My most popular blog posts are trending toward advisory topics

Over more than three decades I’ve published over 2,500 pieces of writing on topics related to small businesses. Most of them are compiled here on this web site. Now we call them blog posts. When I started we called them ‘columns’ or ‘articles’ in paper format. Some were republished in electronic format, others were not. I still recall the first one: a 1987 article in a local business weekly newspaper in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania on the topic of combatting escalading health insurance costs. That one, composed on an early model IBM PC  existed after publication only on a floppy disk long since destroyed. From time to time it makes sense to look at the publications that attracted the most views. The majority of views (about 2/3) come from organic Google searches and a significant portion about 1/4) come from my own posts on social media (Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter).

The most viewed blog post of 2020 was an announcement in July of my evolution from engagement to advisory services. Evolution of accounting support services

In the prior year, the most popular blog post of 2019 was on the pricing of part time controller services. Remote part time small business controller services: pricing model

In 2018 the most popular post was on executive retirement benefits. What the heck is a 501(k) plan?

In 2017, the most popular topic was health benefits. 20 Rules for Operating a Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA)

In 2016 the hot topic was the structure of payroll services. Sample professional payroll service agreement

So three of the five most popular topics were on the structure of professional services. This is significant because I’ve published very few pieces on this topic. The other two popular posts were on tax-advantaged employee benefits. Employee benefits is my most covered topic and, presumably the topic which I am best known within the profession. But the trend in interest away from technical matter expertise to the positioning as a adviser may be significant. It seems to be popular, at least among my web site visitors.