AI-powered directories are printing money again—here's how to build, fill, and monetize yours before your competitors catch on

​​If having trouble with any links, you can read the online version here​

Hey Guys,

What if I told you the most profitable business model right now isn't launching a new SaaS, but simply organizing the mess that is the internet?

There's a massive resurgence happening with Directory Sites—but not the old-school kind. We're talking about AI-built, automated, hyper-niche directories that run on autopilot.

But here's the catch: building the site is easy. The real secret is a specific "flywheel" strategy that allows you to monetize before you even have organic traffic. Most people do this backwards and go broke waiting for SEO.

In this edition, we're covering the Directory Revolution, the new rules of AI Search Optimization (GEO), and the tools that are literally building businesses in under 30 minutes.

TL;DR:

• The Trend: Niche Directories are printing money again
• The Shift: SEO is evolving into GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) for ChatGPT/Perplexity
• The Tools: New AI agents can scrape data, build apps, and write marketing campaigns for you instantly

➡️ Your Complete Implementation Guide

Look, I know the problem. You watch these videos, get pumped up about the strategies, bookmark them, and then... nothing happens. Information without action is just entertainment.

That's why I've created Complete Implementation Packages for every single strategy in today's newsletter. Each package includes:

✅ 4-Paragraph Summary - Get the core strategy without watching the full video

✅ 25 Key Takeaways - Every important point extracted and organized

✅ Step-by-Step Checklist - Exactly what to do, in order, to implement the strategy

No more getting stuck between learning and doing. Just grab the checklist and start executing.

​Access All Implementation Guide Here →​

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​If the video doesn't open, click here to watch on YouTube​

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📂 THE DIRECTORY REVOLUTION

How to build, fill, and monetize niche sites fast

1. I Built A Directory With AI in 7 Minutes

You don't need weeks to code a platform. You can build a fully functional, beautiful directory (like an email tool database) before your morning coffee cools down.

Here's what you'll discover:

• How to use Softr and AI to generate the entire app structure instantly
• How to auto-populate your site with data so you aren't manually entering listings
• The trick to connecting Google Sheets or Airtable for a dynamic backend

​Watch the full breakdown →​

2. How to Monetize Your Directory (Even With ZERO Traffic)

Most directories fail because they rely on SEO. This video reveals the "Directory Flywheel" that generates cash immediately so you can pay for the traffic you need.

Here's what you'll discover:

• Why you should stop selling cheap listings and start selling high-ticket services first
• The "Cheatsheet" method: Using paid ads to kickstart the flywheel
• The 4-step monetization ladder: Ads → Affiliates → Premium Listings → Lead Gen

​Watch the full breakdown →​

3. Easiest Way To Build Online Directories (NO CODE!)

WordPress can be clunky. This video introduces a dedicated tool built specifically for directories that handles the heavy lifting of Programmatic SEO for you.

Here's what you'll discover:

• A walkthrough of Directify, a tool that includes hosting and custom domains
• How to use "Programmatic SEO" to dominate search results automatically
• A smart strategy to use blog articles to market your specific listings

​Watch the full breakdown →​

4. How to Launch a Directory Website in 24 Hours

The best ideas aren't tech startups; they're unsexy problems. Here are 5 untapped niches you could launch by tomorrow morning.

Here's what you'll discover:

• 5 Specific Niches: From Commercial Kitchen rentals to "BYO Food" wedding venues
• The "Anti-The-Knot" strategy: Targeting vendors who hate big platforms
• The 5-Step Fast Track plan to validate your idea without writing a line of code

​Watch the full breakdown →​

5. Scrape THOUSANDS of Resources For Your Directory (One Prompt)

Populating a directory used to take months. Now, you can use a single AI prompt to scrape thousands of listings and send them directly to your database.

Here's what you'll discover:

• How to use Apify + Claude MCP to act as an autonomous scraping agent
• A workflow that finds data (e.g., Waldorf schools in Texas) and pipes it into Supabase
• How to build a "Self-Filling" database that grows on autopilot

​Watch the full breakdown →​

6. The Only Prompt I Use to Find High-Potential Niches

Stop guessing what to build. This specific prompt for Claude analyzes thousands of data points to hand you profitable directory ideas on a silver platter.

Here's what you'll discover:

• The "Sweet Spot" metrics: 10k-40k search volume + Local Intent
• How to layer niches (e.g., Shopping → Secondhand → Thrifting) to find gold
• A live breakdown of a "Kids Birthday Party Venue" niche analysis

​Watch the full breakdown →​

7. We Built a $10K/Month Directory in 27 Minutes

Watch a developer live-code a directory using Cursor and AI agents in real-time. This is the future of "Agentic" workflows.

Here's what you'll discover:

• How to use Grok (Voice Mode) to architect the entire app while at the gym
• Using Cursor to write the actual code and deploy it to the web
• How to auto-generate images for every listing using MidJourney to make the site look premium

​Watch the full breakdown →​

🤖 THE NEW SEO: AI & DISCOVER

Ranking in the age of ChatGPT and Algorithms

8. The New SEO Playbook for AI Search (GEO)

Ranking #1 on Google doesn't mean you'll show up in ChatGPT. Ahrefs analyzed 25 million AI overviews to find out what actually matters.

Here's what you'll discover:

• Why Brand Mentions are now more critical than backlinks
• The "Tree Walking" algorithm: How AI reads your content structure
• Why Freshness is the #1 signal for AI retrieval (RAG)

​Watch the full breakdown →​

9. What is AI Search Optimization (and How To Do It)

Informational traffic from Google is dropping, but "Branded" traffic from AI is skyrocketing. Here's how to capture it.

Here's what you'll discover:

• How to optimize for Perplexity and Gemini (Hint: First-hand experience is key)
• Why you need to define exactly what your brand is "known for" (e.g., Durability vs. Price)
• A look at Semrush's new "AI Toolkit" to measure share of voice in Chatbots

​Watch the full breakdown →​

10. How I Rank on Google Discover Daily

Google Discover can send millions of visitors overnight, but it requires a completely different strategy than Search SEO.

Here's what you'll discover:

• The "Negative Emotion" Hack: Why negative framing + positive solutions goes viral
• Crop Hook: How to format images to force clicks
• Content Velocity: The exact publishing schedule required to trigger the algorithm

​Watch the full breakdown →​

11. How I'm Building 1,000 AI Microsites

A masterclass in scaling local SEO. They have 78 sites and are scaling to 1,000 using a streamlined "Microsite" strategy.

Here's what you'll discover:

• Why you don't need a blog to rank local sites anymore
• The 80/20 of Local SEO: Perfect NAP (Name, Address, Phone) and Citations
• Why "thin content" isn't a problem if the semantic structure is perfect

​Watch the full breakdown →​

12. Master Perplexity Prompting

Perplexity is not ChatGPT. If you prompt it the same way, you get bad results. This guide changes how you research.

Here's what you'll discover:

• No "Few-Shot" Prompting: Why giving examples actually hurts Perplexity results
• The "Academic Mode" Hack: How to force the AI to ignore spam and only use peer-reviewed data
• How to use API parameters in plain English to control search depth

​Watch the full breakdown →​

🛠️ AI TOOLS THAT DO THE WORK

Browsers and Scanners that automate marketing

13. This AI Browser Changes How I Build WordPress Websites

Imagine a browser that can log into your WordPress site and do the work for you—like auditing SEO or writing Alt Text—while you drink coffee.

Here's what you'll discover:

• A demo of Perplexity Comet, a browser that executes tasks inside webpages
• How to run an autonomous SEO audit that fixes titles and meta descriptions automatically
• The future of "Action-Based" browsing for designers and developers

​Watch the full breakdown →​

14. Google's NEW AI Website Scanner (Pomelli)

Google Labs dropped a tool that scans a website URL and instantly creates a full-blown marketing campaign in that brand's voice.

Here's what you'll discover:

• How to use this tool to generate "Business DNA" (Brand voice, colors, fonts) in seconds
• A strategy to onboard clients in minutes by showing them done-for-you assets before they even sign
• How to generate months of social content, emails, and ad banners instantly

​Watch the full breakdown →​

15. Recall's NEW AI Editor Is Better Than NotebookLM

If you're drowning in information, this tool is your life raft. It connects everything you read, watch, or listen to into a personal knowledge graph.

Here's what you'll discover:

• How to summarize YouTube videos and articles into a single knowledge base
• Active Recall: How the tool creates quizzes and study guides from your saved content
• The "Space Repetition" feature that helps you actually learn, not just hoard information

​Watch the full breakdown →​

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🚨 URGENT: Is ChatGPT Recommending Your Competitors Instead of You?

I started to build out some free tools to use as lead magnets.

Here's the first one.

​Inspired by Matt Diggity post a few days ago.

Here's a snippet from Matt's post…

"Most businesses accidentally block AI bots without realizing it.

Check your robots.txt file right now. Make sure you're not blocking ChatGPTbot or OAI-SearchBot.

Many security tools started automatically blocking these in July 2025. Your site could be invisible to AI without you knowing."

Free tool i built

🤖 AI Bot Checker - Free Tool

👉 https://aibotchecker.site​

What it does:

* Scans your robots.txt

* Checks 35+ AI crawlers

* Shows what's blocked vs. allowed

* Tells you EXACTLY how to fix it

The results? Eye-opening.

Big brands ARE accidentally blocking AI.

Meanwhile, competitors who allow it are getting all the AI traffic

This is lead gen gold for anyone in:

- Local services

- B2B SaaS

- E-commerce

- Professional services

Try it + let me know what you find 👇

(P.S. This is the first of several free marketing tools I'm building. Keep an eye on the newsletter, we will add a new one weekly,
or join the WhatsApp group for a free Daily Tool for the next 30 days!)

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Want the Unfair Advantage?

If you're serious about staying ahead of the curve (instead of constantly playing catch-up), you need more than just intel. You need:

• ​The Social Listening System​ that finds these opportunities before they hit mainstream it's Free!
• ​​TubeScraper LITE​ which you can use to gather content daily for the social listening system, it's free too!
• ​​Viral Content Pilot​ turn any link into traffic-generating machines. Free LITE version!
• ​​The 4-Step Email Sequence​ that converts cold leads into buyers while you sleep. This works! (Free GPT)
• ​​ConverKit Free Newsletter Plan​ (Up to 10,000 subscribers)
• ​​Access to our private community​ where the real strategies get shared first

The marketers making serious money aren't just reading about these strategies – they're implementing them with proven systems that actually work.

Your Next Move

The barrier to entry for building software and platforms has never been lower. The winners this year won't be the best coders—they'll be the marketers who take action on these tools fastest.

Speed of execution beats perfection every single time. While others are still planning, you'll already be collecting feedback from real users.

Talk soon,

- Tony

P.S. - The directory strategies in items #1-7 are some of the fastest ways I've seen to build cash-flowing assets in 2025. If you've been sitting on the sidelines waiting for the "perfect" idea, stop waiting. Pick one unsexy niche, build it today, and start monetizing before you have any traffic. That's the game.