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Why This Multi-Million Dollar SEO Company Just Deleted Everything and Walked Away

This is a newsletter I sent to my subscribers last week. I publish the newsletters on my website; however, I censor some information from the public versions.

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First of all, I need to apologize! Last week, I promised to write about my Facebook journey, but something unexpected happened that I want to discuss instead!

In their last podcast episode, the AuthorityHacker guys announced that they had shut down their business 😮😯🤯

Do you know AuthorityHacker? Their niche website-building course was my first online purchase, and I even wrote a review about it.

In a nutshell, AuthorityHacker was a leading SEO education platform that offered courses on building and monetizing niche websites. It was run by two guys, Gael and Mark (I do not remember their family names, haha 😅). They earned industry respect for their detailed training materials and active community engagement.

💥 They no longer see value in teaching people how to create content websites because their previously taught revenue model is no longer viable.

💥 They’ve also lost interest in teaching the topic altogether since the industry has become too volatile compared to the time required to create courses.

“By the time you release the course, the UI changes and people complain it is not the same as in the course” 🤷‍♀️

I had seen hints of this in some of their previous videos, but it still hit me 😩

While I completely agree that creating traditional SEO-oriented websites no longer makes sense, I continue to maintain content websites and even plan to grow them 😬 I am focusing more on social media for these sites, though.

Taking online courses isn’t also as simple as it used to be.

Over the past year, I took several courses; two were total flops.
I managed to get a refund for one of them (AuthorityHackers’ Amazon Influencers course, which was their final course).
However, the other one—about the Facebook Bonus Program—never worked out for me and others. I share more details about that experience in my newsletter, that have already been sent to my subscribers.

So neither creating nor taking online courses guarantees success like it once did.

Meanwhile, I’m exploring several new business ideas, and only one of them involves a content website. Is that too much or too little? 🤔

Still, it’s unsettling to see the big guys pulling out of this space. As a small gal, I worry about having less expert advice and knowledge to draw from when I need it. I am feeling more alone in this journey than before…

They also shut down their YouTube news channel, which I loved as well.

“No point of shitting on Google anymore.”

That covers what they discussed in the first half of the video.

The second half was much more positive for me.

They talked about a new business idea: helping companies adopt using AI and automation in marketing. This is something I understand and implement myself! And it can potentially be a new business idea! 😆

***Sensored***

☝☝☝ I edited out some details from my original newsletter. If you’d like to receive these updates in your Inbox in unedited form, sign up:

It’s fascinating to watch a new business emerge before my eyes—even though I’m only seeing the public side while the real struggles remain behind the scenes.

I am also a big fan of Notion, and Gael promised an episode about it! 🤩

Watch their video:

What are your thoughts on the video?

Are you feeling anxious about the future of niche websites, or excited about the new knowledge Gael and Mark will share? Do you use any automation in your daily activities?

Hit Reply and let’s chat! 

Otherwise, have a wonderful weekend ❤️