Five years, 78 stores built, 24 kept: how Jonathan runs his portfolio

Jonathan ran his sites on his own server before FreshStore: "I had a vps server with all my sites hosted there." He tried the hosted builders and did not stay:

"I tried a few store builders, none had the flexibility that I was looking for."

He has been on FreshStore since 2021.

What starts a new store?

"Trends, products I come across, if I like a product."

How do you decide what to keep?

For years he culled on traffic:

"In the past every year I would check my stores, if the stores are driving traffic, I will keep, the ones not driving I use to scrap."

Now he fixes instead. With Search Console data on every store, a flat store is a job, not a loss:

"I keep all stores because they become fixable."

He measures in stores driving traffic, not stores built. 78 built, 24 live, and he is content with that.

Where does the traffic come from?

"I am old school, I have been using the site RSS feeds to drive traffic to my sites. This worked well until I lost my Facebook hub & then everything collapsed January 2026. Then I turned to SEO with GSC. 90% of my sites had flat lined. The last year I have been working on a regeneration using GSC which has worked out very well."

What changed in the product for you?

"The biggest being able to place products in content boxes site wide using product IDs that has really made the sites more dynamic."

Why stay five years?

"I have tried the alternatives & it sucks. I am safer with FreshStore because it's safe & reliable so why would I venture into the unknown."

Asked what he would tell a friend: "I would say FreshStore serves my needs & more."

What next?

"Ideally I want to get my stores to a high earning stage then sell them."

Individual goal, not a typical result. Earnings Disclaimer