How Georgi Todorov Sold His Website for Six Figures After Just Two Years

This page may contain links from our sponsors. Here’s how we make money.

Most online businesses, especially blogs and content websites, take several years to hit their stride. Georgi Todorov drastically accelerated this process with Thrive My Way, which he grew to 300,000 monthly visitors and sold for six figures in just two years.

Not only did Georgi succeed with Thrive My Way, but he also used the experience as a springboard for his next venture.

The Background

Georgi’s journey began with an interest in search engine optimization (SEO). He used online resources to teach himself the basics and then experimented on his own to learn more.

What started as a curiosity led to a career. Georgi worked in digital marketing and link building as a freelancer, plus a one-year stint at Semrush.

The time at Semrush was a valuable experience for Georgi, but wanting to build something of his own, he left to pursue his own business.

Launching Thrive My Way

In August 2021, Georgi launched Thrive My Way, a content-based website with articles about ways to make money online. “Seeing the potential in digital platforms,” Georgi said, “I wanted to build a site that could leverage SEO to attract significant traffic and provide value through its content​​.”

Starting and growing a blog or content-based site takes time, especially those that rely on organic search engine traffic. Georgi didn’t want to wait 3-5 years to have a successful business. He wondered, “What if I do the same amount of work in six months [instead of 3-5 years]?” With that in mind, he published about 300 articles in six months.

To kickstart things, Georgi invested $50,000 of his own money into the business. He did extensive keyword research and created a content strategy for the site. After identifying the topics to cover, Georgi created outlines and drafts. Then, he hired freelance writers to create hundreds of articles from the drafts.

After the articles were written, virtual assistants optimized them for search engines by following a simple checklist and documentation that Georgi created. This approach allowed him to leverage his SEO expertise to create optimized content affordably and at scale.

Thrive My Way’s traffic grew very quickly. While many blogs and content sites struggle to get search traffic during the first year, Thrive My Way reached 100,000 monthly visitors in just eight months.

Ups and Downs

After the initial push, Georgi’s content production slowed drastically. By the spring of 2022, he wasn’t adding much new content to the site, and it was about to experience some volatility. Google search algorithm updates in September and December 2022 eliminated more than half of the site’s traffic.

In early 2023, Georgi worked hard to turn things around. He evaluated pages that lost traffic and created a checklist of improvements and updates. Then he and his freelancers made the updates, improving the site’s content for readers and search engines.

Updating the content was a lengthy process that involved improving most of the site’s articles, but it paid off in a big way. “The next Google update in March 2023 was super rewarding,” Georgi said, “and we recovered from the traffic loss that we had experienced with the updates in 2022.” Thrive My Way’s traffic continued the upward trend for months after the update, eventually reaching new highs.

Initially, Thrive My Way was monetized with display ads. But later Georgi used affiliate marketing, sponsored content, and an online course to increase and diversify revenue.

The Exit

Later in 2023, with the traffic still growing, Georgi decided to sell the website. He wanted to cash out and start something new. Georgi enjoys the early stages of projects, and he’d lost some of his motivation for Thrive My Way.

He spoke to a few brokers and marketplaces but wasn’t thrilled with their valuations. A few situations contributed to the lower valuations, including about 35-40% of the site’s revenue coming from sponsored posts and about 40% of the site’s traffic being from India.

After talking with a representative from Flippa and getting a higher valuation, Georgi decided to list it there. The Flippa listing generated interest from more than 200 potential buyers and concluded with a sale for $102,000.

Although the listing generated a lot of interest from potential buyers, Georgi didn’t go with the one who offered the most money. “I could have had a higher price from other buyers, but I chose to sell to this particular buyer because he was easy to do business with and didn’t ask me to sign an NDA [non-disclosure agreement]. For me, it was important to be able to tell the story of how I grew the website because I already had my next project in mind – Createandgrow.com.”

Keys to Success and Lessons Learned

Georgi credits Thrive My Way’s success to “a deep understanding of SEO and a commitment to publishing high-quality content.” He was also quick to take action and not afraid to face a challenge. “I just knew what needed to be done,” he said, “and I wasn’t afraid of pushing it.”

Thrive My Way competes in a very crowded niche, with thousands of sites chasing the top spots in Google’s search results. Georgi mentioned that link building, in addition to the commitment to quality content, allowed the site to stand out.

Although Georgi succeeded with Thrive My Way, the world of SEO has changed drastically over the past 6-12 months. Many content sites with an SEO-first approach have fallen in the rankings, leading to much lower traffic. Georgi points out that his approach to traffic generation has adjusted as a result. “Now, I would take a different approach and diversify traffic sources.”

For example, with Create and Grow, Georgi uses a podcast and LinkedIn to promote content and grow an audience, rather than the SEO-only approach he used with Thrive My Way. SEO can certainly still work in 2024, but, as Georgi points out, it shouldn’t be your only source of traffic.

When asked about the lessons he learned from the experience of growing and selling Thrive My Way, Georgi pointed out three things:

1. “Don’t sell your website during the summer because many of the buyers will be on holiday.”
2. “Don’t rely only on Google for traffic; diversify your traffic sources.”
3. “Personally test everything that you promote as an affiliate partner.”

Looking Ahead

Now, with Thrive My Way in the rearview mirror, Georgi focuses his efforts on Create & Grow. He said the site will be an “online platform where I plan to publish case studies and real reviews of tools and products I’ve personally used. That will be my personal brand website that I won’t sell.”

Interested in being featured on Flip My Site? We’re always looking for entrepreneurs with great stories. If you’ve bought or sold a website or online business, please contact us about being featured.