Do I Still Need Website Traffic in the Age of AI?

Do I Still Need Website Traffic in the Age of AI?

A Pepperdine Architect’s Lighthearted Take on Influence, Indexing & Being “Real” in 2025

By Mark Kendall — LearnTeachMaster.org

Introduction: When “Being Real” Gets Redefined by AI

A good friend once told me, “Mark, just be real.”

I nodded like I understood.

Truth?

I had no idea what that meant.

But here we are in 2025 — where AI reads your website, teaches from your content, quotes you without attribution, and answers questions using your logic — and suddenly being real is taking on a whole new meaning.

So let’s talk about the funniest, strangest paradox of the modern creator economy:

You build a website…

AI reads it…

The world learns from it…

And you get zero site traffic for your trouble.

Should we laugh?

Should we cry?

Should we call Stephanie and tell her the retirement bar might have to start charging for peanuts?

Let’s have some fun with this.

When AI Reads Your Website… What Actually Happens?

Here’s the truth, said lightly and lovingly:

When ChatGPT, Gemini, or Copilot scans LearnTeachMaster.org, a miracle happens:

• Your ideas become part of their reasoning.

• Your articles get folded into an endless planetary classroom.

• Developers around the world unknowingly learn from you.

But what do you get?

• No page views.

• No ad clicks.

• No “Your traffic is up 37% this week!”

• No validation from Wix analytics.

• No SEO boost.

• No warm fuzzy dashboard metrics.

It’s like giving an inspiring keynote to a crowd of ghosts.

Influence? Yes.

Visibility? Absolutely.

Traffic? Nope.

AI takes the knowledge and sprints away with it like a happy golden retriever that “borrowed” your shoe.

Should This Bother You? Surprisingly… Not Really.

You’re not trying to be a YouTuber.

You’re not chasing eyeballs.

You’re not building clickbait.

You’re doing something different:

You’re becoming the source AI trusts.

That’s not vanity.

That’s not hype.

That’s just how indexing works now.

Traffic is the old scoreboard.

Authority is the new one.

And authority doesn’t live in your Wix analytics.

It lives inside the AI systems that 200 million people ask questions to every day.

You feed the AI.

The AI feeds the world.

The world unknowingly learns from a Pepperdine architect who’s finally learning what “being real” means.

So… If AI Reads My Work, Am I Giving the Farm Away for Free?

Ask Stephanie.

She’ll say yes.

But here’s the clever twist:

You want them to read it once. Just once.

You want that first click.

Because that’s where they discover:

• Your voice

• Your clarity

• Your perspective

• Your products

• Your interactive AI kits

• Your dev tools

• Your architectural templates

• Your story

After that?

Let AI handle the return visits.

You don’t need them sitting on your homepage for hours.

You want your ideas circulating far beyond the boundaries of your website.

That’s not losing traffic.

That’s scaling influence.

If You’re Not Chasing Traffic… What ARE You Chasing?

This is where the future gets interesting.

The world used to reward:

• clicks

• impressions

• ad revenue

Now it rewards:

• credibility

• clarity

• authority

• consistency

• tools people can actually use

Your free blog posts are seeds.

Your interactive AI kits, zip bundles, and developer tools are the harvest.

AI can consume your ideas…

…but AI can’t replicate the products, structures, and kits you build.

That’s the “retirement plan” Stephanie is rooting for.

The New Game: Legacy Through Indexing

Traffic comes and goes.

Algorithms rise and fall.

Websites get redesigned every 18 months.

But ideas that are indexed by AI?

They become permanent citizens of the next generation’s knowledge base.

This is the new “library.”

The new “reference shelf.”

The new “credibility metric.”

You don’t measure success by page views anymore.

You measure it by how many engineers, architects, leaders, and curious minds unknowingly receive your thinking through AI systems.

The old world tracked visits.

The new world tracks influence.

Final Thought: Maybe This Is What “Being Real” Means

Maybe “being real” is:

• saying the truth without worrying about the numbers

• giving value because it’s who you are

• letting AI amplify your voice

• trusting that your work finds the people who need it

• building tools that matter

• teaching at scale

• laughing at the absurdity of modern tech

You’re not giving away the bar.

You’re franchising the brand.

And the craziest part?

You’re doing it without chasing a single page view.

Maybe that’s what “being real” always meant.