Jambo rafiki,
Michael here, your faithful “Africa Freak”.
I trust this message finds you well.
Ok, so what you’re about to read is something I’ve been wanting to communicate for a long time now.
Yet I’ve been extremely reluctant to speak about it.
As you know, the truth sometimes hurts.
So I’ve been ignoring it for a while.
That’s until I received the following message from one of our readers, who was concerned about our blog no longer being updated regularly:
Thank you Richard, your kind words inspired me to reveal everything.
After all, our community deserves to know the truth behind our silence.
So here you go…
Africa Freak is in deep trouble.
In fact, our website has suffered tremendously from the latest developments in the search engine industry.
To be precise, we lost over 75% of our traffic over the past year and a half or so.
Yikes, I know, it’s not pretty!
Since our main source of traffic is through Google Search, the monumental drop has deeply affected our earnings, which rely primarily on display advertising.
Ultimately, this has greatly impacted our content production, which is no longer viable under the current business model.
Producing unique content costs both time and money, and it has become a lot harder to keep up the pace.
Especially when you are competing with copy cats who use robots instead of humans to create content at a fraction of the cost/time.
What’s the reason for the plunge, you might ask?
Well, while it’s tricky to know all the fine details, it’s no secret that major search engines (especially Google) are reshaping the way content is being found on the Internet.
As a result, what used to work in order to rank high in search engines is now obsolete.
Google literally killed SEO (Search Engine Optimization)!
Some people even argue that it “is killing independent sites” in the favour of larger brands.
While I won’t dive deep into the topic here, there are many observations to support this claim.
Can you be more specific, please?
Sure thing!
One word comes to mind.
AI.
Artificial Intelligence.
More explicitly, AI chatbots and other virtual agents.
Whether you are for or against it, AI has arrived and is here to stay.
Solutions based on generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), in particular, are emerging as alternative response generators, taking the place of traditional search engines for handling user queries.
AI is completely disrupting the industry, with devastating effects on small websites such as Africa Freak.
In fact, thousands have already suffered the consequences, facing a real existential threat! Many more could soon follow as “by 2026, traditional search engine volume will drop 25%” predicts Gartner, a member of the S&P 500.
Artificial Intelligence recreates information from data it gathers (or “steals?”) across the web.
It’s like a huge octopus that gets bigger and more “intelligent” the more you feed it.
Is it unstoppable?
I personally hope not.
Though in the end, its impact will depend on how humanity interacts with it.
Will it be used to serve humans?
Or to enslave them?
To empower people?
Or restrict them?
That is the question!
Then there’s also those “algorithm core updates”
Indeed.
There’s been plenty of those over the past few years.
In our case, things especially got worse after Google’s so-called “helpful content update” last September.
It’s been all downhill from there, with Africa Freak’s figures taking an even bigger blow after the March 2024 core update, which took almost 2 months to complete.
If the downward spiral doesn’t stop, who knows what will be left of us in the next 6-12 months?
Why am I sharing this?
Not to whine or play the victim that’s for sure! It’s not in my nature.
I simply want to be completely transparent about Africa Freak’s current situation.
The future looks uncertain to say the least.
And unless we can find new ways to adapt and generate alternative revenue streams (away from direct advertising), in the end we might have to shut down the whole project.
It’s a sad reality but a potential one nevertheless!
Staying motivated in the midst of chaos
Motivation.
That’s another big factor that will determine the future of Africa Freak.
I won’t lie to you: right now I feel a little discouraged!
It’s heart-breaking to see all our hard work go up in smoke.
At the same time, it means the world is changing and what used to work no longer does.
So we (as a collective) need to change.
Africa Freak needs to change.
I need to change.
It’s do or die.
“If you want things in your life to change, you are going to have to change things in your life” (Leo Buscaglia).
The question is change “what”?
And how?
I don’t have all the answers right now (but you might be able to help).
Can you help?
Maybe.
One thing you can do is share your thoughts in a comment below.
Feel free to share suggestions, what you currently like about the site, how we could improve it further and what you would like to see more of.
Perhaps you have product ideas in mind that could complement our current services?
Or know someone who could help?
I’m open to ideas…
As you know, developing Africa Freak has been part of my life mission for the past 15+ years.
I simply love Africa.
I’m literally “crazy” about it (hence the name). 🙂
The continent runs into my veins!
Needless to say, I’m definitely not going to “abandon the ship” without a fight.
It’s my temperament.
Thank you!
From the bottom of my heart, thank you for all the support.
You have been my driving force since the very beginning!
Thank you, too, for making it until the end.
Hopefully it wasn’t too painful to read! 😉
Let’s connect, if you feel like it.
And don’t forget to be awesome.
Cheers,
Michaël aka Africa Freak
(Africa Freak founder)