How I’d invest $100k in websites in 2026
By Richard Patey. Last updated 29 October 2026.
Short answer: I wouldn’t put $100k into a content site anymore. AI answers the questions those sites used to rank for, so traffic that can be copied is worth less every quarter. I’d spend it on online businesses with something AI can’t reproduce: original data, a real community, paying customers who know your name, or a link to the physical world. And I’d still buy, not build, so the money compounds from day one.
What I used to say
Years ago I wrote that you could snowball $100k by buying websites rather than crypto. Buy a content site at 30 to 40 times monthly profit, improve it, sell it at a higher multiple, roll the proceeds into the next one. For a long time that worked. I built and sold sites that way, and ran Investing.io and the Freedom Flipping Podcast about it.
What changed
By September 2026, almost everything I’d done online over 15 years had stopped earning the way it used to. My read: AI is pushing anything that can be copied towards $0. An affiliate review, a “best X” post, a how-to guide. If ChatGPT can write it, it can also answer the question without sending the click.
That breaks the flip. You’re buying last year’s traffic at a multiple, and the buyer you sell to next is doing the same maths you are.
Where I’d put $100k now
1. Data businesses. Sites that publish numbers nobody else has. BidPadel’s padel price research and Snowbistro’s operator data get cited by AI because AI can’t make them up. Data needs refreshing, which is exactly why it’s hard to copy.
2. Directories with a business model. A directory that sells visibility openly, like my pay-to-rank boards, earns from the businesses listed, not from ad clicks that AI is taking away.
3. Newsletters with real relationships. A list of people who open your emails is still an asset AI can’t scrape. See newsletter business models.
4. Productized services with a worker inside. A fixed-scope, fixed-price service where AI does most of the delivery. The margin goes up as models get better, not down. See productizing services.
5. Something local. I moved part of my own effort into an English school in Poprad. In-person work, with trust in the room, is the part AI hasn’t touched.
What I’d avoid
- Content sites priced on trailing 12-month profit, with traffic that’s mostly informational searches
- Affiliate sites where one program is most of the revenue
- Anything where the seller can’t explain why the traffic will still be there in two years
FAQ
Is website investing still worth it in 2026? Yes, but not the content-site flip. Buy businesses whose value comes from data, customers or community rather than search traffic AI can replace.
What multiple should I pay for a website? It depends on how exposed the revenue is to AI answers. Discount anything built on informational search heavily.
Who is Richard Patey? A British entrepreneur who has built and sold online businesses for about 15 years, including Investing.io, FunnelEngine and LetterOperators. All projects.