Episodi
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Welcome to another episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast!
This week, Spencer’s flying solo so we’ve got a shorter episode for you. It may be shorter, but it’s still packed with the news, some side hustle shenanigans, and a weird niche site.
He starts by talking about Google’s 2024 Spam Update, which was just released on June 20th, and unsurprisingly, Google doesn’t offer a lot of information about the update, except that the rollout will take just 1 week.
What implications could this update have for your site if you were hit by a previous update? Is this part of the site reputation abuse update? And what did Google Search Liaison Danny Sullivan say about it?
Keep your eye on your rankings (as you probably are) to see how this all unfolds!
The next topic on the agenda is Lily Ray’s article about how SEO visibility is shifting away from review sites to eCommerce and UGC sites.
Google says that it has worked to “reduce unhelpful content by 45%,” although many small publishers would disagree.
Spencer takes a look at Amsive’s study, which compared the SERPs from May of 2023 and May of 2024 for various queries. What did they find? What other results does the article share? What does this mean for review sites?
Spencer offers some advice if you’ve been affected by this. Tune in to hear what he says!
Then he gives a quick update on his Facebook challenge side hustle, in which he’s trying to make $1000 from a brand new Facebook page.
He shared his recent stats on Twitter, sharing his number of followers, his current earnings, and his current costs.
How many clicks has he got to his website? What’s his new strategy going to be moving forward? How much engagement is he getting? How often is he posting? Check out the episode to get all the details.
When it comes to his weird niche site, he shares For Eternia, which is dedicated to He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, which Spencer admitted made him feel slightly nostalgic.
The site covers the latest news (there’s a new movie coming out) and has an official podcast, an official late-night show, a YouTube channel, and a community with a forum.
Spencer talks about how niche the site and topic are. How well is it doing? How are they making money? Where is its traffic coming from?
Does this site give you any ideas that you can apply to your own site or business? What can you learn from this successful and weird niche site?
And that wraps up this week’s solo episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast. We hope you’re up to speed on the latest events in the space and feeling inspired by Spencer’s side hustle and weird niche site.
See you next week!
Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com
Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter
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Andy Skraga, also known as The Facebook Traffic Guy, has had massive success driving traffic to his websites.
He currently manages 9 Facebook pages and 5 websites, driving millions in traffic to those sites.
In this interview, he shares a ton of strategies, offers advice on how to get started, and explains his exact approach to getting page likes, creating content, going viral, and much more.
His interest was originally inspired by a site called ViralNova.
All in all, Andy offers an absolute ton of value in this interview and it’s a must-listen to anyone looking for an alternative traffic strategy and a lucrative side hustle.
Links & Resources Hike Your Likes Andy on Twitter Andy on LinkedIn Strevio Canva The Dodo PostPlannerReady to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com
Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter
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Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
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Episodi mancanti?
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Welcome back, everyone, to the latest episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast!
As always, Spencer and Jared offer a quick overview of the most important news items affecting content creators, publishers, SEOs and entrepreneurs.
On this week’s podcast, they decide to lead with positivity, kicking things off with potentially good news for sites pummelled by the HCU.
Recent comments from Danny Sullivan and John Mueller suggest that sites may see a recovery with the next core update, whenever that may be.
Should we believe them? Find out what Jared thinks about all of this.
Also, Spencer has some very interesting insider details about this, so check out the episode to find out what he knows that may or may not affect you and your site!
Moving along, they talk about Google usage over time.
Studies show that people are spending more time looking at search results compared with 5 years ago. So what does that mean exactly? Are people dissatisfied with the initial results, or are they more savvy? Or, is this a strategy from Google?
Spencer and Jared have a few theories about this. And Spencer shares some stats that are completely shocking to him. Tune in to hear it all.
The next news item is about the site The Wirecutter, which is owned by the NYT and has come to be an example to follow in affiliate marketing over the years.
Spencer reveals how the site has seen its visibility decline following the HCU, potentially losing half of its traffic.
According to Jared, they are seeing a very slight uptick recently, according to Ahrefs, which could be a sign of hope for others.
As for Shiny Object Shenanigans, Spencer goes first and talks about the challenge he announced last week where he’s trying to earn $1000 from a new Facebook page in one month.
He’s currently 10 days in and nowhere near $1000 in earnings, but he does highlight some positive results of his experiment so far.
How many followers does he have? What’s his ad spend so far? What interesting and potentially profitable advice does Jared offer him? Tune in to hear all the details!
When it’s Jared’s turn, he talks about a strategy he’s using to try to revive traffic to a site hit by the HCU with a newsletter and a Facebook page.
He also shares his stats and progress from the last 7 weeks: Facebook followers, ad spend, email subscribers, cost per lead, etc.
He’s also working on a digital product that he wants to sell to his audience. What’s going well and what’s not? Check out the full episode to find out.
Then it’s time to discover some weird niche sites. Spencer shares Million Dollar Homepage, which was created by an entrepreneur in 2005 with the goal of selling pixels on the homepage to earn a million dollars.
As it was an unusual idea at the time, the creator got some press coverage and was able to sell out all the pixels and he did, in fact, earn a million dollars.
What happened after he reached his goal? How is his site doing now? What did he go on to create? And did his success streak continue or did it die? Check out the podcast to find out.
Jared then shares his site, US Beer Labels, a DR19 website created in 1999 by a guy who collects and trades vintage beer labels. It only ranks for 242 keywords and gets minimal traffic.
What’s Jared’s theory about this very niche website? What’s so fascinating about it and what can we learn from it?
And that concludes another episode of Niche Pursuits News. Thanks so much for tuning in! We hope you feel informed and inspired, like every week.
See you next Friday!
Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com
Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter
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What do you do when the job market looks bleak and you’re tired of waiting tables? You move to China!
Well, that’s what Robert Schrader did. He set off on a giant adventure that would eventually lead him to create 4 successful websites earning more than $10k per month.
After being in the business for 15 years, Robert has a wealth of experience to draw on and offers a unique perspective. In this interview, he shares his blogging strategies and philosophies, some clever monetization techniques, and much more.
He begins by offering a great overview of how he got started traveling and writing travel-related content, and how he came to create his very first site, Leave Your Daily Hell, back in 2009, although it was not a travel blog at that time.
He talks about his fortuitous participation in a blogging contest that helped him realize the business potential of blogging, and his unconventional route to monetization.
Robert initially resisted niching down but eventually took the plunge. It’s a good thing he did, because his first niche site, Japan Starts Here, is currently his most profitable venture.
He has a unique approach to content that he talks about, even sharing the exact formula he uses for his articles along with his anti-keyword research strategy.
Robert talks about his reasons for starting his two other niche sites, Thailand Starts Here and Taiwan Starts Here, and reveals some of his productivity hacks for managing 4 different sites.
He shares his strategy for planning his trips as well as his thoughts on updating content.
Robert has a somewhat unconventional philosophy when it comes to blogging, and this interview will absolutely provide some great food for thought.
Links & Resources:
Leave Your Daily Hell Leave Your Daily Hell Instagram Japan Starts Here Japan Starts Here Instagram Thailand Starts Here Taiwan Starts HereReady to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com
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Welcome back to another episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast!
This week, like every week, Spencer and Jared dive deep into the latest news affecting SEOs, publishers, and entrepreneurs relating to Google, AI, and beyond.
The call kicked off with AI Overviews and a letter from Google’s VP/Head of Search, Liz Reid, in response to pushback from the public about the crazy answers users have been finding.
In the last few weeks, the amount of queries for which AI Overviews has appeared has dramatically dropped, and Spencer and Jared share a graph that shows the niches where it has the largest and smallest presence.
Moving along, they return to a popular topic of late: Google’s API leak, confirmed by Google themselves.
Spencer and Jared share some of the latest and most interesting discoveries from the leak, like how YouTube comments are a ranking factor for YouTube, whether or not small personal sites are really being torched, and how baby Panda is not the HCU.
They also share tips on how to approach SEO going forward, such as author authority and a focus on short, original content vs. longer, regurgitated content.
If you want to hear their thoughts on what you should do differently in SEO, knowing what we now know, check out the episode!
Moving along to their Shiny Object Shenanigans, Spencer goes first and talks about a challenge he recently revealed where he’s trying to drive traffic from a brand new Facebook page to his website to earn $1000 in just 30 days.
Listen to the episode to find out these details, and if you want to see the actual Facebook page, join the Niche Pursuits Community!
When it’s Jared’s turn, he teases the success he’s having with his newsletter side hustle, but ultimately talks about Amazon Influencer. He reveals how many videos he’s uploaded recently and how much he earned in May.
He also did some digging into a drop he experienced in his earnings and made a funny discovery. Check out the episode to hear what he discovered.
As for their Weird Niche Sites, Spencer reveals r74n, a site with lots of mini-games. He plays around with the most popular one and talks about monetization and the site’s unique features.
He also reveals that it gets 180k organic visitors per month, and in some months over a million organic visitors.
When it’s Jared’s turn, he shares Green Screen Memes, the largest memes download website for green screen video templates. This DR27 site ranks for 6k keywords, gets some good branded traffic, and has done particularly well throughout all the updates.
He talks about how it works and how it would be relatively easy to set something like this up.
Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com
Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter
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Chris Panteli takes us into the fast-paced world of linkbuilding in this interview packed with tons of actionable tips. Chris, who runs the agency Linkifi, is on the front lines and shares a wealth of knowledge that nobody looking to build a brand should miss.
In this interview, Chris brings us up to speed on everything new in the linkbuilding world and covers a range of topics, from new platforms and what journalists want to winning strategies for 2024 and beyond.
Links & Resources Chris's previous interview Linkifi (use the coupon code nichepursuits20 for 20% off) Chris's Twitter Prowly Connectively Qwoted Source of Sources Google Alerts TalkwalkerReady to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com
Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter
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Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
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Welcome back, everyone, to another episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast, where Spencer and Jared offer their interpretation of the most recent events in the SEO, content creation, and online marketing space.
It’s been a big week with a massive leak coming out of Google, so get ready for a jam-packed episode where Spencer and Jared break it all down.
They kick things off by giving a bit of the backstory behind the leak and the scope of the leak before diving into the details of the leak.
That being said, what strategy does Spencer think could be useful for ranking going forward? And what do they think about Google’s spokespeople?
If you want to hear their thoughts on Twiddlers, small personal sites, baby panda demotion, and site radius, and also catch Spencer’s advice to Google, check out the full episode.
Moving along, Spencer talks about an experiment he’s working on: a site where the traffic comes from Facebook and Reddit.
With 50k followers on his Facebook page and 11k visitors in a single day from Reddit, his site got 55k pageviews in the last month. He’s currently with Ezoic but his goal is to get into Mediavine or Raptive, start earning $1k per month, and build on that.
When it’s Jared’s turn, he talks about his Amazon Influencer side hustle and how he has had success creating videos about the products he uses when he stays at Airbnbs. Then he shares a fantastic hack for making those videos.
Moving onto some weird niche sites, Spencer shares Search Craigslist, a search engine for Craigslist. He shows how it works and shares a funny story about his own personal experience with this kind of site. This site gets over 100k visitors a month, a mix of direct and Search traffic.
Are there any other sites you could create a search engine for or make other websites easier to navigate? Why does Jared call this idea brilliant?
Jared then reveals his site, Tree.fm, which lets you enjoy the sounds of random forests and stunning photography. This DR50 site doesn’t rank for a lot of content, obviously, but they do have a clever monetization strategy.
Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com
Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter
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What does it take to build a million-dollar business? Just ask Dawson Botsford, the developer behind Earnifi.
Dawson is a crypto entrepreneur who leveraged a unique opportunity in the space and turned it into a highly profitable company. He built it in a day, started out with no following, and used some counterintuitive strategies to grow his audience.
In this fascinating interview, Dawson tells the story behind building his business, “an overnight success 10 years in the making.”
Links & Resources Earnifi Starter Story episode Twitter GithubReady to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com
Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter
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Welcome back, everybody, to another episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast, where Spencer and Jared bring you the most important headlines in the SEO space.
Spencer wastes no time this week and dives headfirst into an important video published on The Verge.
Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai is interviewed by Nilay Patel, and he asks him some very direct, hard-hitting questions and comments, including ones about the future of niche sites.
He also asks him directly about Google using publishers’ content for its AI answers and talks about the catastrophic loss of traffic for independent publishers.
He discusses two sites that Spencer and Jared have discussed on several occasions: Housefresh and Retrododo, and he asks him about the availability of data from AI Overviews in Google Search Console.
Moving along, Spencer shares a supplemental article about Google’s Ads VP being asked about the impact of AI Search on publishers.
And lastly, they discuss an article on the recent results from AI Overviews.
Moving on to their Shiny Object Shenanigans, Spencer talks about an experiment he’s conducting with one of his sites where he received 11k visitors from Reddit in a single day.
Neal.fun is full of absurd and entertaining games which have likely gone viral, and it’s monetized with display ads.
When it’s Jared’s turn, he reveals Caffeine Informer, a DR73 site with 818 pages, a lot of helpful blog content, and organic traffic of 141k per month.
Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com
Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter
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Blair Williams is an experienced developer who has been in the membership site game for well over a decade, so he knows his way around the space.
Back in the day, he looked at existing membership plugins and was unimpressed, so he decided to scratch his own itch and create his own. He called it MemberPress.
As of today, his plugin has generated more than a billion dollars in revenue for his customers, of which there are thousands.
Over the years, he has built it up to become one of the best, most powerful membership plugins on the market.
Don’t miss this interview with Blair as he shares many of ways to incorporate a membership component into your business, how to get started, and many other tips and tricks for adding an additional income stream.
Links & Resources MemberPress 100 Membership Site Examples WP Beginner All-in-One SEO Monster Insights Use coupon code “podcast” to get $15 off Link Whisper to build smarter internal links fastReady to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com
Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter
Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper
Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
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Welcome, everyone, to another episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast, where Spencer and Jared offer an overview of the week in news related to SEO, AI, and Google.
As is usually the case, this was a news-heavy week, especially in terms of AI.
They kicked the episode off by talking about Google’s O/I event, where the company revealed everything it has been working on, much of it revolving around AI.
The biggest announcement was that SGE has now been renamed AI Overviews, which will be available to users in the US immediately.
What’s the full impact of these AI Overviews? How often do they show up in search results? Does the change in name mean it’s going to work differently?
AI was definitely the theme of the presentation, but how does Google’s offer measure up with that of OpenAI?
Jared highlighted information about AI Overview as it relates to publishers and content creators. What interesting (and promising) data did he share?
And what happens if you don’t want Google to use your information for its AI results? Why does Spencer call this a “frustrating state of affairs?” Is this really what users want?
And is anyone fighting for small, independent publishers?
Moving along, Spencer and Jared talk about their Shiny Object Shenanigans. Spencer talks about his experiment getting Reddit traffic.
He shares a bit of his strategy, talks about Reddit and RPMs, and his efforts to join Mediavine’s Journey program.
When it’s Jared’s turn, he talks about growing his Facebook page, his current cost per like, his cost per lead, and his plans for video ads.
Moving along to the Weird Niche Site portion of the podcast, Spencer breaks all the rules (which is okay, because he also makes them) and reveals a weird YouTube channel, Tiny Cakes.
With more than 6 million subscribers, their videos are getting millions and millions of views. According to Social Blade, the site has received 960 million lifetime views, he and Jared talk about the thumbnails,
Jared shares the site Famous For A Day, which allows you to hire a paparazzi for the day. He talks about the packages available on the site, whether this is real or a prank, and how it might be used by people.
He also talks about the keywords it’s ranking for and potential marketing techniques it’s using.
And that concludes another episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast. We hope you’re feeling more informed about recent events in Google’s sphere and feel inspired by the side hustles and weird sites and channels we covered.
See you next Friday!
Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com
Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter
Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper
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From working remotely while traveling around the world - to acquiring a business for 43% of its asking price and 4x'ing its revenue within a year, Mike Swigunski has a lot of cool insights on deal-making, delegation, pricing strategies, and more.
In short, Mike is an inspirational example of a remote worker turned entrepreneur.
Drawing from his time working at Empire Flippers, Mike gained valuable insights into the intricacies of the acquisition process for a software business.
A key takeaway from Mike's experience is the importance of understanding seller motivations and using factual data to structure deals for effective negotiation.
The acquisition he gets into was structured to enable a quick return on investment.
Again, thanks to his experience brokering several big deals with Empire Flippers, he has a deep understanding of monetization opportunities in the online space.
Pricing psychology and benchmarking were crucial in the immediate aftermath of acquiring the business. As he outlines, he prioritized testing prices, optimizing the pricing page, optimizing customer service, and ensuring mobile-friendliness for enhanced user experience.
He also chose to add a free trial of the full suite of tools, remove a free basic plan, translate the site into multiple languages, and focus on improving its conversion rate optimization.
His success is also attributed to his focus on lean operations and strategic outsourcing for important tasks like code auditing.
And he stresses the importance of hiring the right talent, mastering delegation, honing managerial skills, and possessing marketing and sales expertise.
All of this helped the site go from $10k in monthly profit to nearly $40k per month at the time of recording—all within a period of approximately 14-15 months!
Links & Resources Global Career Book - How to Work Anywhere & Travel Forever w/ Digital Nomad Jobs How To Travel & Work Remotely Forever | Mike Swigunski | TEDxVake (youtube.com) Use coupon code “podcast” to get $15 off Link Whisper to build smarter internal links fastReady to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com
Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter
Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper
Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
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Welcome back, everyone, to another episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast.
The first news item they cover is Google’s move to enforce site reputation abuse, also known as parasite SEO.
He also shares a tweet from Glen Allsopp with early insights into these measures.
In positive news, Spencer and Jared talk about a potential correction from the recent Google updates.
Still talking about Google, it looks like the company’s market share has taken a dip, and Spencer shares some of the recent stats.
By how much did its share of the global market shrink in the last year?
Speaking of a declining market share, Google may see itself up against a new search engine, launched by OpenAI. Although it’s not official, rumors suggest that it’s in the works.
In the Shiny Object Shenanigans portion of the podcast, Spencer shares an experiment he’s doing with a small website trying to drive traffic from Reddit.
He talks briefly about some of the things he did to get that traffic and what he plans to do moving forward.
When it’s Jared’s turn, he talks briefly about his newsletter side hustle but goes into more detail on a YouTube side hustle he’s working on.
One of his channels has seen a boost in traffic thanks to the Amazon Influencer videos he uploaded there; in fact, it now has reached the threshold for monetization.
As for Weird Niche Sites, Spencer goes first with James Bond Lifestyle, a DR57 website that provides exhaustive information about all things James Bond—clothing, accessories, gadgets, etc.
According to Ahrefs, it gets 20k monthly organic visitors, and according to SimilarWeb, 200k. Spencer also takes a look at its keywords and its optimization opportunities and reveals if it was impacted by the HCU.
When it’s Jared’s turn, he reveals his weird site: This Is Why I’m Broke.
Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and here from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com
Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter
Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper
Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
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Looking to grow your email list?
Liz Wilcox is here to help. She's worn many hats:
A former Survivor contestant (yep, the reality TV show) RV blogger Virtual assistantBut above all - she's an email growth expert joining us with awesome tips and tricks to help you connect with your target audience and make good money doing it!
And she's an absolutely great example to learn from - she was featured as a Niche Pursuits' success story in 2023 (link below), making $20k per month, and has since "doubled that!"
Email marketing helped revolutionize Liz Wilcox's business.
Over the years, she's scaled her email marketing efforts, refined her lead magnets, and boosted conversions.
During this process, she developed her innovative "email staircase method." This is a strategic approach to converting followers into friends by building authentic and lasting connections with subscribers and, ultimately - lasting customers.
Infusing personality and relatability into email content is crucial for fostering these connections with an audience.
She has lots of practical tips to help, like crafting effective welcome sequences and evaluating performance to enhance engagement and conversion rates.
This not only helps with connections and authenticity but also with finding your own niche.
She also discusses the importance of setting clear expectations, sharing values, and offering a mix of free and paid products in welcome sequences to nurture a loyal subscriber base.
Tripwire offers transparent communication and strategic sales placements within newsletters to help her nudge subscribers from passive to paid. And she prioritizes products that address the needs she's found interacting with her audience.
Check out the episode to learn all about the transformative effects of starting with a well-crafted welcome sequence, engaging newsletters, and more!
Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and here from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com
Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter
Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper
Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
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Welcome back to another episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast!
This week Spencer and Jared cover all the latest happenings in the SEO and content creation space and share their opinions and insight. Then they share some very interesting and inspiring side hustles they’re working on, and they wrap things up with some weird niche sites.
They jump into things with the news that Google’s March Update is finally complete!
It finished rolling out on April 19th, and Spencer and Jared discuss the update in general, how long it took, and why its conclusion might not have been announced by Google until later.
They talk about Google’s original ambitions with regard to the update and the feedback form they created as well as the site reputation abuse update that’s going to get underway.
They also discuss why nobody has recovered from the Helpful Content Update, whether Google even knows how someone might recover, and what this all means.
They move on to discuss the winners and losers from the March 2023 Core and Spam Updates, looking at different types of traffic losses and naming some surprising sites on the list as well as looking at some of the winners.
Of course, Amazon, Reddit, and YouTube come up, as do dictionary sites, Etsy, and Quora.
Moving on, they share an article on HouseFresh about how it no longer appears in Google Search and how Google is killing independent review websites.
They show the article’s graph, which reflects a giant 91% decline in traffic, and discuss interesting topics it covers, such as the rise of Forbes in Search and keyword swarming.
Spencer and Jared then share a public plea from Marie Haynes for Google to help publishers hit by the update.
Why is this unusual? How does Jared summarize the situation?
As for their Shiny Object Shenanigans, Spencer talks briefly about his Amazon Influencer Program side hustle.
He shares his earnings for the last 30 days and talks about his future plans for it. Although this project provides passive income, Spencer actually gave a highly detailed presentation as part of his Niche Pursuits Community program where he talked about all the work that went into the side hustle in the beginning.
Jared then goes on to talk about his Amazon Influencer side hustle, talking about the new videos he’s uploaded in 2024 and his total earnings for March and April.
How did he do? How do his stats measure up to Spencer’s?
He also talks about his most recent newsletters side hustle, which of the 2 is getting the most traction, his Facebook page lead generation strategy, and his current number of email subscribers.
Tune in to hear more about his strategy.
As for their Weird Niche Sites, Spencer goes first with Secret Fan Base, which takes a closer look at the story and clothes from well-known brand Banana Republic.
As the clothes are now more mainstream and mass produced, the site covers its original safari style and is created by a group of original fans.
Although it doesn’t get a ton of traffic, the site has a unique story and is a true labor of love.
Jared shares his site, Passport Waiting Time, and shares some of the site’s interesting aspects, like a forum. This DR27 site is ranking for 2k keywords and gets 3k in organic search traffic per month.
They discuss potential strategies the site could use, its current monetization, and why they think the site wasn’t impacted by Google’s updates.
That concludes another great episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast.
We hope you learned about the latest events in the space and that you’re feeling inspired by the conversation.
Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and here from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com
Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter
Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper
Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
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Today, we're being joined by Brian Winum, a long-time digital marketer who started affiliate marketing in the late '90s...
He runs a marketing agency in New York and specializes in building websites as sustainable and valuable business assets - specifically focusing on securing Google News approval and executing effective monetization strategies.
And he's got a lot of tips on the topic and others that may interest you, including:
Authority stacking, Tips for using AI-generated content, Adhering to Google Quality Rater guidelines, And taking a strategic approach to digital marketing. -
Welcome back to another episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast! Are you ready to hear the latest news affecting Google, SEO, AI, and web publishers?
As always, Spencer and Jared will break everything down into digestible pieces and share their thoughts, concerns, and predictions.
They kick things off diving straight into a particularly spicy topic: who’s killing Google Search.
They maintain that it’s an inside job, and talk about the news that came out this week about an internal meeting at Google regarding the division’s “new operating reality” and the decline in search queries and engagement.
Word on the street is that the man who heads the Search team is the man who killed Google Search.
Spencer and Jared talk about this possibility as well as a little bit about the history of Search, the results of updates over the years, why results have gotten worse over time, how ads have been redesigned, and how Google is trying to squeeze more money out of Search results.
What incredible irony does Jared point out? What’s Spence’s takeaway for bloggers? Is Google going to implode?
Spencer and Jared then move on to a related topic: how product recommendations have broken Google. They reference the Housefresh debacle from a few weeks ago, and talk about how the search for products has changed over time.
How do we know if the reviews are honest, or if they’re sponsored, or if they’re authentic? And what does the future hold for product reviews?
The last article they discuss is how Google has become defensive when it comes to its Search quality and forum results.
Experts are pointing out that the results being delivered by Google on Reddit offer very poor and misguided advice, especially when it comes to health queries.
How has Danny Sullivan responded? Why do Spencer and Jared talk about the difference between “trust” and “like?”
Moving on to their Side Hustle Shenanigans, Spencer talks about his Amazon Influencer videos going live on YouTube. Before his channel got shut down, he was getting between 100 and 200 views per day, peaking one day at 250.
Now his biggest day has been 11 views. He and Jared talk about why this may be as well as his process for getting his videos live on YouTube.
What program does he recommend using to automate the process?
Jared then talks briefly about his Alt G Conference, which was held just a few days earlier, and he shares some interesting stats and stories from that online event.
When it’s his turn, he talks about his email newsletter side hustle.
He recently launched a second email newsletter using content from one of his sites that was crushed by the HCU. He goes through many of the steps he took to get the project off the ground, so tune in for some great ideas!
When it comes to Weird Niche Sites, Spencer shares his, which is Brick Economy, on the economics of Legos.
The site offers the current value on lots of Lego sets as well as annual growth of certain themed Legos, and the ability to track the prices of your own Legos. It’s monetized with affiliate links and display ads, and according to SimilarWeb, it’s getting over a million visitors per month.
When it’s Jared’s turn, he shares his site, Tractor Data, which is a small, family-run business that has been tracking data on tractors for the last 20 years. This DR61 site includes a news section and a directory and gets almost 400k pageviews a month, according to Ahrefs.
What keywords is it ranking for? Does it rank first for any terms? Is it making any money? And what kind of potential does Jared see in the site?
As both of these sites are doing well in Google, what can we learn from them and their strategies?
And that brings us to the end of another informative and inspiring episode. See you next Friday!
Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and here from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com
Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter
Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper
Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
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What better way to respond to a time of uncertainty and transition than to share a true success story of change. Joining the podcast is a truly hopeful example of growth and evolution.
Ben started off as an IT and web development guy and now runs of the SEO plugin All-In-One-SEO (AIOSEO) since it was acquired in 2020.
Over these years, both he and the plugin have experienced massive change and transformation to be in the positions they are today. And we're gonna learn some of the key takeaways of how this was possible.
Links & Resources AIOSEO - The World's Best All-in-one SEO Plugin for WordPress: https://www.nichepursuits.com/aioseo
Benjamin Rojas | LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminprojas/
Benjamin Rojas (@benjaminprojas): https://twitter.com/benjaminprojas
Use coupon code “podcast” to get $15 off Link Whisper to build smarter internal links fast: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper
Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
This Episode is Sponsored by Search Intelligence - https://search-intelligence.co.uk/
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Welcome back to a new episode of the Niche Pursuits News podcast!
Jared and Spencer, as always, offer an insightful take on the latest happenings with SEO, publishers, Google, and AI, and give a peek behind the curtain at their latest projects. Stick around for a laugh when they reveal the weird niche sites they found.
The first order of business is to mention that the March Core Update has still not finished rolling out and Spencer and Jared decline to guess when that might be.
Moving along, they jump into the first big news item: The Verge trolling Google, once again.The Verge published a new article for 2024 “reviewing printers,” when in reality the article is just mocking Google for how they rank articles.
Did The Verge actually test the printers? What outbound links did they include? What did John Mueller have to say about it?
And most importantly, how’s the article ranking? Find out the amusing, and depressing, story behind this news item.
Moving along to another article in The Verge, Spencer and Jared talk about how Google is experimenting with a small subset of news publishers, removing their links from Google News. It’s doing this because California is thinking about forcing Google to pay its news publishers.
What are the implications for publishers? Is there any precedent in these types of situations? What happened in Australia? And will Google extend this to other areas?
In other Google news, the company is launching a new ad product whereby ads appear inside your content, as hyperlinked text, which takes users to advertisers’ products. This is optional for publishers within Google AdSense.
What does Spencer think? Would he enable this on his own websites? What scenarios does Jared share where this might work? Tune in to find out.
The latest news item is that Brave Search has released an Answer with AI feature.
What do Spencer and Jared think of it and its impact? What does it remind them of?
Moving along to the Shiny Object Shenanigans portion of the podcast, Spencer talks about his Amazon Influencer side hustle and his decision to publish those shopping videos on YouTube.
Incredibly, his channel disappeared! What happened? How did it turn out and what’s happening now?
When it’s Jared’s turn, he announces a new side hustle: an email newsletter. He talks about how he plans to build it, why he decided to dive into this project, and his experience in this area.
When it comes to Weird Niche Sites, Spencer reveals Pets or Food, a very entertaining tongue-in-cheek website that does get some traffic, according to Ahrefs. It doesn’t have a lot of ads but it does have merch, which may be a source of revenue.
Jared then reveals Line Rusher, which allows people to hire someone to wait in line for them at places like the DMV, Apple, and at restaurants and amusement parks.
They offer some interesting services and are constantly hiring line sitters, which may be an interesting option in the current gig economy.
What do the stats in Ahrefs reveal? What spin would Jared put on this service?
And that brings us to the end of another episode! We hope you learned from the latest headlines in the space, felt inspired by our side hustle projects, and got ideas from this week’s weird niche sites.
Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and here from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com
Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter
Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
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Stephen Regenold is a true digital media success story.
Around 2010, when print media was starting to really feel the effects of the Internet, he decided to start his own outdoor blog.
Early in his online journey, Steven made wise decisions in the site's revenue model for direct ad sales, affiliate commerce, and SEO strategies.
These, combined with some viral luck when a term they helped coin was being considered for the Oxford Dictionary, helped the brand become a massive success.
(He also touches on how video content, from shorts to documentaries, played a crucial role in their strategy.)
Gear Junkie's achievements led to multi-million dollar revenue and partnerships with major brands, positioning the site and its editors as an influencer proposition. They engaged audiences through influencers like YouTubers and Instagram personalities, along with their SEO success.
In 2018, acquisition offers started pouring in, and Gear Junkie eventually sold to Lola Digital in 2020. Post-acquisition, the company rebranded as All Gear Digital, raising $40 million, making eight additional acquisitions, growing into an outdoor media conglomerate, and bringing back Stephen to help them grow.
This was well-timed as the outdoor industry saw surprising growth during the pandemic, with a surge of interest in outdoor activities and gear.
Stephen discusses how All Gear Digital's brands are doing today, providing numbers and sharing strategies for adding value to conversations and maintaining a unique voice in a competitive space. As a result of all this, you won't believe how long their dwell time on site is.
Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and here from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com
Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter
Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper
Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
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