Today is a the very first coaching call between Samara and I for niche site project 3.  During this call we discuss the big picture goals and strategies for the project.

In addition, we discuss how to brainstorm for niche ideas.

In the podcast today, Jake, Perrin, and I reveal who the 3 students for niche site project 3 will be.  If you read the blog post published last week, you already know who the 3 students are: Samara, Ryan, and Colleen.

However, in this podcast we share just a few more of our thoughts on the project in general and the process for the official coaching calls.

In general, we review the students that we will be coaching and some of our brief plans for the calls.

In today's episode, Jake, Perrin, and I chat about the Niche Site Project 3 video finalists.  Voting is now open at: http://www.nichepursuits.com/niche-site-project-3-0-video-finalists-vote-now/

Perrin and I sat down recently and discussed the application process for Niche Site Project 3!  We are excited to be kicking off this project and can hardly wait to find out who the winning applicants will be for the project.

During this podcast, we discuss why we are doing this project and how we are picking the winning applicant.  If you would like to hear Perrin and I discuss the project a bit more and perhaps pick up a few insights we haven't shared previously on the process, feel free to tune in!

The time has come to finally write the final chapter of Niche Site Project 1 and 2.  As you may know, both of these projects were public projects where I built a website from scratch and shared the results and everything here on NichePursuits.com.

So, keep listening to discover the conclusion of both Niche Site Projects.

Today, I'm excited to bring you an interview with someone with amazing genes.  My cousin, Jon Haws, is on the podcast today with what I think is an awesome story.  That's right, there is another Haws out there that also has the entrepreneurial blood flowing through his veins.

If you don't recall, I interviewed Jon about 3 years ago on the podcast and now he's back for an update!

At the time of our previous interview, Jon was running a landscape company, but using online resources to help get customers and grow his business.  Well, things have changed quite a bit for Jon since that time...but for the better.

Jon recently was able to just quit his full-time job (as a Nurse) and pursue his online business ventures full time.

Welcome to another episode of the Niche Pursuits podcast!  In today's episode, Perrin and I discuss my last blog post about hiring a great software developer for your bootstrapped business in depth.

If you haven't had a chance to read that blog post yet, I highly recommend that you do so here.

These blog posts are part of a 5 part series that I'm doing on how to bootstrap a software business.  You can read part one of the series right here.

Because I've actually been involved in a couple of different software projects, and I highly successful one (Long Tail Pro), I think sharing some of the Long Tail Pro story along the way makes sense as I teach these principles.

I'm happy to bring you another podcast interview I did recently with an Amazon seller.

The guest on the podcast today is Pilar Newman. She has been selling on Amazon for about 8 years, and has really honed her skills for finding and selling products through the Amazon platform.

Pilar applies a lot of the tactics other guests have shared in the past.  However, where she is different is how she is capitalizing on trending items that are selling really well.  Rather than selling the actual trending item itself, she thinks of unique items that are complimentary to the trending items.

As a result she is able to sell unique products, but still capitalizes on the big trends that are taking place.

As you may know, I recently published a blog post sharing my recent success on Amazon. Today, Perrin and I sit down and have a more in-depth discussion on the subject.  The overall content is very similar to my last blog post where I share the fact that my new Amazon FBA business just clocked in at $40,639 in sales.

I'm excited to bring to you another podcast interview with Matt Paulson!

If you recall, I had Matt on the podcast about a year ago and he delivered tons of value.  As a result, I thought it would be great to catch up with Matt and have an update on his business at MarketBeat.com.

Not only does he give an update on the astounding revenue and income numbers of his business, but he also shares some great advice for email marketing.

You can follow along with Matt on his blog at MattPaulson.com.  In addition, I HIGHLY recommend that you check out his new book that was just released, Email Marketing Demystified: Build a Massive Mailing List, Write Copy that Converts and Generate More Sales.

Today on the podcast, Perrin and I discuss 6 examples of successful websites using long tail keywords.

In general, if you are interested in building websites that get traffic from long tail keywords (and often really long tail keywords), then this podcast will give you some ideas and get you motivated.

Overall, if you are interested in learning more about how to apply these long tail keyword strategies in your own websites, please check out Long Tail University (our keyword research training course).

Today, I am sharing a discussion that I did with Travis Jamison from Supremacy SEO and AMZtracker.com.  Travis is someone that has really figured out how to rank his products well for tons of long tail keywords in Amazon.  During the interview, he dives into how he finds keywords, how he strategically uses keywords in his listings, and how he gets reviews.

In addition, Travis is also the created of a software tool called AMZtracker.com.

Today, Perrin and I discuss SEO.

Can you believe it already been a year since the big PBN update?  This PBN update had a big impact on aPennyShaved.com (the Niche Site Project 2 website) and other niche site we were working on. 

As a result, we have drastically changed how we do SEO and link building.  We haven't talked about these strategies too much, but we definitely are still actively doing keyword research, creating content, and building links for our sites.

In fact, I've gotten emails and comments from people asking if we would ever talk about SEO again (rather than my recent Amazon FBA frenzy).  So, I felt like it was finally time for an update on what our current strategies in 2015 are for search engine optimization, external and internal link building, content, and so much more.

Today's guest is not just selling a private label product.  Zach Vohries from Zackees.com has created a truly original (and patented) product and brought it to the market.  Zach had a unique idea and was able to go from idea to selling in about 2 years.

I love the story that Zach shares because he has reached the point that all of us should be striving for (at least I know I am).  He's created something unique and defensible; he truly is "the one" for his product category.

So, what is the product that Zach created?  The product is Zackees LED Turn Signal Cycling Gloves; and you can see his product on Amazon right here.  In addition, they also sell the Zackees Rechargeable Coin Cell Charger here.

The time has finally come for me to reveal how well my new Amazon FBA business is going.

I’ve shared a bit about how I got started selling physical products on Amazon; including the fact that I made about $4,400 in my first 40 days.  I’ve also been busy interviewing others for the NIche Pursuits podcast and just generally digging into the Amazon FBA business because I saw so much potential.

Today, I want to discuss the revenue of my Amazon business over the past 30 days.  In addition, I want to touch on my “authority” site project and why shifting my focus away from it was clearly a good move.

We’re super excited to have an absolutely killer guest today: David Bryant from ChineseImporting.com.

Some people, though, are just so far ahead of the game when it comes to important products from overseas. David is one of those people.

Just how far ahead is he? You might want to sit down.

Starting in 2008, David built a business that now sources over 300 products from China and generates over $1 million in annual revenue.

The crazy part? He’s only 30 years old! That’s what you call a whiz kid.

David’s here to school us in the importing arts. So check it out and listen up.

Perrin and I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Scott Voelker from TheAmazingSeller.com and discuss his FBA business.

He has been able to build up his Amazon physical product business to revenues of $35,000 per month since starting in October 2014 (about 9 months).

In the interview today, Scott shares what has worked in his business, and how other can go about finding great products to sell and hopefully replicate some of the success he is having.

We’ve got another (much more exciting) update about our Amazon FBA business. It’s been a week, our products are live, and we’ve finally got some hard numbers to report.

It’s been a while (about a month to be exact) since we’ve recorded a podcast on our Amazon FBA business.

And believe me, we’ve wanted to talk to you guys about it.  But we couldn’t because our business was at a total stand-still (more on this below).

But today, we’re back at it, and we’re ready to fire up another podcast episode about our Amazon FBA business.

And you’re going to love this one. We’ve got a lot to share, a lot to be excited about, and a lot of big dreams to chase. How’s it all come together? Check it out.

Welcome to Episode 64 of the Niche Pursuits podcast.  Today we welcome Steve Chou.  Steve and his wife own the ecommerce store,  bumblebeelinens.com.  Steve also has a blog and training classes on starting ecommerce stores on his other sites, mywifequitherjob.com and profitableonlinestore.com. 

Steve gives us the story of how he and his wife started their store which sells a large product line of personalized handkerchiefs and linens.  Since its inception in 2007, the store now has earnings in the high six figures.

We are excited about today’s  episode which will be part 1 of a 5 part series on how
to bootstrap a software business. Along the way, we will look at my software company, Long Tail Pro and how it became my most successful venture and we’ll also tell you, the listener, how to go out and start your own successful software business.  

Perrin and I are excited to bring you the income reports for the authority site and my amazon product.

We also discuss a pivot I am making in my business based on these numbers.

The details of these income reports can be found in this blog post from last week.

Here's a quick rundown of what we discuss on the podcast today:

Last month our authority site brought in $912.70, mostly from Kindle books, and some Adsense revenue.

However, at this point we’re facing a bit of a reality check: we’re now 10 months in to this project, and the traffic is not growing like we had hoped.

Currently we’re spending $3,000-4,000 per month on content creation and marketing. Over the past several months we’ve spent $15,000-20,000 and only realized $7,000 revenue.

On the other hand, my Amazon product launched March 28 and saw revenues of $4,400 in the first 30 days. This started as a very casual side project, but we sold out of the first batch of 105 units in 40 days for an initial revenue of $6,000.

Looking forward we’re planning to increase profit margins through lower freight costs and lower price per unit due to economies of scale with our manufacturer.

The difference in momentum between these two projects is allowing for a pretty clear decision in our business focus.

Today’s episode of the Niche Pursuits Podcast is a Q&A session with Perrin and I talking all about selling physical products on Amazon.

A few of the questions covered are:

• What are your thoughts about going outside of Amazon?
• Another common question we get is Why Not Go Direct?
• A few people have been asking about selling through Amazon’s FBA program in other countries.
• Can you estimate costs associated with a product?
• Where and How do you get samples?
• Can you source from the US?
• What due diligence can you do around suppliers on Alibaba?
• and others

Today, Perrin and I get behind the microphone and discuss how to start and grow your own business through Amazon’s FBA program. 

By following several key steps, I was able to sell $4,399 in product in just 30 days. Perrin and I share the process and answer some questions taken from the blog.

This is a very real business, which I hope to scale and see monthly earnings quadruple. The potential rewards are, in my opinion, much greater than a niche website.

Today, I share a discussion between Perrin and I on the importance of being unique with your business. In particular, we have a more in-depth discussion about being the ONE, as I wrote about in my last blog post here.

This is an interesting topic that may seem pretty obvious to some people, while others may be completely oblivious to the subject.

In my opinion, to build a defensible business that can stand the test of time, that business needs to be doing something unique.

Perrin and I have launched a couple of books on Amazon Kindle and we have been surprised by their success.

In this episode, we discuss the latest earnings and other successes from both our authority site and our kindle books.

In my podcast episode today I interviewed Claire Smith that is doing VERY well with her niche sites.  She is making over $10,000 a month with her niche sites.

However, what makes Claire's story interesting is that she has NEVER built a link to any of her sites.  In her words, "I just never got around to it."

Because she has never even tried to build a link to any of her sites, she doesn't have to worry when Google changes how the value links because well she doesn't have any!

Today, I would like to introduce you to Travis Ketchum of ContestDomination.com. 

In this episode, Travis shares a bit about his own story and why he created Contest Domination (software that helps you run and manage successful contests online).  In addition, Travis shares some really amazing success stories of clients that have used Contest Domination to grow their business.

One of those companies was able to generate over 190,000 email opt ins from just one contest!