Help Me Keep Fatty Liver Diary Alive

Back in 2014, I launched the website Fatty Liver Diary to track my progress in (hopefully) reversing my fatty liver diagnosis that I had just received. Fortunately, I managed to do it – and the personal blog became one of the best resources online to help others in need with the knowledge to reverse their condition as well.

But now I find myself in that strange and unexpected situation where I have to ask for help. Your help to keep Fatty Liver Diary (this website) alive.

I feel a mix of disappointment and stress. I worry about being judged or receiving no response at all. But above all, I am more concerned about the future than ever before. So… here I am, asking for your support.

Starting in September 2023, a perfect storm hit many blogs, including Fatty Liver Diary. The combination of AI advancements and changes to Google’s ranking algorithms has caused many websites to lose up to 90% of their visitors almost overnight.

Fatty Liver Diary has been affected similarly. Below, you can see the decline in visitors Google has sent to this blog over the past six months:

Traffic plummeted from around 600 visitors per day (during the peak times of this website) to around 150 for a while, before dropping about 50% instantly, and now it’s down to about 10 per day. This is a drop of over 90% from the 150 visitors six months ago. On May 29th, Google sent A. SINGLE. VISITOR.

This is devastating. Especially when I know how useful the blog is – based on the feedback and emails and comments I receive here. Based on the fact that I keep updating the content, making sure I follow the latest developments in this space and genuinely helping people reverse their condition.

The biggest problem with this drop in people sent this way by Google is a similarly massive drop in income. I am a full time blogger, and Fatty Liver Diary was one of my biggest sources of income – one that I almost but lost over night.

And this is when I have to come and ask for your help.

You can help keep Fatty Liver Diary alive

I’ll explain more about the situation below, but if you’re short on time or already convinced, you can support the blog by signing up for a monthly membership via Patreon:

Support Fatty Liver Diary here

Please don’t feel obligated to contribute! If you’re reading this, you’re likely a regular reader, and I’m deeply grateful for your continued support. Only give if you truly can and want to.

For those who do contribute – thank you. Your support keeps Fatty Liver Diary alive!

I’m also brainstorming ways to thank supporters, such as offering an ad-free browsing experience here on the website, exclusive content (maybe recipes), or live chats between supporters and myself, so I can answer your questions directly.

I WILL come up with something. But first, I want to ensure there’s genuine interest in keeping Fatty Liver Diary alive. The pessimist in me fears that nobody really cares…

But if you do care and have suggestions for how I could reward your support, please let me know.

More about what’s happening & the future

Now that I’ve addressed the immediate issue, for those who want to read more, here’s some additional context and my plans for the future.

I’m struggling with how personal to get here – I don’t want to sound desperate, though the situation is serious and my stress levels are higher than ever.

Here are some questions you might have:

1. What will happen to Fatty Liver Diary if nobody decides to support it?

No matter what, I will strive to keep the website up and running for as long as I can afford it.

Currently, I believe I can keep the website alive indefinitely. The traffic drop happened recently, and things could change for the better just as quickly… but I’m preparing for the worst.

Even without additional support, I will continue to write articles, update old ones, and pour my heart into Fatty Liver Diary. After all, I’ve had this health problem myself and I know how devastating the news can be. I want to help and I will help, even if there is no monetary gain for me.

However, I’m not sure how often I’ll be able to publish without support. I’ll do my best to keep this site the best resource for reversing fatty liver and leading a healthier life.

2. How much do you actually need to keep the website alive?

Fortunately, the monthly costs for maintaining this website are relatively low:

• Hosting: $18.60 (I’m exploring cheaper hosting options to cut costs by up to 50%)
• Domain: $1.25 (paid once a year: $15)
• Other costs: $3.50 (for a crucial plugin, website’s design and email service)

So, the bare minimum for keeping this site alive is $23.35 per month. But this only covers running costs, not my time and effort. And somehow, I feel that the golden nuggets of information offered here are worth a lot more than that.

3. Are you asking for donations to finance a lavish lifestyle?

Absolutely not. The online world is changing rapidly due to AI and Google’s updates, and many sites are struggling. This trend is likely to continue.

You’ve probably seen larger publications asking for subscriptions. I’m not there yet, and hopefully, I won’t be forced to go that route.

Fatty Liver Diary is a small, independent site run entirely by me. I can choose to work for little or nothing because it’s my passion project.

However, there are costs. I have a family to support and I spend hours keeping this site updated. While it’s not a full-time job, it still requires significant time.

4. What are YOU doing to change things around?

While I have no control over Google’s algorithms, there are some additional things that I want and will do in the near future to be even more helpful, but hopefully to also offset some of the monetary losses:

• I plan to launch a book that will help you reverse your fatty liver disease naturally.
• I plan to also launch an YouTube channel and provide videos (easy to listen to – so maybe make it a podcast too) and hopefully also share liver-friendly recipes, as many people don’t know what to eat.
• I am considering creating smaller, but information rich and extremely useful bits of articles that will only be available to paid members.
• I am also considering offering paid consultations (like one-on-one Zoom calls) where I can answer questions and concerns you might have.
• I am also open to suggestions – so if you have any, share them below!

5. Why don’t you get a job?

This is tough to address. If everything goes wrong, I might have no choice but to get a traditional job.

However, there are issues. I’ve spent my adult life running and writing for my own blogs. With the drastic changes in online publishing and job markets, I don’t have much to offer traditional employers.

At 40, starting a new career is challenging – though not impossible. My degree is in Journalism, which complicates things further.

Additionally, I have other health issues that make it difficult to hold a traditional 9-to-5 job long term.

I don’t want to sound like I’m making excuses. I’ve worked incredibly hard in the past, sometimes up to 14 hours a day, which contributed to my health problems. Now, I can’t always work 8 hours a day, but I’m still giving 110%.

If things worsen, I’ll have to find a traditional job. But I’m doing everything I can to avoid that.

6. Can I help in any other way?

Don’t feel pressured to support Fatty Liver Diary if it’s not feasible for you.

I’m not expecting a huge response, and I already feel uncomfortable asking. But there are other ways you can help without spending money.

Simply reading this article and my other content on Fatty Liver Diary is helpful and appreciated.

Visits to the blog, leaving comments, sharing articles on social media, and subscribing to my email list (use the form above) all help. You can also follow all these social profiles I have on various platforms:

• Follow Fatty Liver Diary on Pinterest (and pin as much as you can!)
• Follow Fatty Liver Diary on Facebook

In short, just by visiting the site, you’re supporting me. And if you have any additional ideas, I’m open to suggestions.

But if you do want to become a monthly supporter of Fatty Liver Diary, you can do so via Patreon here.

And if you’ve read this far – THANK YOU. If you’re disappointed by this article or the Patreon request, I apologize and understand. But right now, I don’t see another way forward.

Please share this article!