2024 Annual Review: How 2024 Went For Me And What Changes In 2025 via @sejournal, @Kevin_Indig

It’s the clip of the year! I tin constitute astir myself again without feeling blameworthy ;-).

Over the past fewer years, I’ve made it a wont to stock however the twelvemonth went for maine and what adjacent twelvemonth looks like. This truly seems to resonate with you, truthful I’ll support doing it until you archer maine to stop.

Image Credit: Kevin Indig

Previous yearly reviews:

• 2018
• 2019
• 2020
• 2021
• 2022
• 2023

I had 5 large goals for 2024:

1. Hit 1,000 paid maturation memo subscribers
2. Keep income supra a definite level
3. Become a amended speaker
4. Create much clip and space
5. Keep my value betwixt a definite number, enactment retired a minimum of 4 times a week, and prime up MMA.

I’m blessed to accidental that I met each goals but for No. 1.

The Advisory is going truly well.

In aboriginal 2024, I made an effort to absorption connected larger, much in-depth engagements and worked with phenomenal brands: Reddit, Alltrails, About You, Toast, and Hims, conscionable to notation a few.

For 2025, I’m opening my calendar again for low-touch engagements. I’ll support ~ 3 ample clients, but I recovered truly bully occurrence and precocious request for sparring/office hour-like engagements.

Speaking: Shifting Gears

Image Credit: Kevin Indig

This year, I managed to talk astatine 10 conferences:

• Recommerce, London (UK).
• Friends of Search, Amsterdam (NL).
• NYC SEO Meetup, NYC.
• SaaStock, Austin.
• Digital Olympus, Eindhoven (NL).
• SMX Advanced, Berlin (DE).
• SEO Campixx, Berlin (DE).
• SEOktoberfest, Kitzbuhel (AU).
• Tech SEO Connect, Raleigh.
• SEOkomm, Salzburg (AU).

Phew, that was a lot! I don’t cognize however others bash it, but that burned maine retired a little.

My mistake was astir apt to bring a caller platform and taxable to each event. Anyway.

Image Credit: Kevin Indig

My proposal for taking connected galore speaking engagements successful 2024 was to turn my subscriber base. Unfortunately, the interaction wasn’t arsenic beardown arsenic I had hoped.

I had a ton of amusive and met awesome people, but immoderate speaking gig was outmatched by a bully post. The SEOzempic Memo led to astir 150 caller subscribers, which is astir arsenic overmuch arsenic a bully presumption would drive.

That’s wherefore I’m changing gears adjacent year.

In 2025, I volition acceptable a strict bounds of 5 conferences, absorption connected non-SEO conferences, and inquire for a speaking interest of $5,000 + question outgo + accommodation (with 1 to 2 exceptions).

The crushed is simple: It takes a batch of effort! Speaking takes a ton of clip that I could walk with my household and put successful lawsuit work.

The ROI of speaking for escaped (or question outgo covered) isn’t determination erstwhile you see astir 30 to 50 hours of mentation positive question time.

I’m not adjacent talking astir paying experts for assistance with probe and moving with a speaking manager (who has been amazing).

I don’t get nor privation immoderate concern from SEO conferences. It’s been fun-positive but ROI-negative for me.

Growth Memo: Going Video-First And Other Changes

Image Credit: Kevin Indig

How it’s going:

Growth Memo has done good this year. The escaped newsletter topped 16,000 subscribers, which is much than I projected (13,700 to 15,300).

Top 10 most-read articles:

I besides started an experimental WhatsApp radical that already has ~450 members, wherever I stock my probe arsenic I find it (check it out). I consciousness truthful grateful and arrogant astir however good it’s growing!

Image Credit: Kevin Indig

I wide missed my extremity for the paid newsletter, though. I had hoped for 1,000 paying subscribers and hardly made it implicit 300.

Don’t get maine incorrect – 300 premium subscribers is fundamentally an mean American salary. However, that fig needs to grow.

I marque 80% of my income from advising, but penning and researching instrumentality up astir 2 days of my week.

Here’s however I program to execute that successful 3 ways:

1. New: Video First

When I started to do live streaming sessions for premium subscribers successful which I shared my latest probe and observations, numbers started to prime up.

I besides powerfully judge that video is wherever the enactment is: LinkedIn added a video tab. Youtube is the No. 1 podcast platform.

Lots of stats that I shared successful my yearly reappraisal amusement that adjacent B2B buyers privation much videos from companies.

Probably astir important is the information that LLMs are getting truthful bully astatine penning that video creates a overmuch much quality transportation with audiences.

So, starting successful January,

1. The premium offering consists of 2 unrecorded sessions a month.
2. The escaped Memo comes with a video successful the email and Youtube.
3. I’ll experimentation with short-form videos passim the year.

What I’m moving towards is not conscionable an easier mode to devour the Growth Memo, but besides for you to participate.

I don’t cognize what this volition look similar exactly, but I privation to crook the acquisition of broadcasting into collaboration. Stay tuned.

If you’re wondering whether Kevin has gone afloat creator mode, the reply is no. I’m inactive an advisor who shares his insights and experience. But I deliberation video is the format du jour. And it’s clip to adapt.

2. New: Publishing Calendar For The Free And Premium Version

I’m taking disconnected 2 weeks successful the summertime and 2 weeks successful the wintertime clip to recharge and get a head-start connected publishing.

In fact, I’m already taking disconnected for a wintertime interruption this year. The adjacent Memo comes retired connected January 6.

In 2025, I’ll apt instrumentality 2 weeks disconnected successful August and the past 2 weeks of the twelvemonth again.

I’ve created an overview of escaped Memos and (paid) Live Sessions: 2025 publishing calendar.

3. New Topics

Let’s beryllium real: SEO is not what it utilized to be. Yes, tech SEO is inactive important for ample sites, and excessively overmuch mediocre contented inactive bites sites successful the rear extremity during Core updates – thing caller connected the Western front.

However, with brands getting preferential treatment in galore verticals, the rise of Reddit, rogue halfway Updates, AI overviews, and AI chatbot search, the scenery of Search has made a profound leap.

Not lone are caller idiosyncratic interfaces powered by AI sprouting up near and right, but Google itself is evolving aft astir 20 years of incremental changes.

On apical of that, YouTube gets much attraction than ever before, Reddit is 1 of the largest sites connected the web, and podcasts participate a 2nd question of popularity.

If I privation to proceed covering Organic Growth, my effort to find a word for each the non-paid selling channels and activities, I request to grow the scope of this newsletter.

So, expect much divers topics successful non-paid selling successful 2025. I cognize that astir Growth Memo readers attraction profoundly astir SEO.

I won’t wantonness SEO but present you to caller topics to assistance you go a amended marketer.

And with that, I’m checking retired for the remainder of the year.

Until 2025,

Kevin

Featured Image: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal