My 2025 in marketing

Reading my reviews of previous years (2023, 2024 and the ones I keep just for myself) is extremely interesting and rewarding. Suddenly I can see what I was dealing with at a given time and in a given year. From my priorities and the language I used, I can also tell what inspired me back then, what I was living for and what annoyed me a bit. That is why it would be a shame not to publish at least a stripped-down version this year. Unfortunately, I did not manage to make it more complete, nor to finish it while I was taking stock.

This report, like the previous two, is quite positive, because these years were also full of new things and generally happy.

What went well this year?

• I set up a limited liability company (s.r.o.) and split my business: consulting stays under my sole trader registration (IČO), while client management, link building, managing my own websites and other activities moved to the company.
• I brought people on board (two of them) and successfully integrated them into my ecosystem.
• I was happy and fulfilled at work. I managed to move a little further forward here compared with last year.
• I exceeded my financial goal.
• I won new clients for B2B and lead generation marketing, which means branching out beyond SEO.
• I had a comfortable and fulfilling life, where I never wake up with even the slightest worry that I have to do something I do not want to do. I value this, because I can see around me that not everyone has it. At the same time, I should give myself a little short-term discomfort in 2026.
• I did sport 6 times a week, which is essential for me to balance out a sedentary job.
• I rewarded myself more. I had really neglected that.

What did not go well?

• Returning to a model where I earn more than 40% from sources other than selling marketing services.
• Hiring a mid-level SEO consultant with a broader general marketing background and agency experience who could stand in for me and complement me.
• Turning my content websites into e-shops or monetising them in another way. This partly worked, but not enough.
• Accelerating the e-shops I partly own.
• Self-promotion.

Summary: It is good to write down the things that did not work, because you see both sides of the coin. On the other hand, the things that did not work mostly failed because the first part was going so well that there was no need to try, push and squeeze as much.

1. Clients and broader services

In 2025, I deliberately did not chase client volume. I went for quality of cooperation. I need to feel that my work has an impact and that it makes money for the client. When I do not feel that, I try to deliver more and change things.

I also find it fulfilling when a client trusts me and lets me go beyond SEO, link building or B2B marketing.

With clients, I try to structure projects. Fewer presentations and reports. More interventions, changes and implementation.

Among the more significant projects this year, I ended cooperation with one client and another paused cooperation with me. Both made sense for everyone involved.

Most clients saw growth in Google Search Console, even though other reporting activities are coming to the fore.

2. My own website and LinkedIn

I give myself a small minus here. I was not very active, and I did not do much on my own website either. On the other hand, patrikpilous.cz generated almost twice as much traffic as last year and keeps showing me that SEO makes sense in B2B. There were slightly fewer leads than in 2024, though (specifically 20 relevant ones recorded in my spreadsheet). I could even afford to pass leads on to someone else if I did not like the topic, the communication or the size of the client. I really value that too.

The fact that I am not active in promoting myself is also because my client capacity is full.

On the other hand, in the “scrolling through LinkedIn posts while on the loo” phase, I was more than active. Since I cut back on various worse apps, I moved my scrolling here.

4. Organising my work

I learnt to delegate a little better, although I think there is still room for improvement.

I made a lot of progress in how I plan my working week. Getting up, sitting down at the computer and grinding for 9 hours is not the right way. You become dull and do not come up with as many ideas. I work better, more efficiently and smarter. That has definitely improved since last year.

A morning routine is the foundation of a successful and productive day. To the ice-cold morning shower I have been doing for about 6 years, I added a walk and light stretching. So I do not work for the first hour after waking up: light stretching, a cold shower, a walk, breakfast, coffee and only then do I go full throttle.

All summer I work on the terrace, and 1 to 2 days a week I change my environment. That has also done me a lot of good.

PS. I drink 650 ml of coffee a day, so I hope my heart does not give out.

5. AI

You have to be part of this. I set up AI Fridays (or weekends, when it grabbed me) when I experimented. On my own websites, on client projects or just for fun. The important thing, though, is to evaluate the results. Discussing most of the problems I deal with with AI is a matter of course these days.

Simply put, whatever problem or task I am dealing with, I run it past AI first.

Connecting ChatGPT to spreadsheets and creating scripts helps incredibly. On the other hand, integrating it into my communication and email so that it actually helps me did not work for me, even though many people now praise it.

And AI-generated content published directly for users? Like for everyone else, it did not work very well for me. Measured mainly for organic search, that is.

AI and “link building” is a topic in itself. I see potential here, but I will not get ahead of myself yet.

6. Content websites

This year, traffic and earnings from my content websites fell again. My focus on them is now almost negligible, but I am very aware of how content websites are becoming more important as food for AI and how they can be used to influence the results of AI models. I feel this is the future, and it really works. On top of that, competition has dropped significantly, as many creators of average manual content have given up.

7. Holidays

Apart from shorter trips around the Czech Republic, there was not that much this year.

In May, I went on a 22-day trip to Croatia. I started with a weekend at SEOloger and then moved every two days between Brno, Győr, Zagreb and other cities. Finally, I boarded the beta voyage of the SEO boat in Zadar, which Milan organised and still organises. If you want to try a yacht, I recommend taking a look at the Sailing International website. Besides the marketing boats, he also runs other small expeditions.

I am on my second, half-working holiday right now, at the turn of 2025/26, as I write this report. Sri Lanka offers countless coworking spaces with pools and really great food. If you visit places like Weligama or Hiriketiya, you will find countless great places to stay, coworking spaces and other things to do. Besides that, I personally preferred the weather in Sri Lanka to Thailand or Bali.

And what would I like in 2026?

• Keep 3 to 4 strategic client partnerships where I have full oversight.
• Expand the team by 1 more person (approx. 120 hours).
• Not start a marketing agency (or anything similar).
• Break my well-worn routine more often, so that I can look forward to returning to it.
• Launch an AI-assisted lead generation project that does not stay just in my head or as a concept, but actually makes some money.
• Grow income 1.5 times faster than costs.

See you again in a year, or 11 months.