2025 Content Challenge

by | Jan 5, 2025 | 2025 Content Challenge | 0 comments

So this feels new.

😏😏😏

Starting things off the right way…

Something I could get used to again.  The last two years, I’ve gotten off to a late start.

My streak actually matches the first day of the challenge.

That’s the first time that has happened ever.  Hopefully, that is an omen of good things to come.

After getting so close last year, I really would like to hit that elusive 365-day streak.  I’m almost as confident as I’ve ever been.  The bounce back after two miserable years of content production really was a balm for the soul.  I went absolutely ballistic on Playing Markets—at least for 2024 standards.  I expect 2025 may be a different animal entirely.  For once, I actually focused on one of My Brands other than Greensboro SEO Pro.

It feels like that may start to pay real dividends soon.

About damn time!

I’ve been at my Content Challenges since 2018.  The first one was just a blog post every month.  It was easy.  So, instead of setting a reasonable goal to follow on, I decided to try and produce a new piece of content every day.

😅😅😅

To be fair, it hasn’t been an absolute disaster:

  • Daily Content Challenge – Produced content at least 301 out of 411 days (73%).  Longest content streak: 97 days.  Longest no-content streak: Unknown; 13 days max.
  • 2020 Content Challenge – Produced content 300 out of 366 days (82%).  Longest content streak: 157 days.  Longest no-content streak: 6 days.
  • 2021 Content Challenge – Produced content 332 out of 365 days (91%).  Longest content streak: 67 days.  Longest no-content streak: 4 days.
  • 2022 Content Challenge – Produced content 195 out of 365 days (53%).  Longest content streak: 217 days (cont’d from 2021).  Longest no-content streak: 76 days.
  • 2023 Content Challenge – Produced content 94 out of 365 days (26%).  Longest content streak: 62 days.  Longest no-content streak: 73 days. (cont’d into 2024) or 59 days (if exclusive to 2023)
  • 2024 Content Challenge – Produced content 314 out of 366 days (86%).  Longest content streak: 262 days.  Longest no-content streak: 73 days (if cont’d from 2023?) or 14 days (if exclusive to 2024)

Second highest percentage.  Longest streak ever.  By far the most content produced in one year for my own projects.

2024 was undoubtedly my best content challenge to date.

For 2025, it really feels like everything is in place to take it all the way.

🤩🤩🤩

All the Way

Last year, I said I wanted to take a new road.

And I committed hard.  Playing Markets saw something like 200,000 original words, most of which I believe to be the best content online for the subject matter.

Now, all that’s really left to do is turn it into a legitimate brand (and eventually, a real business).  Niche Website greatness here we come!

In hindsight, this was probably an inevitable result of my content challenges.  It’s still not the final form.  Yet it is a significant next step.

Part of me wishes I would have chosen one of my other brands, because the competition in the Trading and Investing niche is something serious.  But the rest of me is happy with the choice.  This is one of my favorite rabbit holes.  I’m learning a ton.  And it probably has the highest long-term potential of any of my projects.

Plus, the time to focus on monetization is drawing ever closer.

🙌🙌🙌

Or at least it was.

😱😱😱

I’m not sure what happened, but I’m not a big fan.

😒😒😒

There was a recent Google update that hit the site hard, just when it seemed like it was starting to gain traction.  A few pages were getting consistent first-page rankings.  Then, poof!  Gone.

😭😭😭

Don’t get me wrong, I expect it to bounce back some time over the next few weeks because that’s what often happens.  So I’m not that worried.

However, I’m not resting on my laurels.  Whereas I was focusing a lot of time on optimization, now I’m going back into post production mode.

And man!  What I have brewing right now is sweet.  This phase may last through the first half of the year or so, and will surely result in a far larger quantity of content than I produced in quarters two and three last year.  Not to mention, the keywords are worth much more traffic.

For me, this is like maximum fun.  As write this I’m coming off my first 60-hour work week in years… and it came easily.

Sure, I’ll probably eventually get to some of my other stuff, like This Site.  But right now, I have tunnel vision.  I can’t see that changing anytime soon (or even this year).

I might drop a Goal Setting post here.  It’s about time I published one of those again.

However, it seems kind of pointless considering how clear the priorities are right now.

To be fair, I am feeling a slight tug to dive back into client SEO.  I’ve been doing so much SEO work on my own sites and some of my systems are far superior to what they were this time last year.  It would be fun see what they could do.  Plus, money is nice.

Either way, I really can’t wait to see what my 2025 content challenge holds.

Weekly Round Ups

This is routine now.

My round ups will be the same as they’ve been the last few years.  I may eventually make some sort of modification because they produce a lot of junky links to pages that I want to rank.

To keep it real though, I don’t think that’s very probable.  The groove is just too smooth right now.

Weekly Round Up Key:

  • ✅ – 7/7 Days New Content
  • 😭 – 0/7 Days New Content
  • 📍 – Content Streak Started
  • 💥 – Content Streak Snapped

Quarter 1

Chart Patterns.

That’s it.  Don’t care ’bout nuffin’ else.

50 new patterns posts or death.

Maybe a few other Market Terms posts when they write themselves.  Other than that, it’s chart patterns all the way.  The only other priority weighing on my mind right now is a bit of off-page action.  Probably something to do during my “down time,” but it would definitely have value.

Regardless, this quarter I’m going to be balls-to-the-walls.

Update (3/30/2025):

Quarter complete and according to the mandate I set at the beginning of the quarter, I should be dead.

And yet, I am completely invigorated!

My Google rankings still haven’t bounced back, which is a bummer.  But I have SO many other things popping off at full throttle, I don’t even mind much.  The slight detour into Footprint Sculpting is probably a smart move.  Plus, Trading and Real Estate Investing are real things now.

The priority shift is totally necessary.

Quarter 2

Update (3/30/2025):

Now, it’s time to learn every single solitary thing there is to know about Trading and Real Estate Investing, starting with the math.

I may sprinkle in some other stuff in here and there (My Chart Patterns post template is screaming my name!).  But the vast majority of my content is going to stem from these two big endeavors.  I’m jumping into both of them the same way I did with SEO so many years ago.

This time though, I’ve picked a far better business model—well, two of them in fact.  I’ve already been doing never before seen levels of Autodidacticism and Process Development.

I’m extremely stoked about what’s coming next, content-wise and IRL.

🤩🤩🤩

Update (1/30/2026):

Shortly into quarter 2, I folded like a deck chair.  I even left my last two round ups as drafts until now.

I kinda’ just got to 100 then quit.

😭😭😭.

 Quarter 3

  • Week 27 Round Up 😭
  • Week 28 Round Up 😭
  • Week 29 Round Up 😭
  • Week 30 Round Up 😭
  • Week 31 Round Up 😭
  • Week 32 Round Up 😭
  • Week 33 Round Up 😭
  • Week 34 Round Up 😭
  • Week 35 Round Up 😭
  • Week 36 Round Up 😭
  • Week 37 Round Up 😭
  • Week 38 Round Up 😭
  • Week 39 Round Up 😭

Update (1/30/2026):

I continued to fold.

😭😭😭.

Quarter 4

  • Week 40 Round Up 😭
  • Week 41 Round Up 😭
  • Week 42 Round Up 😭
  • Week 43 Round Up 😭
  • Week 44 Round Up 😭
  • Week 45 Round Up 😭
  • Week 46 Round Up 😭
  • Week 47 Round Up 😭
  • Week 48 Round Up 😭
  • Week 49 Round Up 😭
  • Week 50 Round Up 😭
  • Week 51 Round Up 😭
  • Week 52 Round Up 😭

Update (1/30/2026):

More folding.

😭😭😭

2025 Content Challenge Round Up

Update (2/7/2026):

So.

😒😒😒

That was depressing.

Utterly shameful, really.

I did produce some of my best work ever.  (Those Chart Patterns posts are killer.)  But then it all just stopped.  🤦‍♂️  I just fell off the horse and never got back on.  Pathetic.  Overall, 2025 was either my worst or second-worst content challenge of all time.  The only redeeming thing about it was the quality of the work that got done… and the tremendous restarting place I can continue on from now.

“Failure” or not, that’s another year down.  I may not have done a full year straight yet, but I’ve put together multiple triple-digit daily streaks and produced hundreds of thousands of words for my own Brands.  There’s nothing bad about that.  So the march toward that mythical 365 continues on.

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