Fri, 26 April 2024
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 |
Wed, 24 April 2024
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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Fri, 19 April 2024
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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Wed, 17 April 2024
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 |
Fri, 12 April 2024
Welcome back to another episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast!
Come join Spencer and Jared as they take on the latest news in SEO, AI, Google, and beyond.
This week’s episode kicks off with some big news from Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, who talks about the future of Search.
The main pivot he focuses on in the interview is the shift to AI, which he expects to serve the company well over the coming decade. He notes that AI has been working behind the scenes for a long time now and that Google has to evolve to meet the changing needs of users.
What does he say about chatbots? And what does he say about websites? Are they going away and is SGE going to take over? Tune in to hear what Spencer and Jared think about his comments.
Moving along, they talk about a LinkedIn post from Lily Ray on the SEO visibility growth of Reddit and the mindblowing statistics she shares.
What theory does she share that Spencer doesn’t agree with? How does this all play into Google’s antitrust lawsuit, problems with Gemini, and its declining share price?
And what about Reddit’s poor-quality results in Search? Listen to the episode to hear the ridiculous Reddit response to a weight loss query.
Spencer then shares a tweet from a series by Glenn Gabe on the March Core Update, talking about whether the update has finished or not, the role played by the HCU, and the lack of recoveries from these updates.
What did John Mueller say about the core update? What do Spencer and Jared think about the updates and when they’ll finish? Check out the episode to find out.
The last topic is that Bing usage is on the rise, having gained some footing recently, and Spencer and Jared note from the article that Bing actually powers several other search engines, including DuckDuckGo and Yahoo.
What do they recommend when it comes to optimization? Who uses Bing and why does it matter? What’s happening with desktop search?
As for their Shiny Object Shenanigans, Spencer highlights two of his side hustles, the Amazon Influencer Program and his Facebook traffic project, neither of which rely on search engine traffic at all.
Jared then announces the Alt G Online Conference: Unleash Your Content’s Potential Beyond Google, which will bring together people earning money on alternative platforms. It will be held on April 25th, and both Spencer and Jared will be speakers.
In line with the conference, the Niche Pursuits Community is welcoming a series of expert speakers each week who are also talking about using alternative traffic sources.
Jared talks briefly about his Amazon Influencer Program side hustle and then teases a new side hustle he’s about to launch. Come back next week for all the details!
As for the Weird Niche Sites, Spencer reveals iScrap App, which reports local scrap prices. They’ve got a blog and a directory and they’re doing well in search: 300k visitors per month according to SimilarWeb.
They monetize with display ads, they have a store, they sell directory space to scrapyards, and the owner probably has a nice little side hustle with this weird niche site.
When it’s Jared’s turn, he reveals Live Oasis, which lets you research the toxicity of many water brands and rates the water quality in different municipalities. It has a subscription model, which provides access to more information and research, but is it earning money?
Beyond that, this brand-new website is doing quite well and ranking for lots of keywords. What does Jared discover when he digs into the backstory? And where is all of the data coming from? And what if they were to change the model a bit? Hear Jared and Spencer’s recommendations.
We hope this episode helped bring you up to speed on the latest happenings in the SEO and content creation space and gave you some new ideas when it comes to your own businesses.
See you next week!
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 |
Wed, 10 April 2024
Michael Dinich has had tremendous success with Flipboard as a traffic source for his site Wealth of Geeks.
Thanks to this focus, he gets about one-third of his traffic from the platform and avoids much of the pain and stress felt about Google updates.
Flipboard is described as a less time-consuming Pinterest and offers a broad approach suitable for diverse industries beyond strictly visual-centric ones.
It's platform that caters to a diverse demographic, slightly leaning towards males, and supports a wide range of niches such as finance, muscle cars, and video games.
And he's got tips on how we can follow in his footsteps.
For starters, he emphasizes the importance of participating in the community, and optimizing content for the platform. Things like:
Success on Flipboard hinges on strong headlines, engaging images, and community interaction to drive high-quality traffic and engagement rates.
And strategies like cloning posts with seasonal variations and maintaining SEO titles on website URLs can enhance visibility.
He also suggests following influencers, and adding a Flipboard button to your website are recommended for growth. And highlights how consistent effort and experimentation are key to seeing significant gains on Flipboard, with the process taking around six months.
He gets quite a bit deeper into the specifics though and if you're in the market for a new traffic source you won't want to miss this one! 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 |
Fri, 5 April 2024
Welcome to another episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast! This week's news podcast is brought to you by Jared Bauman and Thomas Smith, who’s filling in for Spencer.
As always, they’re bringing you all of the latest news related to SEO, Google, and AI, along with their analyses. Stay until the end to hear about their side hustles and weird niche sites!
The first item up for discussion is the fact that Google is thinking about charging for its AI-powered features, such as the Search Generative Experience (SGE).
Jared and Thomas talk about SGE and the reasons why Google may consider this path, and if they do go ahead with it, what it might look like. They also discuss a Tweet from Glenn Gabe, sharing his predictions about where this is headed.
Moving along, they discuss how Google’s search engine market share has declined by around 2%, which may not sound like very much, but it is, and it most likely has Google worried. It looks like Bing’s market share is growing, and Jared and Thomas talk about potentially optimizing for the platform.
The conversation then shifts to Microsoft Start, which is Microsoft’s version of Discover, and its recently-announced and very interesting AI policy. Thomas shares his experience using Microsoft Start and his interpretation of their stance on AI. What do he and Jared think about this policy? And how is it different, or similar, to Google’s?
Moving to a lighter topic, Thomas talks about a musician named Matt Farley, who essentially mined Spotify for keywords and created songs around them. Today he's earning $200k a year. Tune in to hear his excellent advice around this story as well as the stats behind Matt’s “business.”
When it comes to Shiny Object Shenanigans, Jared starts by talking about his Amazon Influencer side hustle. In March, his earnings totalled almost $4k and, inspired by this progress, he uploaded another 66 videos. He shares some of his stats and talks about how passive this business model really is.
Thomas shares his Medium side hustle, explaining how the platform works, its stance on AI, and how he makes money from it. Last year he was earning $500 or $600 per month from it, and last month he made $3k.
Listen to hear him explain his thoughts on that growth and what Medium is doing right.
He also recently started an Etsy store for fun? Find out what he’s selling!
As for Weird Niche Sites, Jared shares his first: MeetWays, which helps you find a spot in the middle when you’re meeting up with someone. This DR34 site has seen its traffic grow from 15k last year to 30k this year and ranks for 188k keywords.
They talk about how the site is monetized, how it was potentially built, and whether or not it’s helpful.
Thomas shares the site Antipodes Map, which lets you see what’s on the exact opposite side of you on the earth.
He plays around with some locations to show how it works, and then shares the stats: DR52, 4k organic search traffic according to Ahrefs, and 113k searches per month according to SimilarWeb.
Is it monetized or is it a passion project? Listen to find out!
That brings us to the end of another episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast! We hope you enjoyed this episode with Jared and Thomas and feel informed and inspired in your own business projects.
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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Wed, 3 April 2024
Want to escape the 9 to 5 rat race but struggle to come up with good business ideas?
This episode is for you.
Peter Askew got into the internet business working for .com startups in the late 90s. Due to a series of bad experiences though, he was pretty much forced into entrepreneurship (his words). Thanks to this, over time, he developed an awesome ability to create opportunities by acquiring strategic aged domains.
This is what he dives into today which you don't want to miss! Peter's strategy is really cool and the interview covers a lot of interesting stories and insights from his journey.
It all started when he acquired the domain duderanch.com, which became the cornerstone of his success.
And while growing it - he learned a lot of lessons about diving into a niche that have continued to help him in all sorts of ways. He talks about attending industry conferences and fostering relationships with ranch owners. And how these real-world relationships translate to online business growth.
Over time, Peter continued to grow his site's directory-style business by improving rankings and revenue. And he discusses some key insights from various metrics, regarding his site's design, imagery, and brand reputation.
It hasn't been all successes though.
He also shares how important the niche is for success with this model - highlighting the expensive lessons he learned after acquiring 'birthdayparties.com'.
Peter also discusses the growth of his job board in the ranching industry, and his DTC onion project.
These are projects that highlight his ability to compete with comparatively massive companies thanks to his domain strategy.
Overall his story is really inspirational. And one that highlights the sometimes overlooked techniques that can be used to grow nearly any business. And is an episode that is absolutely worth watching.
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 |
Fri, 29 March 2024
Welcome back to another episode of the Niche Pursuits News podcast, where Spencer and Jared break down the most recent news in SEO, AI, and content creation into smaller, digestible pieces.
Let’s get started!
Spencer first digs into Glen Allsopp’s recent report on almost 50 companies’ SEO performance, sharing some of his research for companies like NextDoor and Chegg, which are publishing massive amounts of AI-generated content and answering questions with AI, respectively, with a lot of success.
On the flip side, they share how many large content sites are also seeing a decline in traffic following the updates, just like smaller sites are experiencing.
They talk about the lessons we can draw from who’s really winning in affiliate marketing these days, the Asia-focused version of websites that are killing it, and more, but you’ll have to tune in to hear what they think.
Moving on, they talk about how Google has offered advice to those people affected by the HCU.
What kinds of things are people doing to show Google they’re legit, and should they keep doing it? What does Danny Sullivan say? Were the penalties delivered really at page level or site level, and why do people think Google’s response to this was contradictory?
The next article they address is from Glen Gabe, featuring hundreds of websites that Wikipedia has deemed as reliable or not, and what we can take away from this information as website owners and content creators.
What popular sites did they find on the list and what was surprising about their standing? Listen to the episode to find out!
Moving along to their Shiney Object Shenanigans, first Spencer talks about growing his Facebook page, which currently has around 60k followers.
Is he able to achieve his goal, which is to drive traffic from the page to his website? He shares the stats, as well as a unique strategy he’s using that is starting to bear fruit, albeit just a little. He’s still in the weeds with this one, so stay tuned to hear how it evolves.
When it’s Jared’s turn, he talks about a new experiment to grow 2 TikTok channels, one in the fashion niche and the other in the travel niche.
How did they do? How did he promote them? And what can we learn from this? And what does it have to do with the Amazon Influencer program?
Moving into the Weird Niche Site portion of the podcast, Spencer goes first with 1920s Fashion and Music, which dives into the 1920s celebrity fashion industry.
What’s especially surprising about this site is that it got a traffic bump from the HCU and has been doing better ever since. Spencer shares the site’s very interesting and inspiring backstory. What can we learn from this?
When it’s Jared’s turn, he shares Box Cycle, a platform for buying and selling used boxes. It has a Craigslist-esque look to it, but is it ranking at all? How popular is it? And how is it performing? It’s a DR40 site with several number 1 rankings, but is this an actual niche? Listen to the full episode to find out!
This brings us to the end of another great episode full of information and inspiration. See you next Friday for more of the same! 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 |
Wed, 27 March 2024
Originality.ai founder Jon Gillham joins the podcast to help online publishers better understand the dynamic world of AI and SEO! Learn more at: https://www.originality.ai 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 The episode covers a range of topics, including:
List of Resources:
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Fri, 22 March 2024
Welcome back to another episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast, where Spencer and Jared talk about the biggest news over the last week in Google, SEO, and AI.
They also give an update on some of their side hustles and top it all off with some very weird and entertaining niche sites.
They kick off this week’s call by announcing big news: Google has just finished rolling out the spam update, although the core update will continue to be rolled out for another two weeks.
The spam update targeted three types of abuse: scaled content, expired domain, and site reputation (also known as parasite SEO), though the latter will technically be targeted in May.
They share a tweet from Lily Ray, where she details the winners and losers from the update, and then Spencer looks at a handful of their data in Ahrefs.
If you take a closer look at the “winners,” you can see examples of sites that are crushing it and do your own deep-dive analysis. They also look at sites that were absolutely crushed in the update, as we can learn from both.
Listen to the full episode to see their analysis and which sites are doing well and poorly.
Moving along, the next news item is that Google is shaking things up a bit internally, replacing the Head of Search, among other roles.
What do Spencer and Jared make of this? And what does the new head, Liz Reid, talk about primarily in her announcement? What does she see as the future of search? And what’s motivating these changes at Google? Tune in to hear what they think!
During the Side Hustle Shenanigans segment of the podcast, Spencer goes first and talks about his Amazon Influencer business. He reveals his current earnings and reports that his earnings have become almost entirely passive since he hasn’t really uploaded videos since December.
Jared just finished his call with the Niche Pursuits Community, where he talks in detail about his business and how he’s grown it. Spencer did a call the previous week where he shared all the details behind his Amazon Influencer business as well.
If you want to see those videos and enjoy many other aspects of the Community, you can join right here!
When it’s Jared’s turn, he talks about deleting 18% of the subscribers to his Weekend Growth newsletter. He shares the process for culling the list and trying to re-engage with disinterested subscribers, and the resulting open rate after the process.
Spencer then shares his process for managing the people on his list who are disengaged. Which approach resonates the most with you? Check out the episode to hear how their strategies differ.
When it’s time to talk about Weird Niche Sites, Spencer goes first with Ling's Cars. From the psychedelic background to Ling’s bobbing head, the site definitely leans into its weirdness.
The owner also uses some unique real-life marketing strategies but doesn’t have a very strong SEO game. Most of its traffic is direct or comes from social media, reaching 84k visitors last month.
When it’s Jared’s turn, he shares the personal website, Tyler Vigen. The section that has gone viral is called Spurious Correlations, where he shows correlations between two completely random things, like Amazon’s stock price and the popularity of the name Stevie.
There’s a very entertaining AI component to this DR74 site, although it’s not ranking for a lot of keywords or getting much traffic, and the owner is not monetizing in any way.
And that brings us to the end of another episode of the Niche Pursuits News podcast, where Spencer and Jared break down the latest important news in the sector and seek to motivate listeners with their side hustles.
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 |
Wed, 20 March 2024
Want some help understanding what content and site features Google seems to reward in today's SEO landscape?
Friend of the show, Kyle Roof is back on the Niche Pursuits podcast to help us all make sense of it all.
The last time he was on, he talked all about EAT (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) but now there is also the added E for Experience factor to account for.
And the obvious elephant in the room where recent Google updates have wiped out traffic to tons of sites overnight.
So Kyle brings some much needed insights into what Google prioritizes and timely recommendations for how we can adapt accordingly.
Kyle stresses the importance of showcasing genuine human experience and expertise on our websites, advocating for:
He also discusses how the use of user-generated content (UGC) through site blog comments can potentially be a helpful tool to demonstrate experience and trustworthiness - with a focus on curated blog comments and discussions to validate expertise.
The rise of UGC platforms like Quora and Reddit are also referenced as helping you build a digital footprint of experience as well as enhancing your overall credibility and trustworthiness in your niche.
And there is significant time spent on highlighting the "E" for experience in the HCU update has influenced website rankings, favoring tangible businesses and eCommerce sites that complete transactions on-site rather than acting as the standard 'doorway pages' of the standard affiliate and content sites.
And with Google favoring these websites that facilitate on-site transactions, building Trust becomes a significant challenge for these affiliate sites.
Another important topic discussed is building authority - not necessarily in the standard way of links - although that certainly doesn't hurt - but rather in growing the number of keywords your site ranks for.
Along with this is the importance of updating content and monitoring SERP changes, with tools like Page Optimizer Pro (POP) for their watchdog feature playing particular importance.
This is another excellent interview with Kyle Roof. Don't miss it! 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 Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and here from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com |
Fri, 15 March 2024
Welcome back, everyone, to another episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast! Dig into the latest news in SEO, AI, and content creation with Jared and Spencer!
They kick off this week’s episode talking about Google’s March Core Update.
They talk specifically about scaled content abuse and how Google is going in and manually deindexing sites, sharing a study that looked at 79,000 websites on certain ad networks, of which 1146 were deindexed.
Could this be a scare tactic by Google? Is it doing this manually to save its crawl budget? What exactly is going on?
Google updated its quality rater guidelines to ensure that they ding those sites that don’t disclose which articles were written with AI, describing AI-generated articles as the lowest form of content when ti comes to EEAT.
Spencer offers some advice for content creators using AI and says that Google is going after sites with AI-generated content. He does make an important distinction, though. Tune in to hear what he says.
Then they discuss how Google put out an FAQ on “pure spam” manual action notices, but as Jared notices, there is one important thing missing from the post. What is it?
They then move on to a funny news item. John Mueller, one of Google’s Search Liaisons, saw his site get dropped from Google, although it was recently reindexed. It’s not clear why this happened or if it was a stunt, but it’s definitely news!
Spencer and Jared have some encouraging words for listeners about the core update overall, so listen to the episode to hear what they have to say.
Moving along, they announce Mediavine’s new program, Journey, for sites getting around 10k sessions per month. This is a great alternative for people with smaller sites to allow them to get monetized with Mediavine.
As this is a new program, Spencer and Jared have a lot of questions about it and about how it will run, and why it’s being launched now.
Things take a “nerdy” turn afterwards as Jared talks about how Google Search Console has rolled out the new core web vitals. What changes have been made, and what is INP all about?
Moving along, they share that Reddit has announced a new tool for business growth, allowing companies to spot trends, track mentions, monitor post performance, etc.
The goal is to help brands promote themselves organically, and it could be a good platform to use as people consider diversifying away from Google. Tune in to listen to what Spencer and Jared think about this idea.
And the last item on the agenda is the news that the Associated Press has launched an e-commerce site with product reviews.
What is so unsettling about this headline for Spencer? What do they say about presidential campaigns, blenders, and multivitamins?
As for Shiny Object Shenanigans, Spencer gives an update on his Amazon Influencer Program side hustle. He reports that his earnings are steady this month, at $1,600, with no major dips but also no major growth. Jared chimes in with his earnings this month, too!
He also talks about his new premium Niche Pursuits Community, for which he just did an expert call to talk about the program, sharing all of the juicy details about how he built this income stream.
When it’s Jared’s turn, he talks about adding a new, professionally edited video and thumbnail to his Weekend Growth YouTube channel.
He also talks about how he’s using SparkLoop to grow his newsletter subscriber list, and after spending +$200, he has acquired +200 subscribers. Tune in to hear all of the details and learn more.
As for their Weird Niche Sites, Spencer goes first and reveals Horse Name Ideas. This weird website has hundreds of categories as well as a name generator, and perhaps what’s most surprising is what he reveals when he looks at Ahrefs.
But when Spencer and Jared discuss the site owner’s photo, the About page, the mission statement, and the contact phone number, what happens? Listen to find out.
When it’s Jared’s turn, he shares Healthy Wage and even reads from its Wikipedia page. This DR60 site is only ranking for 3.6k keywords, but it does have social proof and is very popular.
How can the principles of this page be used by other site owners? Check out the episode to hear what they say.
And that brings us to the end of another episode of the Niche Pursuits News podcast. See you all next week for another hour of inspiration and information from Spencer and Jared. 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 Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and here from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com |
Wed, 13 March 2024
Wouldn't it be nice to use SEO to grow businesses to 6-7-figure exits within just a year or two?
That's what our latest guest on the Niche Pursuits podcast does.
His name is Dmitry Dragilev, and over the years, he's refined a repeatable process he's used to sell an app, SaaS, and affiliate site to companies like Google and Semrush.
To accomplish this, Dmitry stresses the significance of employing a well-thought-out exit plan and a consistent approach to business growth - particularly through SEO strategies - keyword research, and backlinking techniques.
Dmitry candidly discusses his SEO mistakes over the years, such as targeting incorrect keywords and underestimating the ongoing efforts required to rank high in Google.
He shares some good general advice, like starting with low-volume keywords and gradually progressing to more competitive ones. And emphasizes the importance of niche authority and recommends steering clear of broad topics for enhanced SEO outcomes.
A particularly interesting insight is how he looks for weaknesses in the SERPs - thin pages and those lacking any helpful content for the desired search term.
Drawing from his experience of selling businesses to major companies, he underscores the importance of fostering connections and relationships in achieving business success. And some of the value propositions online businesses should target for better sales terms.
Dmitry also provides valuable insights on pitfalls to avoid when building a business.
Overall, this is a discussion on good practices for SEO and even business more generally. And it's certainly interesting to hear from someone who has experience like his! 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 Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and here from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com |
Fri, 8 March 2024
Welcome back to the Niche Pursuits News Podcast, everyone!
This is the podcast for SEOs, content creators, webmasters, and entrepreneurs looking to understand the latest events and get inspiration for their businesses.
It’s been a crazy week in SEO news, so let’s get right into it! And, as Google suggested, you better buckle up as it’s going to be a wild ride!
The first (and only) topic Spencer and Jared dig into is Google’s very big news.
It’s rolling out the March 2024 Spam Update, which will take 2 weeks, as well as its March 2024 core update, which will take about a month. It’s also worth noting that the Helpful Content system is now part of the core updates.
Spencer and Jared discuss this news at length, covering the main aspects: scaled content abuse; site reputation abuse, or parasite SEO; and expired domain abuse. Google’s stated goal is to reduce the amount of low-quality, unoriginal content by up to 40% and send search traffic to helpful and high-quality sites.
What does this all mean? And what does it mean for AI content? Who is Google targeting specifically?
What cryptic sentence from Google’s announcement does Spencer consider the most interesting? What sort of behavior is Google cracking down on in particular? What types of penalties is Google doling out, and who’s getting hit?
What step did Google announce that leads Spencer and Jared to suggest Google is biased? And what kind of practices are they cracking down on when it comes to expired domains?
They also talk about how Google might start to use a page classifier as opposed to a site classifier. What implications would this have?
Tune in to hear Spencer and Jared discuss Google's latest news and share their thoughts on what's going on.
The next portion of the podcast is Shiny Object Shenanigans.
Spencer goes first with an update on his Amazon Influencer side hustle. He reports a rough number of his videos and his earnings this month to date. The good news is that he is officially in the black.
He also announces that he’s going to do an in-depth presentation about his Amazon Influencer side hustle for the Niche Pursuits Community, his new, premium membership group, which launched at the beginning of March.
Spencer will be sharing just about everything, from his storefront to his earnings to his secrets for hiring people. If you want to check it out, join the community before Monday!
When it’s Jared’s turn, he provides a brief earnings update on his Amazon Influencer side hustle, and then digs into another project: using paid ads to drive subscribers to his Weekend Growth newsletter.
He explains how he set it up through ConvertKit, how he’s going to try different ad ideas, and how he is about to go live with the ads. He will be providing more details and results as they come in, so watch this space!
As for Weird Niche Sites, Spencer reveals that his site is getting 2 million organic visitors per month and 6 million visitors in total. Random lets you generate random things, such as numbers, and they do it using a very unique method. Listen to hear what it is!
This DR83 site is making some money. Tune in to hear how they do it.
When Jared’s up, he shares the website for the Stinky Candle Company, which sells unique candles with scents like chlorine, gasoline, and bacon.
This DR30 site is not getting much traffic, but Jared does reveal a few interesting tidbits about it. It looks like they could be getting 30k visitors a month. With targeted traffic like that, how much might the site be earning? Tune in to hear what they think.
And that concludes another episode of the Niche Pursuits News podcast.
There’s a lot going on right now in Google’s world, so come back next week to hear Spencer and Jared break it down all over again.
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 |
Wed, 6 March 2024
Sean Markey is back on the Niche Pursuits podcast after a few years, to discuss all things newsletters, aged domains, community, partnerships, and more!
Sean's been working in SEO since 2011, initially focusing on affiliate sites before transitioning to agency work. And despite facing challenges due to Google updates impacting his traffic, he found success in the CBD and cannabis niches.
Aside from the actual writing aspects, his expertise lies in using aged domains to scale affiliate sites effectively.
But around 2020 Sean shifted his focus to writing an SEO newsletter called Rank Theory, offering strategy consultations as his primary income source.
And he shares a lot of helpful tips on what he's done to grow it into an actual business.
For one he shares how starting a successful newsletter requires the basics like unique content that resonates with readers and improves over time. And for this, consistency and the value of uniqueness in newsletter content creation are particular keys.
Thus he advises against relying on AI-generated content for newsletters and breaking traditional best practices to stand out.
Sean also shares how he acquired the newsletter TheWeeklySEO.com and integrated it into his own, learning from the experience and discussing it as a growth strategy - similar to acquiring an aged domain.
Sean also discusses the evolution of aged domains, emphasizing quality domains with brand value, sharing how redirect chains may be a thing of the past in today's SEO landscape.
He's also involved in building a community and other partnerships, including discussing some of the keys for making partnerships successful.
With this Sean talks about partnering on a lucrative domain project with high authority and traffic potential, aiming to white-label a product as opposed to taking the traditional affiliate route.
He plans to stay focused on current projects and avoid distractions, leveraging opportunities that target like-minded site builders, entrepreneurs, and SEO enthusiasts and it's definitely interesting to hear his strategies to accomplish this! 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 |
Fri, 1 March 2024
Welcome back to another episode of the Niche Pursuits Podcast!
This week Spencer and Jared turn things up a notch and cover many, many news items in the SEO and content creation space. After that they share their latest side hustles, and finish everything off with a weird niche site analysis.
You won’t want to miss this one!
They kick things off by talking about Google Gemini and issues with its image-generating capacities. It turns out that the platform is not very accurate, which has led its stock price to drop recently.
The core of the problem is that users found that the race of the people it was depicting in its images was not historically accurate and people are asking if the programmers behind the program have anything to do with it.
Moving along, Spencer and Jared report that Vice has announced lay-offs and its plans to stop publishing on Vice.com in search of new traffic sources. Its authors and journalists are scrambling to back up all of their articles in the event that the website disappears.
Is it letting writers go to replace them with AI? What does their new studio model entail? Why are they giving up on their own website? Tune in to hear Spencer and Jared’s thoughts.
Moving on, it looks like Google is finally rolling out some new Generative AI features for Chrome. Now you can customize Chrome with themes, organize your tabs, and get help writing. What do Spencer and Jared think of these new features?
They talk very briefly about how the NYT filed a lawsuit against OpenAI for revealing the content behind their paywall, and now OpenAI is claiming the NYT hacked the system.
In the next news item, they highlight an article by Glenn Gabe talking about what could happen with the Helpful Content Update.
They highlight another article that did a big study of Google sites and the effect of updates, including the HCU. Spencer reads some of the website attributes that are considered very positive for websites, but check out the article for a more in-depth look.
Lastly, developers are looking into the possibility of adding micropayments to the Chrome browser so users can pay websites or publishers when they browse their content.
Although this is just an idea and there are no plans for implementation, it does raise a lot of questions. What do Spencer and Jared think? Tune in to hear what they say.
As for Shiny Object Shenanigans, Spencer talks about his new project, the Niche Pursuits Community, which will be live and open to the public as of March 4th.
He talks about some of the features, including calls with experts, small mastermind groups, a private Discord channel, and ongoing challenges with monetary prizes.
When it's Jared's turn, he talks about how he recently monetized his weekend growth YouTube channel. He reveals the earnings from the channel: $11.14.
Although that's clearly not very much, Jared shares a few caveats as well as a positive outlook, since his YouTube channel is generating client work for his agency.
When it's time to talk about some Weird Niche Sites, Spencer goes first with Next Episode, which lets you keep track of the TV shows and movies you watch and see when the next episodes are.
This site was going really well, almost reaching 1 million organic visitors per month, but it got hit hard by the HCU and is now averaging less than 200k, according to Ahrefs.
However, Similarweb shows the site is getting about 3 million visitors per month, in January for example, and the traffic is mainly direct.
When Jared’s up, he shares Jedi Temple Archives, a comprehensive resource dedicated to not just the movies, but also to toys and collectibles. This DR43 site is ranking for over 13k keywords and just 3k in organic traffic, according to Ahrefs.
It’s monetized with ads and affiliate links and a lot of the traffic is direct, and they talk about how much it might be making and what strategies appear to be working.
And that brings us to the end of a jam-packed episode of the Niche Pursuits Podcast. Tune in next week for another thorough run-down of all the latest news, and more. |
Wed, 28 February 2024
James de Lacey is a great example of what you can accomplish in the online business space in just a short time.
He's a rugby and strength and conditioning coach who, thanks to Covid, got into SEO and online business out of necessity.
Now he has 2 successful fitness brands, multiple side projects, and is working his way towards 6 figures per month.
He joins us on the podcast to share lots of important insights into brand building, monetization, and more!
A key takeaway from James's insights is the emphasis on creating valuable content to establish authority in the industry.
Thanks to his sports science background, James produces informative and engaging content across writing, podcasts, and videos - including reaction videos and detailed reviews.
He highlights the necessity of demonstrating expertise and trustworthiness in the fitness niche, stressing the importance of outbound links to reputable sources and in-depth analysis as integral components of his content strategy.
In terms of E-E-A-T and the HCU update, he shares strategies that helped him enhance his site's visibility and expertise and shares tips on changes in review titles to improve rankings and create unbranded mentions on other platforms for brand recognition.
James also shares insights into the membership model for stable revenue, highlighting some of the challenges he's experienced along the way. And touches on social media and how Pinterest SEO can still be used to boost impressions.
Overall it's an inspiring discussion with James showing an impressive ability to juggle multiple projects while still managing to maintain quality and consistency. 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 |
Fri, 23 February 2024
Welcome back to another episode of the Niche Pursuits News podcast, where Spencer and Jared break down recent events in the SEO, publishing, and niche site space.
It’s been a very busy week and there’s a lot going on, so sit back, get comfortable, and get ready for a packed episode!
They get things started with a report from Glen Allsopp, which takes a closer look at who’s ranking for affiliate queries at the moment.
He goes into great detail in his article on Detailed, for which he handpicked product review terms to look at. Who’s dominating organic search for these very valuable affiliate keywords?
But it’s not as straightforward as that!
Jared reveals a twist to the plot that’s affecting search results, rendering the results from the dominant ranking website full of spam.
But what is the definition of spam, exactly? And when a spokesperson for that website denied that the results were poor quality and offered an example of quality search results, what happened?
Is this an overcorrection by Google? Are they aware of what’s happening? Check out the episode to find out all the drama!
Moving along, Spencer and Jared discuss an article that seems to have gone viral about how Google is killing independent sites.
The article was published on the website Housefresh, which reviews air purifiers and was hit hard by the HCU, and looks at how large publishers are ranking for affiliate keywords with less in-depth content and without actually putting in the work to review the items.
If this trend is glaringly obvious and offers a poor experience for users, why isn’t Google doing anything about it? How did Danny Sullivan respond?
Is there a silver lining on the horizon? Jared and Spencer have a lot of thoughts on this, so check out the episode to hear more.
Moving along, but closely related, they talk about how Housefresh’s article about Google killing independent sites is, ironically, being outranked by everyone, from Search Engine Land, Twitter, and Reddit, for its own article!
Hear what they have to say about it!
And along the same lines, they share a tweet from Glen Allsopp with the same problem: not ranking for his own article. In short, the smaller guys are getting beat by the bigger guys, for no good reason.
For their last story, Spencer and Jared talk about the big deal that went down between Google and Reddit. Google has agreed to pay Reddit $60 million a year to train its AI models.
Why is this an important moment for Reddit? By how much would this increase their revenue? But what makes this situation so incredibly ironic? Jared gives a great breakdown of recent events.
When it’s time to talk about their Shiny Object Shenanigans, Spencer goes first and reveals he’s launching a premium Niche Pursuits community.
His goal is to create a community where users can connect with each other, discuss what’s happening in the industry, and learn from and bounce ideas off one another.
The group will include weekly expert calls, mastermind groups, group challenges with monetary prizes, among other elements. It will open to the public on March 4th, so check it out!
Jared talks about his Weekend Growth newsletter side hustle, which is now1 year old. He set an initial goal of getting 1000 subscribers in the first 3 months, and 1 year in he has 4600+ subscribers.
He’s earned slightly less than $40k during that period, from newsletter ads, affiliate earnings, and the services he offers. He offers some great motivational advice for listeners and talks about what has worked for him when building up this side hustle.
Spencer then shares his weird niche site, Let Me Google That, and shares a funny story about how he found the site. He gives a demo of how the site works and recommends sharing the link when someone asks a “silly” question.
Not only does the site sell merch, but Ahrefs says they’re getting 111k organic visitors per month while SimilarWeb calculates a million per month. How much might they be earning per month?
When it’s Jared’s turn, he shares Throx, the cure for the missing sock. What started out as a pitch on Shark Tank many years ago has actually grown to become a popular brand with tweens and teens making $1 million a year.
That being said, his SEO could be improved and his website is kind of sparse. Are his products expensive? Is this a gag-gift type of product? Hear what Jared has to say.
And that brings us to the end of another great episode of the Niche Pursuits News podcast. As always, we hope you’re feeling informed and inspired by today’s jam-packed episode, and we’ll see you next week for more! 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 |
Wed, 21 February 2024
Behdad Jamshidi is a former engineer turned marketing consultant. A few years back, he decided to adapt his problem-solving skills to vet over 700 marketing providers and joins us to share his findings.
Why is this helpful?
He helps businesses understand marketing and marketers understand the business side of things.
In other words, his insights give those looking to hire - helpful tips to make better decisions.
And on the flip side, he helps service providers gain a competitive advantage by better understanding where businesses are directing their marketing budgets.
For those looking to hire, he stresses the significance of understanding business goals before hiring out to an agency's services.
When vetting agencies, he suggests inquiring about their growth story, longevity, and team structure, recommending stable agencies with 5-15 employees or niche agencies with strong pod structures. And he highlights the importance of passionate team members for ensuring quality work and advises building relationships with the team members you'll be working with.
He also explains how marketing trends are shifting toward building brand presence and customer connections. And shares great insights for agencies on how key investment areas are trending toward email marketing, SEO, and influencer marketing. He also highlights content repurposing and social media as increasingly attractive marketing strategies for businesses.
Another interesting area Behdad discusses both for businesses and agencies are the red flags he highlights.
Things like:
Overall, he shares how successful businesses exhibit long-term thinking, have a dedicated marketing budget, and possess internal staff who understand marketing language.
As he covers, marketing is a journey where we need to test strategies and continuously improve over time, and with advice like what's shared in this episode, we can have the confidence we're heading in the right direction. 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/linkwhi... Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201crea... |
Fri, 16 February 2024
Welcome back to another episode of The Niche Pursuits News podcast, where Spencer and Jared break down the latest and most relevant news for SEOs, content creators, and business owners.
They kick things off by talking about the Helpful Content Update, which was rolled out in September 2023.
There has been lots of chatter of late—in Twitter threads, in Facebook posts, and beyond— where people are looking for signs that recovery from the HCU is possible.
Google Search Liaison Danny Sullivan explains a little bit about the helpful content classifier and how it works, although his explanation certainly gives rise to more questions.
How does Spencer interpret his explanation? Does he think it’s possible to see a recovery in the short term? Have Jared and Spencer seen any sites make a full recovery?
What interesting statistics does Jared reference in terms of HCU recoveries? If the classifier is constantly being updated and tweaked, what does that mean for content creators?
Since no one can truly define what is and isn't helpful content, the big question remains: Is there hope? Listen to Spencer and Jared’s predictions.
The next order of business is the fact that web stories are no longer visible as Google is deprecating the carousel view of web stories in Discover.
What are the two takeaways from this brief news story?
And last but not least, Spencer and Jared talk about the recent news of an upcoming Google algorithm update.
Lots of people have noticed an uptick in traffic as well as volatility, and suspect there might be an update brewing. Have Spencer and Jared noticed anything going on with their sites or the sites they manage?
Next up on the podcast is the Shiny Object Shenanigans portion. Spencer goes first, but instead of talking about one of his side hustles, he shares an update on the AI content competition underway on Niche Pursuits.
This competition was launched after the HCU and the goal is to grow a new site with AI content. He shares the 4-month leaderboard, and there’s no shortage of interesting things to talk about!
The person leading the pack is getting 24,000 organic visitors to his site with around 7 million articles, and after just 4 months, the top 10 people in the challenge are getting more than 1000 organic visitors per month, which is impressive considering these are fresh domains.
If you want to hear the backstory, check out the full episode and also the Niche Pursuits community.
When it's Jared's turn, he provides an update on his public speaking side hustle, reporting that he has reached out to more than 50 different conferences to see if he can speak. How many did you hear back from? And what did they say?
He also gives an update on his Weekend Growth YouTube channel, which recently reached the thresholds for monetization. Jared shares his stats as well as some useful advice for YouTube content creators, and reports on how much he's earned to date from that channel.
When it’s time to reveal their weird niche sites, Spencer goes first with Snow Day Calculator. This site, which does have a social media following, allows users to calculate the number of snow days according to their zip code and type of school. It also offers predictions of future snow days.
The DR42 site is monetized with display ads and has a relatively strong backlink profile, thanks to links from news outlets. As it's a seasonal site, the traffic spikes in winter but dies during the rest of the year.
How much money might it be making during those peaks? And what other clever strategies are they using to earn money? Listen to the episode to find out what Spencer and Jared discover as they poke around.
Things take a morbid turn when Jared reveals his weird niche site, Aerial Ashes, a company that uses drones to scatter people’s ashes over land and sea in the UK.
The site, which is clearly for a local company, is a DR8 and is ranking for just 45 keywords, so it's difficult to say how successful it is.
However, Jared makes a great point about this section of the podcast: Every day, people are executing on their business ideas and using their skill sets, passions, and hobbies to create something unique. And you can too!
Well, that brings us to the end of another interesting episode! join us next week for a look at all the latest news, and updates from the hosts, more weird niche sites and, above all, lots of inspiration.
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 |
Wed, 14 February 2024
Appsumo founder Noah Kagan joins the podcast today to remind us that we all start small. Noah's own path to success began by experimenting with various small online niche ventures, a few of which eventually led to the creation of several multi-million dollar businesses. He shares his process of experimenting with different ideas to find product-market fit, highlighting some failures along the way, and the valuable lessons they taught him. But as he mentions - business is the one game where you only need to win once. You just need to start to have a chance. He acknowledges the importance of time though and urges the rapid validation of ideas, offering solid examples of how to do this efficiently. He also shares invaluable advice on generating business ideas and stresses the importance of interaction with people throughout the process. A key part of his message is the power of asking for what you want, exemplified by starting with small acts like requesting a 10% discount on coffee to help build resilience. Some other key takeaways are:
By experimental mindset, he means running short experiments, identifying problems as opportunities, and validating ideas through quick tests - offering up concrete examples He discusses learning the "language of making money" as a skill that fosters financial success over time and underlines the importance of self-belief and action to achieve your goals. Overall, persistence and consistency are major themes, and Noah advises you to give an idea with potential at least 100 tries before considering quitting. He also highlights optimism, intelligent risk-taking, and pitfalls to avoid when starting and growing a business - with personal experiences and insights from tested strategies to help you on your journey. And don’t forget to check out his book The Million Dollar Weekend for more in-depth insights into his awesome and inspiring success. 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 |
Fri, 9 February 2024
Welcome back, everybody, to another episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast!
This is the place to hear the latest news in the SEO and content publishing industries and it’s where Spencer and Jared break it all down. This week, as always, they also share progress on their side hustles as well as two very, very weird niche sites.
The first topic up for discussion is Google’s decision to rebrand Bard as Gemini. Google certainly is putting a lot of effort into building out AI tools, and this will be one of their flagship products.
What do Spencer and Jared think of the company's decision? And what new features will this tool have?
The next topic is how Google's updated its SEO Starter Guide.
The guide originally dates back to 2008 And is a guide specifically for beginners. Although there's probably nothing meaty there for people that are familiar with SEO, Spencer and Jared did highlight a few interesting items, in particular, from the section on things you should not do.
What kind of advice did they share? What does Google say about article length? And how about PageRank and EEAT? And what about business cards?
The last news item they discuss is how Google won't be able to proceed with third-party cookie deprecation. This means that the phasing out of third-party cookies may or may not be delayed as Google has been asked to comply with additional safety requirements in the UK.
This is big news because it could potentially affect content creators’ earnings, Although it's true that advertising is Google's bread and butter and it will likely do everything it can to maintain it, this is definitely a topic you'll want to keep an eye on!
In the Shiny Object Shenanigans portion of the podcast, Spencer goes first with an update on his Facebook traffic side hustle. He was able to reduce the cost of his likes campaign to grow his page. He shares a lot of the data behind the campaigns, but the real question is whether those likes are driving traffic to his website.
Is it working? What does his Google Analytics reveal? And what is he going to do moving forward?
When it’s Jared’s turn, he provides an update on his Weekend Growth YouTube channel, which officially qualifies for monetization. He shares the stats behind his growth and reveals that the site is less than a year old.
He also offers an update on his public speaking side hustle with an exciting announcement. Check out the episode to hear what it is!
When it comes to weird niche sites, Spencer takes the lead with a very weird site called Is It Friday Yet. According to Ahrefs, the site doesn’t get any traffic, although there is a very entertaining video on YouTube that reviews the website, so tune in to hear more about that.
When it was Jared’s turn, he revealed a 1-page weird niche site: The Office Stare Machine, which lets you input an emotion and it will show stares from Office characters conveying that emotion. They test it out, and the results are pretty funny!
This DR30 site ranks for just 28 keywords, but it does have 49k likes from Facebook. It doesn’t get a lot of organic traffic, and Spencer and Jared talk about the potential strategies the owner might be using on Facebook. Where does it have the potential to do well?
And that brings us to the end of another great episode of The Niche Pursuits News Podcast. We hope this weekly dose of the latest news has brought you up to speed in the SEO and content creation space and you’re feeling inspired by Spencer and Jared’s side hustles.
See you next Friday!
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 |
Wed, 7 February 2024
You can probably list loads of reasons why starting a community could be valuable.
And Chris Yates, the founder of Rhodium, is on the podcast to share a BIG reason with his awesome success story.
He talks about his journey of transitioning from owning a digital marketing agency to buying online businesses and eventually founding Rhodium to connect with others in the industry.
He emphasizes the importance of building a community and the benefits it brings:
Chris also highlights the value of community in providing tactical ROI for businesses - like how engaging with a core group of customers with direct feedback can lead to valuable insights and improvements on everything from pain points to pricing.
He gives lots of examples but the stand out is definitely his own experience.
He was offered to buy a business from a Rhodium member for 5 figures thanks to the inherent trust from shared beliefs. He then grew it with help from the community and sold it to another Rhodium member for a multi-7-figure exit.
Overall, this is a discussion that is both a great success story and guide to the benefits of building and nurturing a community of like-minded people in your niche. 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/linkwhi... Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201crea... |
Fri, 2 February 2024
Welcome back everybody to the Niche Pursuits News Podcast. Join us as Spencer and Jared tackle the latest headlines about Google, SEO, AI, and content creation.
Get inspired hearing about progress with their side hustles, and learn about some weird niche sites and the unique strategies they’re using.
The first news item up for discussion is Google's own reporting on the future of SGE during its recent earnings call. Although Spencer and Jared have hypothesized in the past that SGE might hit a dead end, this call confirmed Google leadership's commitment to, and belief in, this new tool.
The company is investing heavily in SGE and expects it to be extremely useful and popular in the future. Spencer underlines the diversity of results using this feature, where the first 10 SGE results are different from the first 10 organic search results, and Jared shares a few highlights from the article about the breadth of search and Google Assistant.
How do Spencer and Jared interpret the CEO’s comments on SGE? What do they think about his comments about long tail searches? What did the company have to say about publishers? And how did its ad revenue perform?
Check out the episode for their take on these questions.
The next topic up for discussion is Google Bard’s ability to now create images. What happened when Spencer played around with it? What happens if you use them on your website? And how good are the photos it generates? See the images it created for Jared and judge for yourself!
The last article they share features a podcast guest, Brandon Salt, who asked for help on Twitter when his traffic tanked. Surprisingly, Danny Sullivan from Google Search Liaison answered him directly and their exchange was highlighted in an article on Search Engine Roundtable.
What do Spencer and Jared think about Danny’s response? Is his feedback useful and do they agree with his comments? What do they say about embedding videos? And what advice do they give to publishers who like to update their article dates each year?
As for their Shiny Object Shenanigans, Spencer once again spoke about his experiment where he’s to grow his Facebook page and drive that traffic to his website.
How does he run a Facebook likes campaign? What does it cost and entail? He recently launched several campaigns and he shares the results and a little bit about the strategy.
How many likes does he have at the moment? And how would he use this strategy to get into the Amazon Influencer Program? Listen and find out!
When it's Jared's turn to talk about side hustles, he shares the latest on his efforts to land public speaking gigs. He has discovered that there are more opportunities than he had anticipated and he talks about his plans going forward.
Both he and Spencer share an update from their Amazon Influencer side hustle. How did they do in January? What do they expect in February?
Moving on to their Weird Niche Sites, Spencer shares his site which, unlike the usual sites he shares, is not a content website. Weather Embed is a SaaS tool with a very simple website that is very niche as it’s specifically for embedding in newsletters.
Who might use this type of tool? Who might have built this tool? And can it be used beyond newsletters? How do Spencer and Jared think people could use this for their businesses?
He doesn’t know how much they’re making and it barely gets any traffic from Google Search, but it is a very cool, very niche website.
Jared then shares his Weird Niche Site: IMCDB, an internet cars movie database. It’s essentially a Wikipedia of every car that was ever used in every movie.
Although the site is not very user-friendly, it is extremely extensive and includes information and photos about all the cars.
It’s a classic, old-school directory with a DR of 68, it ranks for 95k keywords, and it gets around 32k organic sessions per month. Which keywords are getting the most traffic? What kind of affiliate program is it using? Listen to find out!
And that wraps up another episode of the Niche Pursuits News podcast! Thanks for joining us, and we hope that you’re feeling informed and inspired to keep on building, creating, and publishing. See you next week! 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 |
Wed, 31 January 2024
Ready for a masterclass on how to survive and thrive with an AI site in today's Google?
Casey Botticello joins us on the podcast to share how he took an AI site from zero to $21k+ monthly in under a year.
To explain his approach, he dives into all sorts of interesting topics:
Casey shares that AI played a role in content ideation and the generation of article drafts, but how extensive editing and fact-checking were essential before publishing.
He highlights the importance of maintaining high-quality content and strategic planning to avoid appearing AI-generated.
As well as the increasing dangers of obvious optimization and over-reliance on popular keyword research tools.
There's also a discussion on multimedia with some advice that seems to work even in an age where Reddit and other forums are seeing an advantage on Google.
Overall, this is an excellent and actionable look into how to successfully harness 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 |
Fri, 26 January 2024
Welcome back to this week’s episode of the Niche Pursuits News podcast, where Spencer and Jared report on all the latest news in SEO.
It was a busy week, so tune in to hear what’s new at Google and how changes there effect content creators and webmasters. Stay for the latest updates on their side hustles, and don’t miss the weird niche site discussion at the end.
The first news item is a big one. Based on a post on LinkedIn, there's speculation that Google's SGE might not be rolled out now, or maybe not even at all. That’s obviously great news for SEOs.
Spencer and Jared dissect this news item and try to understand what Google’s future plans are. Are there really going to be changes? What’s behind the gradual shift in the language they’re using? Listen to the episode to hear what they think is actually happening.
The conversation continues to revolve around Google, but the topic shifts to what’s going on behind the scenes there. Another LinkedIn post gives a bit of insight into the company, suggesting that the company has no real leadership and is plowing ahead with AI while slowly killing organic search.
Is Google really done innovating? Does the company need new leadership? Hear what Spencer and Jared have to say about the situation.
The next news item up for discussion is Google’s announcement that its contract with Appen has ended and it has cut thousands of search quality rater jobs.
Although there was confusion about whether or not Google was getting rid of all of its quality raters, the company confirmed that it’s simply cutting ties with Appen.
How did this news initially come to light? Spencer has the scoop!
The last news item today is that Sports Illustrated’s publisher has laid off most of its union staff. You might recall that SI was busted recently for using fake AI-generated personnel on its website and, as a result, the CEO got fired.
Want to hear more of the drama at SI and with AI and the world of publishing? Listen to the full episode!
In the Shiny Object Shenanigans portion of the podcast, Spencer revisits a website he started about a year ago, the goal being to drive traffic from Facebook. His Facebook page has 45k likes, and he shared the strategy he’s using to get people to his site.
How’s it doing? Does it have potential? What happened when he applied to Mediavine? He shares some Facebook page metrics, including link clicks, and he fields several questions from Jared about his strategy.
Jared reveals a new and exciting side hustle he’s got in the works: a public speaking side hustle. He’s set a goal for the year to speak at 4 conferences, and he’s already got a few lined up. But what does he hope to earn or achieve from this new side hustle?
When it comes to Weird Niche Sites, Spencer goes first with Let’s Learn Slang, and he looks at a few of the articles and shares their stats from Ahrefs.
How could the site have established more topical relevance? And what do Spencer and Jared think of the About page?
Jared then shares his site: Easy Toilet Tips, the number one source for lavatory bias-free reviews.
The site has a ton of content but hasn’t put a lot of thought or effort into UX. Although it seems like an AI-generated website, Ahrefs reveals that it’s been around longer than that. Traffic peaked at one point, but it was devastated by the HCU.
And that brings us to the end of another episode of the Niche Pursuits News podcast. We hope you’re feeling up-to-speed on all the latest SEO news and inspired by Spencer and Jared’s side hustles and general insight.
See you next Friday!
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Wed, 24 January 2024
Want some timely tips on how to grow an audience and brand from the ground up?
Jessica Holmes is on the podcast to share the surprisingly unique perspectives she's gained from growing a successful food blog.
Just as a sample:
It all started back in 2014 while juggling a full-time job as a copywriter. Jessica wanted a creative outlet, so she started up her blog sweetestmenu.com.
Initially, she knew nothing about SEO or turning her site into a business so it was a true hobby blog.
She'd promote her content mainly on social media until a pivotal moment in 2016 when she transitioned to an SEO strategy after an audit with Casey Markee.
But this is not your traditional 'SEO' story.
Her content strategy heavily prioritizes the actual reader over any search engine algorithm, and it seems to be working.
For instance, Jessica emphasizes the importance of creating content based on reader demand and feedback rather than the usual keyword research approach.
She looks to the reader, then her own interests, then the season, and then if necessary - a keyword research tool.
She also speaks openly and honestly about the challenges of maintaining a successful food blog, including the need to update old posts and the importance of engaging with the audience and providing excellent customer service.
And the cherry on top is that she does all of this while working 'part-time' on the site!
It really is a wonderful discussion and Jessica has a lot of great advice we could all start testing on our own blogs.
Enjoy! 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 |
Fri, 19 January 2024
Welcome back! We’re here with another episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast, where Spencer and Jared highlight what’s happening in SEO, content creation, website creation, and beyond.
Listen in if you want to hear the latest about Google, SGE, unique side hustle strategies, and some weird niche sites.
The first news item this week that Spencer and Jared discuss is a recent report that says that Google’s results are getting worse. It’s based on a year-long study of product review queries.
How did Google respond? What exactly did the study assess to come to this conclusion? And what do they consider “low quality?” Spencer and Jared have many thoughts on this topic, so tune in to find out whether they think it’s legit or not.
The next topic up for discussion is Google’s SGE. A recent article states that 94% of Google SGE links are different from organic search results. So now we have about 10 links in the SGE results plus another 10 from organic search and most are not the same.
What does this mean for publishers? Is this good news or bad news? How does this affect you if you’re ranking first in the organic results but have an SGE pack ahead of you? And what does this mean for you if you’re not appearing in organic results? Are there 2 different standards at play here?
Talk about Google SGE continues when Spencer and Jared discuss an article about the impact of SGE by industry, which reveals that the sector most impacted by the SGE is healthcare as those queries have triggered the most responses. In contrast, finance is at the bottom of the list.
What’s interesting about the difference in performance between these YMYL niches? And what conclusions do Spencer and Jared come to as they analyze the SGE performance statistics by industry?
As for Shiny Object Shenanigans, Spencer goes first and talks about his new YouTube channel, where all of his podcast episodes will now live. Although he was initially worried that people wouldn’t be able to find the channel, he was pleasantly surprised to see that the first episode published there got over 1200 listens in just over 24 hours.
With over 350 subscribers already, Spencer’s confident that he made the right decision to separate the channels and that people will still be able to find the podcast episodes.
When it’s Jared’s turn, he talks about a strategy he’s using for his Weekend Growth newsletter that’s allowing him to increase his agency business by providing a new service. Essentially it’s a side hustle on top of a side hustle! It’s definitely an idea that anyone with their own email list and business can adapt to their niche.
He also gives an interesting update on the Amazon Influencer Program and his family. Check out the episode to hear the latest developments.
When it comes to Weird Niche Sites this week, Spencer comes with a sub-niche of a niche with his site: The Arcade Stick. Arcade sticks can be customized and plugged in just about anywhere. The site, which is just a DR8, could be getting around 100k visitors per month, which is pretty interesting considering how niche it is, plus It’s monetized on Mediavine.
When it’s Jared’s turn, he shares a site called Emoji Combos. Although it’s in beta, it still works perfectly. This DR43 site ranks for 140k keywords and gets over a million organic visits per month.
What unique keywords is it ranking for? How is the site monetized? And how much money do they think the site is making per month?
And that brings us to the end of another episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast. Now you’re caught up on all the latest SEO news and, hopefully, you’re feeling inspired and motivated to continue to work on your side hustles.
See you next Friday! 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 |
Wed, 17 January 2024
Amy Aitman, the COO of Venture Fourth Media, joins us on the Niche Pursuits podcast to share her journey from a freelance writer to leading a prominent media company.
Venture 4th Media manages around 150 websites with a massive writing and editing team of subject matter experts.
And Amy is an open book regarding the operational insights and challenges that have come along with this experience.
For one, over the years, she has been involved with hiring 500+ writers and thus has seen it all.
To build a quality team, she emphasizes the importance of a thorough hiring process and how advantageous, particularly in the age of AI, it can be to have writers and editors with genuine expertise, opinions, and passion in their niche to 'talk shop'.
As she mentions, it's what can separate us from AI.
She highlights her operational approach of going slow to grow fast - making rational, data-driven decisions every step of the way.
So, she also gets into Venture 4th Media's strategies for diversifying content and brand building, including adding email marketing, newsletters, podcasts, and Twitch campaigns to their sites.
And with so many sites under management, Amy has some valuable thoughts about the Helpful Content Update, including how the company is navigating the aftermath, how they're evaluating content, and prioritizing growth opportunities.
Overall, Amy is a great source of optimism. Her tips and experience are invaluable. And her insights into the evolving landscape of content creation and audience engagement are sure to help site operators of all levels. Enjoy! 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 |
Fri, 12 January 2024
Hello, and welcome to the latest episode of The Niche Pursuits News podcast!
Spencer and Jared are back this week to bring you all the latest happenings in the world of SEO and to break the news down. There’s a lot to talk about, so let’s get started!
The first topic of discussion is the latest article in The Verge about Google.
According to the article, content creators and website owners have essentially created their websites with Google in mind, with the result that they all look and feel the same. As a result, Google has shaped how we build our websites.
Do Spencer and Jared believe that the article’s premise is accurate? Is there too much homogenization going on? Should we really be preparing people-first content? And what about the use of Reddit in content creation?
They also talk about the response from Danny Sullivan, sharing a particularly thought-provoking tweet from the Google Search Liaison about “chasing the algorithm,” EEAT, and the “perfect” page formula.
The last news item they cover is an article about Google's efforts to combat spam. There are still a lot of spammy results in the SERPs and Google reports that it's aware and is working on the situation. Spam is a huge problem, and it's only increasing with the rise of AI. Google certainly has its work cut out for it!
When it's time for the Shiny Object Shenanigans portion of the podcast, Spencer kicks things off by explaining that he's going to put all of his podcast videos on a new YouTube channel going forward.
But what are the reasons behind his decision? And is he going to move existing videos to the new channel?
When it's Jared's turn, he wants to continue to grow his Weekend Growth newsletter, but he flips the script this week. Instead of talking about his future plans, he asks for Spencer's input on new actions he can take. They have a productive brainstorming session with several interesting ideas!
As for this week's weird niche sites, Spencer shares a directory site for dude ranches. His site this week is a little bit different in that he knows the backstory because he discovered it on Twitter.
He shares the interesting story behind the site, which has excellent visuals and branding and makes money through its paid listings.
Jared’s weird niche site is certainly a sight to behold: Dogica. This DR12 site ranks for 10k keywords, including lots of first-page rankings. He and Spencer agree that the very old-school design might be holding it back, plus it doesn’t seem to be on top of many modern monetization methods, although it does offer a dog rental service.
And that brings us to the end of another episode of The Niche Pursuits News podcast.
We hope that we helped catch you up to speed on all the latest news in SEO, website development, and content creation. See you next Friday! 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 |
Wed, 10 January 2024
Will Hatton, founder of thebrokebackpacker.com, shares his remarkable journey and true entrepreneurial spirit with us on the latest episode of the Niche Pursuits podcast.
At 18, he embarked on a journey, spending two and a half years in India with almost no money. This was where his entrepreneurial journey began, selling items collected during his travels back home in England.
He initially started The Broke Backpacker as an email list, later evolving it into a site in 2013 focusing on budget travel information.
Will's travel experiences in less touristy countries like Iran and Pakistan led to unique content that when combined with his outreach efforts, attracted media attention and high-profile backlinks.
He began earning income from sponsored posts and later ventured into small group tours, providing a cash injection to go all in scaling the website and team.
The site gained immense popularity, reaching 1.5 million unique users a month before COVID caused a significant setback.
But despite some struggles and his carefree demeanor, Will Hatton proves to be a wizard in his entrepreneurial pursuits.
He discusses his strategies for brand building, systematizing his content needs for maximum results, and following through to reach his goals.
He covers the importance of building real relationships with affiliates, managing the team and content creation process, updating old content, and addressing the impact of Google updates on their approach to content creation.
Will also shares his plans for the future, including focusing on the backpacker lifestyle, launching a podcast, and expanding his coworking hostel brand in Bali.
If you're interested in hearing from a truly memorable entrepreneur with a lot of interesting stories and helpful insights - this one's for you! 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 |
Fri, 5 January 2024
Welcome back everybody to the first Niche Pursuits News Podcast of 2024!
Jared and Spencer kick off the year with another great episode, offering a close-up look at all the news in the SEO, AI, and website creation world.
This week they start off discussing the Google update on New Year’s Eve, with people noting volatility in the SERPs and even upticks in traffic in a reversal of the effects of the HCU.
How difficult is it to gauge SERP changes that happened around the holiday period? What changes in traffic has Spencer noted on Niche Pursuits between December and January? Listen to find out their thoughts.
The next topic Spencer and Jared cover is The New York Times’ announcement that it’s suing OpenAI and Microsoft.
Millions of articles from the NTY were used to train the OpenAI model, and a lot of the content that was used was behind a paywall. Meanwhile, the media outlet spends millions of dollars to have professionals write and produce its content, and now OpenAI is using that information freely and making it available to everyone.
Notably, this includes information from The Wirecutter, with the result that the NYT isn’t collecting the affiliate commissions.
But what’s at the heart of this lawsuit? Could this set a precedent for how copyright law is interpreted? Does the media company have a strong case? Tune in to hear the discussion.
Still on the subject of OpenAI, Spencer and Jared talk briefly about its offer to pay publishers between $1 and 5 million in compensation for their content. They agree that it’s far less than what publishers should get, especially considering that the NYT could be earning over 2 billion a year.
What’s going to happen moving forward? Can AI be contained at all?
Google seems to be moving ahead with, and making changes to, Bard, and now it’s going to implement its Google Assistant with Bard. Bard will power the Assistant to make it smarter and to make better recommendations. But how will this affect content creators?
In other Google Bard news, a paid version of the tool is coming, which hasn’t even been announced officially by Google. How was the move to a paid model discovered? And how might the payment plans work? Listen to hear Spencer and Jared’s predictions.
In the Shiny Object Shenanigans portion of the podcast, Spencer talks about his year-long experience in the Amazon Influencer Program. He made $6179 in December, and his entire revenue for the year is $17k+. Although he officially started in January, it took him a while to ramp up video production.
What is Spencer’s plan moving forward? Listen to hear what he has in store and why he’s approaching his side hustle in this way.
When it’s Jared’s turn, he shares some surprising stats from his Amazon Influencer Program side hustle. Although his December numbers were good, coming in at $4026, his November earnings were higher. Overall, for the year he earned $18k+ and although he started in May, he took a different approach to video production than Spencer.
He also talks about progress with his Weekend Growth newsletter and YouTube channel and how he has finished the year with just under 4.5k subscribers. He shares some of his monetization methods as well as his inspiration for starting this side hustle.
As for the Weird Niche Sites of the week, Spencer goes first with an Online Stopwatch, a simple website with a free stopwatch and countdown timer. It has ads everywhere and also offers a premium paid stopwatch feature. Who might this type of subscription appeal to?
With 2.2 million organic visitors per month, according to Ahrefs, and double that according to SimilarWeb, could this site be generating around $50k per month in ad revenue?
Jared’s Weird Niche Site is National Today, which highlights the current holidays around the world. This DR81 site ranks for 1.4 million keywords and has organic traffic of 4.4 million, but what does Jared discover when he scrolls down the homepage? What type of content are they publishing? Don’t miss their thoughts on this ultra-successful site.
And that brings us to the end of another episode of the podcast. We’re hoping you feel up-to-speed on the latest happenings in the industry, excited to start your side hustle today, and inspired by some weird websites that are killing it online.
See you next week!
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 |
Wed, 3 January 2024
Want some expert help reaching your online marketing goals?
Authority Hacker co-founder Gael Breton is back on the podcast to shed some light on the ever-changing SEO landscape.
Google's Helpful Content Update (HCU) had a big impact on many niche sites, and so Gael dove into the data to decode what is and isn't working to share some pretty surprising insights with us.
He first discusses the evolution of SEO practices, emphasizing the challenges of creating content based solely on search intent and the need for more user-friendly and engaging content.
And he has some great examples of sites doing this that have grown traffic by as much as 2000+% despite the updates.
These aren't your typical niche sites publishing 3000-word 'SEO' articles based on what existing articles say.
They're doing real reviews, including tons of visual content to be more like a 'comic book', and being rewarded for it.
The role of YouTube and social media in building credibility and trust with real people is also discussed, and Gael emphasizes the increasing importance of transparency and identity in your online presence.
Of course, the impact of user-generated content (UGC) on Google is also discussed, including probable future changes in the SERPs and potential effects on site traffic.
Overall, it's an important discussion about the online marketing business model, its ongoing evolution, and what we should all likely be doing to adapt, overcome, and ultimately succeed.
Enjoy! 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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