Over the years, I’ve had several websites for my professional work. There was a time, more than a decade ago, when I took real pride in them, meticulously analyzing stats and tweaking content.
Somewhere along the way, I got complacent. I relied on my profiles at ProZ.com and LinkedIn, stopped maintaining or promoting my website, and most of the time even forgot it existed. This week, I finally checked my website’s stats for the first time in ages.
The result? In 2024, the website showcasing my services in the field of Polish Translation had just 166 visitors. That’s less than one visit every two days (and we may safely assume that more than half of this visits come from bots).
For perspective, my profiles on ProZ.com and Business Profile in Google Maps each get far more traffic in a single month than my website managed in the entire year.
Should I really be surprised? Not so much. Like anything else, the output reflects the input, and I’ve invested next to nothing in my website.
Last summer, I even ran a poll on LinkedIn: Is having a website still necessary for freelancers?
Despite 53% of respondents saying “yes,” I wasn’t convinced. Not even strong arguments from others in the comments changed my mind. I felt websites and blogs had had their time—and that time had passed.
With the brave new world of social media and video communication the old Wide Web seemed to lose its relevance.
Then, I started following Maja Walczak. Watching her consistently use her website to attract direct clients and grow her business made me reconsider.
Her course, “From Invisible to Found,” reminded me of the old tools and the examples of her recent successes are a living proof that SEO is not dead.
So here I am, staring at tools like Google Search Console and Analytics for the first time in over a decade. My knowledge is so outdated that I spent ages looking for my site’s Google PageRank—only to learn it was retired in 2016 (ouch).
It’s a bit like Jean Reno in Cold Blood Legacy, stepping back into the world of Léon: The Professional.
But I’m finally convinced: my website deserves another shot. In 2025, one of my top priorities will be to rebuild and optimize it, making it a useful tool for both me and my clients.
What will be your main focus in marketing?