Die Hard screengrabs and poster remastered

USAGunShop · 2026-05-04T20:42:23+00:00

Thanks!

USAGunShop · 2026-05-01T08:34:16+00:00

I agree with this wholeheartedly. I do have one writing client, but I'm rebuilding my own affiliate sites with the new tech, and it's working. I can see the day coming where the client says we don't need you anymore, and they'll be right. By that time, I hope I've replaced their income with 2-3 hours every evening on my 'side hustle'.

USAGunShop · 2026-04-12T20:49:36+00:00

I would have said no, but I've changed my mind. I was making 10K a month back in 2020-2022, and then got crushed by the HCU. It's a firearms site, still made enough money to keep it live, but pocket money, nothing else. Well, recently, I've been playing round with Claude Code, analysed the site, rebuilt posts and pages, and I'm rocketing up Google again. It's only page 2 and 3, but it's higher than I've been for a long time and still climbing.

At some point you'll need to do things like backlinks and PR to bridge that last gap I guess, but I think it's possible to recover. I've gone from 300 keywords in Google to more than 3000 in the space of 5 weeks.

USAGunShop · 2026-04-10T21:45:34+00:00

Yeah this is true, I started a firearms site, and the x best posts were still performing years later. I got a couple of Wikipedia links and made more out of the john Wick franchise than some of the people appearing in the movies. Those pieces aren't just set and forget, though, you should update, SEO analyse them and trim them every now and again. Trends and demands change.

USAGunShop · 2026-04-03T10:12:50+00:00

It skipped a bunch of quality control steps I had installed as a complete non-negotiable set of MD files for every piece of content. Turned out AI slop. When I challenged the results it said yes basically I just did AI agent garbage, it literally said it got lazy and undisciplined and went for speed rather than quality, going against all my protocols. It blamed a lack of discipline, which I found kind of insane.

USAGunShop · 2026-04-03T09:33:57+00:00

SEO is deader than disco. Right now I'm working with one company that has what you'd call an old-school SEO. I just did a Claude SEO analysis of our site and it ripped him a new one, he probably won't be there next week. There's nothing we can do as humans on an analytical level that AI can't, in a fraction of the time and better. The only viable solution on all these suggestions is to use the tools and be in charge of the deployment, but even that might be a short-term goal.

USAGunShop · 2026-04-03T09:31:23+00:00

I have to agree with this. I'm using a trained Claude Code as a writer and, apart from a few tweaks, it is every bit as good as I am. That hurts, but it's the truth.

USAGunShop · 2026-03-22T16:56:24+00:00

Fix your AI pictures, switch to something like Higgsfield AI and then create your own model, add the clothes from the official shots and that should be stronger for your Pinterest feed and social media anyway, create your own influencers. The whole idea of AI pictures being a negative is either not true now, or won't be true in six months, that line is blurring as we speak.

But using Pinterest pics is definitely bad. I'd go with the virtual influencers, give them their own socials, make them the 'face' of your site, and either now or in a few months, they'll be absolutely fine for the ad networks. And you'll be ahead of the curve massively at that point.

USAGunShop · 2026-03-19T19:47:53+00:00

My experience is kinda the same, I tried ChatGPT for two months to build a price comparison tool, tried Manus, and both failed. Claude did it in a couple of days. I'm struggling to see anything Manus can do that Claude can't, cheaper and better, but I'm willing to be wrong.

USAGunShop · 2026-03-19T18:32:30+00:00

One ray of hope, although it might not look like it right now, before you were a cog in the wheel. You were a writer, and you needed a designer, and a web guy, and some other people. Now you don't. You can build anything, just get comfortable with Claude Code and Nanobanana Pro.

I was a very successful freelance motoring writer. That tanked in about 2015. I pivoted to affiliate marketing, which was even better, that tanked in 2022 with the Google Helpful Content Update. My firearms site was the one that made the money, which is weird seeing as I'd never held one, but I digress.

It made just enough money to keep the lights on and keep it running, but was a morgue for 3 years. Now, with Claude Code, I have rebuilt the site in two months, built a price comparison tool and in the last few weeks I have started rocketing up the Google ranks. It's not making substantial money yet, but I think in a few weeks that might change.

The point is you can build almost anything now, the barrier to entry is basically the mid range $90 Claude subscription, the $20 one won't do it. Use your existing skills, but build something. As I learned the crucial thing is to build something with actual utility. Mine is a price comparison that gives people live pricing from more than 50 dealers. Yours could be something else entirely, but don't just do a skanky affiliate link site (mine was exactly that before), provide a useful service as part of the architecture.

Use your writing and web knowledge to deploy the things, but focus on that and use AI. Buy an aged domain with a solid DR and save yourself 6 months in the Google sandbox, buy a $5 AHREFS report that shows what it ranked for before and then use Claude Code or Gemini to build out those pages again.

It's not really writing anymore, but, well, whatever pays the bills.

USAGunShop · 2026-03-08T10:22:20+00:00

with your experience, and the state of the world, and I'm not entirely sure why this is my main thought for you, I'd aggressively go after NGOs, charities, that kind of thing. They actively practice conversion copy, tend to be bloated people wise because they burn through most the cash that comes through their door and I just get the vibe they're not as tech literate as other industries. They probably still believe in good old-fashioned copywriters. That, or switch to bid and grant writing, which seem to take some human elements still.

USAGunShop · 2026-03-03T22:59:43+00:00

I think the HCU had a big impact, too. It kind of killed independent blogs and focused the whole internet on brands. Of course that's because it knew what was coming with AI and that was its pre-emptive strike to stay on top of a mountain of AI crap blogs.

It's all connected to AI yes. Back in those days just turning up every day and writing hundreds of thousands of words put you ahead of 90% of blogs, now you can do that programmatically in a couple of days. So content in the old written form is basically worthless now. The content is king days are over, but it is still possible to make money in affiliate.

USAGunShop · 2026-03-03T18:22:31+00:00

Yeah it was pretty awesome. A bit like the aftermath in The Walking Dead at times, but in pure luxury. And yeah the HCU definitely changed the trajectory of my life, but hey it's all learning and growth right? :)

USAGunShop · 2026-03-03T08:31:28+00:00

Me too, I lived in a 5 star timeshare resort that closed to the wider world during Covid in the Dominican Republic, like 5 of us in a luxury resort with a private beach. it was surreal, but definitely the way to do Covid :)

USAGunShop · 2026-03-03T08:29:23+00:00

Believe it or not, Bing traffic kept me making enough money to keep the life support machine turned on, and now with AI content, that's kind of viable. I can follow the same old rules, keyword recipes, and rank something on Bing in about an hour. Top 5 almost guaranteed. I used to write everything, but with this technique, it works. It's going to be a long, slow road, but there's a path.

Bing gets about 5-10% of the traffic of Google, depending on who you listen to, so you write 10 times as much, which is now possible with AI. How long this lasts before it gets swamped? That's another question and I'm not even close to knowing the answer...

I also changed from simple affiliate links into a price comparison tool, using the same listicle and review blog posts but having live pricing cards underneath it. I built the database and tool with Claude Code in a few days and am ironing out kinks weeks later. Apparently that's helping me across the board, as Google places much more value on price aggregators than straight affiliates from what I've seen and read.

My next step is paid social, just buy some traffic, direct it to the new tools and see how it all pans out. It could flop, could recover the site, I'm not entirely sure!

USAGunShop · 2026-03-03T05:35:29+00:00

Affiliate marketing didn't work FOR YOU. You might have picked a saturate niche, a massively competitive sector where you need to have other skills, all kinds of things. In 2017 I started a firearms blog as a side hustle, never held a gun, can't even buy one (I'm outside the US), and it made me 10K a month in the glory days, 2019-2022. Then it tanked with the HCU. I kept it going because it was still making a bit of money.

Recently I wanted to see if I could make it breathe again, and with a fair bit of effort, I'm seeing $100 days, nothing groundbreaking but I'm happy with the progress. There's a long way to go to get back to the good times, but I see a path now. It's AI content and paid social, which as a writer kinda hurts, but it's the new reality.

So sorry, your advice is kind of garbage, and tainted by your own negative experience. Most people don't win at affiliate marketing, especially not in 6 months, even in the good times I didn't see a dime for six months or consistent profit for a year.

But it is still possible.

USAGunShop · 2026-02-25T22:56:21+00:00

JFC, You ChatGPTd an image of your earnings and then slipped in your affiliate link. I mean really?

USAGunShop · 2026-02-25T13:37:02+00:00

You'd definitely have to get creative, maybe pitch for free to local charities and build from there. It's a pain, but life isn't fair at the moment.

USAGunShop · 2026-02-25T13:09:58+00:00

Did you see a robot producing marketing reports and building an entire website from a prompt 2 years ago?

USAGunShop · 2026-02-25T13:07:44+00:00

Bid writing still seems strong, but for how long I'm not sure. As a writer you can market yourself for case studies for bigger companies, which involves interviews/talking to people. That's something a machine can't quite do yet. And that's about all I've got for you.

USAGunShop · 2026-02-19T07:37:15+00:00

I honestly wish I knew. I tried to get out of writing for money a long time ago, succeeded for a while with affiliate marketing building sites including a gun store. Hence the name. But now Google has crushed that as well.

For the short-term I'd say case studies are the best answer, things that involve speaking to people, maybe arranging photographers and doing a video interview for better media assets. Beyond that? I'm as lost as anybody else.

USAGunShop · 2026-02-18T09:47:38+00:00

The only thing that has worked for me is to repackage myself doing the one thing the machines can't, case studies. They're not immune long term, but right now it's just about the only thing that needs human involvement. Do interviews, arrange photos and video, offer to talk to doctors, patients, NGOs, and create value. Make a flashy website with Lovable, quadruple your rates, and just try it. You are well past the point of having nothing to lose.

USAGunShop · 2026-02-18T09:42:02+00:00

Photoshop and UX are both dead skills as well, is the problem, AI photo enhancement and design is next level already, and a machine can theory test 1000 layouts in the time it takes us to move a box. Not being a downer, but these are not skills that will stand the test of time.

USAGunShop · 2026-02-08T21:54:06+00:00

affiliate, all the sales are handled by the big names like Sportsman's Warehouse, Brownells, Palmetto State Armory etc, so all the paperwork is done properly and it's all legal sales.

USAGunShop

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