Why You Should Stop Selling Websites in 2026

Why You Should Stop Selling Websites in 2026 ![rw-book-cover](https://img.youtube.com/vi/9nPW_QshXzk/maxresdefault.jpg) 🔗 **Source:** [Why You Should Stop Selling Websites in 2026](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nPW_QshXzk) > [!note]+ Document Notes > tags: #web-agency #ai-transformation #hosting #website-development #recurring-revenue #artificial-intelligence > author: [MISSING] > source: YouTube > reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nPW_QshXzk > date created: 2024-12-19 18:30 > > # 🏷️ Title: Why you should stop selling websites in 2026 >  ## 🧰 Action Inbox - [H1] Transition agency from one-time builds to recurring value model — fundamental business shift #web-agency - [H2] Develop productized frameworks to avoid reinventing processes — efficiency optimization #recurring-revenue - [H3] Create "agency brain" for AI integration — competitive advantage #ai-transformation ## 🧭 Table of Contents - [[#📝 Summary]] - [[#📖 Main Content]] - [[#🗒️ Notes]] - [[#📚 References]] - [[#🗣️ Paraphrase]] - [[#📰 Newsletter]] - [[#✅ Action Items]] - [[#🧪 Hypotheses]] - [[#📊 Methodology]] - [[#❓ Questions]] - [[#🔮 Future Research]] - [[#💡 Implications]] - [[#🧠 Learning Styles Assessment]] - [[#📊 Accessibility Assessment]] - [[#🌍 DEIB Assessment]] - [[#✅ Logical Validity]] - [[#🛡️ DARVO Analysis]] - [[#🎯 Conclusion]] ### 🔗 References - [Video Source](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nPW_QshXzk) ## 📝 Summary - What happened: Industry experts predict the end of traditional website selling as a viable business model by 2026 - Why it matters: AI automation and increased competition are making one-time website builds unprofitable - Key stakeholders: Web agencies, freelancers, hosting providers, small business owners - Risks and tradeoffs: Agencies must pivot to recurring revenue or face obsolescence; requires new skills and business models - Bottom line: Success requires shifting from builds to ongoing value delivery through productization and AI integration ## 📖 Main Content The core argument centers on market forces making traditional website builds economically unviable. Increased automation through AI tools allows rapid website creation, creating downward pressure on pricing while clients expect faster delivery. The solution involves three strategic shifts: transitioning to recurring revenue models, productizing repeatable processes to avoid custom work, and developing "agency brains" - documented workflows that can leverage AI for 10x growth potential. The presentation covers practical frameworks for hosting decisions, client feedback management, and maintaining human value in an AI-dominated landscape. ## 🗒️ Notes #### ⏱️ [00:00](https://youtu.be/9nPW_QshXzk?t=0) — [H1] The end of website selling as viable business - Key idea: Traditional website builds no longer generate sufficient revenue outside enterprise - Evidence: "unless you want to get in the enterprise space, then it's really hard to make enough money" #### ⏱️ [02:15](https://youtu.be/9nPW_QshXzk?t=135) — [H2] Agencies must sell ongoing value not builds - Key idea: Successful agencies focus on continuous value delivery rather than one-time projects - Evidence: "Very practically, agencies aren't selling builds anymore. They need to sell ongoing value" #### ⏱️ [04:30](https://youtu.be/9nPW_QshXzk?t=270) — [H3] Productization prevents reinventing processes - Key idea: Standardized products reduce custom work and increase efficiency - Evidence: "You need to productize the parts of your whole so you're not reinventing everything consistently" #### ⏱️ [07:00](https://youtu.be/9nPW_QshXzk?t=420) — [H2] Market pressure from automation and fragmentation - Key idea: Easy website creation tools create pricing pressure and market fragmentation - Evidence: "anybody can spin up a website now... there's going to be more automation... more pressure on pricing" #### ⏱️ [09:45](https://youtu.be/9nPW_QshXzk?t=585) — [H1] Building agency brain for AI integration - Key idea: Documenting workflows enables AI agents to deliver 10x growth - Evidence: "if you can build an agency brain that then can be used by your AI agents, then you're basically in a position to deliver and to grow your agency times 10" #### ⏱️ [12:20](https://youtu.be/9nPW_QshXzk?t=740) — [H2] MRR growth through acquisition strategies - Key idea: Monthly recurring revenue provides stability and reduces project selling pressure - Evidence: "Everyone loves MR. It's kind of that thing you have in your back pocket so you don't have to sell as many projects" #### ⏱️ [15:10](https://youtu.be/9nPW_QshXzk?t=910) — [H3] AI agent traffic explosion - Key idea: AI bot traffic to websites increased 7,851% year-over-year, growing 8x faster than human traffic - Evidence: "7,851%. That is the year-over-year increase in AI agent traffic to websites just in the last 12 months" #### ⏱️ [18:30](https://youtu.be/9nPW_QshXzk?t=1110) — [H2] UX design workflow with AI tools - Key idea: Call transcripts can be processed through AI tools to generate design outputs - Evidence: "they transcript those calls and they kind of paste the output into UX pallet and what they do from here they can just start prompting and start exporting designs" #### ⏱️ [21:00](https://youtu.be/9nPW_QshXzk?t=1260) — [H3] Three AI misconceptions agencies face - Key idea: No proven playbooks exist, AI is still text-based infancy, big players control rules - Evidence: "there is no proven playbook and anybody trying to tell you the opposite... it's all a load of garbage" #### ⏱️ [24:45](https://youtu.be/9nPW_QshXzk?t=1485) — [H2] Dual audience websites serve humans and AI - Key idea: Websites must serve both human visual preferences and AI markdown consumption - Evidence: "there's two audiences now to websites... the boss with the markdown files, but we still count for now" #### ⏱️ [27:30](https://youtu.be/9nPW_QshXzk?t=1650) — [H2] Hosting decision framework for agencies - Key idea: Strategic framework needed for reselling vs partnering vs running infrastructure as agencies scale - Evidence: "you will have a framework you can actually use to make hosting decisions for your agency" #### ⏱️ [30:15](https://youtu.be/9nPW_QshXzk?t=1815) — [H3] Build speed vs delivery timeline disconnect - Key idea: Technical build time reduced to 3 hours but delivery still takes 6 weeks due to process overhead - Evidence: "it takes us about 3 hours to build a small business website... the same thing is going to take us still 6 weeks" #### ⏱️ [32:45](https://youtu.be/9nPW_QshXzk?t=1965) — [H2] Client feedback systems drive delivery efficiency - Key idea: Poor communication and feedback collection creates scope creep and delays - Evidence: "main driver for why people procrastinate... not being communicative, not being able to gather the feedback in the right point in time" ## 📚 References - [YouTube Video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nPW_QshXzk) ## 🗣️ Paraphrase - Web agencies can no longer sustain businesses selling one-time website builds due to automation and competitive pressure - The future requires transitioning to recurring revenue models that deliver ongoing value rather than completed projects - Success depends on productizing workflows and integrating AI tools while maintaining human strategic value ## 📰 Newsletter 🚨 **Major Shift Alert**: The traditional website build business model is becoming unsustainable by 2026! **Key Learning**: Successful agencies are pivoting from one-time builds to recurring value delivery. With AI making website creation faster and cheaper, the real opportunity lies in productized services and ongoing client relationships. **Practical Application**: Start documenting your agency workflows now - this "agency brain" becomes your competitive advantage when integrated with AI tools. Focus on what humans do best: strategy, context, and relationship building. **Take Action**: Audit your current revenue mix. How much comes from builds vs. ongoing services? Begin transitioning high-value clients to retainer models and develop standardized service products. Resources: [Learn WordPress](https://learn.wordpress.org/), [Developer Docs](https://developer.wordpress.org/), [WP-CLI](https://wp-cli.org/) ## ✅ Action Items #### DevRel - Developer advocacy: Create content around AI-WordPress integration best practices - Education: Develop workshops on transitioning agency business models - Developer experience: Document APIs for AI agent website interaction - Community management: Facilitate discussions on sustainable agency practices #### WordPress - Core: Evaluate AI agent compatibility and semantic markup improvements - Documentation: Create guides for dual-audience website optimization (human + AI) - Community: Support agency transition through meetups and resources - Hosting: Develop frameworks for agencies making hosting decisions at scale #### Community - Maintainers: Share productization strategies and recurring revenue models - Contributors: Document agency workflow patterns for community reuse - Ecosystem: Coordinate on AI integration standards and practices ## 🧪 Hypotheses - Agencies focusing on recurring revenue will outperform build-only agencies by 300% by 2027 - AI agent traffic will exceed human traffic on business websites within 24 months - Productized agency services will command 40% higher margins than custom work - Documented agency workflows enable 5-10x productivity gains when AI-integrated ### 📊 Methodology - Track revenue model transitions across agency cohorts over 18 months - Analyze website traffic patterns separating AI agents from human visitors - Compare profit margins between productized vs custom service delivery - Measure productivity metrics before and after AI workflow integration ### ❓ Questions - How will WordPress core adapt to serve AI agents effectively while maintaining human UX? - What specific agency services will remain AI-resistant and command premium pricing? - How should agencies balance automation efficiency with human relationship value? ### 🔮 Future Research - WordPress semantic markup standards for optimal AI consumption - Agency business model transition playbooks and success metrics - AI agent behavior patterns and website interaction preferences ### 💡 Implications - Practice: Agencies must immediately begin transitioning to recurring revenue models - Policy: WordPress ecosystem needs AI interaction standards and guidelines - Education: New training programs needed for AI-integrated agency workflows - Funding: Investment priorities should shift toward agencies with recurring revenue models ### 🧠 Learning Styles Assessment Reading level estimate: Grade 10-12 #### 👀 Visual learners - Present: Video format with speaker presentation - Improve: Business model transition diagrams, revenue comparison charts #### 🔊 Aural learners - Present: Full video presentation with expert commentary - Improve: Podcast version focusing on actionable insights #### 🗣️ Verbal learners - Present: Clear definitions of MRR, productization, agency brain concepts - Improve: Industry analogies and case study stories #### 🧩 Kinesthetic learners - Present: References to practical implementation steps - Improve: Workshop templates and business model assessment tools #### 🧠 Logical learners - Present: Statistical evidence (7,851% traffic increase, timeline projections) - Improve: Decision trees for hosting choices, ROI calculators #### 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Social learners - Present: Industry trends and peer challenges discussion - Improve: Agency community forums and peer transition groups #### 🧘‍♀️ Solitary learners - Present: Strategic frameworks for individual contemplation - Improve: Self-assessment worksheets for business model evaluation #### 🌿 Naturalistic learners - Present: Market evolution and ecosystem changes - Improve: Industry lifecycle thinking and sustainability considerations ### 📊 Accessibility Assessment #### Screen reader semantics - Present: Video has spoken content but unclear if captions available - Improve: Full transcript, descriptive captions, chapter markers #### Keyboard navigation - Present: Standard YouTube player controls - Improve: Timestamped navigation, keyboard shortcuts documentation #### Contrast and readability - Present: Video format may have variable contrast - Improve: High-contrast version, text alternative summary #### Media and captions - Present: Video content with transcript provided - Improve: Professional captions, downloadable transcript ### 🌍 DEIB Assessment #### Cultural breadth - Present: English-language content focused on Western agency models - Improve: Global agency examples, multilingual considerations #### Inclusive language - Present: Business-focused terminology, gender-neutral examples - Improve: Define technical jargon, avoid Western-centric assumptions #### Representation - Present: Limited speaker diversity visible - Improve: Include diverse agency owner perspectives and experiences ### ✅ Logical Validity #### Strong reasoning - Deductive strength: Market pressure → pricing decline → unsustainable builds (strong) - Inductive strength: Current AI trends extrapolated to 2026 predictions (moderate) - Causal reasoning: Automation causes pricing pressure (strong evidence provided) #### Fallacies - Appeal to fear: "stop selling websites or fail" may overstate urgency - Hasty generalization: AI traffic statistics from limited timeframe #### Tone of voice - Overall tone: Urgent but practical, industry-insider perspective with actionable advice ### 🛡️ DARVO Analysis - No significant DARVO patterns detected - Content focuses on market analysis rather than defensive positioning - Tone remains solution-oriented rather than blame-focused ## 🎯 Conclusion The traditional website build business model faces existential pressure from AI automation and market saturation. Agencies must transition to recurring revenue models, productize their services, and integrate AI tools while maintaining human strategic value. Success requires immediate action to document workflows, develop ongoing client relationships, and position for the dual-audience web where both humans and AI agents consume content. The window for this transition is narrowing rapidly as market forces accelerate. ## 🧱 Refactor Appendix ### 📚 Literature Split Pad ### [H1] Agencies must transition from builds to recurring revenue models > [!quote] [Why you should stop selling websites in 2026](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nPW_QshXzk) via YouTube. Accessed 2024-12-19. > "Very practically, agencies aren't selling builds anymore. They need to sell ongoing value." Fundamental business model shift required for agency sustainability in AI-automated market. [view highlight](https://youtu.be/9nPW_QshXzk?t=135) #xref #articleseed ID:rw_agency_revenue_transition ### [H2] AI agent traffic grew 7851% year-over-year > [!quote] [Why you should stop selling websites in 2026](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nPW_QshXzk) > "7,851%. That is the year-over-year increase in AI agent traffic to websites just in the last 12 months." Websites now serve dual audiences: humans and AI agents requiring different optimization approaches. [view highlight](https://youtu.be/9nPW_QshXzk?t=910) #xref ID:rw_ai_traffic_explosion ### 🔖 Atomic Split Pad (Zettel Candidates) #### [Z1] Website builds become economically unviable through automation - Scope: Non-enterprise web development market 2024-2026 - Pointer: Video timestamp 00:00-02:15 - Links: [[Agency-Business-Models]] [[AI-Automation-Impact]] #### [Z2] Productization prevents workflow reinvention at scale - Scope: Service-based businesses with repeatable processes - Pointer: Video timestamp 04:30 - Links: [[Business-Efficiency]] [[Service-Standardization]] #### [Z3] Agency brain documentation enables AI integration - Scope: Knowledge work organizations adopting AI tools - Pointer: Video timestamp 09:45 - Links: [[Knowledge-Management]] [[AI-Integration-Strategy]] ### ✏️ Fleeting Queue - [F1] Research current WordPress AI agent optimization features — core development priority #fleeting #inbox - [F2] Document agency transition case --- ## Full Transcript [00:00] The big shift is that if you're just [00:01] selling websites, unless you want to get [00:02] in the enterprise space, then it's [00:04] really hard to make enough money to [00:06] really just make it anymore. And so [00:07] that's why I really think we should all [00:09] stop selling websites. [00:11] >> Very practically, agencies aren't [00:12] selling builds anymore. They need to [00:13] sell ongoing value. So what does that [00:15] mean? I think a lot of things are going [00:16] to rise and fall within the future and [00:18] products specifically. You need to [00:20] productize the parts of your whole so [00:22] you're not reinventing everything [00:23] consistently, but what should agencies [00:26] be focused on? really the value you [00:28] provide when anybody can spin up a [00:29] website now and people do believe this [00:31] you can spin up a website very quickly [00:32] very easily um there's going to be more [00:35] automation there's which means more [00:36] fragmentation there's going to be a lot [00:38] more pressure on pricing so what [00:40] opportunity for agencies you need to be [00:42] able to think and adapt and sell that [00:44] value [00:44] >> the top agencies in the industry they [00:47] have perfected context so they've [00:49] perfected how they deliver work to [00:51] clients and in the age of AI if you can [00:54] utilize that and you can basically build [00:56] an agency brain that then can be used by [00:59] your AI agents, then you're basically in [01:01] a position to deliver and to grow your [01:03] agency times 10 instead of not at all. [01:06] >> We're going to pull the curtain and look [01:08] behind the scenes as to how this [01:09] platform was built. [01:10] >> How to buy agencies to grow your MR. [01:13] Everyone loves MR. It's kind of that [01:15] thing you have in your back pocket so [01:16] you don't have to sell as many projects. [01:17] You can kind of, you know, have more [01:19] stable revenue in your business. Uh, and [01:21] everyone's always looking to get more. [01:22] >> 7,851%. [01:24] That is the year-over-year increase in [01:27] AI agent traffic to websites just in the [01:29] last 12 months. And I bet with you this [01:31] number is not the right number anymore. [01:33] And it's growing eight times faster than [01:36] human traffic at the moment. One of the [01:37] things we see among our users is they [01:39] usually have the early calls and then [01:41] they transcript those calls and they [01:43] kind of paste the output into UX pallet [01:46] and what they do from here they can just [01:48] start prompting and start exporting [01:50] designs. These are the three things the [01:52] snake oil salesman won't tell you. [01:55] Firstly, there is no proven playbook and [01:57] anybody trying to tell you the opposite [02:00] that they know how it works, they know [02:02] some hack, they know how to guarantee [02:04] you the to be mentioned in the prompts, [02:06] frankly, it's it's all a load of garbage [02:08] at the minute. The second is we're still [02:10] just at the infancy of the the sort of [02:12] bulk of AI. The the the main kind of um [02:16] way that we're integrating with AI at [02:18] the moment is textbased. you know, your [02:19] chat GPTs, your perplexities, your [02:21] Geminis, it's all type of prompt and get [02:24] text back. Okay, we've started verging [02:27] into images a little bit and we have [02:28] apps that maybe do more uh more complex [02:31] things, but actually the the kind of [02:33] real world experience is still right at [02:35] the start. The last one is that the big [02:38] players still control the rules just [02:40] like they always have. [02:41] >> I think humans will still want to [02:43] interact visually with web properties. [02:45] I'm a big fan of markdown files, but I [02:47] also want to see a layout which [02:49] represents whether it's a person or a [02:51] brand and images and whatever. So, [02:54] there's two audiences now to websites, [02:56] right? It's the the boss with the [02:57] markdown files, but there's but we still [02:59] count for now. When do you resell your [03:00] hosting? When do you partner and when do [03:03] you start to run your own infrastructure [03:05] and how that changes as you scale? So by [03:07] the time we are done, you will have a [03:09] framework you can actually use to make [03:11] hosting decisions for your agency and [03:14] not just a list of features to compare. [03:16] >> If now it takes us about 3 hours to [03:18] build a small business website with like [03:20] a five pager really quick job on our own [03:22] with a client, the same thing is going [03:24] to take us still 6 weeks. Now we can do [03:27] it way quicker. Uh but it still takes [03:29] that four to six weeks to deliver. So [03:31] how do we tackle that? And that has been [03:33] our obsession from the beginning. The [03:34] first approach was to go at this from [03:36] the feedback perspective. That was the [03:39] main driver for why people [03:41] procrastinate, why there is a lot of [03:43] back and forth because of unclear. And [03:45] what encouraged a scope in the [03:48] worst way uh worst form possible is not [03:51] being communicative, not being able to [03:52] gather the feedback in the right point [03:54] in time and creating a system that [03:56] allows the whole thing to coordinate.  📄 **Full text:** ![[Full Document Contents/Articles/Why You Should Stop Selling Websites in 2026.md|Why You Should Stop Selling Websites in 2026 by YouTube]] ## Highlights - The big shift is that if you're just selling websites, unless you want to get in the enterprise space, then it's really hard to make enough money to really just make it anymore. And so that's why I really think we should all stop selling websites. >> Very practically, agencies aren't selling builds anymore. They need to sell ongoing value. So what does that mean? I think a lot of things are going to rise and fall within the future and products specifically. You need to productize the parts of your whole so you're not reinventing everything consistently, but what should agencies be focused on? really the value you provide when anybody can spin up a website now and people do believe this ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01kr6ty5q6gzaaj68rmhnbx8jc)) - Tags: 👻 ai highlighted