Over the past 12 months, I invested 5 hours of my time and $3,600 to get my web site up and operating. At present, it brings in $500 a month in passive earnings, even after Google’s useful content material replace.
How did I get began?
Effectively, I really like passive income, and my guess is, you do too. Since I already run a number of websites, I made a decision to outsource one totally to see if I may flip it right into a money-making machine on autopilot.
I used Ahrefs to discover a area of interest. In case you’re , the method is as follows:
- Sort a really broad, generic key phrase into the search bar. In case you’re seeking to construct an affiliate web site, then one thing like “finest” is an effective selection.
- Activate the “Filter express search outcomes” possibility.
- Subsequent, press “add filter” and choose “area ranking.” Depart the ‘from’ field empty and put a low quantity (round 10) within the ‘to’ field.
- Then add a “web page visitors” filter and go for a reasonably excessive quantity, as much as 50,000.
You’ll now see a listing of pages that obtain greater than 50,000 periods a month on websites with a website ranking of lower than 10. Whereas not all of those articles are ones you’d wish to construct a web site round, you’re certain to search out a couple of gems that show you may construct high-traffic websites with out having to spend numerous hours and {dollars} on link-building or Pinterest.
The following factor I did was pull a listing of key phrases. Since I discovered a very accessible area of interest, it didn’t take me greater than a few hours to compile a listing of over 300 key phrases. The duty was simplified as a result of many of those key phrases had been simply completely different combos of numbers.
How did I develop this web site?
Setting it up was a breeze; it took me simply half an hour. I already host a number of websites on BigScoots, so including this one was simply an add-on with none additional fee. I additionally had a premium GeneratePress theme and WP Rocket able to go, so there was no extra financial funding wanted.
For the content material, I outsourced article writing to a content material company at $12 a bit. We’ve had a long-standing relationship, so I gave them full entry to the positioning to deal with all of the posting in response to my particular directions—tips on how to interlink articles, what pictures to make use of, and so forth.
Within the first month, I posted 20 articles after which let the positioning sit idle to get out of Google’s sandbox. Come November, the positioning was lastly free to play within the large leagues. We resumed posting, and as you may see from the screenshot beneath, it hit 50,000 pageviews in April and peaked at 100,000 pageviews in July.

I had a hunch that the positioning could be affected by one in every of Google’s updates, and certain sufficient, it acquired hit by the HCU replace in September 2023. Visitors took a dip, taking place to round 1,500-2,000 pageviews a day. However guess what? That’s nonetheless sufficient to earn me $500 a month.
Are web sites nonetheless a viable possibility?
Completely, they’re. The latest Google HCU replace could have modified the panorama, nevertheless it’s simply the most recent in a protracted line of shake-ups—consider how Panda and Penguin switched issues up 10 years in the past. The trick is to pivot your technique to satisfy present traits.
Gone are the times of long-form content material brimming with fluff, very similar to how prolonged YouTube movies are not the craze. At present’s viewers craves quick, straight-to-the-point info, whether or not it’s within the type of a video or an article. Adapt to this, and also you’re golden.
Extra: How to Sell Videos Online to News for Cash (I made over $6,000)
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