Black Friday: State of the Site Updates and DEALS!

As we celebrate Thanksgiving, I want to express my deepest gratitude to my incredible readers as well as the supporters who chose to purchase Deployarr or sign up for a Membership.

It has been just over a year since I wrote about state of the site and the launch of memberships. Your support so far has been impressive.

Your support fuels my passion for delivering informative homelab-related content. Whether you're a home server enthusiast or a Docker pro, I appreciate you choosing SmartHomeBeginner.com as your resource.

2024 Updates

Here is a glimpse of what happened in 2024.

Black Friday Sale

But first, you asked for Black Friday discounts and here they are.

I wasn't going to start a sale as there was already a 15% Off sale (CODE: DEPLOYARR5) to celebrate the launch of version 5. But then I changed my mind. So that's why I am late to the party.

Here they go anyway:

50% Off on Deployarr Basic $29.99 $14.99 with code: BF2024DB

40% Off on Platinum Membership $399.99 $239.99 with code: BF2024PL

Affiliate Deals

• Surfshark VPN with Wireguard Support: $1.99 per month + 4 FREE months
• Racknerd: VPS Deals from start from just $10.99 per year

Finances

As I have said in my videos, I had to hire an editor to edit my videos. With writing, editing, maintaining this website, supporting folks on my Discord Server, scripting, recording, developing Deployarr, and maintaining my setup, I had no time to edit or make it look nicer.

For paying authors, paying the editor, purchases (e.g. DaVinci Resolve Studio), and website maintenance, I have spent over $8000 this year. And this does not even include the 1000s of hours of my time.

What has made this possible is the support I have received through Deployarr purchases and memberships.

Be the 1 in 200,000. Help us sustain what we do.

113 / 150 by Dec 31, 2024

You will gain benefits such as discord roles, exclusive content, ad-free browsing, raffles, and more.

Join the Geek Army (starting from just $1.67/month)

Why did we start Memberships?

Although I will probably not hit the target membership level for 2024, I have received enough support that has allowed me to contribute to some open-source projects. Many of the homelab apps we love and use require much effort to develop, maintain, and support. Please consider donating to an open-source project you believe in.

Deployarr Contributes to Several Projects (over $475 contributed)

Deployarr

As many of you may know from my YouTube Videos, I have spent a significant amount of time developing Deployarr (despite some people calling it an "embarrassment").

In 2024, Deployarr grew from just about 5 apps to over 100+ apps.

That was in fact, the simplest part of development. You can follow evolution in Deployarr changelog.

The value of Deployarr is evident in the feedback I have received. Since the launch of licensing and metrics in February 2024, over 800 domains have used Deployarr to pull over 1300 SSL certificates using Traefik Reverse Proxy.

YouTube Channel

The next big activity was the revamping/relaunching of my YouTube channel: @AnandsLab. The channel had existed since 2013 but I wasn't actively publishing videos.

But as mentioned in my State of the Site article, I had to find other sources of reach to compensate for the decline in the traffic to this website.

So in March 2024, I started publishing more videos on my channel and the result was obvious. I gained over 5500 subscribers since March.

Discord Server

Discord Server server is the primary place of support for SmartHomeBeginner readers, my YouTube Channel, and Deployarr users. Server membership doubled in 2024 going from just about 800 to over 1600.

Thanks to some of the active members who have volunteered to help out 100s of folks: NITRO, Jimmy, HomeLabJunkie, Ultracrepidarian, SpookyTay, etc. I am sure I am leaving some people out.

I have also enjoyed helping numerous homelab users via remote access and screen sharing and learned a lot along the way. So if you have been standing back, maybe it's time to join the party.

Website

For nearly 14 years my website has been the only main activity with the community, except when I launched AtoMiC Toolkit.

Since Q4 2023, things changed. Now there is the Discord Server, Deployarr, and YouTube, along with my website. While there are now some things behind a paywall (e.g. Deployarr), those paid options build on what is already offered for free on the website.

I have no plan to put essential content behind a paywall on my website. Although, paid memberships offer additional benefits such as ad-free browsing, Deployarr access, Discord privileges, etc. (and the satisfaction of supporting me 😉).

Traffic to the site, however, has continued to decline, as Google started pushing content from renowned sites like Forbes, even though individual blogs may sometimes have more in-depth and focused information.

Even among all the other activities, I have managed to update all key articles on my website, including the Ultimate Docker Server series, which now includes videos as well.

Looking Forward

Once again, I am grateful for all the support I have received so far 🙏. Honestly, I considered abandoning the website in late 2023 after 14 years.

But the support received from the community both financially and via encouragement has motivated me to continue doing what I love doing. I am thankful to everyone who has supported me one way or the other.

I am not a Tech guy by training, education, or profession. I am not an expert like some of the other content creators. But I love to tinker, learn, simplify, and explain what I did and how I did it. I hope to continue to do this for many more years.

I am not a marketing guy either but I will have to find a way to harmonize my brands: SmartHomeBeginner, AnandsLab, SimpleHomelab, etc. (🙄). So, if you have any thoughts or ideas hit me up or comment below.

Happy Thanksgiving!