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Hello, my loves, and welcome back to The Wanderlover Podcast. We are recording live from sunny, beautiful Florianópolis, Brazil. It is currently summer here and the weather is absolutely incredible every single day. We have our live coaching call this week inside the Wanderlover Coaching Group, where we are wrapping up 2025 and preparing for the new year. If you are not in the group and would like to join us, you can click the link in the episode description.
One of our newest members, Ann (hi Ann, if you are listening), asked about how AI is affecting the blogging industry. So in today’s episode, I am going to share everything you need to know about the changes happening right now and why I honestly believe that most bloggers will not survive unless they adapt.
My Experience as a Blogger and Business Owner
The Wanderlover blog has generated just shy of $30,000 USD in revenue this year. (Click here for the full breakdown on how to make money from travel blogging) The exact number is $29,644. I would not call myself a full-time blogger, but blogging is one of multiple income streams in our business. A large portion of that income, minus the actual blogging and posting part, is passive through affiliate revenue.
I feel confident speaking on this because I have been doing this for many, many years. If you are a blogger or business owner and you have felt nervous, overwhelmed, or honestly just confused about AI, this episode is for you. I am going to share exactly how to work with AI so you can grow faster and earn more than ever before.
How AI Has Changed Content Creation Forever
AI is already here and it is everywhere. It has massively lowered the barrier to content creation, and competition is at an all-time high. Blog posts that used to take six to eight hours to write can now be drafted in under ten minutes. Outlines, keyword clusters, FAQs, meta descriptions, email newsletters, Pinterest titles, AI can assist with all of it.
If you work in this space, it is very obvious what content is AI-generated and what is not. You can see it on Instagram and across social media. The vocabulary, the flow, and the way people communicate is very different compared to AI-generated content. This has led to three major shifts in the blogging industry.
First, there is more content than ever before. Second, average-quality content is easier to produce. Third, the internet is noisier than it has ever been, because alongside real bloggers and writers, there is now a flood of AI-generated content.
Why Blogging Was Already Broken Before AI
I would not say that AI killed blogging. Instead, it exposed what was already broken. For years, many bloggers built businesses solely on SEO traffic, generic listicles, ad revenue, or content they did not even enjoy creating. Now that AI can produce “good enough” content in seconds, average blogs simply do not stand out anymore.
You cannot be average. You cannot throw together a blog post, hope it ranks, and expect to build a sustainable income. There must be strategy behind what you are doing. Google has made it very clear that it does not care how content is created. It cares about quality and usefulness. With AI search summaries, featured snippets, and tools like ChatGPT, users often get answers without clicking through to a website. Traffic-only blogging is becoming increasingly risky. Page views are declining, and it is harder than ever to get people onto your site.
What AI Can and Cannot Replace
This does not mean blogging is dead, but it does mean you cannot rely on SEO alone or ad revenue as your main income stream. Bloggers need to build brands, not just publish generic content and hope it performs.
AI can replace generic listicles, surface-level “top 10” and “top 20” posts, keyword-stuffed articles, and content written without real experience. What AI cannot replace is your lived experience, your voice, your opinions, your personal data, your results, and your story.
Earlier this year, I had a situation where someone used AI to summarise one of my blog posts and republish it as their own inside a Brazilian expat group. When I confronted him, he was apologetic, but it made something very clear to me. His AI-generated article would never outperform mine. People will always land on the original source written from real experience.
Why Experience-Based Blogging Wins
Your lived experience is your unfair advantage. If you have travelled somewhere, built a business, made or lost money, or navigated a specific life experience, that is your secret key. Firsthand research, personal opinions, original insights, and brand authority matter more than ever.
If you are already known in your industry, continue leaning into what you do best. Starting a brand from scratch today is harder than it used to be, but it is not impossible.
The Risk of Traffic Without Ownership
One of the biggest mistakes bloggers make is relying entirely on Google traffic. When you do that, you are in the passenger seat. Google controls your business. With AI-powered search, fewer people are clicking, rankings are harder to maintain, and ad-based businesses have incredibly thin margins.
If you do not own an email list, a community, a product, or a service, you do not truly have a business. I see so many people trying to reach their first $1,000 month through blogging alone, and it can take years, if it happens at all. It is no longer a sustainable strategy.
How Bloggers Are Thriving Right Now
The bloggers who are thriving today are doing things differently. They are diversifying income streams. They are using AI as a writing assistant, not a replacement. They are turning blogs into funnels, building email lists, creating communities, launching products and services, and repurposing content across platforms like podcasts, YouTube, and social media.
This makes your business resilient. If one platform changes or disappears, your entire income does not disappear with it.
How to Use AI Strategically
To stay ahead, use AI to brainstorm ideas, create outlines faster, repurpose content, improve structure, and speed up research. At the same time, always add your personal stories, real examples, photos, screenshots, data, opinions, and positioning. People are craving authenticity and connection. They can tell when something is AI-generated. AI should encourage you to step up and be seen, not hide behind automation.
Monetisation Is the Real Differentiator
Traffic alone is no longer the goal. Monetisation beyond ads is what creates real growth. AI is forcing bloggers to ask better questions about ownership, authority, income streams, and sustainability. That is why we are seeing a shift toward digital products, courses, memberships, coaching, and trust-based affiliate marketing. Bloggers who adapt their business model will outlast everyone else.
The Future of Blogging in an AI World
Blogging is not dying. It is evolving. The future belongs to fewer generic blogs and more personality-driven brands, more multi-platform creators, and more intentional storytelling.
Inside The Wanderlover Podcast, on YouTube, and across our communities, I encourage creators to be visible, share real stories, and create genuine value. AI rewards creators who show up authentically rather than chasing algorithms. If you have been feeling unsure about AI, take this as your wake-up call. When used wisely, AI can help you monetise faster and enter your most profitable era yet. If you want help building a content business that actually makes money without relying on traffic alone, make sure you check out the Wanderlover Coaching Group. We would love to have you inside.
Thank you so much for tuning in. Have an amazing week, my loves, and I will see you in the next episode.
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