The most popular tsoHost blogs of 2021 and what they tell us about the year gone by

For the past few years we have released a list of the most-read tsoHost blogs of the year.

The reason?

To offer an insight into the topics that were capturing the imaginations of our customers and to form a commentary of the year gone by.

This year is no different.

We’ve crunched the numbers to come up with a list of the blogs that you’ve found most interesting or informative this year.

Here’s the countdown…

1. Seven of the top web design trends for 2021

It’s not surprising to this see this blog at the top of the most-read list.

The lockdowns of 2020 and early 2021 really took their toll on creativity. Working from home meant that creatives had less opportunity to bounce ideas off each other and some found that staring at the same four walls dried up their creative juices entirely .

Nicholas Bloom from Standford University recently told the Financial Times that creativity was the ‘biggest single issue’ of the pandemic in productivity and business terms.

So, it makes sense that creatives were going online in 2021 to find inspiration for creative practices like web design.

2. How to tell if an email from tsoHost is genuine

Cybercrime has been a major issue in 2021. A recent global analysis of criminal cyber activity found that email threats had increased by 64%.

So, in March, we produced a blog full of tips on how to spot the signs of phishing scams.

3. Home start - 5 businesses you can run from home

This blog really tapped into the UK’s entrepreneurial spirit, which was on the verge of surging at the time the blog was published – an analysis of Companies House Data later revealed that 80 new businesses were created every second between the months of January and June 2021.

4. The results of our Covid-19 survey are in - here are a few resources for bouncing back

This was an important blog for tsoHost so we were pleased it resonated with customers, too.

The blog featured the results of a survey we sent out to customers at the start of the year, enquiring into how they had been impacted by the pandemic.

It also suggested a few tips and resources for bouncing back.

5. How to setup cPanel and install WordPress

This helpful blog featured a video that walked customers through the process of setting up WordPress in cPanel.

6. 5 examples of dark patterns in web design

Interest in the concept of online consent increased significantly in 2021.

The subject of cookie consent was raised at the G7 summit in September and, over in the USA, a handful of states came close to actually legislating against dark patterns in web design.

With this backdrop in mind, it’s no wonder this blog features on our most-read list.

7. Three great ways to take bookings online post lockdown

In April 2021 lockdown restrictions were eased in the UK and businesses found themselves having to adapt to a new normal way of working.

Many companies had to implement new Covid-19 safety precautions and impose social distancing on customers.

In order to do this, businesses from hairdressers to cafes had to start taking bookings online.

This blog addressed this, offering tips on how to do it well.

8. How to up your colour palette game in 2021

Colour is a complex subject. Colour preference is something that’s deeply rooted in human psychology.

The Ecological Valance Theory of colour preference suggests that colour serves as an adaptive ‘steering function’, similar to taste preferences, that biases people to approach advantageous objects and avoid disadvantageous ones. This theory goes some way to explaining why multiple studies have discovered that human colour preferences have changed during the pandemic.

This blog highlighted how the pandemic and other factors was influencing colour trends in web design.

9. 5 WooCommerce extensions that will hugely improve your online store

In January 2020, ecommerce sales accounted for 20% of total retail sales in the UK.

By January 2021, that figure had shot up to 36%.

Without ecommerce many businesses would have failed during the pandemic.

In this blog, we offered businesses ideas for making their critical websites even better.

10. 25 of the most popular words used in domain names in 2021

In this blog, we looked at our own domain sale stats to reveal which words were trending in domain names in 2021.

Enjoyed our blogs in 2021?

Be sure to return to the site next year for more blogs on hosting, trends, domains, small business, web design and more.