I created my main blog, Psychology Corner, back in 2008.

Since then, I published hundreds of articles, out of which only 102 survived until today — I deleted approximately 80% of my content a few years back, as part of a major curation and update phase.

Psychology Corner gets thousands of monthly visits, even when I take long pauses and do not publish anything new.

It’s what you may call passive results.

The main traffic source is Google and other search engines.

Once in a while — usually just once a year — I take a look at the global stats, to understand the entire journey of the website.

That is when I see which posts performed best and what my main audience looks like. It’s an expectation vs. reality type of moment.

I will share those bits of information here, mainly to show that blogging results are anything but predictable and that as a content creator, you are not the only one who discovers that posts do not behave online as you might’ve first expected.

What you may consider your best work may not be received incredibly well by the public, while those posts that barely made the Publish moment surprise with the impact they have.

This being said, here are the 15 best-performing articles on Psychology Corner.

Note: I will not share the exact view count for each of them, but the top ones mean 100K+ views. The publication year appears in parentheses next to the title.

15. “The Psychology of Dexter” — Book Review (2013)

Writing about the Dexter TV series brought a lot of attention to my blog — the main article ranks higher on this list. This is why I was invited to read and review “The Psychology of Dexter” — a collection of psychological essays on different topics related to the show.

14. Why Sugar-Coated Communication is Bad for You… And For Everyone Else (2019)

In which I explain why being nice to everyone all the time is actually a bad thing.

13. “The Yellow Wallpaper” — Book Review (2015)

I only posted this one because I thought my blog needed more book reviews. It was what I consider a “forced” post. The kind you feel “meh” about. But it performed well.

12. 10 (Psychological) Reasons Why We Like Michael Corleone (2019)

The 10 (Psychological) Reasons Why We Like *Insert Villain Name* series is one of the most successful segments on my blog. The Godfather is a charismatic bad guy and people are still drawn to his story and want to understand the psychology behind it.

11. SKEPTIC’s REVIEW: John Edward — Psychic Medium Website (2019)

SKEPTIC’s REVIEW is yet another website segment that performs incredibly well. In this particular post, I analyzed the website of psychic medium John Edward. Funny turn of events — he liked the review and we became friends. Blogging brings truly unexpected professional and personal results.

10. Famous Swiss Psychologists (2010)

I started Psychology Corner when I was still studying psychology in college and training programs. Sometimes, I just shared basic information in the field, as I became interested in it and did my own research on a topic. Turns out that evergreen content does well SEO-wise.

9. 10 Quotes By: Stephen Hawking (2013)

I wrote the 10 Quotes by series mainly because I wanted to collect words of wisdom from people I admire. Once again, this is a very simple type of content. But the impact is huge. This article spiked in views on the day Stephen Hawking died in 2018.

8. 10 Cognitive Distortions and Why You Should Deal With Them (2015)

Critical Thinking is one of the main subjects addressed on Psychology Corner. This list that explains the main cognitive distortions keeps bringing in audience in search of information.

7. Why You Shouldn’t Share Passwords With Your Partner (2019)

In which I explain the main reasons why you and your partner should not give access to each other’s online accounts. Not a popular opinion but hey, I have the arguments. And considering the search terms used, I gather that plenty of people face this dilemma when it comes to their private life.

6. Famous French Psychologists (2009)

People want to know about the main French Psychologists and their contributions to the field more than about their Swiss colleagues, apparently. Well, I have both lists on the website.

5. “I miss you like the deserts miss the rain” — Aw, how romantic. Romantic? — Think again! (2015)

I almost did not publish this article. I consider it poorly written… But that’s not the point. It addresses an element of social interest — and yes, I am just as shocked as you are about to be.

This article addresses the nonsensical lyrics of Everything but the Girl’s song “Missing” — “And I miss you… like deserts miss the rain”. I go on and on about how deserts never miss the rain, so this is not the 90s love song you thought it was.

Yes, really. This is my 5th best-performing article.

4. Sexualizing your child is not playing dress-up — Parents and child beauty pageants (2011)

This article is a continuation of an even better performing article — higher in the list. I continued my analysis of the children beauty pageants context. It’s all one big list of arguments against it.

3. The (Kung Fu) Panda Metaphor (2010)

Another one to mess with your brain… and mine.

This post and the next one even got me invited to write a book segment.

It’s exactly what you think it is: an extended psychological analysis of the “Kung Fu Panda” movie.

I thought it was an amazing movie, not only funny and witty but filled with symbolism that I wanted to focus my article on.

Yup, Top 3 material right here.

2. 10 (Psychological) Reasons why we like Dexter Morgan (2011)

I loved the show. I loved the character. I wrote my first analysis in the 10 (Psychological) Reasons Why We Like the villain series. Boom. People read it, share it, discuss it in forums, etc.

Because of this website segment, I received an invitation to write a similar piece for a book centered on the psychology of the Joker. You can read 10 (Psychological) Reasons Why We Like the Joker in The Joker Psychology: Evil Clowns and the Women Who Love Them — edited by Travis Langley, forward by Michael Uslan, producer of the Batman films. Not a referral link.

Even now, this post gets a huge amount of traffic, as more and more people discover the show.

And now… drum roll.

1. Toddlers and child beauty pageants — Risk factors for severe psychological turmoils (2009)

Only a year after I started posting on the blog, I wrote what remains my best-performing article. I analyze the children beauty pageant industry and the psychological effects it can have on the young participants.

It became a source for many other collaborations, and it got plenty of citations in a variety of contexts — from academic papers to high school assignments, to magazine articles, and Wikipedia pages.

I still care deeply about the topic.

Key Takeaway

Write about all the things that interest you. When you’re passionate about a topic, it will show. When you’re not passionate about a topic and still decide to write about it, make sure it brings value to the reader.

SEO, routines, frequency of posting… they all matter, but they’re not the keys to a website’s success.

Almost 14 years later, Psychology Corner keeps on growing. The good decisions, the less than great ones, the good articles, the silly ones… everything had an effect on the results I see now. I am happy with them and I’m looking forward to the next years of blogging in my own way.

Thank you for reading.

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