2024 has been a year of experimenting with AI and learning how to actually use it in my work. I’m using AI more regularly as both a brainstorming partner and writing assistant and for image generation. That shift in my work is reflected in what I wrote about on my blog for the year. Based on the stats of what’s popular, AI is what people are interested in reading about as well.
Blog stats
I was consistent about writing and publishing on my blog in 2024, publishing a post every week on Tuesday.
- 52 posts
- 54K words
- 148K views
- 92K visitors
According to my word count plugin, I have published over 500k words total on my blog since 2006. It would take you almost 34 hours to read every post on my blog.
This year I published 20 new posts, 14 revised posts, 11 link posts, and 8 recordings of podcasts and presentations.
Traffic on my blog has been fairly steady this year. I continue to get about 10K to 15K views per month.
LinkedIn engagement
One of my goals for this year has been to post more regularly on LinkedIn, since I often get more comments and engagement responding to my blog posts on LinkedIn than on my actual blog.
- 18K followers
- 411K impressions (OK, this is mostly a meaningless vanity metric since “impressions” includes everyone who scrolled past for a fraction of a second.)
- 9K engagements
- 7,640 reactions
- 1,268 comments
- 138 reposts
The number of impressions and engagements on LinkedIn loosely correlates with traffic on my blog; a lot of folks like posts on LinkedIn without clicking the link to read the actual post. I also get comments from people who didn’t read the post. I’m also working on sharing other resources on LinkedIn besides my own blog posts, which has increased my engagement as well. Sharing useful tools and resources seems to resonate well on LinkedIn. I plan to continue to curate links for next year, and I might experiment with other post types too.
Blog and website updates
In addition to writing weekly blog posts, I’ve been working behind the scenes on updates. I migrated my blog to SiteGround hosting in June. My previous website host had an 8+ hour downtime with very minimal communication. I was pretty frustrated with that experience and with some challenges with my course website, so I started the process of migrating all three of my sites.
My previous blog theme also suddenly quit working this summer, so I changed out my theme. You can see the old theme in archived versions of the site. The new theme isn’t a huge change, but it also let me fix several issues with my previous theme.
I also spent time this fall completely revamping my business website and portfolio. This was a long-overdue update. Not only was the style dated, but the content needed an overhaul. I had several pages for service offerings that weren’t converting at all, and the copy didn’t reflect my current niche. I updated my descriptions of services to focus more on creating scenario-based learning. My new website also highlights my speaking and workshops. I also added a page for booking coaching sessions. I’ve offered 1-on-1 coaching for several years, but I do a terrible job marketing that part of my services. I still have a list of tweaks and improvements I plan to make on my website for next year, but it’s a huge improvement over where it was a year ago.
Top blog posts for 2024
My blog posts on generating images in Midjourney were some of my top posts for this year. My post on creating consistent character images in Midjourney has been viewed over 11K times.
Beyond my posts on how I use AI, some perennial topics have been popular: time estimates for elearning, portfolios, and scenarios. All of these posts have been viewed over 2500 times this year.
Create Consistent Character Images in Midjourney
You can create consistent character images in different poses using Midjourney. Learn the process and how to prompt for these images.
AI Images with Consistent Style in Midjourney
Learn how to generate images with a consistent style in Midjourney using the –sref attribute and a style reference.
Time Estimates for eLearning Development
“How long will it take to create this elearning?” It’s important to estimate the effort and time required for different tasks.
30+ Ideas for eLearning Portfolio Samples
Need more samples in your portfolio? Use this list of 30+ elearning portfolio sample ideas for inspiration.
Instructional Design Portfolio Resources
A collection of resources and tools for creating your instructional design or elearning portfolio
50+ Instructional Design and Elearning Books: Updated for 2024
50+ book recommendations on instructional design, eLearning, learning and psychology research, gamification, visual design, and more
Professional Organizations for Instructional Designers
What professional organizations are useful for instructional designers? The Learning Guild, ATD, TLDC, Training Magazine Network, and LDA.
How To Use AI to Write Scenarios
How can you use AI to write scenarios for learning? Read this example with prompts and results using ChatGPT and Gemini.
Name Generators for Learning Scenarios
Use random name generators to quickly create character names for scenarios in learning. Different tools have different purposes and benefits.
Should We List the Learning Objectives?
Should we start elearning with a list of formal learning objectives? Probably not. Let’s review the research.
What would you like to read in 2025?
Do you have a specific topic you’d like me to write about in 2025? Leave a comment or reply to this email with questions or ideas. I often get blog post ideas from my readers.