My Top Ten Performing Articles on the Yahoo Contributor Network

With the year soon coming to a close, it's only natural that we take a look back and reflect on 2010. For the purpose of this piece, I will be reaching further back into my time here at Associated Content/Yahoo Contributor Network in the hopes of gaining insight into the future by taking a look at the performance of my pieces, and of course, maybe gaining some page views in the process.

I've been a contributor here for three and a half years now and I've learned a lot from the experience. I've published 476 pieces of content, including 35 slideshows and 441 articles. I've accumulated more than 226,000 page views to date and have many fans and friends in the AC/Yahoo family. Though not as successful as many of my colleagues, I'm happy with my accomplishments so far and I only hope for a bigger and better year in 2011.

Like many of my fellow writers, sometimes it's just plain hard to figure out which articles will do well and which ones won't. On occasion I publish a piece that I'm sure will get a big response and then nothing. Other times I'll get the opposite. Here's a look at the ten pieces I've written that have garnered the most page views since their publication. Feel free to check them out if you haven't read them already or if you think they may be of interest. I want to thank you, my readers, in advance for your continuing support.

#1 - Top Ten Rap/Dance Songs of All Time (15,536 page views)

This is one of those articles that show off my expertise in music knowledge. Though it was a piece I enjoyed sharing, I never would have imagined it would get so many hits.

#2 - Gayspeak: Is There a Gay Language? (12,171 page views)

This was a college paper I had written for a class in Phonology way back in 2002. When I first joined AC, it was one of the pieces that I thought might showcase my writing abilities, and its history here on AC has been full of surprises (see Strange Comments from a Strange Place).

#3 - Why Same Sex Marriage is a Civil Rights Issue (5,602 page views)

This one was written back in January of 2010 and even though I have never had the desire to get married myself, I do believe wholeheartedly that gays should have the same rights as anyone else in this matter. I think that the arguments I present in the piece are valid and make a good case for the legalization of gay marriage. The article is still a constant page view earner. (*Note- Shortly after writing this piece, I penned another that didn't fare as well, though I think it makes some more good points in the case for gay marriage. Lovings and Today's Gay Marriage Debate is surely a poorly titled piece and probably the reason for the relatively low page views (only 234 to date), but it takes a closer look back at a time when other sorts of marriages, namely between members of different races, was being hotly debated. If you're interested in the topic of gay marriage, it is a must read!)

#4 - Trace Adkins and Katy Perry Highlight New CD Releases for August (4,923 page views)

This one is an enigma to me. Since becoming a Featured Music Contributor at the Yahoo Contributor Network, I've published monthly pieces highlighting new music releases. Though they all fare well with decent page views, this one must've had good SEO, for it continues to garner page views.

#5 - Journal Writing for ESL Students (4,278 page views)

This one comes out of my other area of expertise, that of being a teacher of English to speakers of other languages. It describes a methodology I employ in my classroom for helping my students to learn English in an effective way.

#6 - Top Ten New Wave Songs of the 80's (4,220 page views)

The 1980's was a monumental era in music and I'm proud to have been in my youth at that time. I've discovered that the popularity of music from that decade garners a lot of attention.

#7 - American Idol's Most Successful Contestants (4,118 page views)

American Idol is one popular show and that's for sure! I wrote this one as a fan of the show and at the height of the final weeks of this past season.

#8 - Musical Reinventions: A Roundup (3,900 page views)

Here's a topic that I loved writing about. As a music aficionado, I find songs easier to learn and love when pieces of them are taken from earlier songs, a method known as sampling. Over the years, many an artist has used the art of sampling to recreate new and great stuff. Curiously, a later piece on the very same topic, Musical Reinventions: How Artists Recreate Music, hasn't garnered nearly as many page views as this one (a measly 92!).

#9 - Top Twenty New Wave Bands of the Eighties, Part 1 (3,880 page views)

Here's another testament to the popularity of the 1980's, yet Part 2 of this one curiously has gotten less than half the page views as the first one (1,289).

#10 - Strategies for Building Rapport with Parents of ESL Students (3,788 page views)

This is another educational piece that I believe contains valuable information for those working with English language learners.

Clearly a writer can learn a lot from taking a good look at the performance of their published works. Analyzing the valuable statistics that AC/Yahoo provides is a fantastic tool for finding not only what works, but what doesn't work, as well. Through the writing of this piece, I've learned that titling articles can be as important as anything when it comes to getting page views, as well as good SEO and of course, good content.