AI Can't Replace My Websites
Read Time: 3 mins
AI is scary.
These days, the impending threat of AI can be a real mental roadblock to starting any online business.
Yet I’m still building.
AI has forced me to question my projects, my future career, and every money-making method I see on the internet.
Yet I’m still building.
On my down days, I ask myself: Is what I’m building still worth my time? What is worth my time?
Yet…WE’RE OUT HERE BUILDING!
No one has a crystal ball.
But where does my conviction come from?
For God’s sake, I literally build directory websites where I consolidate free information found on the internet.
“What is this, yellowpages.com in 2024? ChatGPT is going to destroy you first!“
Yet my website is still standing strong, especially after the bloodbath by Google’s recent HCU update (tl;dr many bloggers got wrecked overnight and ruined people’s livelihoods)
I’m not kidding.
I quite literally find a niche, create a website, and take information freely available and manually consolidate it onto a website. Once it drives traffic (which I’m confident it will from my niche research) I activate display ads and make passive income.
This is what I did to create my $1500/month niche website that takes 1 hour monthly to maintain, and exactly what I’m doing to build my second niche website.
Here’s a mini-masterclass on directory websites in 90 seconds:
These directory websites still work in niches that are:
- Evergreen in nature
- Helping people save time
- Within a niche where people save money or make money
Let me give you an example.
My second website is a directory for people looking for plasma donation centers around America.
Tens of thousands of people search for plasma centers near them every month.
If you didn’t know, people will donate their blood plasma twice a week to be compensated $40-$70 each session. In some cases, you can get paid $175 per donation.
I personally know people who have been doing this for years.
And apparently it’s exploded in popularity, especially in these tough financial times.
The Problem I'm Solving
There’s no all-in-one hub for people looking for plasma donation centers.
There’s Yelp, but it’s missing key information plasma donors want to know.
Questions like:
- What are the requirements for donating plasma?
- How much will I get paid?
- How quick will I get paid?
- How often can I donate plasma?
The list goes on.
Yelp points you in the right direction to DIY (do it yourself).
My niche directory website is a DFY (done for you).
It’s super niche, but that’s the point.
Evergreen Content? Check.
Based on my research, people search for plasma donation centers because:
- It’s easy money
- As long as you’re generally healthy, you qualify
- You can conservatively earn an extra $300 a month
- You feel good knowing you’re saving lives with your plasma
It’s an easy sell for anyone looking for extra cash in their pockets.
In 10 years, will plasma donation companies change all that much?
Nope, it follows a strict medical process.
And how much further into the future will people want to make an extra $300-$500 a month?
Probably forever.
If you try and search for a plasma donation center on Google, the top results are individual companies.
Yet, If people wanted information from specific companies, the most popular searches would be “BioLife Plasma San Antonio.”
But it’s not.
People want to know their options locally, especially if they’re going to be poked with a needle for an hour.
Why AI Can't Replace My Directory Websites
AI is amazing at giving you answers quickly, based on data from millions of websites.
But it’s still not a DFY solution.
ChatGPT gives you what you ask it for.
To mimic a directory website, plasma donors would need to ask the right questions and prompts to train AI to give them what they need.
Secondly, native AI content isn’t formatted in the same user-friendly way directories can be.
If ChatGPT could mimic the same images and text from my website directories, the UI would be rough.
My directory websites are information-dense, location specific, but are super simple to read.
If you want to follow my niche website build, here’s my 7-day-old plasma donation directory website (there’s still broken links).
P.S. I asked ChatGPT for the “plasma donation centers in San Antonio” and this was the result:
Final Thoughts: Conviction Comes From Independent Thinking
As I said, no one has a crystal ball.
Everything can go to zero.
But there’s wisdom in seeing social media influencers call your industry “dead” and continuing to build with conviction.
There’s so much nuance to what you’re building, how you’re building it and what AI is capable of.
If anything, your competition will decrease as people buy into the skepticism.
If you’re afraid of the implications of AI in your industry, the best thing you can do is play with AI tools as much as possible.
Ask yourself:
- Is this what my audience is looking for?
- Is this how my audience wants to consume this information?
- If AI got 10x better, what information would still be scarce?
Today, there’s no side hustle story.
This is it.
Next weekend, I’m excited to share a very relevant side hustle story from someone who sold three niche websites, one of which sold for $160k. See you soon and happy Saturday!
Cheers,
Frey
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Join side hustlers who are earning beyond their full-time jobs. Unlock side hustle ideas and tips to earn an extra $500–$10,000 a month by building a legitimate side business.
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Join side hustlers who are earning beyond their full-time jobs. Unlock side hustle ideas and tips to earn an extra $500–$10,000 a month by building a legitimate side business.