My stats and more in 2024: a year in review

This past year, 2024, was both unique and momentous. For the first time since I was 18 years old, I took an extended break from full-time work. From January through November, I did part-time community work for the FinOps Foundation and spent the rest of my time 1) relaxing and 2) working on whatever personal project inspired me that day.

This opportunity was a real blessing. I absolutely love the people I work with at the Foundation, and this setup allowed me to remain active in the community while also working on various fun projects on my own.

During this year, I was also able to focus on my mental health. This included weekly in-person therapy sessions, which ultimately resulted in a diagnosis of Persistent Depressive Disorder (previously known as Dysthymia). Although initially hesitant, I decided to try a low dose anti-depressant (Sertraline aka Zoloft), and it was possibly one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Today, nearly eight months after starting, I enter 2024 with a renewed state of mental health that I didn’t even know I needed.

This year was difficult in profound ways as well. In September, I lost my mom after a lengthy battle with Multiple Sclerosis. It’s a horrible, progressive disease, but I’m thankful for Washington State’s Death with Dignity Act, which allowed her to be empowered up to the very end and provided us with the ability to be present and supportive (both to her and to each other) through the whole process.

So, what’s this post? My stats and more of 2024 post is a continuation of a long tradition (see 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023). of yearly reflection and analysis. The format has changed over the years, but this year will largely follow the same structure as last year. This includes details about the performance of my online presense (website, newsletter, YouTube), in addition to fun and interesting media and content I consumed.

Traffic across my web properties

This year, I saw huge¹ traffic increases across all my web properties, from this website to my newsletter and YouTube Channel (all of which I’ll touch on later). All this traffic is intrinsically linked.

Before we dive into the actual numbers, here’s my understanding of traffic flow in 2024 at a high level:

• dannb.org begins the year receiving a moderate amount of traffic, mostly from Google Search, and mostly from a few articles related to Obsidian
• I start posting regularly on YouTube, converting all of these blog posts into videos and creating some new content. These videos did well, and drove traffic growth to dannb.org
• I stop posting regularly to YouTube and traffic everywhere mostly plateaus, but at the new high level
• Newsletter subscriptions (which had remained largely flat for roughly three years) starts growing thanks to the popularity of the YouTube videos
• I had a Substack Note go minimally viral, driving a large increase in Newsletter subscribers but no additional traffic to this website or YouTube

My biggest lesson is that consistency is super important when traffic is being driven by Google (ie a personal blog or YouTube). When you post more, you get rewarded with traffic because Google identifies you as an active creator sharing valuable content.

For newsletters, the lesson is a bit different. I’ve been publishing monthly for years with no real growth. I got a bit of a bump from posting to YouTube, but it was really when I started interacting with the Substack community via Notes that I saw a big bump in growth there.

Note: none of the content I write is really “viral”—it’s all pretty niche. If my newsletters were more generally appealing or highly-sharable, I may have seen more growth from simple consistency.

Instead, most users discover me when searching for note-taking help. If they find that content engaging enough, they may discover the other content I create and possibly become a subscriber.

I have no desire, however, to optimize for growth or newsletter signups—everything I publish is for fun and for the love of sharing. But if I were to want to increase views or subscribers, the data collected from this past year would definitely help me do that.

That’s enough high-level talk. Let’s get into the numbers.

This website: dannb.org

Let’s start with the most-viewed content by me.

The top five blog posts by traffic are all content that I’m super proud of, which is exciting:

1. My Obsidian Daily Note Template - This continues to be the star of my Obsidian portfolio of content. It’s not the most complex setup, but it’s what I still use to this day and is a solid foundation for anyone starting with Daily Notes
2. Obsidian Meeting Note Template - Like a Daily Note system, a Meeting Note system is super helpful to have. I like to think that I explain the process in an easy-to-understand why, which is why people find it so useful
3. My Obsidian People Note Template - What Obsidian Stack is complete without notes for People? This is another guide, in my style, about creating a People Note system
4. 5 ways to actually use the notes you take - This did pretty well on Hacker News back in March. This idea came to me as I was thinking about my own biggest challenges with having a large note database and wanting to help others. I’m glad I resonated
5. Obsidian Physical Object System and Template - Very similar to the other systems I built and shared, this one is for physical objects, which is way more useful than it sounds
6. Daily Driver Task Management System - I’m glad to see this getting traffic still, since it continues to be the bedrock of my own personal productivity. This is due for a massive update, since I feel like it’s unclear at parts. I want to make an ambitious video about this system, but that ambition is daunting to me
7. How Kagi finally let me lay Google Search to rest - I’m an admitted Kagi fanboy, and this post shares some of the reasons why. It blew up on Hacker News in 2023 and continues to rank high in the Google search for “Kagi”
8. 10 tips for smart Obsidian usage - This is at the bottom of the top 10 for blog traffic, but is far-and-away my most popular YouTube video. I’m so glad people found this useful

And here’s what that traffic looks like over time.

Another Hacker News bump

That massive spike you see, just like the spike last year, was from Hacker News. It’s hard to understate just how powerful that website can be for startups and small content creators. In fact, some companies might even build entire content strategies around hitting the Hacker News front page².

For me, as someone who isn’t selling anything³ and doesn’t have an “optimized funnel” to anywhere, this traffic just came and went. I didn’t see an associated bump in newsletter subscribers or YouTube views.

I see my website, and the other content I create, more like a billboard or magazine ad. Someone from Hacker News might see an article I wrote, think it was valuable, and then immediately forget me. But months later, they may see my name again on a different piece of content and also enjoy that. Eventually, they’ll recognize me.

I’m not sure exactly what to do with that end-goal of niche-based name recognition. But that’s what I’m loosely shooting for, rather than any sort of meaningful income stream from my content.

Google Search Console

Another interesting bit of information about this website’s performance is from Google Search Console, which shows the Google queries that are driving traffic to my site.

This chart shows the number of search result impressions and clicks. This is for people searching for any keyword, where my website shows up anywhere in the viewed results.

So, what were people searching on Google in order to find my website?

Just like last year, every single query that leads to my site is about Obsidian. I rank pretty high for several of those searches, which explains the traffic to this website.

If I were to want to feed the algorithm (and give people more of what they want) I’d be churning out more and more Obsidian content. But I’ve mostly gotten to a place where I’ve said all I want to say about Obsidian. I’ve shared my systems and how I think about note taking. My own vault is pretty set at this point—it works well for my own devices and I don’t really spend any more time tweaking things or adding new functionality.

Honestly, I think that should be the end goal of any productivity system: find what works for you and stick with it. I don’t want to force myself to make more Obsidian content just for clicks. Instead, I’ve created my system and now I just use it.

Maybe I’ll write more about Obsidian if I have more to say, but without a content stream of new Obsidian content from me, I expect my Google Search traffic to drop in 2025.

YouTube

Earlier this year, I felt inspired to create some new YouTube content. I was surprised at just how well it was received. I mostly just turned existing blog posts into videos and tutorials, but created a few stand alone videos, too.

I started the year at 1,410 subscribers, and it grew to almost 6,400 by the end of 2024.

I started the year without monetization, since it had been a few years since I last uploaded a video. In order to re-join the YouTube Partner Program (YPP), my channel needed to meet the following eligibility requirements:

1. 1,000+ subscribers
2. 4,000 public watch hours in the past 12 months

I had the subscribers, but not the watch hours activity. I hit that watch-hours threshold in April, and flipped on monetization the moment it was available.

So, what sort of money does a channel like mine make? Let’s take a look at the chart:

Estimated revenue from 2024 was just shy of $600. The daily average was just over $2, with some days peaking as high at $5. Not bad!

I think my upload schedule is also worth detailing here, as well. I uploaded a total of 16 videos in 2024. The first was published January 30th and the last one of the year on May 20th. I averaged about one per week during that timeframe, but lost steam in the entire last-half of the year. So, it’s pretty cool that I continued to get views and earn money despite being inactive for the past six months.

If I had kept up the momentum, I’m sure those numbers would be much higher. But YouTube is more a hobby for me than a career. I like making videos when I have something to say or teach, and it felt weird to try and force myself to film topics just to push our more content.

Newsletter

Substack really doesn’t make it easy to export your Growth Over Time chart, so I had to do some screenshot-and-photoshop hack to show only the past ~12 months of growth.

This year, I went from roughly 500 subscribers to just over 1,000, effectively doubling my audience for The Dann Chronicles. Pretty damn impressive for not really trying to grow my audience!

You’ll notice two bumps in growth, one in roughly March and one around November. In March is when I started making YouTube videos, and have one video in particular that got a lot of views.

The November bump is from a Substack Note that went mini-viral. That’s really when I learned the power of Substack’s built-in community features. Last year, I was considering moving to Ghost or Behiiv, but I just really like Substack. It’s free (since I don’t offer a paid subscription) and has fostered an active audience of readers⁴.

I have a lot of fun with my newsletter each month, and I’m happy that it’s resonating with more and more people. That’s always been my main goal (have fun, connect with people) so I’d say it’s succeeding wildly.

Favorite books read

The pandemic did a number on my reading habits and I’m just now getting back on track. Before 2020, I did all my reading on my daily commute to the office and I just didn’t read at the same levels when working from home. This year, however, I both worked from home and read a decent number⁵ of books. Granted, several of these “books” are graphic novels, but I’ve been meaning to read more of those, and this year I succeeded.

• Bill Watterson’s Exploring Calvin and Hobbes: An Exhibition Catalogue - A wonderful meditation on the creative process by an artist who is notoriously reclusive and never speaks publicly
• Bryan Johnson’s DON’T DIE - Read this out of curiosity, rather than some cult-like believe that it provides secrets to live forever. What I found was an interesting philosophy book that—while it isn’t for me specifically—I’m happy exists in the world
• Jason Pargin’s I’m Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom - Jason Pargin previously wrote under the pseudonym David Wong (Cracked, John Dies at the End). Now, he’s a beloved geriatric TikToker, and I had to check out his new book. It was fun
• Alejandro Jodorowsky’s The Sons of El Topo Omnibus - The movie El Topo is…challenging, to say the least. Jodorowsky’s vision in comic form is much more palatable. Enjoyed this more than I expected

Favorite Movies

This year, according to Letterboxd, I watched 72 movies. At an average of around 1.3 films per week, that’s right about where I like to be. I both 1) have the Alamo Drafthouse Season Pass and 2) live above an Alamo Drafthouse. I feel spoiled.

Often, I’ll wake up Saturday morning and check the day’s showtimes. If a movie I’ve wanted to see is playing, I’ll grab the first showing of the day. I caught great films Opening Day Weekend while simultaneously missing all the annoying crowds.

As of early December, these were my favorite films of the year. I may update this list if warranted, prior to New Years Eve.

• Anora (2024) - This film has so much talent, richness, nuance, empathy, action, humor, sadness, and oh-so-much heart. Easily one of this year’s favorites
• The Substance (2024) - I walked into the theater opening weekend without knowing anything about this film. I had no idea it would be so special. And that’s all I’ll say about it
• Queer (2024) - This is easily the gayest film I’ve ever seen, and I loved it. I was obsessed with Cronenberg’s Naked Lunch in high school (also a Burroughs biopic of sorts) and it was fun to get back into that world through the eyes of a different filmmaker
• I Saw the TV Glow (2024) - This is a difficult watch, and I can’t say I enjoyed it or that I’ll watch it again. But it’s haunting and stuck with me, and makes it onto my Best of 2024 easily
• Kinds of Kindness (2024) - Yorgos Lanthimos is the GOAT for following up Poor Things with this polarizing gem. Sometimes it’s best to just let a movie wash over you

Honorable mentions: Y2K (2024), Sasquatch Sunset (2024), Snack Shack (2024), ¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor! (2024), Saturday Night (2024)

Favorite TV Shows & Specials

I didn’t watch many TV shows this year. Nothing really spoke to me. But here are some highlights from what I did catch:

• Baby Reindeer (Netflix) - Enjoyed this series more than I expected. Went way deeper than I expected. The public aftermath was a bit too much drama for me, but I mostly just ignored that
• Alex Edelman: Just for Us (HBO) - A masterclass in storytelling. Wish I could have seen this live, but I didn’t even know it existed until the TV special was released. Loved this
• We Were Once Kids (2021) - Hosted a movie night where we all watched Larry Clark’s Kids. Felt inspired to watch this the next day, making the film all the more powerful
• Chimp Crazy (HBO) - The last show I watched together with my mom. Tonia Haddix is such a character

Favorite Podcasts

The list of podcasts that I regularly consume is fairly established at this point, so this year was spent keeping up with existing shows and not really adding much new (with the exception of Darknet Diaries).

• Your Kickstarter Sucks - I listen to every episode, yet couldn’t name a single Kickstarter project they’ve talked about. The show is so much more than that
• Search Engine - PJ Vogt is a fantastic curator of interesting topics and rarely does an episode of Search Engine disappoint
• Tangle - An ingenious format (choose a topic, share takes from the left and right, then synthesize an opinion). I feel smarter and more empathetic by listening to this podcast
• Darknet Diaries - Over the summer, I took long walks around DUMBO and Brooklyn Heights and binged this podcast. It was lovely

Notable Objects

The right objects or tools can have an outsized impact on quality of life and productivity. Looking back at 2024, I want to highlight a few of the things that particularly stood out to me.

• Persian Carpet Style Mouse Pad - Beautiful and surprisingly high-quality mouse pad, for those who like that sort of thing
• Scrub Daddy Sponge Daddy - Discovered this elevated dish sponge this year, and now I’m never going back
• 250W Anker Prime Charger - This may be overkill for most people, but I’m obsessed with this desktop charging hub and associated app
• Anker 45W/Anker 67W USB-C Charger - Fantastic size-to-output ratio. I have several of these around my home and in my bag
• NeeDoh Nice Cube/NeeDoh Dream Drop - The ultimate stress balls. So satisfying.
• Exped MegaMat 10 Duo - Camping mattress technology upped it’s game while I wasn’t watching. This thing is fantastic
• Manta Pro Sleep Mask - A great sleep mask. Worth the price? Debatable.
• NEEWER Portable Desktop Mini Tripod - Purchased a number of new items to support my YouTube video production. This one in particular is fantastic: high-quality, great design, very functional
• Proton Mail/Kagi/Orion Browser - My Internet-Stack of choice
• Obsidian - Continues to be my digital note-taking app of choice and I don’t see that changing any time soon
• Moleskine Classic Notebook, Hard Cover, Large, Square/Grid - The perfect notebook, in my opinion. My productivity increased substantially once I started my Daily Driver Task Management System
• Vintage Cross 10KT Gold-Filled Pen - Far and away my favorite pen. Pairs wonderfully with a Moleskine notebook, and can occasionally be found as low as $15 on Etsy
• Hardwood iPhone Stand - I’ve got two of these: one for home and one for the office

Accomplishments

• Joined Squarespace in November! Excited to be back in a FinOps Practitioner role
• Published seven new posts on dannb.org and updated several others, plus twelve newsletters
• Published 16 YouTube videos
• Added 452 new subscribers to The Dann Chronicles, up from just 59 new subscribers in 2023. That’s a 666.10% increase(!)
• Hosted five virtual FinOps Foundation Community Calls per month (in regions across North America) and two in-person meetups in NYC
• Attended both FinOps X in San Diego and FinOps X Europe in Barcelona
• Noticeable improvement in mental health thanks to talk therapy, a diagnosis of Persistent Depressive Disorder, and a low-dose perscription of Zoloft (Sertraline)
• Hosted seventeen movie nights in our apartment building

Plans for 2025

• Knock my new role at Squarespace out-of-the-park
• Start hosting a local FinOps meetup at the Squarespace office
• Continue publishing The Dann Chronicles each month
• A rough draft of FinOps for Startups book
• Add 400+ new subscribers to The Dann Chronicles newsletter
• In addition to the newsletter, publish at least ten posts to dannb.org
• Attend Burning Man for the first time

Thanks for reading! I hope you’ve all had a successful year (however you define success).

These days, I publish on three main platforms, so if you want to follow me in 2025, subscribe to 1) this site via RSS, 2) my newsletter, or 3) YouTube.

Have a great year! 🎊