In the last year, many people have given up the blogging sector because of huge traffic and income loss. Million-dollar blogging businesses have collapsed. Not only the blogging sector but also the writing sector has faced a great impact for Google updates and the revolution of AI. Yet, some dynamic and future-oriented people are researching the new scopes and trying to bring success.
Our guest, Firoz Ahmad, is one of them. He is very well known for his expertise in “Local SEO”. But he has not confined his capability to only one sector. He has expanded his knowledge in the blogging sector and brought success. With a minimal investment, he sold his niche site at $3,000 a few months ago. As many new bloggers face initial investment crisis for the blogging business, this interview may be helpful for them. Let’s dive deep into the interview.
Jovayer: Can You Tell Us a Bit About Yourself and Your Background in Blogging?
Firoz Ahmad: I am Firoz Ahmad, a professional SEO expert with 5 years of experience in SEO, blogging, affiliate marketing, and even blogging. Blogging is my passion. I enjoy conducting niche research and experimenting with Google algorithms. I am working remotely at Project 95 LLC as a Technical SEO Expert. I am a top-rated SEO expert on Upwork. In this interview, I will share my experience flipping an AI website at 3000 USD with just a 50 USD investment.
Jovayer: How Did You Come up With the Idea for Your Blog?
Firoz Ahmad: Before helpful content update 2022, I researched UGC(User-generated content ) like forum website and found a great opportunity. Some specific niches like Automotive, Pet, Electronics. were getting millions of traffic. That was why, the idea came to my mind to implement.
Jovayer: What Motivated You to Start Your Blog with Such a Minimal Budget?
Firoz Ahmad: I had been listening to several interesting podcasts focusing on AI website flipping. After giving it a lot of thought and considering the insights, I gained good insight and knowledge from those discussions. Then, I ultimately decided to utilize AI-generated content for that particular project.
Jovayer: Can You Break down the $50 You Spent on Building Your Site? What Were the Main Costs?
Firoz Ahmad: Here is the break down of my investment.
Domain: $10
Ai Tools for content: $40
Hosting free( I have existing hosting )
Theme Plugin free
I did not invest any dollars in link building.
Jovayer: What Tools and Platforms Did You Use to Set Up Your Blog?
Firoz Ahmad: I used WordPress as the main platform for this particular project. For the design elements, I chose the free theme called Kadence, which offers a variety of customization options and is quite user-friendly. Additionally, I implemented the free plugin Rank Math to optimize the SEO for this project, ensuring that the content reaches a wider audience and performs well in search engine results.
Jovayer: You Mentioned Using AI Tools to Write Blog Posts. Which AI Tools Did You Use, and How Did They Help You?
Firoz Ahmad: I used Affpilot, a well-known AI writing tool in Bangladesh, which has proven to be extremely beneficial for bloggers like me. After connecting my website with Affpilot, I was able to publish a large number of posts in draft form. I, then, took the time to manually review and publish the content, ensuring quality and relevance for my audience. Affpilot has lots of features that automate the task of content publishing.
Jovayer: How Did You Decide on the Topics and Niches for Your Blog Posts?
Firoz Ahmad: I discovered that many forum sites were centred around the automotive niche. This area seemed to have a lot of activity and engagement among users. To enhance my understanding and improve my research, I reached out to MR Shahidujjaman Shahid, the owner of Affpilot.
He was very helpful in guiding me through the process of topic research and identifying relevant keywords. His expertise allowed me to gain valuable insights into the automotive community, which will be beneficial for my future projects.
Jovayer: What was Your Content Strategy to Attract Readers and Drive Traffic to Your Blog?
Firoz Ahmad: The content was generated by AI technology. Therefore, if I input the keyword list into the tools, it automatically drafts the post for me. My main focus was on creating informative articles that provide valuable insights.
Additionally, I incorporated YouTube videos to enhance the content and make it more engaging for the readers. I also ensured to use of unique feature images and relevant images throughout the article to further enrich the reader’s experience and understanding of the topic.
Jovayer: What Techniques did You Use to Grow Your Blog’s Audience Organically?
Firoz Ahmad: I focused on on-page SEO by implementing proper internal linking strategies to enhance the overall user experience and improve search engine rankings. After that, I engaged in social sharing across various platforms, including Reddit, Quora, Pinterest, and LinkedIn, to increase visibility and drive traffic to my content.
This multi-faceted approach helped to ensure that my efforts in SEO are complemented by active engagement on social media, maximizing the reach of my work.
Jovayer: Did You Use any paid advertising or promotions? If not, how did you manage to grow your audience without it?
Firoz Ahmad: No, I did not work on paid ads at all. My primary focus was on organic SEO strategies and the growth of social media presence.
Jovayer: How did You Monetize Your blog? What Were Your Main Revenue Streams?
Firoz Ahmad : To effectively monetize my blog, I decided to focus solely on display ads as my primary revenue stream. Specifically, I utilized Ezoic ads to help optimize and maximize the monetization potential of my site.
Ezoic provided a variety of tools and features that allowed me to generate income through ad placements, ensuring that my content remains engaging while also providing a steady flow of revenue.
Jovayer: What Were the Biggest Challenges You Faced while Building and Growing your Blog?
Firoz Ahmad : I was facing a significant problem when it came to indexing some of my posts. If these posts did not receive any impressions at all, they automatically got deindexed without any warning or notification. This situation was quite frustrating and had been causing me a lot of concern regarding the visibility and reach of my content online.
Jovayer: How did You overcome those Challenges?
Firoz Ahmad: I used Google Search Console regularly to keep a close eye on the indexing status of my website. This tool is incredibly helpful, as it allows me to track how well my pages are being indexed by Google.
Whenever I found any posts that were marked as noindex, I made sure to optimize them appropriately and then sent an indexing request to Google. For this process, I utilized the Google Indexing API, which streamlined the way my content gets noticed and indexed by search engines.
Jovayer: What Prompted you to Sell your Blog?
Firoz Ahmad: We started to make some money in the form of dollars from Ezoic, which is quite exciting. We are now thinking that we could potentially sell it as a starter website for those who are looking to enter the online business world.
Our daily traffic was consistently over 300 visitors, which was a good number for a growing site, and our earnings were approximately 3 USD per day. This showed promise and encouraged us to explore further opportunities for growth and development.
Jovayer: How did You Determine the Selling price of $3000 for your blog?
Firoz Ahmad: The blog started to earn a steady income of around 80 to 85 USD per month, which was quite encouraging. Additionally, the monthly traffic to the blog was between 7000 and 8000 visitors. To get a more comprehensive understanding of this performance, I multiplied the average income by a factor of 40 times, which gave me a clearer picture of the potential earnings based on the traffic figures.
Jovayer: Can you Describe the Process of Selling Your Blog? How Did you Find a Buyer?
Firoz Ahmad : My partner started to seek out potential buyers for the blog that we had been working on together. He took the initiative to publish several selling posts in various Facebook groups that are focused on buying and selling blogs and websites.
After some time, he was able to find a serious buyer who expressed interest in making a purchase. Initially, we were asking for a selling price of 4000 USD, but the buyer came back with a counteroffer of 3050 USD. After discussing it further, we decided to agree with this deal and move forward. To ensure that the transaction is secure for both parties involved, we opted to use an escrow service for selling the blog. This way, we can have peace of mind during the entire process.
Jovayer: What are the Key Takeaways from your Experience that You would like to Share with Aspiring Bloggers?
Firoz Ahmad : It was an innovative and experimental project, so my suggestion is to closely follow the current trends in the industry. Doing so will provide you with a valuable opportunity that you should not miss out on. It’s important to be cautious and not to invest a large amount of money in AI-based projects without careful consideration and thorough research.
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Jovayer: What advice would you give to someone starting a blog today with a limited budget?
Firoz Ahmad: Try to find fresh and relevant keywords that can enhance your content strategy. You can utilize Google’s auto-suggestion feature to discover popular search terms that users are currently interested in. It is important to avoid relying on forum sites at this moment since the scenario has changed dramatically.
Instead, concentrate on creating a comprehensive topical map that covers all aspects of your chosen subject. Make sure not to publish bulk content indiscriminately; quality should always take precedence over quantity. Focus on building your brand steadily and effectively to foster a strong online presence.
Jovayer: What are your future plans? Are you considering starting another blog or pursuing other projects?
Firoz Ahmad: Yes, I already started, but it is in a non-English language because the English language has become very difficult for me now.
