avatarHazel Paradise

Summary

The author discusses their journey and challenges in making money by selling digital products through an automated Medium blog in a tech subniche, detailing their first sale, monetization strategies, and the hurdles faced with AI-generated content.

Abstract

The website content outlines the author's experience with creating an automated blog focused on a tech subniche derived from a college course. Initially, the author used ChatGPT to generate article ideas but found the content to be less than 60% accurate, necessitating significant edits. Monetization efforts included starting a newsletter, which was discontinued due to inconsistency, and writing an instructional manual that led to the first sale. The author plans to monetize further through Gumroad affiliate marketing and by promoting select products. Challenges include the small niche size, the need for accuracy in tech content, inconsistent publishing, and the preference of Medium readers for personal stories over AI-generated articles. The author observes that personal articles garner more engagement and sales, and despite the experimentation with AI, successful bloggers tend to favor hiring human writers. The author concludes by acknowledging the complexity of their third blog's situation, expressing a preference for personal blogging, and committing to continue the experiment while updating readers on progress.

Opinions

  • The author values accuracy in tech content and finds AI-generated articles lacking, requiring substantial human intervention.
  • There is skepticism about the effectiveness of affiliate marketing, yet it is being pursued as an experiment.
  • The author has observed that Medium readers engage more with human-written content, which leads to better outcomes in terms of followers, clicks, and sales.
  • Despite the potential for passive income, the author acknowledges the trade-off between managing multiple blogs and personal peace of mind.
  • The author suggests that hiring writers may be more effective than relying solely on AI tools for content creation, based on interviews with successful bloggers.
  • The preference for personal storytelling over AI-generated content is clear, with the author noting that readers can easily discern the difference.
  • The author is determined to maintain a balance between personal blogging and experimental automated content creation, indicating a mixed approach to their online writing endeavors.

HOW TO MAKE MONEY SELLING DIGITAL PRODUCTS

First Sale on My Medium Automated Blog

my third Gumroad store

Screenshot by author

My very first sale on my third Medium Blog (Experimental Blog)

This article belongs to the series My Automated Blog.

I will keep today’s article short and sweet. I started an automated blog a few months back. And I have some updates —

  1. What Niche? — Subniche of tech. A course I took during my college days.
  2. Used ChatGPT? — Ideas were generated using ChatGPT. I made a lot of changes. The generated article was not 100% accurate.
  3. How have I monetized? — I started a newsletter but later dropped it. I was inconsistent. I published only three articles the previous month (October). Then I wrote a book (a complete instructional manual on the topic) and made my first sale recently.
  4. More monetizing ways? — I cannot write more guides. I will monetize my automated blog with products from Gumroad. I’ll do Gumroad affiliate marketing. There are two products I like a lot and would share with my audience. Marketing software seems to be a good way, too. But that’s costly and requires more work. I’ll stick to Gumroad for now.

Some hurdles I am facing —

  1. My third blog should be fully automated, but it’s not. I have to edit most of the things because ChatGPT is not even 60% accurate. And in tech, accuracy matters a lot.
  2. I don’t have many products to promote. The niche is small. Too small. I created only one digital product myself. I don’t have any more ideas.
  3. Gumroad Affiliate Marketing I don’t know what the outcome will be. I am not very much a fan of affiliate marketing. But this is an experimental blog. It doesn’t matter if I fail. I’ll update you.
  4. I am inconsistent. I promised to publish at least two articles per week, but I couldn’t. I wrote only three articles in October.
  5. Having more blogs means more money. But it also means less peace of mind.

My observation —

I have to admit two things for my third blog:

  1. When I publish ChatGPT-generated articles, very few people follow and click on the links.
  2. When I write articles myself, I receive more followers and more clicks. And of course sales.

Medium readers prefer personal stories rather than AI-generated articles. They catch these articles easily. I saw some interviews with successful bloggers, and they prefer hiring writers rather than using AI tools. This proves something.

Conclusion —

I wanted to keep it short, but I guess I have a lot to say on my third blog. I like blogging but can’t keep writing myself everywhere. I maintain my two blogs personally (Hazel Paradise and a blog under my real name). I’ll continue doing my experiment on the third blog and keep you updated.

If you are interested in Gumroad Business then you can check out my ebook — Build Once, Sell Forever— How I Create & Sell Digital Products With Gumroad

Writing
Writer
Medium
Gumroad
Affiliate Marketing
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