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Building a blog with AI Autopilot

AI Autopilot plans and writes a whole blog. Nothing is written until you approve the plan.

It opens with three choices:

Help me choose a niche: the Niche Finder researches niches and real searches, then hands Autopilot a finished plan. Best if you're new or unsure.
I already have a keyword: plan straight from a seed keyword (below).
Grow this site: plan more articles for the blog you have (further down).

Start a new site

AI Autopilot: three choices, Help me choose a niche (recommended for beginners), I already have a keyword, and Grow this site — Open AI Autopilot and choose how to start. Grow this site is available once the site has articles.

Choose I already have a keyword. If the site already has articles, a confirm screen shows what will be removed (articles, categories, old plans, and optionally images, pages and the site name). A restore point is saved first.
Enter a seed keyword, optionally who it's for, and how many articles to plan.
Planning takes one to three minutes. You'll see niche research, a site description, categories and a topical map.

Start a new site: what will be removed, with checkboxes for images and pages, and a restore point note — Step 1. If the site already has content, you choose what goes. A restore point is saved first.

Plan a blog from one keyword: seed keyword, who it is for and how many articles, next to a How it works panel — Step 2. The seed keyword, who it's for and how many articles. Planning costs a few cents.

Review the plan

Site description and image style: the description shown in search results, and the look shared by all AI images. Applied when you build; change them later in Settings. (The site name is the one you chose when installing.)
Categories: untick any you don't want; their articles go too.
Articles: untick, rename, or move articles between categories. Pillar articles are the big guides the others link to.
Standard pages: About, Contact, Privacy, Terms, Affiliate disclosure, Cookie policy. They're written as drafts for you to check.
Publishing: Co-pilot has no schedule. Every article is written straight away, and you choose what happens to each one when it's done: publish it immediately, or put it in Pending for you to approve. Autopilot publishes on a schedule: choose how many go out straight away and how many per week after that.
Images: AI images, free stock photos, or none.
Batch writing: half price with Claude; ready within about an hour.

The plan page for sourdough baking at home: niche summary, readers, ways to earn, what they search for and competition — The plan opens with the niche research: who the readers are, what they search for, how the site can earn and how hard it is to rank.

The site description and image style. Your site keeps the name you chose when installing.

Categories: five planned categories with descriptions and focus keywords, each with a checkbox — Categories. Untick one and its articles go with it.

The topical map: every planned article with its title, category, type, search phrase, brief and Pillar badges — The topical map. Every article can be unticked, renamed, or moved to another category or type. Pillar articles are the big guides the others link to.

Standard pages and Publishing: page checkboxes, Co-pilot or Autopilot, articles per week, featured images and batch writing — Standard pages and Publishing: choose Co-pilot or Autopilot, the pace, images and batch writing. The estimated cost is shown before you build.

Click Build my blog. The build page shows each article as it's written. You can pause and resume at any time.

The build page: plan name, Pause and Undo this plan buttons, a progress bar and counts of done, writing and queued articles — The build page shows progress and what it has cost so far. Pause and resume at any time.

The build page article list: each article with its category, when it goes live, its status and cost — Every article with when it goes live, its status and what it cost.

Grow this site

Choose Grow this site to plan more articles for the blog you have. It knows your categories and existing titles, so it won't repeat them, and it schedules the new articles after the ones already lined up. Three ways:

Grow from what I have: add a focus (for example product reviews) or leave it empty and the AI finds the gaps. It uses any unused article ideas from your Niche Finder research first. Quickest.
Fill one category: pick a category (the ones with the fewest articles are listed first) or click Grow next to it on the Categories page. fastCMS works out what people search for in that category on your blog (on a coffee blog, "Reviews" means coffee gear reviews), collects real Google searches and finds about twice as many article ideas as you asked for. The best ones are ticked; tick or untick the rest, and only the ticked ones are written. Ideas you leave unticked are kept for later Grow from what I have plans. About the cost of one keyword research, shown before you start.
Research new keywords first: pick a niche you saved for later in the Niche Finder, or type a new topic such as night trains. fastCMS collects real Google searches for it, groups them into articles that fit your categories (adding a new one only where needed), and opens the plan for review. About the cost of one Niche Finder keyword step, shown before you start.

Grow Wayfarer Notes: Grow from what I have, or Research new keywords first with a niche saved from the Niche Finder (Night trains in Europe) chosen — Grow this site plans only what's missing, from your existing articles or fresh keyword research, and schedules it after the articles already lined up.

Find new categories

Want a whole new category? Open Find new categories (linked from Grow this site, or the button on the Categories page). The AI reads your categories and articles and suggests about 8 new categories your readers would want next, each with example articles. fastCMS then checks real Google searches for each one and labels it Lots of searches, Some searches or Few searches, so you can see which ones people actually look for. The suggestions cost a few cents; the search check is free.

For each idea:

Add with articles: researches its articles the same way as Fill one category. You choose which to write, and the category is only created when you build the plan (so Undo this plan removes it again).
Save for later: keeps it on the page for another day.
Dismiss: it won't be suggested again.

Ideas stay on the page until you use or dismiss them: Find more ideas adds new suggestions to the list, and picking one for Add with articles leaves the rest where they are. The research and plan pages for an idea have a Back to your other category ideas link.

Undo a plan

On a plan's page, Undo this plan removes the articles and pages it created, images only they used, and categories it created that end up empty. A restore point is saved first.

Delete a plan

At the bottom of a plan's page, Delete this plan removes the plan from AI Autopilot but keeps the articles and pages it created. To remove those too, use Undo this plan instead.

Restore points

Every Start a new site and Undo saves a restore point, kept for 30 days and listed at the bottom of the AI Autopilot page. Restore puts your articles, categories, pages, images and site name back. What you have just before is saved as a restore point too, so a restore can be undone. Delete removes a restore point you no longer need.

Tips

A focused seed ("keto baking for beginners") gives a better plan than a broad one ("food").
Start with 20 articles, review the first few, then grow.
Articles keep writing in the background only while an admin page is open, unless you set up cron.