Building Journey · Part 1 of 10

I'm a Civil Engineer. I Used AI to Build an English Finance Website in One Week.

No coding experience. No AI background. Just a 36-year-old dad trying not to fall behind. The complete story of building moneytipshub.com.

FengHu222 Published: February 6, 2026

I’m a Civil Engineer. I Used AI to Build an English Finance Website in One Week.

No coding experience. No AI background. Just a 36-year-old dad trying not to fall behind.


The Result

Last week, I launched MoneyWise Tips — a personal finance website targeting English-speaking beginners.

Here’s what it looks like:

  • 9 SEO-optimized articles (1,700–2,500 words each), covering topics from saving money tips to the 50/30/20 budget rule
  • 12 video pages with embedded YouTube videos and ~800-word companion articles
  • 110 total pages including category pages, tag pages, and topic hub pages
  • Deployed on Cloudflare Workers & Pages with a custom domain
  • Google Search Console verified, sitemap submitted and accepted

Total cost: $10.46/year for the domain. Everything else is free.

I didn’t write a single line of code.


Who Am I

I’m not a developer. I’m not a designer. I’m not a content creator.

I’m a civil engineer. For the past 10+ years, I’ve drawn structural blueprints, managed construction sites, and supervised concrete pours at 3 AM.

My most-used software is AutoCAD. My most-used tool is a hard hat.

I have two kids (ages 6 and 3). Most of my “free time” is spent making sure nobody puts crayons in the microwave.

So how did I end up building a website?


Why I Did This

The AI wave hit, and I felt it.

Construction isn’t exactly booming. I’m 36. I have a family to support. And everywhere I look, someone is talking about how AI will change everything.

I didn’t want to just watch. I wanted to do something.

I read an article (in Chinese) about “building websites as a retirement plan” — the idea that ordinary people can create English content sites, attract Google traffic, and earn passive income through ads.

One line stuck with me: “You don’t need to be a programmer. You just need to find a real demand.”

Finding demand? That’s what engineers do every day.


How I Did It

Step 1: Keyword Research (Free Tools Only)

I used a combination of:

  • Keyword Surfer (free Chrome extension) — shows search volume and CPC right in Google search results
  • Google Trends — to verify long-term interest
  • A custom Python script — written by Cursor, that automatically opens Chrome, reads Keyword Surfer data, evaluates SERP competition, and saves everything to CSV

The winning keyword: “saving money tips” — 301,000 monthly searches, $2.75 CPC, and mostly inner pages in the SERP (meaning low competition for a new site).

Step 2: Building the Site with Cursor

Cursor is an AI-powered code editor. For me, it’s not a coding tool — it’s a translator.

My workflow:

  1. I describe what I want in plain language
  2. Cursor suggests a technical approach (with pros/cons)
  3. I choose
  4. Cursor writes the code
  5. I check the result and give feedback

The tech stack it recommended:

  • Astro 5.x — generates pure static HTML, excellent for SEO
  • MDX — write content in Markdown with optional components
  • Tailwind CSS — utility-first CSS framework
  • Cloudflare Pages — free global CDN deployment

Step 3: Content Creation

I created a 6-step article template:

  1. Pain point / Hook
  2. What it is
  3. Why it matters
  4. Who it’s for
  5. How to do it
  6. Call to action

Using this template, Cursor helped me write 9 articles forming an interlinked content cluster around “saving money.”

For videos, I have a YouTube channel where I publish short finance lessons. Each video gets its own page on the site with an embedded player, an 800-word article, and VideoObject structured data for Google Video Rich Results.

Step 4: Deployment

  • Domain: moneytipshub.com ($10.46/year on Cloudflare)
  • Hosting: Cloudflare Workers & Pages (free, unlimited bandwidth)
  • SSL: automatic
  • Google Search Console: domain verified, sitemap submitted

The whole deployment took about half a day, including troubleshooting a few configuration issues.


What’s Next

This is just the beginning. SEO is a long game. Google needs 1–3 months to start sending meaningful organic traffic.

My roadmap:

  • Add more high-value articles (targeting keywords like “passive income” and “money management tips”)
  • Apply for Google AdSense
  • Grow email subscribers through the newsletter
  • Continue publishing YouTube videos

What I Learned

  1. You don’t need to code. AI tools like Cursor have fundamentally changed who can build things on the internet.
  2. Engineering thinking transfers. Designing site architecture isn’t that different from designing a building. Managing a project timeline is managing a project timeline, whether it’s concrete or content.
  3. The hardest part is starting. Not the technology, not the English, not the SEO. Just deciding to begin.
  4. Cost is not a barrier. ~$10/year for a domain. Free hosting. Free keyword tools. The real investment is time and persistence.

I’ll be documenting this entire journey in a 10-part series. If you’re interested in building something with AI — especially if you’re NOT a developer — follow along.

Site: https://www.moneytipshub.com/ YouTube: @yiyiyi-1226