This is our AUSTRALIA VISITOR VISA Application Guide. In this article, you’ll find a list of requirements and the application steps to secure a tourist, business or visit visa online. Note that this is based on our own experience applying for an Australian visa. This is not official advice. For that, please check out the Australian Immigration website or consult an immigration advisor.

So you want to go to Australia?

Whether it’s to spot a koala or kangaroo, snap a selfie at the Sydney Opera House, or snorkel over the Great Barrier Reef, you’re going to need an Australia visa first.

The good news? Getting an Australian tourist visa isn’t as complicated as most people think, at least not for most nationalities. For the most part, the application is done online. For Filipino applicants, it used to be 100% online. But after the pandemic, a new biometric collection step was added, which has to be done in person. But I’m getting ahead of the story.

Step 1: Decide what visa type to apply for.

If you’re traveling to Australia for tourism, business or to visit someone, you’ll most likely need a VISITOR VISA Subclass 600. But under it are several types or streams:

• TOURIST STREAM, for applicants traveling for leisure, joining a cruise, or visiting family or friends who will not be sponsoring your trip.
  Cost: AUD 195 (PHP 6750).
  Duration of stay: 3 months, 6 months or 12 months.
• SPONSORED FAMILY STREAM, for those who will be sponsored by family or friends who are citizens or permanent residents of Australia.
  Cost: AUD 195 (PHP 6750) but sponsor may be asked to pay a security bond.
  Duration of stay: 3 months, 6 months or 12 months.
• BUSINESS VISITOR STREAM, for those traveling for business-related reasons such as meeting a client or attending a conference. Not to be confused with a WORK VISA, which is a completely different type.
  Cost: AUD 195 (PHP 6750).
  Duration of stay: 3 months only
• FREQUENT TRAVELER STREAM, for those who visit Australia multiple times for tourism or business purposes.
  Eligible countries: China, Brunei, Cambodia, Philippines, Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Timor Leste.
  Cost: AUD 1,435 (PHP 49,600)
  Validity: 10 years
  Duration of stay: 3 months per visit

You’ll find more information about the different types of Visitor Visa on this page.
Make sure you choose to correct stream for you!

Step 2: Complete the Australian visa requirements.

Here are the documents you need to gather when applying for an Australia Visitor Visa:

1. IMMI application form. To be accomplished online.
2. Scanned copy of the passport info page. Must be clear and readable. Passport must be valid.
3. Evidence of applicant’s previous travels. Scanned copy visas and stamps on current and old passports. If you’ve been granted an Australia visa before, chances are you won’t be required to submit this anymore.
4. Family Register and Composition Form (Form 54). List out all the members of your immediate family (parents, siblings, children, and spouse or de facto partner, if any). De facto partner means a domestic partner but not married. It has two (2) pages. Page 1 is Chinese; Page 2 is in Latin letters. Even if you accomplish just the second page, all your answers will automatically reflect on the first page. Make sure to affix your signature and your witness’. Digital signature is OK. No need to print it out.
   – You may also upload a copy of your birth certificate or marriage certificate (if the last name you’re using is different from what’s on your birth certificate).
5. Evidence of financial status and funding for visit. You can upload any or all of the following:
   – personal bank statement
   – income tax return (ITR)
   – pay slip
   – title deed, if meron kayong properties
   – retirement pension book, if retired
6. Evidence of current employment or self-employment.
   – For employees, it can be certificate of employment explaining your role in the company and proof that your leave of absence is approved.
   – For self-employed applicants, you can upload your business registration documents.
   – For students, certificate of enrollment.
7. If TOURIST STREAM: Evidence of planned tourism activities in Australia. This can be a detailed itinerary or day-to-day activities.
8. If part of a GROUP: Group tour details.
   – If you’re traveling DIY style, upload a list of all your travel companions.
   – If you booked a group tour, upload a letter from the agency that arranged your tour.
9. If BUSINESS STREAM: Evidence of business-related reason for travel. This can be any of the following, whichever is applicable:
   – proof of conference registration
   – details of previous contacts with Australian company or organization
   – letter from your employer explaining why you need to travel to Australia
10. If SPONSORED FAMILY VISIT STREAM, so we haven’t tried it so we have no first-hand information. But you may be asked to submit the following:
    – Letter of invitation. Only if you’re visiting a friend or relative. Best if you have photos with that friend and relative showing that you really know each other.
    – Identification Documents of Sponsor. If you declare that your trip will be paid for by someone other than yourself.
    – Evidence that your sponsor in Australia can financially support your trip. If you declare that your trip will be paid for by someone other than yourself.
    – Your sponsor might also be required to pay a bond.

Technically, only the above three documents are tagged REQUIRED on the website. The rest of the items are marked RECOMMENDED. But it goes without saying that you should also submit those for better chances of approval.

In addition, here are other documents that are NOT required but could help your application. I submit these whenever I apply for an Australia visa:

1. Cover letter. Remember, there will be NO INTERVIEW. So I always submit a cover letter to give better context and explain anything that I think they might find confusing.
2. Flight reservation. If you have this already — say, you snagged promo fares from an airline’s seat sale — go ahead and submit it. But if you don’t have flights yet, you are discouraged to book before you’re granted a visa to avoid wasting funds in case you are denied. What we submit instead is a “flight reservation”. It’s sometimes called a “dummy booking” but I don’t like this term because flight reservations are actually legit documents that can be cancelled, issued by travel agencies. You can get one here: HOW TO GET FLIGHT RESERVATION FOR VISA APPLICATION! ✅
3. Hotel booking. Again, only if you have it. If you decide to submit, search Klook and pick a hotel with FREE CANCELLATION so you can easily cancel refund your payment if your application is rejected.

Use our promo code TPTKLOOK5 for up to P500 discount (one-time use). Redeem P500 voucher here! ✅

Or use THEPOORTRAVELERKLOOK for up to P300 discount (can be used up to 5X). Redeem P300 voucher here! ✅

If you prefer to book with Agoda, use promo code AGODATPT! Search for Agoda FREE-CANCELLATION hotels here! ✅

IMPORTANT NOTES:

• Upload PDF files. If your document is in a different format, best to convert it to PDF.
• Each file must not exceed 5MB. If your file is larger, compress it. There are plenty of free compression tools online.
• Make sure the documents are not encrypted. Remove the file’s password if it requires one.
• ZIP files are not accepted. You must upload each item one file at a time.

Step 3: Create an ImmiAccount.

ImmiAccount means an account with Immi.gov.au. This is the official immigration website of the Australian government.

It’s easy to register. Just go to this site and sign up using a valid email address.

Make sure you use a working email address. Any update about your application will be sent to this email (including the acknowledgment of receipt of your application and the actual visa grant). You will also get notified every time you log into your account.

If you’re a family, no need to create an account for each member. You can start and lodge multiple applications under just one IMMI account. Just make sure to declare the owner of the Immi account as the authorized recipient by also submitting a Form 956A. I will explain this better in the FAQs section below.

Once you have an account, you’ll receive a confirmation link via email. Check your inbox and follow the link.

Step 4: Fill out the application form.

After confirming your email, follow these steps:

1. On the dashboard, click on NEW APPLICATION. On the next page, you’ll be presented with a list of the different types of visa.
2. Click VISITOR and under that, select VISITOR VISA (600).
3. Answer all the questions and fill out all the next pages.

The application form has 19 pages total so it takes a lot of time to finish, but they’re easy to understand. But there are three things that I want to explain further:

• Group processing. If you’re traveling as part of a group, one of you can generate a group code that you can save and share with your travel companions. Other members of the group can enter that same code to tell the system that you’re all traveling together.
• Family unit. On the page 8 or page 9 of the form, you’ll encounter this question: “Does the applicant have family members of their family unit not travelling to Australia who are not Australian citizens or Australian permanent residents?” According to the Australian Immigration website, a family unit is defined as a partner (married or de facto) and a dependent child below 23 years old. If you’re single with no kids, just tick NO. If you have a spouse/de facto partner or child who won’t be joining you to Australia, choose YES and fill out the form that appears. We have a more detailed explanation in the FAQs section below.
• Significant dates. If there are specific dates that are crucial or important to your purpose of travel, write them down under the “Any Significant Date” field. For example, if you’re attending a wedding or a concert, input the date of the event. If you have no significant date in particular — say, you’re simply sightseeing or touring — you can skip this part.

If you’re not able to complete the application form in one sitting, you can always save your progress and pick up where you left off next time. As long as you don’t hit the SUBMIT button, you can always go back to it and edit your answers.

🚨 Do NOT submit the form unless you are 100% certain that your answers are correct and final. You’ll be asked to review all your answers, but once you submit it, you won’t be able to edit it anymore.

Step 5: Upload supporting documents.

After reviewing and submitting the form, you’ll be led to the UPLOAD DOCUMENTS page. This is what it looks like for TOURISM STREAM.

For other streams, some documents will be replaced/added.

Upload your documents one file at a time. Again, each file must not exceed 5MB.

When everything looks great, click SUBMIT NOW.

Step 6: Pay the visa fee.

You’ll be redirected to the Payment Page.

How much is the Australian Visitor Visa Fee? For Tourist, Business or Sponsored Family Visit Streams, an Australian visa costs AUD 195.

You can pay via credit card, debit card, PayPal or UnionPay.

After payment, you’ll most likely receive two (2) messages in your email or in your IMMI account’s inbox, each with an attached document:

• Acknowledgment of Application Receipt
• Requirement to Provide Biometrics

And this brings us to our next step.

Step 7: Schedule a biometrics collection appointment.

You must schedule a biometrics collection appointment within 14 DAYS of submitting your application.

To do that, visit the Australia visa page of the VFS website, and create an account. As always, you’ll need to enter a valid email address and mobile number, and set a password.

Once you have a VFS account, do the following:

1. On the dashboard, click on START A NEW BOOKING. It’s the orange button in the upper right corner of the screen.
2. Enter your appointment details. Choose your preferred location. As of this writing, the Australian Biometric Collection Centre has three sites: Makati (Metro Manila), Cebu, and Davao.
3. Under appointment category and sub category, choose Biometrics collection. Then click CONTINUE.
4. Enter your personal and application details. The most important bit is the VLN (visa lodgment number), which can be found in the file labeled S257A (S40) Requirement to Provide Biometrics, which was sent to your email after paying the visa fee. This is the number just below the barcode. Then, in the Identity Document number, type your passport number. Click SAVE. You’ll be taken back to the dashboard.



5. If you’re part of a group and you’re submitting biometrics together, you can also add them to your account. Just click on ADD ANOTHER APPLICANT. You’ll be required to enter their VLN and passport numbers, too. In our family’s case, only I created an account but I added them all. I didn’t encounter any issue. Click CONTINUE.
6. Choose an appointment date. Dates that are green are still open. Greyed out ones are no longer available.
7. Select appointment time. The earliest time slot is 7:30 AM and the latest is 2:45 PM. Within this period, the biometrics processing fee is only PHP 557 per person, to be paid on site during your appointment. (This is different from the visa fee that you paid for online.) This is the cheapest option. If you really can’t make it within this period, you can choose a later time, but it’s pricier, at PHP 2350 per person. There is also a “lounge” option, but you won’t need it so just ignore that.
8. Review your appointment details. If everything looks good, click PAY AT VFS CENTER.
9. Check your email. You will receive an appointment confirmation message with an attached file. Save it or print it out. It looks like this.

Step 8: Submit your biometrics at Australian Biometric Collection Centre.

The Australian Biometric Collection Center has three (3) locations in the Philippines:

• Metro Manila. 6F, Makati Circuit Corporate Center Tower II, AP Reyes St. Brgy. Carmona, Theater Drive Circuit Makati, Makati City, 1207 Philippines
• Cebu. Unit 905, 9F, Kepwealth Center, Samar Loop Corner, Cardinal Rosales Avenue, Cebu Business Park, Cebu City 6000 Philippines
• Davao. Unit FES08, 2nd Floor, Alfresco Area Felcris Centrale, Barangay 40-D Quimpo Boulevard, Davao City, 8000 Philippines

For all these sites, business hours: 07:30 AM to 03:00 PM

Arrive at the biometrics collection center 30 minutes before your schedule.

Bring the following:

1. Passport. Original.
2. s257A Requirement to Provide Biometric document. This is the attachment with the VLN or barcode. Printed or digital copy.
3. Appointment confirmation letter. Printed or digital copy.

Don’t bring power bank, laptop or other gadgets because you’ll be forced to deposit it in a locker, which you have to pay for (at least at the Manila/Makati site). If you have a non-applicant companion, ask them to wait outside and hold your gadgets for you while you’re upstairs. They won’t be allowed to enter the center anyway.

NOTE: THIS IS NOT AN INTERVIEW. So relax and don’t be too stressed. What they’re doing here is NOT to evaluate you or your application. They will just take a photo and your fingerprints. That’s all. Chill out.

Once you’re at the Biometrics Collection Center, follow these steps:

1. Approach the reception.

There usually is a line forming in front of it. The staff will check your passport and documents. If everything is in order, you’ll be given a number.

2. Enter the main area and wait for your number to be called.

You’ll be surrounded by numerous small rooms and TV screens, where you can track which numbers are being served at any given time.

3. Once called, enter the assigned room.

Only one person is allowed at a time. If you’re a group, you’ll be assigned just one room, but you’ll still need to enter the room one by one.

4. Inside the room, the staff will take your photo and fingerprints.

The rooms are closed, so you have total privacy. In our experience, the staff were all so pleasant and courteous.

5. When done, pay the P557 biometrics servicing fee.

Cash and card payments are accepted, but cards take much longer because there are only a couple of terminals on site, shared by all staff. If you’re in a hurry, pay cash.

That’s it! It was quick. The whole process took less than 30 minutes, considering we were a group and there was a minor glitch in the numbering system when it was our turn. For some of our friends who visited alone, it took roughly 15 minutes.

Step 9: Wait for the result.

How long will you be waiting? It varies. But according to the official website of the Australian Immigration, the median processing time is 1 DAY (as of this writing, April 2025). Yes, you read it right.

But again, it varies. In our group alone, our wait times range from mere minutes from biometrics submission time to more than a month.

• Two of my friends who have been to Australia before: 30 MINUTES after submitting their biometrics. They were so shocked by how fast it was. They had not even left the biometrics center yet. The visa arrived even before their Grab booking. I think it’s because applications are being assessed while waiting for the biometrics collection.
• My mom and I, who have also been to Australia before: 1 DAY. We received our visa the day after we submitted our biometrics. Our appointment was afternoon. I feel like if our schedule was in the morning, we’d also get the result on the same day.
• My sister and cousins who are applying for an AU visa for the first time: 7 DAYS. That’s exactly a week after their biometrics appointment.
• A few of our friends who are applying for AU visa for the first time: 2 WEEKS. This confused us a little because they are well-travelled, but theirs took longer that my sister and cousins.
• Vins’s sister and another friend, both first-timers in Australia: MORE THAN 1 MONTH.

Yes, a few on our group had to wait for over a month, which is why despite the quick processing for most, we encourage you to apply at least 2 MONTHS before your travel date, just to be on the safe side.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How long is the validity of the Australia visitor visa?

• Single-entry visa: valid for 6 months, stay up to 3 months
• Multiple-entry visa: valid for 12 months (1 year), each stay should not be longer than 3 months

This is just based on our experience.

Can I apply for a multiple-entry Australian visa even though it’s my first time?

YES. On the application form, you will be asked whether you need to enter Australia more than once on that trip. If you want a multiple entry visa, declare it, but make sure you can justify and prove it.

But in many cases, even if you apply for a single-entry visa, you can still be granted multiple entries. That’s what happened to my family and friends in our most recent application. Most of them are first-timers in Australia and applied for single-entry. But they all received multiple-entry visas valid for one year.

Don’t count on it though. Sometimes, you just can’t say what you’ll get. So far, I have been granted an AU visa four times. On my third application, I was granted a single-entry visa even though it would be my third time visiting Australia.

What are “non-accompanying members of your family unit”?

This question is on Page 8 or 9 of the application form: “Does the applicant have family members of their family unit not travelling to Australia who are not Australian citizens or Australian permanent residents?”

First, we need to define “family unit.”

According to the glossary of the Australian Immigration website, a family unit is defined as a partner (married or de facto) and a dependent child below 23 years old. (See screenshot below.)

Based on this, siblings (brothers, sisters), parents (mother, father) and in-laws are NOT included.

• If you’re single with no kids, just tick NO.
• If you have a spouse or de facto partner or child who will NOT be traveling with you, choose YES and fill out the form that appears.

This is different from Form 54.

I’m being asked to submit Form 956A. What is it?

Form 956A is a document that grants someone else authorization to receive files from the Australian Government. In the Application Form, you will be asked if you have an Authorized Recipient who would be receiving documents on your behalf. If you answer YES to this, you will be required to complete and submit Form 956A.

For efficiency, my family decided to have me as the Authorized Recipient for ALL of us. I received all the messages regarding their application.

Be careful when accomplishing Form 956A. This form is also used to withdraw authorization, so make sure you’re filling out the right sections and skip the withdrawal parts.

Download a copy of Form 956A here!

Is medical/health exam required when applying for an Australian visa?

There is no clear-cut answer to that, as it depends on a lot of factors. But you can easily find out if you need to undergo health examinations. Here’s how:

• Log in to your ImmiAccount.
• Go to your application. Find the Applications Status section.
• Tap on the ‘View health assessment’ link.

If you need to undergo medical or health examinations, you will see a link called ‘Organise health examinations‘.
If you don’t need one, it will be explicitly stated on the page, too.

What are the possible reasons why visa applications are rejected or denied?

You may be refused a visa if:

• You can’t prove that you intend to return to the Philippines. You probably don’t have a stable job at this point or are newly employed or newly resigned, and it’s giving the impression that you plan on staying longer than your declared duration.
• You can’t prove that you can financially support yourself on this trip. You or your sponsor may not be in good financial standing.
• There are inconsistencies in your answers. Your answers and/or your documents may be raising some red flags.
• You uploaded unreliable documents. The files you submitted may have been unreadable, forged, fake, corrupted, or encrypted.
• Your purpose in Australia is unclear. This is why it is best to be specific when you’re detailing the reasons for your visit.

What does an Australian Visa look like?

Here’s what the Australian Visa looks like when you receive it online. It doesn’t get attached to the passport. Just bring a copy of it on your travel date.

Note that Immigration officers in Australia no longer stamp passports upon entry or exit.

This isn’t an article I wanted to write… but here it goes.

Blogging as a business model isn’t just dying—it’s already dead.

In recent months, we’ve seen major blogs shut down, course creators abandon ship, and even people who made millions from SEO declare it game over.

But here’s what no one is saying…

This isn’t just about Google updates or AI. The way people consume content has fundamentally changed, and blogs are no longer part of the equation.

So the real question isn’t just “Is blogging still worth it?” It’s “If blogging is dead, what actually works now?”

Let’s get into it.

Why Even Top Bloggers Are Walking Away

For years, blogging was an incredibly lucrative business model. High-ranking blog posts brought in steady organic traffic, which could be monetized through ads, affiliate marketing, and digital products.

But in 2023, that all changed. Some of the biggest names in blogging started pulling out. Even we were offered over half a million dollars for our blog—but we turned it down. And then, things took a turn.

Traffic disappeared. Revenue plummeted. And old SEO strategies stopped working overnight.

So what happened?

The Brutal Truth About Why Blogging Tanked

This isn’t just another fluff story like the thousands of other clickbaity articles on the internet right now. I’m not going to tell you blogging is dead, and then later in this post say… unless you do it the way I teach in my courses.

No. I’m going to give you my real, honest take on the state of SEO, content sites, affiliate marketing, and blogging as a business model.

If you’re currently a blogger and you’ve been holding on optimistically dreaming of your traffic coming back, or if you’re a brand new blogger and you’ve just put a ton of work into your new site… or if you’ve always wanted to start a blog but now I’m sitting here and shitting all over the entire business model… don’t worry.

There IS a silver lining here. It’s a part of this story that no one is talking about… a shift that actually opens up the biggest online business opportunity we’ve ever seen.

And those who adapt now are going to win bigger than ever before.

Make sure you read to the end of this post because I’m going to talk about exactly what that shift is and how you can leverage it to explode your own online business.

So how did we get here? Why has blogging taken such a drastic downturn in such a short time? It wasn’t just one thing—it was a perfect storm of changes that hit all at once. If you’ve been wondering why blogs are shutting down and SEO strategies are failing, here are the biggest culprits behind the collapse of blogging as a business model.

1. Google Changed the Rules

Google rolled out AI-generated search results, which means fewer people are clicking over to actual blogs. At the same time, they prioritized forums like Reddit and Quora over independent websites.

If you search for something like “Best Travel Credit Cards,” you’re more likely to see a Reddit thread or TripAdvisor post at the top of search results than a well-researched blog article.

And this wasn’t an accident—Google struck a $60 million per year deal with Reddit to use their forums to train AI models. In return, Reddit’s content gets priority in search rankings, effectively pushing smaller blogs out of visibility.

This all started with the Helpful Content Update in 2022, and continued with the Hidden Gems Update in the fall of 2023. Instead of rewarding high-quality blog content, Google handed the search results over to forums.

Remember those traffic graphs of your favorite travel bloggers tanking? Well, Reddit’s traffic increased by over 650%, hitting 1.3 billion in that same timeframe. This was no mistake.

For small bloggers, this is devastating. Even if you write the best post on the internet, you’re fighting an uphill battle just to get seen.

2. AI Flooded the Internet with Junk Content

When ChatGPT launched, bloggers didn’t think, “How can I use this to make better content?” They thought, “How many AI-written posts can I publish per day?”

As a result, search results became flooded with generic, AI-generated content. Google responded by rolling out updates that penalized AI-heavy websites, but even high-quality blogs got caught in the fire.

And here’s the problem… most bloggers didn’t use AI to improve their content, or to help them research their facts, or make their sites more user-friendly—they used it to spam the web.

Since the release and mainstream adaptation of ChatGPT, research shows that as many as 7.5 million blog posts are being published every single day. The search results have turned into a wasteland of soulless, regurgitated AI content. Google knew this was a problem, so their response? Burn it all down.

Unfortunately, that meant even high-quality blogs got caught in the fire.

3. Google’s AI Answers Took Over Search Results

Google now generates AI answers right in the search results—pulling information directly from blogs without sending any traffic back to them.

If you search “Best Places to Visit in Thailand,” Google’s AI summarizes the best options at the top of the page. Users get the information they need without ever visiting a blog.

For bloggers, this means they’re not just getting buried in search rankings—they’re getting erased from the equation entirely.

If UGC and AI spam were the storm, Google’s AI-generated answers were the final tsunami that wiped out everything left standing. It’s like playing a game where you do all the work… and someone else takes the trophy.

Here’s the other brutal truth no one is talking about—even if Google wasn’t killing blogs, consumers already moved on.

Think about it. When was the last time you made a purchase decision—whether it was for a trip, a new phone, or a course—by reading a 3,000-word blog post?

You didn’t.

Instead, you probably:

• Watched a YouTube review
• Checked TikTok for quick pros & cons
• Looked at Instagram reels for real-world examples
• Asked in a Facebook or Reddit group for recommendations
• Read Amazon reviews and checked testimonials on social media

This is just how people buy now—we want quick, visual, and trusted information from people we actually follow and engage with.

You might think that this is a direct result of people losing trust in blogs because so many are just written with AI, but that’s not the case. The truth is, this change started happening long before bloggers had tools like ChatGPT and Claude.

Is SEO Totally Dead?

Not entirely—but for most independent bloggers, it might as well be.

Big brands with massive budgets will still use SEO. Even though ChatGPT recently became one of the top 10 websites in the world, currently at number 7, and is climbing quickly, Google is still the god of online traffic for now. It’s at the top of that list, so big companies with a lot of money will still fight for those top spots.

But the days of new bloggers ranking with great content alone are gone. The fight for search engine visibility is too competitive, and Google’s constant algorithm changes make it impossible to rely on organic traffic.

So if you’re still trying to grow your business through SEO blogging in 2025, you’re not just competing with Google—you’re competing with how people actually consume content now.

If you’re writing SEO blog posts and trying to rank in Google for keywords…. Stop it.

If you’re doing some variation of that, like trying to rank for Bing or ChatGPT… Stop it.

If you’re working on the technical SEO for your website and trying to optimize it. Stop it.

It’s a complete waste of time.

There are other things you should be working on if you want to build a sustainable, future-proof business, and we’ll get to that a bit later.

What Actually Happened to Our Blogging Businesses (And How We Pivoted)

We still make passive income from our websites, but only because we’ve been around for many years. We have 4 of them, and (thankfully) they’re still bringing in over six-figures a year from ads and affiliates.

We’ve invested in SEO and link building over the years, and built up our audience, which gave us some cushioning as everything collapsed.

But we knew we needed to pivot years ago. More than 7 years ago, we realized that we were putting WAY too many eggs in the blogging basket.

We relied completely on Google SEO, Affiliates, and Ads to pay us our salary. But it didn’t take long to realize that Ads dropped as much as 50% seasonally or depending on the political situation, and affiliates? Don’t even get me started…

I already wrote a post on how Airbnb cancelled their affiliate program without warning, costing us $100,000 per year. And that was just one of MANY times that happened to us.

Basically, we were making incredible money, but we had no control over our traffic sources, or the income coming into our bank accounts.

That’s why we started focusing on building our email list (a traffic source that we OWN) and selling our own products—something we had control over. This took me down a rabbit hole and years of research into learning how to create an awesome course, how to sell a course, how to create email sales automations and funnels, and basically how to earn money selling our own products through emails.

That part of our business was really successful and it got us to where we are now. But now, for the past 2 years, instead of relying on blog traffic and SEO to bring in leads, we’re doing it through social media.

Now before you say what I used to say back then and be like “I hate social media”, let me tell you that for one, you’re probably 40+ like me, and two, that attitude will likely be the single reason you probably won’t have a successful online business in 5 years.

What This Means for the Future of Online Business

Blogging is no longer a viable business model, but that doesn’t mean online business is dead. In fact, there has never been a better time to build a profitable business.

The best way I can explain this is through a surfing analogy. No, I’m not a surfer, but just bear with me for a minute…

We were riding this massive wave of SEO and Blogging. We made millions of dollars on that wave and at the time, we thought it was the best wave in the sea.

But while we were cruising on that wave… a bigger, more beautiful, and more sustainable wave was building momentum behind our wave.

That wave was Social Media.

In business, you have to know when to get off the wave. Because if you ride it too long, it’ll crush you. And in businesses that involve technology, those waves can come extremely quickly.

In the tech landscape, the SEO wave was like a massive tidal wave. It lasted SO long, and we’re incredibly grateful for that.

But now, the new wave is here, and it’s been here for a long time, us older generation just didn’t see it.

The Future of Online Business: Social Media, Digital Products, and Email Marketing

If blogging was the old wave, social media is the new one. And it’s the biggest opportunity for organic traffic and monetization we’ve ever seen.

This wave is the biggest opportunity we’ve ever seen in the online world:

• It’s the biggest opportunity to build a massive audience for free
• It’s the biggest opportunity for organic traffic
• And it’s by far the biggest opportunity to monetize and make millions of dollars from selling digital products

1. Build an Audience with Short-Form Video

Platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts are where people are consuming content now. Instead of writing 3,000-word blog posts, creators are building massive audiences through short-form video.

2. Sell Your Own Digital Product

Unlike blogging, social media lets you monetize fast—if you have the right product. Instead of earning $0.002 per visitor through ads, you can sell a $37 digital product and make real money instantly.

People like Natalie from Boss Babe have made over $100,000 per month selling a simple digital product. And we know of a woman who made over a million dollars in a year from her tiny audience of less than 3,000 people.

This just wasn’t possible with blogging. There might’ve been some off chance that you got picked up by a big TV network or something and you went viral overnight, but for 99.9% of bloggers who were just writing blog posts for SEO, it would take months, often years, before they’d see any income.

Even me. I built a fly fishing website from $0 to $8,400 per month in a single year. But for the first 6 months, it earned next to nothing. And I knew what I was doing!

3. Use Email Marketing to Automate Sales

Your blog should be a website—not a content hub. It should:

• Build authority
• Capture emails
• Sell your product

Email marketing is where the real money happens. By leading social media followers to a freebie, you can build an email list that nurtures leads and automates sales.

Of course, you can’t just make money on social media by posting funny cat videos. You create highly targeted content that speaks to a specific person, helps them achieve a specific transformation, and that content sends them to your email list where they enter their name and email to get your super valuable freebie.

It’s from that freebie, and from the magic of email marketing that you’re able to sell your digital product to them and make money on autopilot.

Look, making $17 on a $500 Airbnb booking was great, and earning 0.002 cents per visitor on our blog was also cool, but there’s nothing like the feeling of waking up and seeing that someone purchased your $500 course or your $4,000 coaching program. It’s validation, it’s exciting to be able to have a real impact and help people, and it’s the first steps in building a real, loyal community.

The Future is Here—And It’s Not Blogging

Blogging used to be an incredible business model, but times have changed. Google and AI have made it nearly impossible for new bloggers to succeed the way we did years ago.

But that doesn’t mean the opportunity is gone. It’s just moved.

Writing SEO blogs had become monotonous and boring. Ask any successful blogger, we were tired of writing the 10 best things to do in Bangkok and the 15 best budget microwaves.

Do I miss the passive income from blogging? Absolutely, but that same passive income is available with short-form video and great email marketing.

Blogs take a TON of work. So to do all that work just to have a Google Algorithm update or AI completely wipe you out overnight? That’s just not worth it.

The future is short-form video. The future is creating a valuable product. The future is having an epic email list that people love being subscribed to. The future is being a real human being, and really connecting with your audience online.

This is the future. And the people who embrace this shift now are going to win big.

If you want to build a business that actually works in 2025, focus on short-form video, digital products, and email marketing. This is how you create a real, future-proof business.

If you’re ready to stop wasting time on outdated strategies and start building a profitable business, grab our free training below that shows exactly how we—and our clients—are doing it.

The biggest online business opportunity we’ve ever seen is happening right now. The only question is—are you going to take it?

Located in the Coachella Valley about 125 miles east of Los Angeles, Indio has been nicknamed the “City of Festivals” for the many events held there. The annual Coachella Valley Music and Arts and Stagecoach Festivals are perhaps the best known, but a number of other celebrations fill Indio’s annual calendar. “Indio is a vibrant City where culture, community, art, and music come together, offering something new to discover year-round,” Indio’s Mayor, Glenn A. Miller, told Travel + Leisure.

Indio is surrounded by the San Bernardino, Santa Rosa, and San Jacinto Mountain ranges, offering gorgeous views, hiking trails, and outdoor recreation. The area’s desert climate means warm winters, hot summers, and nearly 350 days of sunshine a year. As a major agricultural center as well as a tourist destination, Indio’s farms and orchards produce cotton, grapes, onions, citrus, and dates.

We’ve rounded up some of the best reasons to plan a trip to Indio or to add a few days to your festival visit to get to know this thriving city.

Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival

Each April brings at least 250,000 visitors from around the world to the Empire Polo Club for the two-weekend festival. Top names and upcoming musical performers, an array of visual arts, dance competitions, games, craft activities, shops, food, and drink make Indio the place to be in April.

Stagecoach Festival

This three-day country music event at Empire Polo Club follows the Coachella Festival each April, celebrating music and culture with the best of country, bluegrass, folk, alternative country performances. Line dancing lessons, honky tonk music, barbeque, craft beer, and ferris wheel rides add to the entertainment.

The Riverside County Fair & National Date Festival

This two-week festival is held each year starting in mid-February at the Riverside County Fairgrounds in Indio. Events include rodeo performances, carnival rides, concerts, circus acts, monster truck shows, a Presidents’ Day Parade, livestock exhibitions, petting zoo, displays of dates from local growers, and more.

The County Fair began in 1921, and the event includes the National Date Festival highlighting the area’s agricultural significance, especially date cultivation and the celebration of the region’s Middle Eastern cultural influences. More than 15 types of dates are grown in the area.

The Indio International Tamale Festival

This annual festival is held each December in downtown Indio’s Miles Avenue Park. Open to the public, the free event is popular with families who enjoy delicious food, entertainment by local musicians, traditional Mexican dancers, luchadores (wrestlers), magicians, games, a tamale eating contest, and an ice skating rink.

Tamales, especially popular during the Christmas holidays, are bundles of corn masa stuffed with savory or sweet fillings and wrapped in a corn husk. A traditional Mexican comfort food, they are available to eat at the festival or to purchase and take home to enjoy during the season.

Shields Date Garden

Known for its high quality dates, charming café, mail order business, and delicious date shakes, Shields Date Garden opened in 1924. The Indio store offers a variety of dates, many developed by Shields experts, as well as date products like cakes, cookies, and candies. These date shakes are deliciously creamy concoctions made of milk or ice cream and blended with date crystals invented by Shield’s Date Garden.

Their film, “The Romance and Sex Life of the Date,” not as titillating as the title suggests, but quite educational, describes the labor-intensive process of date cultivation on tall palm trees. Begun as a lecture for visitors, the film evolved into a slideshow and now to a film presented in a small theater at Shields Date Garden.

Southwest Arts Festival

This acclaimed art festival is held each January at Indio’s Empire Polo Club. Featuring contemporary, traditional, and abstract art, as well as quality crafts, the event attracts more than 10,000 visitors durings its four-day run. Artists from around the world showcase their paintings, sculptures, photographs, glasswork, ceramics, and digital art.

In the Polo Club’s beautiful setting among mountains and desert, more than 200 artists participate. Food and beverage stands, places to relax in the shade and listen to music, and opportunities to watch the artists at work attract visitors who enjoy the atmosphere along with the art.

Fantasy Springs Resort Casino

More than a resort, Fantasy Springs Resort Casino offers a wide range of entertainment, from the best cover bands playing all-time favorites in the Rock Yard to big name entertainers in the Special Events Center. Professional boxing, iconic Mexican Lucha Libre, Latin dance music, the Price is Right Stage show, and Thursday night rock shows attract guests year-round.

There’s also bowling, casino gaming, golf at Indio’s Eagle Falls Golf Course, four bars, and restaurants from fine dining to casual. Resort guests have the hotel pool, Jacuzzi, fitness center, and concierge service.

Cabazon Indio Powwow

This annual celebration is hosted by the Cabazon Band of Cahuilla Indians to honor their culture and traditions. Held at the Fantasy Springs Resort Casino, the free event offers visitors an immersive experience. Dance competitions for all ages showcase diverse styles and colorful regalia, and drumming groups compete, demonstrating the rhythms central to traditional ceremonies.

Bird songs of the Cahuilla culture are performed, and traditional foods such as fry bread are available. Artisans offer jewelry, weaving, dream catchers, and other crafts, and visitors are invited to join dancers during non-competitive dances for an opportunity to engage with the cultural heritage of the Cabazon Band of Cahuilla Indians and other tribes.

Empire Polo Club

This 1,000-acre events venue was founded in 1987 for international polo tournaments. The polo season typically begins in December and ends in late March, with a variety of leagues, events, and tournaments, including women, juniors, and international players. Polo is an exciting game to watch, and tailgating, clubhouse seating, and private cabanas make it enjoyable for spectators. A time-honored tradition is the “divot stomp” where spectators may walk on the field during halftime to repair the divots made during play.

Coachella Valley History Museum

Historic buildings, annual events, a permanent collection, and special exhibitions offer a wide variety of educational and entertaining opportunities at Indio’s Coachella Valley History Museum. Its mission to preserve, interpret, and share artifacts about the history of the Coachella Valley is supported by a rich variety of exhibits and experiences. Free monthly admission days and Sunday storytimes encourage locals to take advantage of all the museum offers.

In the Smiley-Tyler House, once a personal residence, visitors can see a 1930s and 1940s kitchen, an eclectic collection of Mexican folk art, costumes, and textiles, and other exhibits. In the California Date History Museum, the exhibit covers the history of the date palm, the world’s oldest cultivated crop, from its origins in the Middle East to its introduction to the Coachella Valley. There’s a 1909 schoolhouse, a Japanese memorial garden, and a display of vintage farm tools.

Indio Performing Arts Center

Located in the heart of downtown, the Indio Performing Arts Center (IPAC) promotes arts and entertainment for the community, with theater, music, motion pictures, and other artistic mediums. Since Desert Theatreworks began performances at IPAAC in 2017, they have staged 45 productions, 25 special events, and have received numerous accolades and awards, attracting nearly 1,000 subscribers.

Desert Theatreworks also runs KidsWorks to inspire love of the performing arts for youth with summer, spring break, and after school programs, focusing on teamwork, creativity, and self-expression as well as performance skills. ArtsWorks is a specialized program for senior performers, inspiring creative expression, social connection, and personal growth through a variety of activities.

The Lights at Indio Golf Course

You can play golf until 10 p.m. among mountain views and balmy summer evenings at the only night-lighted golf course in the Coachella Valley. Indio Golf Course is one of the longest par-three golf courses in the country, with holes from 100 to 240 yards. With their full length driving range and short game practice area, you can tune up your game, and the fully stocked golf shop has whatever you need for a fun day or night of golf.

Indio Golf Course also features FootGolf, an 18-hole combination of soccer and golf, using soccer balls with similar rules to traditional golf. The course is designed to allow both traditional golf and FootGolf to be played simultaneously, and players of both games can either walk the course or use a golf cart. Snacks, beverages, beer, and wine are available.

Explore Downtown Indio

“There’s always something happening in Downtown Indio with new restaurants, bars, retail, and the brand-new Center Stage,” Miller told T+L.

Locals and visitors gather at the Saturday Farmers Market (Saturdays from October to May), join the crowd on Food Truck Fridays (5 to 10 p.m. weekly), and enjoy free live concerts at Center State on Second Saturdays. There’s free popcorn on monthly movie nights for outdoor family fun, and the first event included a classic car show. Touring Indio to see the public art, from murals on walls and in alleys to sculptures in parks, is a great way to get to know the city.