My Annual Review: Random Thoughts on 2023
Reading Time: 12 minutes 
At the end of each year, intelligent business owners review the past year, their successes, and what they can do better.
I started my little internet studio in a small town storefront on the IL/WI border in 1995. Back then, folks thought I was nuts. And here I am, 29 years later, still doing what I love and helping others succeed.
Each year, I share with you my experiences and insights. And what I’ve learned. As well as the changes I am making and why in my WordPress coaching business.
Hopefully, this annual review of my modus operandi can help you think about your program from a different angle—food for thought.
2023 — The Hits Keep on Coming
My annual self-assessment examines how I spend my time to produce the desired results. This helps me discover what I excelled at and what I can do better.
Where did I fall short? What do I not want to repeat in the year ahead? I also note what I enjoy most, which is where I have the most success. Over the years, I’ve learned to lean into that clue.
Who thought 2023 could say, “Hold my beer” after the past several years? While shutdowns and COVID issues were pretty much a thing of the past, 2023 had more of the same feeling: uncertainty, increased expenses, and ongoing challenges. Side hustles are becoming necessary and something that many are forced to look into to make ends meet.
Having a successful website is not getting any easier. It was never easy, but now you have to really work at it. So, that’s why I continued to offer support and services that help folks thrive online.
Words of Wisdom:
When you want success, be prepared to work harder than ever.
New Look? Not in 2023. 2024?
I’m happy with my current layout and design. It works for my goals, and I don’t have the desire or need to revamp it. Probably because I use Kadence for WordPress, this site has the latest and most significant features and the ability to create what I need.
However, if you’ve not redesigned your website in the last couple of years to take advantage of full site editing, you are limited and living in the past, which is never good for business. It is time for a redesign.
Now that the WordPress editor has grown into a full-fledged site builder, Kadence takes full advantage of blocks and has all kinds of new display features. Without the downside of other “builder” type themes or plugins that create a ton of code and weigh down performance. You can read about all that here.
When ranking websites, Google is clear about what they consider and look at: E-E-A-T. Expertise, Authority, and Trust — and just recently adding Experience. If you are concerned about improving your rankings over the long haul, your website must be current. So, bookmark and keep this information front and center in everything that you do.
Honest Communication
I continued to nail down and communicate what exactly it is that I do, how I do it, and who is the type of person — precisely — that I can help. I’ve been at this for 29 years and know who I can help while still enjoying the process.
I’ve got my processes nailed down and do not deviate from them. So, I know what works and how I want to run my business, which makes it easy for me to stick to that methodology.
Come up with your plan of action, processes, and procedures to follow, and then stick to it. Know your strengths and weaknesses and proceed accordingly. Do what you can do well, and be smart enough to get help with the rest.
Also, when communicating through website forms and email, never underestimate how you choose to communicate (words used, tone, personality) can speak volumes. What would you like to work with? What type of business partner will you be?
Target YOUR Market
It is always hard to say no to additional income. But the income is not worth compromising what I know is necessary just to pitch another potential client. And the frustration that goes with it. After all these years, I know better.
Know who your target market is and cater to them. You can’t and don’t want to be everything to everyone.
I do not do as well as I know I can if I’m not into a project or the person behind it. Is it a personality flaw, or just being realistic?
Words of Wisdom:
You cannot be everything to everyone.
And that’s okay.
Serving Service is My Jam
My White Glove Support Plan is my primary focus. Tracking sites, updating, and accessing tons of performance and analytics data to absorb gives me a view into “what’s going on.” That breadth of data benefits all my clients.
I now only offer one membership level of support that covers the tasks and support small business owners need. I also started creating new worksheets and guides each month that WGS Members can download and put to work.
Building new sites is a complicated and time-consuming process that I no longer enjoy. Even redesigns are not as easy as they used to be. Therefore, I prefer to go through that process with those with whom I already have a successful working partnership.
Words of Wisdom:
You are at your best when you enjoy what you are doing.
Not all providers are partners.
I’ve pretty much tried every plugin and service out there. I go for it when I get an idea for adding something to one of my sites. I pay for the premium version as I want timely updates and support if needed.
As always, some are better than others. In this process, I discover the products, services, and companies that have value propositions as I do. However, I also have the opportunity to discover that a product may not be the best fit for me or my client’s websites.
Not that the product is bad or not good enough. It may not be what my clients need or would be able to successfully use from the cost, support, features, and learning curve perspective.
If you don’t impress me with a user-friendly product and your above-and-beyond service levels, my clients won’t get my recommendation to use your product.
Not that I’m such a big deal — I’m not. But I won’t recommend anything unless I have complete confidence and use it on my sites. Period.
Words of Wisdom:
What works for some sites may not work for others.
WordPress Theme and Plugins Review
At the end of each year, I thoroughly review all my site’s plugins to ensure they keep up with WordPress. While some plugins do not require updating with each WordPress update and will still function without issue, I prefer to have plugins that are clearly paid attention to.
This approach minimizes conflicts and problems down the road. The same goes for themes. Even with all the great WordPress themes available, I am sticking with Kadence for all my sites.* I highly recommend Kadence to anyone interested; this approach gives me one less thing to worry about and keep up with.
Words of Wisdom:
Even with the best efforts, conflicts can happen. Regardless of the difficulty, they must be nailed down and resolved.
Site Content Review
Not all content is evergreen. In 2023, I set aside time to review content regularly. Update or delete—quality over quantity. I am still working on that, as it is a never-ending effort.
Posts that were either no longer applicable have been removed from this site, or I have written something better since they were published. Content that, over time, may not be as valuable as it once was. Content that is duplicative or no longer accurate. Bub-bye.
Each week, when I work on posts on all my blogs, I also schedule a little extra time to try and review a few other posts on each. Rewrite or purge. Rinse and repeat.
I also ran a broken link check — and I was surprised at how many broken links I had. Upon that discovery, I got to work investigating, deleting, and redirecting. I now monitor for broken links to keep on top of them.
Having numerous websites is a real challenge to do well. I manage four personal websites, with one more in the works. I have a strict calendar for my activities and get stuff done.
Most folks can barely do one website and dedicate time and effort. There are times I fall short or have to really, really, really push through. So just be prepared for that, too.
Yes, you can get a theme and structure in place, the plugins configured, and put a lot on auto-pilot. But great content doesn’t write itself; quality and performance checks must be done regularly.
Words of Wisdom:
Scheduling time to review published content is imperative.
Adding New Content is a Priority
So, I committed to writing a new post every single week. Then, once a month, update at least one oldy but a goody.
I did much better this year by going all-in with my calendar and setting up “To Do” reminders to ensure I met my content goals. It’s called planning — and what a difference planning can make to block out the necessary time.
Set up reminders and alerts to get that nudge on your desktop, devices, and inbox. Then, have the discipline to follow through. And I must say I met my goal except for only a few weeks and holidays.
With this approach, I have improved my posting consistency. I also make a point when I have an epiphany for a post topic; I stop, open WordPress, and create a quick draft with my thoughts and ideas.
Yes, plugins help with your editorial calendar goals, but why add another plugin to use server resources when I can make a note in my off-WordPress calendar or create a quick draft? Works for me.
Words of Wisdom:
You are more productive when you do what you enjoy.
Gutenberg -> GutenBad -> GutenLuv
Having crafted websites for decades, I know new technologies and ways to do things are nothing new. If I had $1 for every time I had to evolve into a new way of doing something, I would be retired on a tropical island. (And that sounds pretty good after 2023, right?)
But Gutenberg has evolved tremendously, and I can’t imagine not having blocks. Here’s my update.
Progress marches on…
Words of Wisdom:
Give new things a try and stick with them for a while.
Social Media
For me, “social media” for business seems like an echo chamber that is a cacophony of everyone trying to virtue signal or get their sales pitch out. I’m also not big on promoting myself. Not fun.
So, being I’ve always collected inspirational quotes, I post “Words that inspire …” to my socials each Monday to help others (and myself) start their week with some insight and positivity. #MondayMotivation
This continued through 2023. Feedback has been positive, and I enjoy finding the right quotes and digging through the images to use for them. That is fun.
I also use the same type of graphics to represent the sentiment of my posts on all my blogs. After all, this is a visual medium, and images make websites more visually appealing. Hat tip to Canva.com* for making this task enjoyable and easy.
Social media, for me, is still a chore and something I must make time for. And I coincidentally rarely have time. Priorities? I’m unsure that will ever change, so I won’t say it will.
Words of Wisdom:
Do what you enjoy. Do your best when you’re not.
What about AI?
I get asked about AI often and have been using AI in one way or another for a couple of years. I wrote about this in July: How WordPress Websites Can Use AI.
One thing about AI to remember is that it isn’t the end-all-be-all or the replacement for what only you can accomplish better. For example, I use Grammarly for my writing. I love it and have learned a lot.
But, being it is AI, it isn’t always correct in its recommendations. Sometimes, meanings and tenses are lost if I were to accept all its recommendations.
I’ve used AI Chat Bots that just weren’t user-friendly. Either they didn’t understand my requests or provided results that weren’t sufficient to my request. Just remember AI is a tool — not a replacement for your involvement.
New Personal Projects
I had an idea for a new project. So I loaded up WordPress, bought the premium plugins I would need, and tried to tie it all together.
Now, remember I do this for a living, and even I was surprised at how difficult I thought something that should have been simple was. Part of the problem was that the plugins that offered the functionality I sought were buggy and had complex user interfaces. That tends to deflate my balloon.
I started having memories (or nightmares) of the last several personal projects I started that, in the end, were not fun — or as easy as I thought they would be—deja vu.
One plugin with a premium-premium version of what I needed for quite a bit of money failed me in customer service. Finally, after a ton of work and several attempts at “retooling” plugins and configurations, I woke up one morning and said, “Uncle.”
I lost my enthusiasm. For now. Booo me. This happened several times in the past. I just couldn’t find a project that zinged me beyond the initial setup. Guess why? That’s when the challenging work kicks in.
I am still in disbelief that I couldn’t put that particular site together. But maybe, as has happened before, I’m not your average user. So, a little money and a lot of time down the drain.
There’s a lesson there for me and those without the decades of Experience I have. Online, the concept to reality is rarely easy. Prepare accordingly.
But…
If you don’t try…
You’ll never know if you can make something happen unless you try. Likewise, you often won’t know if you like it or have what it takes until you dive in and find out what is involved.
Every time I do, I learn something new that can be added to my “been there, done that” file; I’ve decided that if I’m not having fun, I don’t do it. See a pattern forming?
While I always beat myself up for starting and then not finishing a project or not realizing soon enough that I wasn’t willing to commit to what that site required, I always learned new things with every single attempt. Every. Single. Time.
Will I move something off my drawing board in 2024? (Yep.)
Words of Wisdom:
When you start a new website, pad time and expense
projections and do your best to stick with it for the long haul.
Embrace, Learn, Apply, and Push Through
That’s my mantra year after year. I use technology as it is now and whatever it evolves into in the year ahead to its full potential for my business’s success. Whether I like it or not. 99% of the time, I’m good with that.
From Blogging to Social Media to creative marketing tactics and everything in between. Not investigating how to best use all the available tools out there for my business is what separates success from lackluster results.
Nothing online happens by osmosis. This attitude is why I believe that I’ve survived for 29 years.
So, you now know my frame of mind and what I will focus on for 2024. What’s yours? You can let me know on social as a reminder of why I should spend more time there.
I’ll end with one of my favorite entrepreneurial quotes:
As we leave 2023 behind, do not doubt there will be new opportunities in the year ahead. That is, for those looking for them and willing to make things happen.
At your service,
*Some of the links on this page are to companies I have a professional affiliation with.
Read my full affiliate statement here.
