This isn’t an article I needed to write down… however right here it goes.
Running a blog as a enterprise mannequin isn’t simply dying—it’s already lifeless.
In current months, we’ve seen main blogs shut down, course creators abandon ship, and even individuals who made thousands and thousands from search engine optimisation declare it recreation over.
However right here’s what nobody is saying…
This isn’t nearly Google updates or AI. The way in which individuals devour content material has basically modified, and blogs are not a part of the equation.
So the true query isn’t simply “Is running a blog nonetheless value it?” It’s “If running a blog is lifeless, what truly works now?”
Let’s get into it.
Why Even Prime Bloggers Are Strolling Away
For years, running a blog was an extremely profitable enterprise mannequin. Excessive-ranking weblog posts introduced in regular natural site visitors, which could possibly be monetized via adverts, affiliate internet marketing, and digital merchandise.
However in 2023, that each one modified. Among the largest names in running a blog began pulling out. Even we have been provided over half one million {dollars} for our weblog—however we turned it down. After which, issues took a flip.
Site visitors disappeared. Income plummeted. And previous search engine optimisation methods stopped working in a single day.
So what occurred?
The Brutal Fact About Why Running a blog Tanked
This isn’t simply one other fluff story just like the hundreds of different clickbaity articles on the web proper now. I’m not going to let you know running a blog is lifeless, after which later on this put up say… except you do it the way in which I educate in my programs.
No. I’m going to present you my actual, trustworthy tackle the state of search engine optimisation, content material websites, affiliate internet marketing, and running a blog as a enterprise mannequin.
In the event you’re presently a blogger and also you’ve been holding on optimistically dreaming of your site visitors coming again, or in case you’re a model new blogger and also you’ve simply put a ton of labor into your new website… or in case you’ve at all times needed to start out a weblog however now I’m sitting right here and shitting everywhere in the complete enterprise mannequin… don’t fear.
There IS a silver lining right here. It’s part of this story that nobody is speaking about… a shift that really opens up the largest on-line enterprise alternative we’ve ever seen.
And people who adapt now are going to win larger than ever earlier than.
Ensure you learn to the tip of this put up as a result of I’m going to speak about precisely what that shift is and how one can leverage it to blow up your personal on-line enterprise.
So how did we get right here? Why has running a blog taken such a drastic downturn in such a short while? It wasn’t only one factor—it was an ideal storm of adjustments that hit abruptly. In the event you’ve been questioning why blogs are shutting down and search engine optimisation methods are failing, listed here are the largest culprits behind the collapse of running a blog as a enterprise mannequin.
1. Google Modified the Guidelines
Google rolled out AI-generated search outcomes, which implies fewer persons are clicking over to precise blogs. On the identical time, they prioritized boards like Reddit and Quora over unbiased web sites.
In the event you seek for one thing like “Greatest Journey Credit score Playing cards,” you’re extra more likely to see a Reddit thread or TripAdvisor put up on the prime of search outcomes than a well-researched weblog article.
And this wasn’t an accident—Google struck a $60 million per 12 months cope with Reddit to make use of their boards to coach AI fashions. In return, Reddit’s content material will get precedence in search rankings, successfully pushing smaller blogs out of visibility.
This all began with the Useful Content material Replace in 2022, and continued with the Hidden Gems Replace within the fall of 2023. As a substitute of rewarding high-quality weblog content material, Google handed the search outcomes over to boards.
Bear in mind these site visitors graphs of your favourite journey bloggers tanking? Effectively, Reddit’s site visitors elevated by over 650%, hitting 1.3 billion in that very same timeframe. This was no mistake.
For small bloggers, that is devastating. Even in case you write one of the best put up on the web, you’re preventing an uphill battle simply to get seen.
2. AI Flooded the Web with Junk Content material
When ChatGPT launched, bloggers didn’t assume, “How can I exploit this to make higher content material?” They thought, “What number of AI-written posts can I publish per day?”
Because of this, search outcomes grew to become flooded with generic, AI-generated content material. Google responded by rolling out updates that penalized AI-heavy web sites, however even high-quality blogs obtained caught within the hearth.
And right here’s the issue… most bloggers didn’t use AI to enhance their content material, or to assist them analysis their details, or make their websites extra user-friendly—they used it to spam the online.
Because the launch and mainstream adaptation of ChatGPT, analysis reveals that as many as 7.5 million weblog posts are being printed each single day. The search outcomes have become a wasteland of soulless, regurgitated AI content material. Google knew this was an issue, so their response? Burn all of it down.
Sadly, that meant even high-quality blogs obtained caught within the hearth.
3. Google’s AI Solutions Took Over Search Outcomes
Google now generates AI solutions proper within the search outcomes—pulling info immediately from blogs with out sending any site visitors again to them.
In the event you search “Greatest Locations to Go to in Thailand,” Google’s AI summarizes one of the best choices on the prime of the web page. Customers get the knowledge they want with out ever visiting a weblog.
For bloggers, this implies they’re not simply getting buried in search rankings—they’re getting erased from the equation completely.
If UGC and AI spam have been the storm, Google’s AI-generated solutions have been the ultimate tsunami that worn out every thing left standing. It’s like taking part in a recreation the place you do all of the work… and another person takes the trophy.
Right here’s the opposite brutal fact nobody is speaking about—even when Google wasn’t killing blogs, customers already moved on.
Give it some thought. When was the final time you made a purchase order choice—whether or not it was for a visit, a brand new cellphone, or a course—by studying a 3,000-word weblog put up?
You didn’t.
As a substitute, you most likely:
- Watched a YouTube assessment
- Checked TikTok for fast professionals & cons
- Checked out Instagram reels for real-world examples
- Requested in a Fb or Reddit group for suggestions
- Learn Amazon evaluations and checked testimonials on social media
That is simply how individuals purchase now—we would like fast, visible, and trusted info from individuals we truly observe and have interaction with.
You may assume that this can be a direct results of individuals shedding belief in blogs as a result of so many are simply written with AI, however that’s not the case. The reality is, this transformation began taking place lengthy earlier than bloggers had instruments like ChatGPT and Claude.
Is search engine optimisation Completely Lifeless?
Not completely—however for many unbiased bloggers, it would as nicely be.
Huge manufacturers with large budgets will nonetheless use search engine optimisation. Despite the fact that ChatGPT just lately grew to become one of many prime 10 web sites on the earth, presently at quantity 7, and is climbing rapidly, Google remains to be the god of on-line site visitors for now. It’s on the prime of that checklist, so massive firms with some huge cash will nonetheless battle for these prime spots.
However the days of recent bloggers rating with nice content material alone are gone. The battle for search engine visibility is simply too aggressive, and Google’s fixed algorithm adjustments make it unimaginable to depend on natural site visitors.
So in case you’re nonetheless attempting to develop your enterprise via search engine optimisation running a blog in 2025, you’re not simply competing with Google—you’re competing with how individuals truly devour content material now.
In the event you’re writing search engine optimisation weblog posts and attempting to rank in Google for key phrases…. Cease it.
In the event you’re doing a little variation of that, like attempting to rank for Bing or ChatGPT… Cease it.
In the event you’re engaged on the technical search engine optimisation in your web site and attempting to optimize it. Cease it.
It’s a whole waste of time.
There are different issues you need to be engaged on if you wish to construct a sustainable, future-proof enterprise, and we’ll get to {that a} bit later.
What Really Occurred to Our Running a blog Companies (And How We Pivoted)
We nonetheless make passive revenue from our web sites, however solely as a result of we’ve been round for a few years. We have now 4 of them, and (fortunately) they’re nonetheless bringing in over six-figures a 12 months from adverts and associates.
We’ve invested in search engine optimisation and hyperlink constructing through the years, and constructed up our viewers, which gave us some cushioning as every thing collapsed.
However we knew we would have liked to pivot years in the past. Greater than 7 years in the past, we realized that we have been placing WAY too many eggs within the running a blog basket.
We relied fully on Google search engine optimisation, Associates, and Advertisements to pay us our wage. Nevertheless it didn’t take lengthy to comprehend that Advertisements dropped as a lot as 50% seasonally or relying on the political state of affairs, and associates? Don’t even get me began…
I already wrote a put up on how Airbnb cancelled their associates program with out warning, costing us $100,000 per 12 months. And that was simply one in all MANY instances that occurred to us.
Principally, we have been making unimaginable cash, however we had no management over our site visitors sources, or the revenue coming into our financial institution accounts.
That’s why we began specializing in constructing our e mail checklist (a site visitors supply that we OWN) and promoting our personal merchandise—one thing we had management over. This took me down a rabbit gap and years of analysis into studying tips on how to create an superior course, tips on how to promote a course, tips on how to create e mail gross sales automations and funnels, and principally tips on how to earn cash promoting our personal merchandise via emails.
That a part of our enterprise was actually profitable and it obtained us to the place we at the moment are. However now, for the previous 2 years, as a substitute of counting on weblog site visitors and search engine optimisation to usher in leads, we’re doing it via social media.
Now earlier than you say what I used to say again then and be like “I hate social media”, let me let you know that for one, you’re most likely 40+ like me, and two, that perspective will seemingly be the only purpose you most likely gained’t have a profitable on-line enterprise in 5 years.
What This Means for the Way forward for On-line Enterprise
Running a blog is not a viable enterprise mannequin, however that doesn’t imply on-line enterprise is lifeless. In reality, there has by no means been a greater time to construct a worthwhile enterprise.
The easiest way I can clarify that is via a browsing analogy. No, I’m not a surfer, however simply bear with me for a minute…
We have been driving this large wave of search engine optimisation and Running a blog. We made thousands and thousands of {dollars} on that wave and on the time, we thought it was one of the best wave within the sea.
However whereas we have been cruising on that wave… a much bigger, extra stunning, and extra sustainable wave was constructing momentum behind our wave.
That wave was Social Media.
In enterprise, it’s a must to know when to get off the wave. As a result of in case you journey it too lengthy, it’ll crush you. And in companies that contain expertise, these waves can come extraordinarily rapidly.
Within the tech panorama, the search engine optimisation wave was like a large tidal wave. It lasted SO lengthy, and we’re extremely grateful for that.
However now, the brand new wave is right here, and it’s been right here for a very long time, us older era simply didn’t see it.
The Way forward for On-line Enterprise: Social Media, Digital Merchandise, and E-mail Advertising and marketing
If running a blog was the previous wave, social media is the brand new one. And it’s the largest alternative for natural site visitors and monetization we’ve ever seen.
This wave is the largest alternative we’ve ever seen within the on-line world:
- It’s the largest alternative to construct a large viewers without cost
- It’s the largest alternative for natural site visitors
- And it’s by far the largest alternative to monetize and make thousands and thousands of {dollars} from promoting digital merchandise
1. Construct an Viewers with Quick-Kind Video
Platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts are the place persons are consuming content material now. As a substitute of writing 3,000-word weblog posts, creators are constructing large audiences via short-form video.
2. Promote Your Personal Digital Product
Not like running a blog, social media helps you to monetize quick—you probably have the appropriate product. As a substitute of incomes $0.002 per customer via adverts, you may promote a $37 digital product and make actual cash immediately.
Individuals like Natalie from Boss Babe have revamped $100,000 monthly promoting a easy digital product. And we all know of a girl who revamped one million {dollars} in a 12 months from her tiny viewers of lower than 3,000 individuals.
This simply wasn’t potential with running a blog. There may’ve been some off probability that you simply obtained picked up by an enormous TV community or one thing and also you went viral in a single day, however for 99.9% of bloggers who have been simply writing weblog posts for search engine optimisation, it will take months, typically years, earlier than they’d see any revenue.
Even me. I constructed a fly fishing web site from $0 to $8,400 monthly in a single 12 months. However for the primary 6 months, it earned subsequent to nothing. And I knew what I used to be doing!
3. Use E-mail Advertising and marketing to Automate Gross sales
Your weblog ought to be an internet site—not a content material hub. It ought to:
- Construct authority
- Seize emails
- Promote your product
E-mail advertising is the place the true cash occurs. By main social media followers to a freebie, you may construct an e mail checklist that nurtures leads and automates gross sales.
In fact, you may’t simply make cash on social media by posting humorous cat movies. You create extremely focused content material that speaks to a selected particular person, helps them obtain a selected transformation, and that content material sends them to your e mail checklist the place they enter their identify and e mail to get your tremendous precious freebie.
It’s from that freebie, and from the magic of e mail advertising that you simply’re in a position to promote your digital product to them and make cash on autopilot.
Look, making $17 on a $500 Airbnb reserving was nice, and incomes 0.002 cents per customer on our weblog was additionally cool, however there’s nothing like the sensation of waking up and seeing that somebody bought your $500 course or your $4,000 teaching program. It’s validation, it’s thrilling to have the ability to have a actual affect and assist individuals, and it’s the primary steps in constructing an actual, loyal neighborhood.
The Future is Right here—And It’s Not Running a blog
Running a blog was once an unimaginable enterprise mannequin, however instances have modified. Google and AI have made it almost unimaginable for brand new bloggers to succeed the way in which we did years in the past.
However that doesn’t imply the chance is gone. It’s simply moved.
Writing search engine optimisation blogs had turn into monotonous and boring. Ask any profitable blogger, we have been uninterested in writing the ten greatest issues to do in Bangkok and the 15 greatest finances microwaves.
Do I miss the passive revenue from running a blog? Completely, however that very same passive revenue is accessible with short-form video and nice e mail advertising.
Blogs take a TON of labor. So to do all that work simply to have a Google Algorithm replace or AI fully wipe you out in a single day? That’s simply not value it.
The long run is short-form video. The long run is making a precious product. The long run is having an epic e mail checklist that folks love being subscribed to. The long run is being an actual human being, and actually connecting along with your viewers on-line.
That is the long run. And the individuals who embrace this shift now are going to win massive.
If you wish to construct a enterprise that really works in 2025, give attention to short-form video, digital merchandise, and e mail advertising. That is the way you create an actual, future-proof enterprise.
In the event you’re able to cease losing time on outdated methods and begin constructing a worthwhile enterprise, seize our free coaching beneath that reveals precisely how we—and our purchasers—are doing it.
The most important on-line enterprise alternative we’ve ever seen is going on proper now. The one query is—are you going to take it?
