something that works better?
- Personal branding: is it recognisable? Have you been using the same branding techniques on your post images?
Pages/Topics
The umbrella of what you’re about. How’s that workin’ for ya?
- Are the pages and topics you’ve sorted your content into still relevant? Have you moved onto other things? Can you merge some? Nest them?
- Did you share content equally across all or did you find you wrote on a particular topic the most?
- Is the navigation streamlined and user-friendly?
- Are your pages and topics easily accessed?
Social Media
Our home away from home!
- On what platform did you see the biggest growth?
- Where was the most engagement?
- What did you enjoy the most?
- Have you changed profile pictures and bios lately? How current are they?
- What brought most return for your efforts?
- Where would you like try in the new year?
- Is it obvious on all of these platforms what you’re about? What you can offer people?
- Do all your platforms link to your blog, and are these options obvious and easy to find?
Your promotional strategy
You can’t just “build it and they will come”. Because they’re busy reading someone else.
- How did you get your blog in front of new readers?
- How successful was that?
- What wasn’t worth the time invested?
- Where will you invest your time next year?
- What have you got as an opt-in? Does it need upgrading?
- How are you offering your newsletter or mailing list? Have you been consistent with it, have you been tracking open rates etc?
- Did you guest post anywhere? Was that worth your time? Where could you try this year?
- Did you try to get some traditional media coverage?
- Did you try any collaborations or cross-promotions? Who could you work with in 2016?
- Did you do any giveaways? How successful were they?
Monetization
- What has been your strategy this year?
- What monetization models were you using?
- What has been the most lucrative?
- What hasn’t been worth your time?
- What will you spend your resources on next year?
- What programs, ebooks or courses need updating?
- Can you bundle them together and do a quick lead-up to christmas sale?
- Can you release something quick in time for christmas or new year?
- How has your audience reacted to each monetisation strategy?
- What model have you most enjoyed using?
- What would you consider for the future?
Your goals
- Did you create any? did you meet them?
- Were you too ambitious? Or not enough?
- What did you have in mind for next year?
- Have you written your future goals and a plan for how to get there?
- How could you learn from the mistakes you’ve made this year to help you reach your goals now?
Your feelings
- How did you feel overall?
- What did you excel at?
- Where did you feel you could have done better?
- Did you enjoy blogging?
- Do you still enjoy it?
- Have you thought about quitting, moving on to something else (like podcasting, for example), do you want to write a book, open an online store… did you think about expanding or moving on?
- What would you like to do on your blog for next year?
- What will you be leaving behind?
Ahhhh that’s better. Pens down, New Year’s celebratory drinks up! That’s you in a snapshot. May your 2017 be even more amazing.
The post Your Epic End-of-Year Blog Audit Checklist: Where You’ve Been and Where You’re Headed! appeared first on ProBlogger.
via CopyBlogger
