2024: Rewind

Best articles of the year

2024 was a great year for this newsletter.

Subscriber numbers went through the roof. Engagement went through the roof. All the metrics were ‘up and to the right’, as the saying goes.

Writing is a lot of responsibility and a lot of hard work, but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t also straight-up fun.

I love writing.

There’s no better way to organize and clarify your thoughts. It’s like how people say ‘the best way to learn is to teach’. Something similar applies to long-form writing.

Attention spans are declining. Most people can’t even read or write a paragraph, let alone a multi-thousand word essay.

All writers are competing for the upper 1% of people who are intelligent enough to respect the written word.

The fact that you’re reading this right now means that you’re one of those high-level thinkers. I definitely appreciate that you’ve decided to give some of your limited attention to my writing. Thanks for joining me on this ride. The only reason I can do this is because of subscribers like you.

It’s hard to believe that I’ve been doing this for 3.5 years now.

Time flies.

As the year comes to a close, let’s take a quick look back at the best articles I wrote each month, as chosen by subscribers (based on the number of likes/comments each article received).

January

There was/still is a post-HCU trend where SEOs log on to X just to whine in the comments section on Google posts.

To be honest, I started to get a little bit annoyed (OK, more than a little bit), so I wrote this article about the benefits of keeping your losses to yourself.

It seems like you were as annoyed by this trend as I was (judging by the number of likes).

February

The best way to see what’s working is to take a look at what’s selling.

I decided to analyze the different types of businesses listed for sale on Empire Flippers and how much they’re selling for.

It turns out that there’s a LOT you can learn from business brokers.

The market doesn’t lie.

Here were my takeaways:

March

People don’t talk about it much anymore, but in March Google dropped a set of HUGE updates that changed how the game is played at the highest levels.

Here were my thoughts as it happened:

April

People waste so much time overthinking things.

Sometimes, it’s better to just not think at all.

Here’s why you want to embrace the left curve within (this article was insanely popular for some reason):

May

Affiliate sites were decimated by the HCU.

But whenever someone loses, someone else wins.

The update boosted E-Com sites to the point where ranking them became Easy Mode™.

If you have an e-com site, here’s how you can take advantage of the opportunity that’s been handed to you on a silver platter:

June

The 00’s and early 10’s were the internet’s Wild West Era.

Now everything is becoming more centralized, and it’s harder for small players to gain a foothold.

Here’s how to navigate the new era of the centralized internet:

July

We’re living in a world of content overload.

If you don’t control yourself, it WILL overwhelm you.

Here’s how to protect your brain from the flood of low-effort content online:

August

The August Core Update was a bit of a HCU Revival.

No one recovered fully, but some sites started showing signs of life.

The world has been bleak for affiliates for the past couple years, so any positive news is welcome:

September

Google is essentially a way to search Reddit at this point.

If you aren’t building a subreddit, you’re going to get left in the dust.

Here’s how to build a thriving community on Reddit from scratch (and how to make it profitable):

October

Gurus are everywhere.

They wear nose strips on interviews, take HGH, and post platitudes like there’s no tomorrow.

Here’s why you don’t need them:

November

We all know that the sky is the limit when it comes to WiFi money.

But the people who consistently make money year in and year out all have one thing in common: They limit their downside.

Here’s how:

December

You can’t avoid pain in life (unfortunately).

But you can choose which type you feel.

Do you want to feel the pain of hard work and fear of failure, or the pain of regret?

That’s all I have for today.

Enjoy New Year’s Eve and I’ll see you all next year.

Peace.