2011: The Year That Was (In Trees)

Hard to believe that 2011 is winding to a close. Christmas is behind us and so is a heck of a year. So many people are reflective this time of year and we are not immune to that ourselves at CLC. Today, we are going to look back at the year that was, from CLC’s view-point.

One of the biggest changes that CLC Tree Services went through this past year has been in the introduction of our social media presence to the web. While we already had a website, we knew that there was a potentially much bigger market that we could access, if we just knew how. Testing out the new marketing tools to be found via social media sites was key to introducing ourselves to a potentially wider market beyond what the Yellow Pages could ever offer. We kept on hearing about social media and knew that there was something to it, so finally in March we decided that it was time to jump in ourselves. On March 14th CLC Tree Services: The Blog was launched. I am happy to report that we are still going strong nine months later and have integrated our blog onto a Facebook Fan Page, as well as linking to our original website. As our stats seem to be going up and up, I can only conclude that it was a good decision to join the ranks of the social media hub.

So therefore in recognition of all the hard work that has gone into the many posts that have graced the pages of this blog, we thought that we would highlight some of the articles that got the most traffic. Here are our top 10 posts from 2011;

TOP 10 LIST OF POPULAR POSTS IN 2011

1. The “Mile-A-Minute” Vine: an article about the kudzu vines that have invaded the USA and are trying to make a foothold in Canada
2. A Walk in the Woods: a leisurely stroll through the forest identifying trees and commenting about their quirks, qualities & uses
3. TIME FOR A Drink: The Forest City’s Trees are Thirsty: advice on how to keep your trees hydrated in times of drought
4. Look at that Swirl on a Burl: identification of what a burl is, where we have them in Canada and what they are used for
5. CLC Tree Services Takes a Stand Against the Emerald Ash Borer: an onsite look at what can be done against the threat of the emerald ash borer
6. A Look at Some Famous Trees: a look at famous trees around the world and in our very own backyard, with the bigger focus on Canada
7. An Autumn Escape: another look at trees you might find on a walk, including how to identify them and what they are used for, aside from admiring
8. We’re Letting Down the Rope on the Tree House For YOU Today: Join us!: reflections on the joys of youth, trees and the connections we make in them via treehouses
9. A Root in the Grass: a look at tree roots in your lawn and how to deal with them, plus things NOT to do
10. 2011 – International Year of Forests: recognition of UN’s Year of the Forests and a few good reasons why we as Canadians should love our trees

And while those are all worthy posts that you the people have obviously found to be hot topics, we just wanted to highlight a few other items that touched our hearts this year as well.

CLC’S TOP 5 PICKS OF 2011

1. In August a tornado ripped through Goderich and destroyed much of the “Prettiest Town in Canada”. The crew of CLC Tree Services stepped up to lend a helping hand in the cleanup efforts for some of the neediest families hit by this local tragedy.
2. In April, we once again had a booth at the London Spring Home and Garden Show. This year we stepped it up a notch with our Needy Tree contest, where we scoured London for the neediest tree around and gave it some much-needed TLC
3. Just recently this December, we unearthed some facts for you good folks on the pros and cons of Christmas trees in our Real vs Fake Debate
4. There was also a particularly painful post about sliver removal, that we will never get out of our minds, until that last sliver of our own is gone
5. And it might not have been high on the hit count, but we thought the article on tree rings was pretty interesting and spot on for all the arborists and budding dendrochronologists out there.

So thank you for following along with us in 2011, as we have looked at trees and how they affect our world. We hope that you will continue to join us in 2012 and look forward to all the new year brings.