[Journey] Scaling an Authority website to 10K a month (and beyond)

[Shwepps]

Of course, once upon a while I reminiscence about the old days, like the summer of 2021 when I went traveling for like 40 days and when I came back I had $15K more on my back account, including all travel expenses, not touching my websites network or doing any other work...

Damn, even I got nostalgic reading this...

 

[GenesisOne]

Congrats op.

 

[MadPixel]

I have 32k page views in last 30 days and about 11% of them are from USA. Do I have any chance of getting approved by AdThrive when I hit 100k page views.
I mean, are they strict about having majority of traffic from the USA?

 

[Kikerinka]

Hello bro!
Great plan!
Good luck!

Mate, did you read the post?

Damn, even I got nostalgic reading this...

Yeah, sometimes it is nice getting nostalgic, but at the end of the day the key is to live in a present, and find positives about the live we live right now . BTW, how is your website? Are you still active in the space?

Congrats op.

Thanks mate, there's not much to congratulate to now really, but as I always said, I try to keep this journey going, being 100% honest about the results.

I have 32k page views in last 30 days and about 11% of them are from USA. Do I have any chance of getting approved by AdThrive when I hit 100k page views.
I mean, are they strict about having majority of traffic from the USA?

It is hard to say. 2 years ago I would say no chance. But nowadays, companies like Adthrive or Mediavine are also "bleeding". Their income decreases proportionally to the income of the website owners in the network, and boy, that did decrease a lot across the board... I believe they are nowadays more willing to accept new websites, even if they (for example) do not have such a high proportion of US traffic. Just look at the programs they run nowadays, like MV Grow, where you can get with mere 5K page views/month.
So, continue to build it up, and then try to apply. You may end up positively surprised

 

[Thomas Shelby]

Lately, I keep asking myself why I'm still doing SEO. People hardly read articles anymore since tools like ChatGPT took off, and now Google's AI Overviews are answering questions directly in search results without users even clicking through to websites. On top of that, Google's algorithm keeps changing every month, making it nearly impossible to maintain consistent rankings.

Now, with Cloudflare introducing "pay-per-crawl" to supposedly help content creators, it makes me wonder what's stopping AI companies from just crawling other sites to avoid paying webmasters like us?

Also I'm sure ad networks like Adthrive and Mediavine have laid off employees too.

Honestly, sometimes I think I should've focused on coding from the start.

 

[Shwepps]

Yeah, sometimes it is nice getting nostalgic, but at the end of the day the key is to live in a present, and find positives about the live we live right now . BTW, how is your website? Are you still active in the space?

Some are dead, some still alive. As usual with big G.

 

[blogmen]

I wonder what @blogmen is doing these days, so maybe he comes around to say.

Hello my dude, I've been checking your latest posts from time to time to see if you've returned. For me blogging isn't working atm, so I'm freelancing rn. Oh boy, it's so refreshing to do one job for someone else compared to squeezing my brains figuring out what works.

I'll stay in this comfortable place for a while until I start to feel the need to seek my next adventure-project.

I think your website from your 2nd journey is doing surprisingly well, considering. But I can understand why you're reluctant to write the ebook. It's going to be a considerable effort even if you use AI, but you'll probably just do it, as you usually do.

 

[Thomas Shelby]

Oh boy, it's so refreshing to do one job for someone else compared to squeezing my brains figuring out what works.

I was doing this too for a client and damn it felt SO MUCH better lol. Because you already know how much money you're going to get.

 

[Paniser]

This thread brings back such good memories. I also got to experience the good times and used to make around €3,000 a month with my blogs. Now I earn €0…


This has affected me, and now any online business I try to start, I end up quitting because I think it might fail and I’ll lose all the time, effort, and money I put into it.


But anyway, right now I’m about to start another blog eek. But this one will be different — it’ll be about a topic I’m passionate about, where I’ll share my experience and point of view. I’ll also create a YouTube video for each article.

 

[Kikerinka]

Lately, I keep asking myself why I'm still doing SEO. People hardly read articles anymore since tools like ChatGPT took off, and now Google's AI Overviews are answering questions directly in search results without users even clicking through to websites. On top of that, Google's algorithm keeps changing every month, making it nearly impossible to maintain consistent rankings.

Now, with Cloudflare introducing "pay-per-crawl" to supposedly help content creators, it makes me wonder what's stopping AI companies from just crawling other sites to avoid paying webmasters like us?

Also I'm sure ad networks like Adthrive and Mediavine have laid off employees too.

Honestly, sometimes I think I should've focused on coding from the start.

It is always easy saying what we should have done a year or five years ago, because we know what happened during that time. So don't be too hard on yourself. BTW, coding may be soon dead, with AI doing the job too . Maybe it is time to focus on something offline...

Some are dead, some still alive. As usual with big G.

Not too bad when some are still alive .

Hello my dude, I've been checking your latest posts from time to time to see if you've returned. For me blogging isn't working atm, so I'm freelancing rn. Oh boy, it's so refreshing to do one job for someone else compared to squeezing my brains figuring out what works.

I'll stay in this comfortable place for a while until I start to feel the need to seek my next adventure-project.

I think your website from your 2nd journey is doing surprisingly well, considering. But I can understand why you're reluctant to write the ebook. It's going to be a considerable effort even if you use AI, but you'll probably just do it, as you usually do.

Glad to hear your news mate, and also that you haven't lost your way with words . Sure enough sooner or later you'll get bored with the client work, and will try some adventure project, at least as a fun project.

I have a friend who's now making websites for other people (in some markets it still works), instead of working on his own affiliate sites.
But for me that's not the beauty of it, because while you know how much you'll earn, there's not this passive income potential, the internet dream that many of us lived at least for a time (and not such a short one)... In nay case, it is great that you have the tech skills, and can make a living freelancing.
Now I wonder what @mezzofanti is up to

This thread brings back such good memories. I also got to experience the good times and used to make around €3,000 a month with my blogs. Now I earn €0…


This has affected me, and now any online business I try to start, I end up quitting because I think it might fail and I’ll lose all the time, effort, and money I put into it.


But anyway, right now I’m about to start another blog eek. But this one will be different — it’ll be about a topic I’m passionate about, where I’ll share my experience and point of view. I’ll also create a YouTube video for each article.

It is not easy giving up on this, once we experienced the good days . Great that you will now write about something you like. Perhaps treating it more as a hobby project that you enjoy working on, and if someone interesting comes out of it, it will be only a plus.

 

[mezzofanti]

Hi Kiki, long time no see

I am back in the office as Sys Admin (same company, same people, same tasks...) and I am into crypto now (more like a hobby, at least for now).

I sold my last "working" site in December 2024 for a price that is less than a tenth of what I expected one day to get for this site, and closed ALL other sites.

Personally, I am happy that somebody bought it - and the best of all, new owner didn't make any change to the site (no new articles, no updates). Why did he buy it, I have no idea...

So, no more Joomla for me, no more checking when Google will shit on me with the newest update, when will Amazon change commission rate, when will somebody make new "coupon" extension and steal my affiliate clicks (hint -> youtube -> "honey scam"), when will AI steal my content and rewrite it as its/their own, when will some clown scammers demand tribute for using my own photos on my own sites (it takes time to explain that to hosting companies), etc.

Not the future I envisioned for myself 5 years ago, but the only constant in life is that things change, right?

so, you are now down to 5% traffic from Google while some years ago it was 95%? Don't worry, "continue to make great content and the traffic will come with some of the future Google updates"

 

[Kikerinka]

Hi Kiki, long time no see

I am back in the office as Sys Admin (same company, same people, same tasks...) and I am into crypto now (more like a hobby, at least for now).

I sold my last "working" site in December 2024 for a price that is less than a tenth of what I expected one day to get for this site, and closed ALL other sites.

Personally, I am happy that somebody bought it - and the best of all, new owner didn't make any change to the site (no new articles, no updates). Why did he buy it, I have no idea...

So, no more Joomla for me, no more checking when Google will shit on me with the newest update, when will Amazon change commission rate, when will somebody make new "coupon" extension and steal my affiliate clicks (hint -> youtube -> "honey scam"), when will AI steal my content and rewrite it as its/their own, when will some clown scammers demand tribute for using my own photos on my own sites (it takes time to explain that to hosting companies), etc.

Not the future I envisioned for myself 5 years ago, but the only constant in life is that things change, right?

so, you are now down to 5% traffic from Google while some years ago it was 95%? Don't worry, "continue to make great content and the traffic will come with some of the future Google updates"

At least you haven't lost your sense of humor. BTW, there is quite an optimistic undertone in your entire writing, so I kind of feel you're happy in the place where you're right now. And that's good to see .

The website in question: I can see it still has Raptive ads on, so maybe the new owner simply felt it could not get down any more, and bought it for a decent multiple, as a small passive income source. And maybe it is one of those guys who buy a lot of website and then never find time to actually do something with them...

In any case, you gave this a good shot, made decent amount of money, and sure those 5 years were also positive in many ways . Good luck to you and I'll be glad to heat from you once in a while!

 

[Bing]

So, no more Joomla for me, no more checking when Google will shit on me with the newest update, when will Amazon change commission rate, when will somebody make new "coupon" extension and steal my affiliate clicks (hint -> youtube -> "honey scam"), when will AI steal my content and rewrite it as its/their own, when will some clown scammers demand tribute for using my own photos on my own sites (it takes time to explain that to hosting companies), etc.

It's called buisness, or did you want to make a website and then sit back and earn money calmly and steadily without any problems? Offline buisness has problems too.

 

[DarkerAds]

Oh boy, it's so refreshing to do one job for someone else compared to squeezing my brains figuring out what works.

I'll stay in this comfortable place for a while until I start to feel the need to seek my next adventure-project.

bro thats why most people prefer the 9-5 life

its stable but in 9-5, you dont get to see the highs and low of entrepreneurship

 

[blogmen]

bro thats why most people prefer the 9-5 life

its stable but in 9-5, you dont get to see the highs and low of entrepreneurship

I guess everybody on this forum is sold on the "be your own boss" path, but you missed the nuance here. It's awesome to go from both directions, from 9-5 to entrepreneurship and viceversa, because it's liberating to do something different and get a deeper understanding instead of just thinking one is better.

 

[titoma]

Hi Kiki, long time no see

I am back in the office as Sys Admin (same company, same people, same tasks...) and I am into crypto now (more like a hobby, at least for now).

I sold my last "working" site in December 2024 for a price that is less than a tenth of what I expected one day to get for this site, and closed ALL other sites.

Personally, I am happy that somebody bought it - and the best of all, new owner didn't make any change to the site (no new articles, no updates). Why did he buy it, I have no idea...

So, no more Joomla for me, no more checking when Google will shit on me with the newest update, when will Amazon change commission rate, when will somebody make new "coupon" extension and steal my affiliate clicks (hint -> youtube -> "honey scam"), when will AI steal my content and rewrite it as its/their own, when will some clown scammers demand tribute for using my own photos on my own sites (it takes time to explain that to hosting companies), etc.

Not the future I envisioned for myself 5 years ago, but the only constant in life is that things change, right?

so, you are now down to 5% traffic from Google while some years ago it was 95%? Don't worry, "continue to make great content and the traffic will come with some of the future Google updates"

This is scaring so much. Going back to the office, doing reporting, small talks... Why didn't you reinvest your profit in something new, IM never end.

 

[Kikerinka]

Hello all, today I am resting in bed and have time to do a quick update. This is the website from my second journey, PV from the start of the year:


- My goal for this website was to take it to $1K/month, and obviously in current IM climate it likely isn't viable, at least not for now. But I am happy to say that in September, the website earned for the first time over $100/month, as a combination of Amazon affiliate (25% of earnings), new affiliate program I got accepted into and talked about in my last update (70%) and some change from other sources (5%).

Traffic is 55% Google, 20% direct (repetitive visitors) and other mix of everything. This niche is seasonal and there likely won't be much traffic from November to March, but I already have some plans what to work on during winter to make sure it has even better 2026.

Other than that, business as usual with my main site:



So, I'm still at around $1K/month from IM, when you add some digital product sales etc. Treating it more as a hobby now really, but in the winter season I hope to work at least 100 hours on the website from my second journey. Let's see how it goes...

Solid update, Kikerinka. Your shift in focus makes a lot of sense, especially emphasizing content that AI can't easily replicate and building repeat visits. It's a fresh take and likely the right direction. Wishing you continued success!

Thanks, the only problem is that it is going to get tougher and tougher, finding such a type of content. What AI can't replace now, maybe in 1-2 years it can.

This is scaring so much. Going back to the office, doing reporting, small talks... Why didn't you reinvest your profit in something new, IM never end.

Not all directions in IM are for everyone. "Prostituting" oneself on TikTok or OF or similar platforms may generate huge earnings, but I feel it's not something 95% of people who used to follow this journey (and have been on similar ones) would ever do, regardless of the income potential. Hence for many it means back to 9 to 5...

 

[mezzofanti]

This is scaring so much. Going back to the office, doing reporting, small talks... Why didn't you reinvest your profit in something new, IM never end.

Well, I like blogging - I write what I like to write about (with or without AI help), people come to my site (various traffic sources), read the text, see ads, follow my affiliate links, and I earn money - nice.

However, my main source of traffic was Google and after HCU back in September 2023, everything changed. Add to that browsers like Brave (no adds), similar extensions for other browsers (no adds), coupon extensions (steal Amazon clicks/cookies - check "honey" scam), etc, I simply had it enough.
(I had email lists, but they were not enough to drive enough traffic to my sites.)

I did try at the beginning of this year with two sites and they had excellent growth in Google Webmaster Tools regarding views in Google search, but there were no clicks. I also had few ideas about topics that Google and AI simply can't do much damage (at least I hoped), but I was simply too tired of everything.

Note: my idea were iq-test, general tests, and quiz sites, but ...

So, back in the office and 8-hour shifts...
(at least I had somewhere to go back also, now I don't have to worry about taxes, expenses, paperwork, etc )

 

[titoma]

Well, I like blogging - I write what I like to write about (with or without AI help), people come to my site (various traffic sources), read the text, see ads, follow my affiliate links, and I earn money - nice.

However, my main source of traffic was Google and after HCU back in September 2023, everything changed. Add to that browsers like Brave (no adds), similar extensions for other browsers (no adds), coupon extensions (steal Amazon clicks/cookies - check "honey" scam), etc, I simply had it enough.
(I had email lists, but they were not enough to drive enough traffic to my sites.)

I did try at the beginning of this year with two sites and they had excellent growth in Google Webmaster Tools regarding views in Google search, but there were no clicks. I also had few ideas about topics that Google and AI simply can't do much damage (at least I hoped), but I was simply too tired of everything.

Note: my idea were iq-test, general tests, and quiz sites, but ...

So, back in the office and 8-hour shifts...
(at least I had somewhere to go back also, now I don't have to worry about taxes, expenses, paperwork, etc )

The fact that I can go for a walk a tuesday morning at 10 a.m and don't give a shit about a boss is worthless.

 

[zackh]

The fact that I can go for a walk a tuesday morning at 10 a.m and don't give a shit about a boss is worthless.

I'm pretty sure @mezzofanti can say "been there, done that" for that 'precious experience'.