Like last year, this year I thought I’d use my December post to begin to look back at 2024 and the highlights within it. Professionally and personally, it’s been a “good smack in the mouth”, in so much that I had a plan in 2023 and then early part of 2024 saw a few things happened. Good things. Good things which meant that my plans for 2024 were changed totally. Even this blog post is a rushed out and written over a weekend, rather than crafted over for months on end. Nevertheless, I’m thankful to be in this position. Here are the highlights.
Website & Newsletter
I turned 6 years freelancing in August, which was great milestone as it’s officially the longest I’ve been at any job. For the first time writing it I felt that the runway for my business was solid, and that remains to be case. I’ve had a little bit of a chance to work on my business, as well as in my business, which meant that I’ve been able to write posts on this blog with a bit more regularity. The best in terms of traffic? “Can WordPress Run Doom?“. It was easily the most popular in terms of traffic. I wrote it to be a bit clickbaity so had a bit of a traffic spike over the year. The second is another key cornerstone blog post: “What is the Fastest WordPress Page Builder?“. I probably should use 2025 to write an update.
My WordPress newsletter continues to go well. I’ve been able to write a newsletter for every month this year and having people say they look forward to it. It’s only small, but it’s had something quite incredible: Nobody has unsubscribed. Open rates are in the 60%+. Which I’m delighted with. If you fancy having a look at it, then please subscribe to it below.
That’s my once a year promotion of it. You watch somebody unsubscribe now.
Freelancing in 2024
This year I’ve worked with 16 clients, which is down on last year, however a couple of clients have been keeping me incredibly busy this year, which is great. It’s probably been the longest runway I’ve ever had, with new clients being taken on in February (let’s start the conversation now). As such I’ve not worked with many freelancers this year on personal projects, they took a back seat for 2024. Hopefully I can pick it up in 2025.
Non Website Work
Events wise I’ve attended 3 different events that have returned from post COVID hiatuses. WP Leeds, MancSEO and Manchester WordPress User Groups all returned, and I helped co-organise MWUG as well. We’re into our fourth month in January of this event! I’ve enjoyed getting out and about in Manchester and meeting the community a bit more, it was a goal that I am happy to say I’ve achieved that goal.
Sponsorships
I entered my third year of Colwyn Bay sponsorship. Sadly our first foray into the Cymru Premier was a year of relegation, but we’re towards the top of the Cymru North and we may get promotion this year. I’ve also sponsored Earlestown Cricket Club for the 2024 season, a team I play for, and I’ve developed their new website.
Highlights for 2025?
Potential highlights right now for 2025 is potentially a product that I’m looking to launch Q2-Q3. It’s been sat on the backburner for a while, uses WooCommerce, and it’s something I’ve been building recently and genuinely cannot believe that it hasn’t been built or released recently.
There’s also some events on the horizon. As well as MWUG upcoming in January I’m looking to attend TechSEO North in February, Hive MCR in May and there’s a potential WP LDN I’m looking to attend in Q2. So my event calendar is already pretty stacked.
Regarding my offerings, I’m already pretty booked (January is booked up and February is close to being booked up), but towards the end of Q1 and beginning Q2 I can see things opening up in terms of work. I’d advise you get in touch if you want to book me into a project.
Christmas Opening Hours
In closing, my last working day before Christmas is 20th December 2024, at which point I’m reducing to only emergencies. I’ll have my laptop and will check my emails every now and again. Obviously if something is wrong (such as a site going down), then I can jump on things.
I’m taking an extended break this year, and I return to work on January 7th 2025.
May I wish all readers, clients and colleagues a very Merry Christmas, and a safe and prosperous New Year.
Nadolig Llawen!
Rhys