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Spencer Haws: NichePursuits.com
Spencer Haws from NichePursuits.com discusses business ideas that actually work. Learn how to build niche websites, market your website through search engine optimization, and much more. In addition, you'll get interviews with leading internet entrepreneurs that provide insight on: authority sites, flipping sites, using Google Adsense, outsourcing, automation tools, linkbuilding, building a real business, software development, creating iPhone Apps, lifestyle business, small business tips, and more. Overall, get your dose of motivation to move forward with your niche business ideas or take your small business to the next level!
This New Tool is Positioned to Disrupt Traditional Search
Welcome to another episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast. This week Jared Bauman and guest host Morgan Overholt team up to break down the latest headlines around Google, ChatGPT, and SEO. They also share their similar side hustles, along with an important message for content creators. Lastly, they talk about some very weird, annoying, and snarky niche sites they’ve found. They talk about the November Core Update - https://searchengineland.com/google-november-2024-core-update-rolling-out-now-448083 They discuss keyword analysis in AI Overviews - https://ahrefs.com/blog/ai-overview-keywords/ They compare ChatGPT vs. Google vs. Bing - https://www.searchenginejournal.com/chatgpt-search-vs-google-and-bing/531573/ Morgan shares a weird niche site - https://findtheinvisiblecow.com/ Jared shares one too - https://anthonyrendonthefttracker.com/ Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
01:04:3515/11/2024
Gaslighting by Google at the Creator Summit? Morgan McBride Shares Her Experience
This week, Jared Bauman sits down with Morgan McBride, a previously successful content creator who was first highlighted as a Google Success Story and then crushed by its HCU. She was invited to the Google Creator Summit, but her experience and interview contrasts sharply with Jake Cain's, who also attended the event. Morgan holds nothing back as she talks about growing her portfolio of websites, getting hit by the update, and everything that did (and didn't) happen at this special event for creators. Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
54:5813/11/2024
This 8 Letter Tweet Just Changed Search Forever
Welcome back to another episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast! This week Spencer and Jared break down the latest news affecting SEOs and small publishers, they share their side hustle progress, and they talk about some weird niche sites for inspiration. They discuss Sam Altman’s tweet - https://x.com/sama/status/1854238332534108188 They go over Dharmesh Shah’s tweet - https://x.com/dharmesh/status/1854307883304792294 They talk about how AI Overviews is rolling out to more countries - https://searchengineland.com/google-expands-ai-overviews-to-over-100-countries-447832 They discuss how AI Overviews impacts publishers’ traffic - https://community.mariehaynes.com/posts/traffic-down-as-aios-launch-globally-forbes-seeing-declines-chatgpt-search-is-live They reveal that traffic is up for HCU-hit sites - https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.seroundtable.com/google-helpful-content-update-recovery-data-38358.html&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1731069165137684&usg=AOvVaw1-h6THpgh8jvp1VR5d5YjX Spencer shares a weird political map - https://electoralvotemap.com/ Jared shares a calculator tool - https://charactercalculator.com/ Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
01:02:4708/11/2024
Jake Cain Was Inside Google's "Secret" Meeting with 20 HCU Crushed Bloggers. Here’s What Happened
This week Jared Bauman sits down with Jake Cain, a long-time blogger with a portfolio of sites, a former Niche Pursuits employee, and an attendee at Google’s recent Creator Summit. In this interview, Jake shares his experience at the event, his thoughts on the topics discussed, and the main takeaways he left with. Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
01:04:5406/11/2024
Married Couple Wins €2 Billion from Google for Deranking Their Website
Welcome back to the latest episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast! This week Jared and guest host Brooks Conkle take on the latest headlines revolving around Google, large and small publishers, and SEO. They also talk about what's working and what's not for their side hustles, and they share some (successful and not-so-successful) weird niche sites. They discuss the couple that took on Google - https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjr431lr72jo They discuss how to get your brand to appear in ChatGPT -https://sparktoro.com/blog/how-can-my-brand-appear-in-answers-from-chatgpt-perplexity-gemini-and-other-ai-llm-tools/ They talk about Google AI’s inaccuracies - https://www.searchenginejournal.com/googles-ai-fails-at-43-of-finance-queries-study-finds/530542/ Jared shares a weird niche site called Spotto - https://spottogame.com.au/ Brooks reveals a very successful site called Omni Calculator - https://www.omnicalculator.com/ Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
01:04:0301/11/2024
How Taegan Goddard’s Political Blog Gets Up To 10 Million Visitors/Month
Taegan Goddard’s been in the blogging game for a long time, launching his first website before WordPress even existed. He went on to create his current website, Political Wire, which has been not only running but growing consistently for the last 25 years—no easy feat. Taegan has built “the anti-website,” using non-SEO strategies to win over his political junkie readers and convert them into diehard fans while using several different business models. He has a different approach to how he treats readers and how he thinks about content compared with a “normal blog,” and in this insightful interview he shares it all. Links & Resources His website - https://politicalwire.com/ https://memberful.com/ Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
01:01:1830/10/2024
The "Man Who Killed Google Search" Gets Replaced!
Welcome back to another episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast! This week Jared and guest host Thomas Smith talk about the latest news revolving around Google, large and small publishers, and SEO. They also share their (lucrative) side hustles and a few very weird niche sites. They talk about the changes at Google - https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-search-has-a-new-boss-prabhakar-raghavan-steps-down/530361/ They share some thoughts on Raghavan - https://www.wheresyoured.at/requiem-for-raghavan/ They talk about site reputation abuse - https://www.gsqi.com/marketing-blog/a-nightmare-on-affiliate-street/ They reveal that SearchGPT refers more brands - https://searchengineland.com/searchgpt-referrals-vs-perplexity-claude-447604 They share a weird niche site called Select Aquatics - http://selectaquatics.com/ They share a second weird site about election equipment - https://electionsource.com/ Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
01:06:5725/10/2024
How Mads Singers Helps Companies 5x Their Business While Working Less
Mads Singer has a passion for management and for helping companies increase their revenue exponentially by tweaking and improving their business practices. This Danish entrepreneur travels the world, speaking publicly and consulting privately with businesses and individuals to help them think creatively and “do more with the same.” He has grown his own business from 0 to 200 employees in just a few short years, and in this interview he talks about his own online experiments, how he sets up funnels, and how he’s been able to increase his revenue per visitor. Don’t miss Mads’ expertise, especially if you want to increase your earnings without increasing your traffic. Links & Resources SEO Mastery Summit - https://seomasterysummit.com/ His website - https://madssingers.com/ His Twitter - https://x.com/madssingers Udemy - https://www.udemy.com/ Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
56:1223/10/2024
Semrush Buys Search Engine Land! Google Search Falling Apart?
Welcome back to another episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast. This week Jared and guest host Morgan Overhold discuss the latest news as it relates to SEO, small publishers, and Google. They also share their side hustles and talk about a few weird niche sites. They talk about the repercussions of Semrush buying Search Engine Land They discuss a tweet about that acquisition They share a video about the quality of Google Search They talk about AI Overviews and HCU-hit sites They share a weird niche site about rollercoasters They talk about the cult following at Wait But Why Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
01:08:0017/10/2024
How Jamie Northrup Earns +$6k/Month From Multiple Side Hustles
Jamie Northrup is no stranger to the “make money online” scene. He’s been doing it for almost 20 years with varying success, depending on the strategy. For years he has been developing different income streams, focusing particularly on side hustles with no customers, with considerable success. When he was laid off, he was lucky he didn’t have to worry, because he had a solid hustle or two to keep him afloat. Fast forward to today, and Jamie runs the Minimalist Hustler brand, where he teaches people to develop their own side hustles. He has several different income streams, from products to newsletters, and is on track to hit six figures in 2025. Links & Resources Minimalist Hustler - https://minimalisthustler.com/ Medium - https://medium.com/ Amazon KDP - https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/ Skool - https://www.skool.com/ Gumroad - https://gumroad.com/ Self Publishing Titans - https://www.selfpublishingtitans.com/ Publisher Rocket - https://publisherrocket.com/ Bookbub - https://www.bookbub.com/partners/bookbub_ads Josh Spector - https://joshspector.com/ Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
52:4414/10/2024
DOJ Tries to Break Up Google Chrome, Android, and Search Monopoly
Welcome back to another episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast. This week Spencer and Jared discuss the big news related to SEO, small publishers, and Google. They also share updates on their side hustles and more than a few weird niche sites. The big news is that Google might be sanctioned They talk about severe sanction scenarios Google responds to the ruling They discuss the WordPress vs. WP Engine drama They talk briefly about Automatic’s role Syed Balkhi’s tweet of support Spencer’s weird niche site is Spaghetti Models Jared shares more info about McBroken on Reddit and elsewhere He also shares his weird sites: Bridesmaid for Hire and Groomsman for Hire Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
01:06:1911/10/2024
How Joe Saul-Sehy Grew His Financial Podcast to 180k Listeners
After close to 2000 podcast episodes, Joe Saul-Sehy knows a thing or two about growing an audience. In fact, his finance podcast, Stacking Benjamins, has amassed a massive following of 180k listeners, with shows averaging around 40k listens/episode. Joe’s no stranger to awards, either. Stacking Benjamins was named Best Personal Finance Podcast 3 times by the Plutus Awards, it was called Best Personal Finance Podcast by Kiplinger and Bankrate, and it was awarded the Best Business Podcast title by the Tim Ferriss Show, Startup, and others from the Academy of Podcasters. Joe shares the details of his journey in this interview: how he initially struggled, what he did to grow the audience, and how "hockey-sticked" his results. He talks about his recent struggles in podcasting and the events driving his decision to diversify with a view to serving his audience in multiple ways. He also discusses standing out in a crowd, his ideation process, and why following his “north star” has served him well. Links & Resources Stacking Benjamins - https://www.stackingbenjamins.com/ Podcast Studio Pro - https://www.podcaststudiopro.com/ Influencer, by Brittany Hennessy - https://www.amazon.com/Influencer-Building-Personal-Brand-Social/dp/0806538856 Joe’s YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/stackingbenjamins Joe’s Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/stackingbenjaminspodcast Joe’s Twitter - https://x.com/averagejoemoney Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
58:4108/10/2024
Runaway Parasite SEO! Google Penalizes Forbes!
Welcome back to another episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast. This week Jared and guest host Thomas Smith discuss the main news affecting small publishers and SEOs. They also share their side hustles and some weird niche sites. The big news this week is that the Forbes Advisor parasite SEO scandal They talk about Forbes Advisor getting a penalty from Google They share a Lily Ray tweet on Reddit Jared shares a weird niche site: MCBroken Morgan shares the site Starbucks Melody Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
01:06:2003/10/2024
How Dave Chesson Earns Up To $14k/Month Publishing Books on Amazon
When Dave Chesson was in the US Navy, he would spend lots of time away from his family. And he hated it. He decided to create a portfolio of niche sites in an attempt to earn enough to quit his job, but his path took a different turn. He got the idea to turn one of his websites into a book and self-publish it. As it turned out, it was the start of something big, and it allowed him to eventually quit his job to be with his wife and kids. Today, he’s the author of 10 books which have earned him +$750k to date, and he also created a tool and a website to help others publish their books using the Kindle Publishing Platform. In this interview, he shares the details of his journey as well as lots of tips for getting started with—and succeeding—with self-publishing. Links & Resources Dave’s site, Kindlepreneur - https://kindlepreneur.com/ Dave’s tool, Publisher Rocket - https://publisherrocket.com/ Dave’s Amazon Ads course - https://davechesson.podia.com/amazon-advertisements-for-books-course Atticus.io - https://www.atticus.io/ Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
01:00:1502/10/2024
More Volatility in Rankings! Core Update Gains Disappear
Welcome back to another episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast. This week Jared and guest host Morgan Overholt discuss the most important and recent news for small publishers and SEOs. They also share their side hustles and some weird but useful niche sites. The big news this week is that we’re seeing a reversal in traffic gains from the Google Core Update They share another open letter to Google and talk about some of the important points the author, Cyrus Shepard, made Their thoughts on Google’s decision to update its spam policies Jared shares a weird niche site: Best Hashtags Morgan shares the site Thread Reader Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
01:05:4427/09/2024
How Brie Moreau Discovered How Google Views Content
This week, SEO expert Brie Moreau doesn’t share his business results but, rather, the results of an incredibly in-depth study he did analyzing 260k search results to find an answer to a major question: what does Google want exactly? Using SurferSEO data and a data scientist, he and his team set out to use a data-driven approach to understanding how Google evaluates content and they were able to draw many interesting conclusions, which he shares in this episode. He talks about a wide range of topics, from the most important thing you can focus on right now to rank better to the advantages the “little guys” can have over authority sites. The first half of the podcast is about the findings and the details of his research while the second half includes actionable recommendations. Don't miss this interview if you want a fresh perspective on SEO, content creation, and ranking in the SERPs. Links & Resources Brie's study - https://www.searchenginejournal.com/search-results-analyzed-how-google-evaluates-content/518998 His SEO agency - https://wldm.io/ Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
54:2125/09/2024
AI Advances! A Look at August Core Update Data
Welcome back to another episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast. This week Jared and guest host Brooks Conkle take on the latest SEO news and break it down for listeners. They also share the side hustles they've been working on and dissect a few weird niche sites. The big news this week, OpenAI’s launch of its most sophisticated AI model They share an open letter to Google and talk about the position of small publishers after the updates. Takeaways from a study on data from Google’s August core update Jared goes first with a tool called URL Opener Brooks shares the site The Useless Web Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
59:4520/09/2024
How Mike Heroux's Membership Site Earns +$500k/Year
While Mike Heroux worked professionally as a financial planner, he always had a financial blog side hustle. It took some time to finally make the decision to go all-in, but he eventually dove headfirst into blogging. In fact, he grew his portfolio to about a dozen sites. And then the Panda Update came along. Suffice to say, Mike’s multi-year journey into entrepreneurship has had its ups and downs. Today, he runs a membership website—Dividend Stocks Rock—with almost 4,000 members earning over $500k per year. And he grew it without using any SEO. He also built up a newsletter to nearly 25,000 subscribers. Mike has a ton of great insight to share in this interview, so get ready to take notes! Links & Resources Dividend Stocks Rock Mike’s free dividend stocks guide Mike’s YouTube channel His podcast Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
58:5316/09/2024
Google Offers New Insights in Lengthy Interview?
Welcome back to another episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast. This week Jared and guest host Morgan Overholt take on the latest SEO news and break it down for listeners. They also share the side hustles they've been working on and dissect a few weird niche sites. The big news this week, an interview with Google Search Liaison Danny Sullivan They talk about an article in Moz claiming that the HCU was not what we thought it was. Takeaways from a recent podcast by Lily Ray The last news item they cover is Mediavine’s decision to ban publishers who overuse AI content. Jared goes first with a DR71 site called Nuclear Secrecy Morgan shares the site Lipsum Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
01:07:4013/09/2024
How Adam Rosen Makes 7-figures/Year From Cold Email Outreach
When Adam Rosen founded his first tech startup, he learned a lot of important skills before he eventually sold it. One of those skills was using cold email as a sales technique. Fast forward to today, Adam has his own cold email outreach agency that sends more than a million emails and schedules over 300 meetings each month for his clients. He’s earning more than $100k a month. Adam's able to run his business from anywhere in the world, which has allowed him to live and work in places like Lake Como, Hawaii, Montenegro, and Switzerland. Links & Resources EOC Works [email protected] GPT prompt The Nomad Cloud Domain Health Checker Clay Instantly Apollo.io Adam’s LinkedIn His Instagram Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
43:5410/09/2024
Google RECOVERY! August Core Update Results...
This week Spencer and Jared are at it again, breaking down the latest news items in the SEO world, sharing their progress with their side hustles, and analyzing some weird niche sites. The big news this week is that the August Google Core Update has finally finished rolling out, after 19 days, and overall it was a pretty impactful update. they talk about a site that Google has shown considerable favor to in recent times: Reddit. The last news item is again about Google, and how the antitrust trial is targeting its digital ad business. In the end, he gave that page away as part of a contest to a new member of his exclusive Niche Pursuits Community, where growing a Facebook page is the main focus for members for the next 6 weeks. A recent guest on the Niche Pursuits Podcast. He also talks about his side hustle on Medium, also inspired by another podcast guest Spencer shares the interesting story of how he came to find Cool Works Jared then shares I Got Standards, Bro Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
01:01:5506/09/2024
How Thomas Smith Makes $5k/Month Writing on Medium
When Thomas Smith started publishing articles on Medium back in 2019, it was just a side hustle. Over the years, however, he’s been able to develop a strategy to succeed on the platform, and today Medium is extremely valuable for him, providing a large part of his monthly income as well as countless business opportunities. Although he did peak at $17k in a single month, his recent earnings are in the $2k to $5k neighborhood and has had several 5-figure months. Links & Resources Medium His course, Thrive on Medium His photography agency No Frills Influencer His Medium content His other Medium content Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
01:04:5504/09/2024
Yelp Sues Google. What This Means for Small Publishers
This week Jared and guest host Thomas Smith take on all the latest news on this episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast. Yelp is suing Google - https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/28/technology/google-yelp-lawsuit.html Yelp's gripe? https://www.searchenginejournal.com/yelp-sues-google-over-local-search-dominance/525687/ A new Lawsuit - https://searchengineland.com/google-adtech-antitrust-judge-business-practices-446086 HCU hit sites - https://x.com/glenngabe/status/1828798317960061090 recipe sites - https://x.com/lilyraynyc/status/1828768199057522967 Retro Dodo - https://shorturl.at/d4jJ3 Niche Pursuits Podcast. - https://www.nichepursuits.com/my-local-email-newsletter-makes-over-200k-year-heres-how/ Sportern - https://www.spotern.com/en Backyard Chickens - https://www.backyardchickens.com/ Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
01:04:3530/08/2024
I Get Over 1 Million Page Views Per Month from Pinterest
Tony Hill is a digital marketer with decades of experience, but when his sites’ traffic started to tank, he rolled up his sleeves and started looking for an alternative traffic source. And he found Pinterest. Tony has gone deep into the rabbit hole on Pinterest, studying how it works and poring over its data, to come up with strategies that work. Currently, he’s getting a million clicks a month on the platform, and he’s constantly experimenting with new sites and new tactics. Tony talks about how he believes Pinterest works, how Pinterest SEO is similar to Google SEO, and how he tailors his content to his Pinterest audience. Links & Resources Tony’s previous podcast Theia post slider Tony’s newsletter Tony’s free Pinterest masterclass Tony’s tool, Pin Clicks Pinterest trends Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
01:02:5728/08/2024
Winners of Google's Core Update and HCU Recovery!?
Welcome back to the latest episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast! This week Jared is joined by Brooks Conkle, a member of the Niche Pursuits Community as well as an entrepreneur with many, many income streams, lots of experience in the industry, and plenty of insights to share. There’s some interesting news for publishers this week, so get comfortable! The first order of business is the recently released Google Core Update, for which there is now some data available. Jared and Brooks talk about the absolute winners so far. Who’s benefiting the most from the update? Are you surprised by the results? Then Jared shares a particularly exciting promising news item: signs of life after the HCU. They also share information about sites that are recovering, and Jared asks some important questions and talks specifically about HouseFresh and RetroDodo. Then he and Brooks share their thoughts about the current landscape and suggest that there are greater questions to be answered, about Google, the future of search, and AI. Moving along, they talk about Google AI Overviews and where they’re pulling their information from. Then they move on to the Shiny Object Shenanigans, and Jared talks about his focus on earning money from projects he’s already working on. First, he shares his experience to date with Creator Connections. Then he shares a new side hustle he recently started: publishing the content he’s already written on Medium. He talks a little bit about how it works and his future plans. When it’s Brooks’ turn, he talks about a new side hustle: domain name investing. He shares all the interesting things he’s discovered about this world and some of the domains he’s purchased. Listen to the full episode to hear more about it. Then it’s time for some Weird Niche Sites, Jared shares his site first: All 8, a very strange DR47 site with just 3 links on it related to square dancing and beat measurements. Surprisingly, this site gets 30k visitors per month while only ranking for 1k keywords. Brooks then shares a weird site he found called The Pet Psychic, which gets 11k pageviews per month. And that concludes another episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast. We hope you feel better informed after listening to what’s happening in the industry, motivated by the stories about our side hustles, and inspired by the weird niche sites people are creating. Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
01:07:4123/08/2024
How Dylan Jahrus Grew Her Etsy Business to $1.5 Million
Dylan Jahraus started working in corporate e-commerce, but eventually had to quit while trying to climb that ladder. She tried her hand at Etsy as a side hustle, and was pleased to see that she could apply her extensive e-comm experience to the platform. She’s been killing it on Etsy for years now, selling $1.5 million to date. In this interview, she shares some of her best strategies and tips, explains best practices in everything from product pricing to thumbnails, and walks us through the process of going from $0 to $10k. If you have an Etsy store, you simply can’t miss this episode; if you don’t have an Etsy store yet, this may very well inspire you to open one.
40:3621/08/2024
Google August Core Update RELEASED! HCU Recovery Guidelines
Welcome back to another episode of the Niche Pursuits News podcast! It’s been a very big week in the news, with Google taking center stage for several different reasons. This week, Jared and Morgan break it all down for us, and they also share the progress they’re making on their side hustles, and some weird niche sites! Let’s jump into it! The first order of business is Google’s announcement about its August core update, which the company has been teasing for some time. Moving along, they talk about an article in the New York Times about how the US Justice Department is considering several scenarios after deciding that Google is a monopoly, including possibly breaking up the company. Jared shares the timeline and the opinions of Duck Duck Go, and Morgan talks about what happened in the EU when Google was forced to give users a choice when installing their web browsers. It’s pretty surprising what she reveals! They also talk about the ways this ruling could change the internet and which of the scenarios they’d prefer to see. Is Google really resting on its laurels, as Morgan says? The next topic up for discussion is that Reddit investors are concerned about what all the traffic is doing to its stock price, as company shares have plummeted by 26%. Why are they complaining about the traffic? Why are “logged in” users more valuable than “logged out” ones? How does Reddit’s current situation contrast with its attitude just a few weeks ago? Then Jared and Morgan tie the Reddit news to Google’s announcement about its current core update. What do they predict might happen? Listen to the full episode to hear what they say! When it’s time to talk about their side hustles, Jared comments briefly about the course he recently launched on the Amazon Influencer Program, but then dives into the newsletter he recently acquired, The Slice. He shares his stats, such as open rates, ad earnings, and affiliate income, and his future plans for the side hustle. He also talks about Creator Connections, in the Influencer Program, and shares his latest earnings. Morgan then talks about her Amazon Influencer side hustle and shares her experience creating more polished videos for the program and the impact on her video clicks. She also shares a strategy she’s going to experiment with in the coming weeks. Jared’s weird niche site comes with its own personal story this week: San Diego Sandcastles, which he discovered while at the beach with his family. When it’s Morgan’s turn, she shares This Person Does Not Exist, which generates AI images of people who don’t exist. This site has been around since 2021, and she shares some of its stats. Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
01:12:0616/08/2024
I Make $20k/Month Using Paid Ads
If you didn’t get into paid media before Google changed up the traffic game, you can still get into it now. That’s what Alex Goldberg is showing us on this week’s podcast. Alex started a site as a side hustle, but it eventually grew into a portfolio of sites. Organic traffic was abundant, but he decided to experiment with paid media arbitrage. In the end, he built up a portfolio of sites earning $20k/month and then sold it for a hefty sum. For people who are generating a lot of traffic from SEO or social media, Alex outlines a great strategy to diversify, and for people who aren’t getting as much traffic as they used to, they can also diversify. Don’t miss this episode where Alex shares a lot of great advice and tips for getting started and succeeding with paid ads. Alex starts with a brief introduction of his background, talking about how he always wanted to be an entrepreneur, how he started side hustling, and how he eventually exited one of his main projects, a portfolio of health and wellness sites. He starts by talking in more detail about his initial site, which he started in 2018 as a side hustle with a colleague. They were reviewing fintech companies, but pivoted to health and wellness when they sensed there was a better opportunity in that niche. In 2021, he quit his job, eventually bought out his business partner, and went on to create a portfolio of related sites. He also shifted his focus from organic traffic to paid media arbitrage before he eventually sought out, and found, a buyer. Alex goes into more detail about switching from SEO to paid media arbitrage and why he decided to diversify. He talks about the challenges he faced setting up a paid arbitrage strategy, but claims that once you have a roadmap, it’s easier than SEO. He discusses the types of keywords he bids on, how to meet the demand of underlying queries, and future-proofing your business. Alex had experience before he started using this strategy, but for people who don’t usually use paid ads, he shares tips and tricks and challenges people generally face. He reveals the percentage of campaigns that are generally successful and talks about how to talk to brands about using this strategy, what kinds of niches it would work in, and he compares it to SEO, content creation, and organic traffic. Alex explains social whitelisting and then goes into a lot of detail on conversion tracking, and he also talks about scaling the business and reaching $20k/month in profit while providing immense value for his clients, which was very important to him. Towards the end of the interview, he talks about being hit by the HCU and how diversified his sites were, and he also shares some stats: how much his business was earning and how much he sold it for. Links & Resources Alex’s course, Paid Media Affiliates Alex’s LinkedIn Alex’s Twitter Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
01:01:0114/08/2024
Google Ruled a Monopoly! How this Impacts Bloggers
Welcome back to another episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast, where Spencer and Jared talk about the biggest news in the SEO and creator industry and what it means for you. They also share their inspiring side hustles and some weird niche sites they've discovered. Today they tackled the biggest news item we’ve seen in a while: Google’s antitrust lawsuit. Google has been in the news for a while now as the courts have been trying to determine whether or not it’s a monopoly and a decision was finally handed down, stating that the company does have an illegal monopoly on search. What did the company say on Twitter and how did others respond? And what are the potential outcomes? Spencer and Jared talk about how Google got here, what it might be asked to do in the future, and what they really think about Google’s claims. Moving along, they head into the Shiny Object Shenanigans portion of the podcast, and Spencer goes first. He talks about his experience with the Facebook Bonus Program, of which he has been a member for the last 2 months. His first month in the program, he earned $3k, and he was on track to surpass that in his second month. What happened at the end of July? How did it all play out? When it’s Jared’s turn, he talks about the Amazon Influencer Program. Although he had a few complicated days, his monthly earnings were in line with his usual performance. He also announces the release of his new course, which walks you through the process of getting started in the program. He shares some interesting data, comparing his performance with Spencer’s and another member of the Amazon Influencer Program, who recently joined. He looks at how much they’re all earning and how many clicks each of their videos are receiving per month. He also talks briefly about his experience with the Creators Connection program. Then they move on to their Weird Niche Sites. Spencer goes first with Spot the Difference which, as the name suggests, shows users two photos and they have to find 4 things that are different. It’s monetized with a lot of display ads and gets around 23k organic visitors a month. When it’s Jared’s turn, he’s excited to share Where Is My Milk From, indubitably a weird niche site that helps you locate the origin of your milk. And that brings us to the end of another episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast. We hope you’re feeling informed and inspired. Don’t forget to catch Spencer and Jared next Friday when they tackle the latest news and provide updates on their projects. Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
01:03:3209/08/2024
I Make $3k/Month Posting Short Videos to Amazon
This week on the podcast we have a familiar face! Spencer Haws comes on to talk about a very interesting, and surprisingly lucrative, side hustle both he and Jared have been working on for the last year: the Amazon Influencer Program. In this episode, Spencer and Jared talk about their experience with the program, discuss the different strategies they used to grow this side business, and share some insider tips for succeeding. Jared also reveals that he teamed up with Authority Hacker to create a course that helps people through the entire process. They begin with a brief overview of what the Amazon Influencer Program is all about: creating shoppable videos and posting them on Amazon’s product pages. By doing this, you get a sliver of Amazon’s massive traffic. But before you can participate, you need to get accepted into the program. Jared gives a rundown of the primary requirements, and then he and Spencer talk about the path they each took to get accepted into the program. Spencer even shares an Amazon Influencer Program secret he hasn’t shared before! They talk about making the first three videos for your account, and why they’re important. If your videos get rejected three times, you won’t be able to participate in the program. With that in mind, Spencer talks about what makes a great first video and lets listeners know what not to do. He and Jared also talk about whether or not you need to show your face in the videos, what type of product features to discuss, and how to approach Amazon’s long list of rules when making videos. They also share some of the mistakes they made, which got some of their videos rejected. Then Spencer shares his personal journey on the program, which he joined in January 2023, and talks about adding videos gradually. By December of that year, he peaked at $6k for the month. To give an idea of how passive the program is, now he’s earning an average of $1500 a month and hasn’t added any videos for the last 7 months. Jared shares his story, too. He got accepted in May 2023 and frontloaded a lot of the work, publishing +200 videos in his first month, which led to earnings of $1000. He continued to gradually upload videos, and he’s currently earning around $3k to $4k consistently per month. Then they move backwards slightly, and Spencer talks about how he got his videos done. The first ones he did himself, and then he outsourced the next 1000. He shares where he found people to create the videos, how he paid them, and how much he paid them. He also shares some of the pros and cons to this approach. When it’s Jared’s turn, he shares his strategy for growing his Amazon Influencer account. Jared did the bulk of his own videos, reviewing products that he had around his house, his neighbors’ houses, and his parent’s house. He even shares a cool hack for accessing even more products for videos. Equally importantly, he talks about how long he spent doing his videos and how he became super efficient for the best possible ROI. To close out the interview, they share some important insights they’ve gathered about slightly over a year in the program. These revolve around reviewing higher priced products, showing lots of close-ups, skipping long winded introductions, seasonality, creating SOPs, among others. All in all, this is a fantastic, information-packed episode if you’re curious about the program and looking to get started, or if you’re already using it and want some fresh ideas. Links & Resources Upwork Amazon Influencer Program Product Review Profits (Jared's course) Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
01:03:1507/08/2024
Reddit Blocks Search Engines but NOT Google!
Welcome back, everyone, to another episode of the Niche Pursuits News podcast. Jared hosts this week’s episode, along with Morgan Overholt, who’s standing in for Spencer. They kick off the news portion of the episode talking about Reddit and how it has blocked Bing Search. Microsoft has confirmed this news and is respecting Reddit’s decision, but the plot thickens when Reddit’s CEO speaks out. This leads them to another article that talks about how the traditionally mutually beneficial arrangement of web crawling is breaking down, referencing Google and Reddit’s relationship, Reddit’s decision to block Microsoft, and how these moves are really hurting the internet. The conversation then shifts to SearchGPT, and they look at and dissect a sample query. As for side hustles, Morgan talks about an idea that came to her through her graphic design agency, where she has consistently designed ebooks for clients. Now she wants to try her hand at it, publishing her own book with the content she had originally published on her website, which was hit by the Helpful Content Update. When it’s Jared’s turn, he explains the Creator Connections program inside Amazon Influencer and how it's been going since he started participating. Then the conversation moves on to their Weird Niche Sites. Morgan goes first with Chirper AI, a site that looks like the Sims meets ChatGPT. In this wild little AI virtual reality world, you create characters that interact with others created by different users. When it’s Jared’s turn, he shares an image-to-text converter which, as the name suggests, takes pictures and converts them into text files. That concludes another episode of the Niche Pursuits News podcast, where you can hear about the latest and most important news in the SEO, online business, and blogging world as well as feel inspired by the hosts’ side hustles and get ideas from some weird sites. Catch you next week! Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter 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
01:07:1702/08/2024
I Make $20k/Month Posting Memes on Facebook Pages
Brian Nagele has had a lot of success building online businesses, but nothing could have prepared him for what he has been able to achieve on Facebook. You can join Brian's Social Growth Mastery to learn how his exact Facebook strategies here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/socialgrowthmastery After his niche sites were hit by Google's Helpful Content Update, he fully understood the importance of diversifying his traffic, and he turned to Facebook. He started building Facebook pages, and some of his posts started going viral. Once Facebook noticed the engagement he was getting, he got invited to the platform's Performance Bonus Program. After one of his new pages in the program earned $11k its first month, he was hooked. Today he's earning $20k per month posted viral content on his Facebook pages. Don't miss this episode, where he shared a ton of his secrets and gives listeners the tools to get started earning money on Facebook. Topics Brian Nagele Talks About His experience online How he rebounds after adversity Facebook Performance Bonus Program Getting accepted Ad campaigns Engagement and niche selection Posting and creating content Outsourcing Getting unstuck Daily time commitment Earning money Beyond the program Pages in sub-niches Links & Resources Canva Pro Strevio Social Buddy Brian's program: https://www.nichepursuits.com/socialgrowthmastery Brian's website Brian's Twitter One of Brian's Facebook pages Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
01:01:2031/07/2024
The End of Google? OpenAI Launches SearchGPT
Welcome to another episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast, where Spencer and Jared offer their thoughts on the latest news in SEO, Google and AI; talk about their side hustles; and share some funny and weird niche sites. They kick things off by talking about the SearchGPT announcement. Spencer talks about how the tool looks like it will work and whether it will include links to sources. They reference an article on Wired and talk about how SearchGPT’s initial search functionality would be limited, but what will it look like when and if it eventually expands? What type of approach will SearchGPT eventually be based on? How does this impact publishers? Tune in to hear Spencer and Jared’s initial thoughts on this bombshell news item! Moving along, they talk about how Google is planning to scrap its plans to kill 3rd party cookies in Chrome. This news is quite shocking, as Google has been talking about killing those cookies since 2020. People have been preparing for it for years! Why does Spencer think they made this decision? And what trend does Jared highlight and question? How’s this going to play out in other countries? And what’s likely driving this decision by Google? Is this good or bad news for publishers? Next up is more Google news. Google recently released its Q2 earnings and revealed some interesting data, such as growth in its search revenue. Although the company beat some of its estimates, where did its projections fall short? And where does its stock price stand? What does Jared point out about CEO vs public perception? And does this performance suggest that there’s room for SearchGPT to get a piece of the pie? Also, what’s the status of AI Overviews, according to Sundar Pichai? It’s on to the Shiny Object Shenanigans, and Spencer kicks things off talking about his experience in the Facebook Performance Bonus Program. After just 2 months, things are going very well. In the first month he earned slightly less than $3k and this month he expects to surpass that. How often is he posting? How has his strategy changed? What does this mean for the niche website associated with the Facebook page? For Jared, he talks about a side hustle within a side hustle: Creator Connections inside the Amazon Influencer Program. He recently discovered higher-paying opportunities within the program. How did he find out about them and how do they work? And why did he and Spencer describe them as “free money?” Check out the episode to hear all the details! Spencer shares his weird niche site first when the time comes: Test My Thumbnail, which allows you to upload a sample of a thumbnail and see what it will look like alongside others on YouTube and tweak it accordingly. The site offers lots of other features and functions, such as a/b testing thumbnails and YouTube revenue calculator. What does the traffic look like? What do Spencer and Jared have to say about this site? When it’s Jared’s turn, he goes pretty weird with Gift Wrap My Face which, as the name suggests, lets you print your fact on wrapping paper. This DR27 site doesn’t get a lot of traffic and isn’t ranking for a lot of keywords, but what’s so interesting about it, according to Jared? What’s the story behind the brand? Jared also checks back on a weird site that was featured previously. Find out how that site is doing! And that takes us to the end of another episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast! Don’t forget to come back next week for some more insight, inspiration, and fun! Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
01:04:4926/07/2024
My Niche Online Clothing Site is a 6-Figure Success Story with Over 90K+ Monthly Pageviews
What do you do when you can’t find a shirt that fits right? Well, if you’re Tanya Zhang, you launch a business. Tanya and her partner Wesley identified a gap in the market: a lack of nice-fitting dress shirts for slim men. So, in 2018, they launched a very niche business called Nimble Made. In this interview, she talks about how she validated the idea and spread the word initially about the company. She shares details on finding the right supplier, identifying the company’s core demographic, and using SEO to expand its footprint. Tanya’s story is very inspirational. She quit her day job before she was profitable to go all-in on her dream, and with its current 6-figure revenue, it looks like it’s all working out. Tanya kicks off the episode by sharing her background and her experience in creative roles, and then she shares how she decided to jump off the corporate ladder and launch a company. She noticed that her partner and the people around her were struggling to find slim dress shirts for work that fit properly. After validating the idea, she created Nimble Made, in 2018. She had no experience in the fashion industry, but she dove right in. Tanya shares the initial steps she took to launch the business, which included getting samples from a supplier and finding someone with a low minimum order and good communication. Tanya talks about developing their marketing message and working to validate their idea and create a community, and how they quit their day jobs after just six months to dedicate themselves entirely to the company, even though it wasn’t yet profitable. Nimble Made is earning a 6-figure revenue and the website had 90k+ pageviews in the last month. Tanya shares how they pushed their brand story and got the word out initially about their company, with many features in leading publications. Once it took off, she speaks about how they scaled the business and were able to offer more than 40 different types of shirts to their customers, and how they used their marketing budget with paid ads on Facebook and SEO. Tanya then talks about their SEO efforts and how she used ChatGPT to accelerate growth, and also shares how the creation of customer personas and pinpointing the core demographic were really key in successfully marketing their products and determining exactly what content to write. She also discusses how she uses AI to produce content for the blog. In the last portion of the interview, she talks about diversifying the company’s revenue with a YouTube channel, display ads, and affiliate marketing, and the use of email marketing. She also shares her thoughts on quitting her job to go all-in on the company, her worst-case scenario, and the way she planned to explain the experience to future employers had it not worked out. Links & Resources Nimble Made Alibaba Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
54:0124/07/2024
Google Pampers a Blogger...Here's What Happened
Welcome back everybody, to another episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast! This week Jared and guest host Colin Ma tackle the most recent news in the SEO world affecting creators and entrepreneurs, they inspire with their successful side hustles, and they highlight some unique ideas being used by some weird niche sites. The first item up for discussion is that Brandon Saltamacchia, the owner of Retro Dodo, whose website was crushed in the Helpful Content Update and he has been very vocal about it. He was invited to meet with Danny Sullivan at Google’s office in London, and although the Google Search Liaison couldn’t share any actionable advice, he was hopeful that website owners would see an improvement in the coming months. Jared highlights a few important sentiments from the article. What did Google say? And what is Danny’s actual role? Tune in to hear what they are! Moving along, Jared and Colin tackle an article on The Verge which details a complex but fascinating story involving fake authors, BestReviews, Sports Illustrated, and link schemes. What’s the juxtaposition Jared points out? Should Google just reveal its ranking factors? How would it all play out? Listen to the full episode to hear their thoughts. And lastly, they talk briefly about the impending Google Core Update. When is it coming? Will it bring with it a recovery to battered sites? And what has Danny Sullivan said about it? In the Shiny Object Shenanigans portion of the podcast, Jared talks about his performance on Prime Day as part of the Amazon Influencer Program and how that affects his overall earnings. Then he talks about the newsletter he recently acquired and the recent stats, which are very interesting. He also talks about working towards potential sponsors. When it’s Colin’s turn, he talks about his inspiration from speakers in the Niche Pursuits Community inspired him to try out the side hustle, and he’s already earning money from it. What are his initial thoughts about the program? What’s his ROI? What are his future plans? Tune in to hear a strategy he’s considering and some additional creative ideas from Jared. Jared shared his weird niche first: Calculate Aspect Ratio, which allows users to check dimensions when resizing images. The DR58 site, which has been around since 2015, recently saw its traffic jump and ranks for 58,000 keywords even though it’s just 6 pages in total. This simple site is monetized with ads and is probably making a couple of thousand dollars a month. What other simple ideas can you think of, using this site as inspiration? It’s Colin’s turn next, and he shares a weird site called National Nail Fungus. This DR20-something site has seen its traffic decline considerably, it hasn’t done much to improve its initial design from 2012, and the content is written by doctors and other experts. Colin did some digging into the site and he made a surprising discovery. What was it? Is it something you could do for your own business? And what do they have to say about the site’s traffic over the years? And that brings us to the end of another episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast. We hope that you feel informed about some of the latest happenings in the SEO world, inspired to start your own side hustle, and curious about how you might replicate the strategies we identified among our weird niche sites. Catch you next week! Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter 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
01:00:2519/07/2024
How Sammie Ellard-King Make $40k/mth with Instagram Videos and Automation
According to financial blogger Sammie Ellard-King, Instagram is one of the biggest opportunities right now because of the way the platform allows for exposure and brand awareness. In fact, he has developed several strategies that are allowing for the exponential growth of his brand, Up The Gains, on that platform. Last month, Sammie earned $40k from Instagram alone. In this interview, he offers a close-up look at some of the strategies he’s using, which can be applied to Instagram as well as other social media platforms. This chat is chock-a-block with golden nuggets, so grab paper and a pencil as you’re going to want to take notes! Sammie begins by sharing his background and talks about how he got into the finance niche and started his business. Although he wasn’t hit too badly by the HCU, a subsequent Google update did affect his traffic, but the fact that he takes an omnichannel approach to the business and was able to pivot so easily has allowed him not only to stay afloat, but to thrive. He became laser-focused on social media, in particular on Instagram, and he talks in detail about growing his business on that platform. First, he shares his main strategy and highlights the importance of developing customer avatars, understanding their problems, and creating content buckets. Then Sammie shares his current Instagram metrics (134k followers, 150 million views since January) and how the platform contributes to his business. He earned $40k from Instagram alone last month with affiliate links and digital products, using automation software. He dives deep into his video content creation process, touching on the use of different types of hooks and the importance of getting viewers to watch the video until the end. He talks about the different kinds of content you can create and how to validate your niche for social media. Sammie then shares how he creates mobile-optimized funnels, the tools he uses, and some of the low- and high-ticket items he sells. He also shares his thoughts on what makes a successful product and talks about growing his email lists through quizzes. He concludes the podcast with a 30-day action plan anyone can implement to get started on Instagram, full of invaluable tips and insight. Links & Resources ManyChat Stan Store His website, Up The Gains His Instagram His Twitter His Facebook More of Sammie’s resources His YouTube His podcast Link to his course (coming soon) Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
01:02:4918/07/2024
Google AI Overviews DECREASE to an All Time Low!
This week’s Niche Pursuits News Podcast features Jared and guest host Morgan Overholt, who dive directly into the latest news stories, share their side hustles, and talk all about some weird niche sites. The first thing they dig into is news that AI Overviews is only appearing for 7% of queries. Jared shares a helpful summary of how this Google feature has evolved over time, and he and Morgan share their opinions. How big has the decline been? What was their personal experience with AI Overviews? And which industries have been the most affected? What kinds of queries saw growth and declines? And how did AI Overview citations from Reddit fare? And what do they think is going to happen down the road? Tune in to hear the discussion. Moving along, they talk about Google and Meta’s investment splurges in AI, according to interviews with people from leading investment banks who essentially expressed shock. But how much are Google and Meta planning to spend? What do the financial analysts liken the situation to, and do Morgan and Jared agree? Do you think we’re in a bubble? Then they move into their Side Hustle Shenanigans. Morgan talks about how she was inspired by Spencer’s Facebook page project and decided to try it out herself. She created a brand new Facebook page for her freelancer brand and hit 7k likes and followers after about 30 days. How did she do it? What are her plans for the group? And how will it be different from her previously successful niche sites? She also shares her experience in the Amazon Influencer Program. She shares her journey: how many videos she has, how much she’s earned, and how she’s doing it. The conversation then shifts to Jared and his Amazon Influencer Program side hustle. He recently released a video about his experience after completing a full year in the program. He shares his processes, talks about crossposting, and divulges some of his “editing” secrets. Then it’s time to reveal their weird niche sites. Morgan goes first with My Instants, a site with funny sound buttons. How much traffic is the DR58 site getting? And where’s the traffic coming from? As Morgan says, it’s a great reminder that sometimes the simplest of ideas can be the most profitable. When it’s Jared’s turn, he shares Bored Teachers, a DR56 site that gets 55k monthly visitors. But he reveals something really interesting about it after he consulted the Wayback Machine. What did he find back in 2016? And what about during Covid? What does the site teach out about pivoting? Tune in to find out. That brings us to the end of another great episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast. We’ll catch you next week when we explore the latest happenings in the space and share our ideas and inspiration for all you entrepreneurs. Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
01:03:2012/07/2024
I Create 6-Figure Websites Using FREE Pinterest Traffic
Mo Mullah is an entrepreneur with an impressive track record. Back in the day, he was orchestrating 6-figure exits and bringing home up to $75k per month from email marketing campaigns. In the middle of it all, he started his own agency, Niche Website Management. After the HCU, like many others, Mo decided he didn’t want to be a slave to Google, so he started testing out strategies on alternative platforms. Today he’s killing it on Pinterest. In this interview, he shares his Pinterest tips and tricks, how he's combining Pinterest traffic and email marketing, and other strategies he's using to make money online. Mo begins by talking about his experience with email marketing back in the day, the success he was having, and how he came to start his own agency. At the moment, his main focus is Pinterest. He talks about his 3 content sites at the moment, how he’s growing traffic, and how it’s different from SEO, and he shares why his sites do well on Pinterest and what niches he believes will succeed on the platform. He talks about his clients’ accounts and he works with them on Pinterest. He talks about the amount of pins he creates, the general idea behind them, and where they get the ideas. He also shares his strategy for seasonal content and talks about how he monetizes his Pinterest traffic: through email marketing. Then he goes into detail about connecting with email subscribers, understanding where they are in the buying journey, and they key to getting them to buy from you. Mo also talks about using AI in his email campaigns and on Pinterest and the AI tool he uses the most. He shares some alternative traffic strategies as well as some of the ways he’s making money online, such as through the Amazon Influencer Program. Then Mo talks about what he would do if he were to start a business today, which includes website creation, digital products, and Pinterest and Facebook. To wrap things up, he shares some of his best efficiency tips. Links & Resources ChatGPT Bing Webmaster Tools RankMath ElevenLabs AI Studio Amazon Influencer Program Mo's Twitter account [email protected] Niche Website Management Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
45:5610/07/2024
Only 36% of Google Searches Go to Websites: New Zero Click Report
Welcome back to another episode of the Niche Pursuits News podcast! As always, Spencer and Jared break down the latest news about Google, SEO, AI, and beyond for listeners. They kick things off this week by diving into a zero-click search study by Rand Fishkin on SparkToro, talking about where clicks go and the difference in what happens after someone in America clicks vs. someone in Europe. After the spam update finished rolling out at the end of last week, someone reported seeing a slight recovery. The author of the report is seeing almost a 50% rebound in traffic on her affiliate marketing website since March 2024, and she details the 4 main steps she’s taken since her traffic tanked, which included disavowing spammy backlinks and upping her internal linking game. Moving along, they talk about Google Search Console’s data freeze which, at the time they recorded the podcast, was 87 hours long. It’s then time for Shiny Object Shenanigans and, as usual, Spencer goes first with an exciting update about his first 30 days in the Facebook Bonus Program. When it’s Jared’s turn, he reveals that he bought a newsletter! The Slice, which is geared towards solopreneurs, seemed like the perfect fit. When it's Weird Niche Website time, Spencer shares a site that’s doing really well. In fact, year-to-date it’s earned 4 million GBP. Car Mats is an ecommerce site that’s gone very niche as it focuses on a single car part: floor mats. When it’s Jared’s turn, he reveals Keybr, a weird and quirky site that offers typing tests and helps you improve your typing skills. Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
59:4705/07/2024
I Make $20k/month with Real Estate Courses and Affiliate Marketing
Seth Williams is an entrepreneur with a passion for land investing. After he got a few years of experience under his belt, he decided the time had come to share his expertise, so he created his website, REtipster. He went on to create some digital products, including a course, to diversify his income. He peaked at $60k in one month, but he normally brings home $20k-30k a month. In this interview, he talks about building his brand and creating his course and podcast, but perhaps most importantly he talks about leading with value and giving priority to creating great content that helps people. Seth Williams begins by sharing his backstory and talking about how he initially got into real estate investing and land investing. After his initial success, he decided to launch a blog, REtipster, and with it, a brand. He shares the story behind his first digital products and what led him to eventually create what was probably the first online course in land investing. Seth talks about diversifying his business as well as the challenges of staying on top of the best techniques in an industry that is constantly changing. He shares what he thinks it takes to be successful in the industry today, which is totally different from what it looked like when he started. He then shares more about his brand, from the blog to the podcast, his metrics, and the type of content he creates. Seth also talks about the surprising thing that happened when he lost 40% of his traffic overnight. He shares how he knew it was a good idea to create and market his land investing course and, importantly, how he decided to price it. He also shares advice for other people interested in creating their own course, along with his plans for the future. Links & Resources REtipster Land Investing Masterclass The Storyland Podcast Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
58:0103/07/2024
Google Spam Update COMPLETE with Positive Results?
Welcome back to the latest episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast, where Spencer and Jared share everything that's happened related to Google, SEO, and publishers in the last week. Spencer and Jared kick off the episode talking about the Google Spam Update, which has concluded after a week. They share the chatter on Twitter, where people are seeing positive results and upticks in traffic. What do Spencer and Jared think is going on? Moving along, the conversation shifts to AI Overviews and a change in Google’s strategy where it’s posting the link cards above the AI answer. As Spencer says, this is great news for publishers, and Jared agrees that it’s a best-case scenario in the current situation. Although this is a test, Jared makes a great if not sad point. Tune in to hear what he says. And last in the news for this week, they talk about Google’s decision to drop the continuous scroll in search results. This feature originally launched on mobile in October 2021 and on desktop in December 2022, so it hasn’t been operational for that long. Spencer shares why he thinks the continuous scroll might have been advantageous and how he feels about this change, and Jared shares his opinion as well. What did Google say about it? Before you know it, it’s time to move on to their Shiny Object Shenanigans. Spencer goes first, and admits he can’t stop checking his Facebook stats. He talks about a Facebook page he’s had for about a year, with 65k followers, in a far-out niche. On June 3rd, he got accepted into the Facebook Bonus Program and started to post 15 times a day in an effort to get more engagement on the platform. Since he got into the program, his earnings have exceeded his expectations and he’s had about 3 posts go viral. How much did he make and how many people saw his posts? How did he come up with the ideas for the posts? He shares a lot of details, but if you want the whole scoop, consider joining the Niche Pursuits Community! Spencer offers some great advice and also offers an update on a site that recently got accepted into Mediavine Journey. When it’s Jared’s turn, he talks about incorporating Pinterest into his strategy. He shares what he’s doing, where he’s getting the images, the templates he’s created, how he’s testing pins, what he’s doing with boards, etc. He shares his stats to date, even though he just started, and also gives an update on his newsletter. Both Jared and Spencer highlight something important to remember when building a business. What mistake do most people make? Then it’s time for some Weird Niche Sites. Spencer goes first and shares Get YouTube Thumbnail which, as the name suggests, lets you see the thumbnail for any YouTube video. He explains how and why he has used the site in the past. The site has tons of display ads, has 9k organic visitors per month and, most interestingly, has a ton of competitors. How much do they think the site is making per month? When it’s Jared’s turn, he gets ready to share what he believes is the weirdest niche site ever featured on the podcast. That site is One Million Checkboxes, which is totally fascinating and indeed very, very weird. Jared shares the backstory about the creator, some of his funny tweets, and shocking stats behind this viral site, so tune in to hear all about it. And that concludes another episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast! Let us know your thoughts in the comments. See you next Friday! Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
01:00:0128/06/2024
My Local Email Newsletter Makes Over $200k/Year...Here's How
This week, Jared interviews local newsletter expert Ryan Sneddon, who shares a ton of great information. He shares the strategy he used to get his newsletter, Naptown Scoop, off the ground and he offers a ton of valuable tips for anyone thinking about starting a business like this. He talks about everything from validating his idea and growing his subscribers to connecting with advertisers. Ryan’s goal at the moment is to reach $400k in revenue (he’s already surpassed $300k) and to extend his local newsletter concept to other cities across the US. Ryan begins by talking about his life prior to creating his local newsletter and how he got started in the newsletter industry. After quitting his job and taking a leap of faith, he buckled down to try to figure out what he wanted to create. When he saw someone else was building a very successful local newsletter for several different cities and he figured out how much they were making, he dove right in and launched his own in his hometown of Annapolis, Maryland. Ryan talks about how he got Naptown Scoop off the ground, and details the first steps he took to get started, which involved a combination of Mailchimp, Instagram, and Facebook ads. He also shares the steps he took initially to grow his subscribers and how he maintained that growth while finding sources of information for his newsletter. Ryan discusses the changes in his publishing schedule, and why he decided to publish daily. He shares his thoughts on lead magnets and talks about how he narrowed down his ad campaigns, how much he spent in total on Facebook ads, and his current subscriber numbers. When Jared asks him about evaluating a local market to see if there’s a viable opportunity to create a local newsletter, and Ryan shares a lot of insight and the characteristics he deems as important for a newsletter to be successful. Then he walks us through the content he includes and where he gets all of his information, and he explains how he knows what type of content his audience wants. Moving onto monetization, Ryan talks about ads as the primary method he uses to monetize Naptown Scoop and shares information about who buys the ads, how much they pay, and package deals he’s working on. When Jared asks him about advertisers, Ryan offers great advice as he explains what kinds of businesses he looks for to advertise in his newsletter. To conclude the interview, Ryan shares his final words of advice about the value of showing yourself as the face of your brand and the importance of networking and attending events in your city. If you’re considering starting a local newsletter, or you already have one, it would be a crime to miss this episode! Links & Resources Naptown Scoop Ryan’s Twitter Ryan’s other newsletter Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
01:00:2026/06/2024
Google UNLEASHES June 2024 Spam Update
Welcome to another episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast! This week, Spencer’s flying solo so we’ve got a shorter episode for you. It may be shorter, but it’s still packed with the news, some side hustle shenanigans, and a weird niche site. He starts by talking about Google’s 2024 Spam Update, which was just released on June 20th, and unsurprisingly, Google doesn’t offer a lot of information about the update, except that the rollout will take just 1 week. What implications could this update have for your site if you were hit by a previous update? Is this part of the site reputation abuse update? And what did Google Search Liaison Danny Sullivan say about it? Keep your eye on your rankings (as you probably are) to see how this all unfolds! The next topic on the agenda is Lily Ray’s article about how SEO visibility is shifting away from review sites to eCommerce and UGC sites. Google says that it has worked to “reduce unhelpful content by 45%,” although many small publishers would disagree. Spencer takes a look at Amsive’s study, which compared the SERPs from May of 2023 and May of 2024 for various queries. What did they find? What other results does the article share? What does this mean for review sites? Spencer offers some advice if you’ve been affected by this. Tune in to hear what he says! Then he gives a quick update on his Facebook challenge side hustle, in which he’s trying to make $1000 from a brand new Facebook page. He shared his recent stats on Twitter, sharing his number of followers, his current earnings, and his current costs. How many clicks has he got to his website? What’s his new strategy going to be moving forward? How much engagement is he getting? How often is he posting? Check out the episode to get all the details. When it comes to his weird niche site, he shares For Eternia, which is dedicated to He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, which Spencer admitted made him feel slightly nostalgic. The site covers the latest news (there’s a new movie coming out) and has an official podcast, an official late-night show, a YouTube channel, and a community with a forum. Spencer talks about how niche the site and topic are. How well is it doing? How are they making money? Where is its traffic coming from? Does this site give you any ideas that you can apply to your own site or business? What can you learn from this successful and weird niche site? And that wraps up this week’s solo episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast. We hope you’re up to speed on the latest events in the space and feeling inspired by Spencer’s side hustle and weird niche site. See you next week! Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter 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
26:1321/06/2024
How Andy Skraga Made Over $500k from Facebook Traffic
Andy Skraga, also known as The Facebook Traffic Guy, has had massive success driving traffic to his websites. He currently manages 9 Facebook pages and 5 websites, driving millions in traffic to those sites. In this interview, he shares a ton of strategies, offers advice on how to get started, and explains his exact approach to getting page likes, creating content, going viral, and much more. His interest was originally inspired by a site called ViralNova. All in all, Andy offers an absolute ton of value in this interview and it’s a must-listen to anyone looking for an alternative traffic strategy and a lucrative side hustle. Links & Resources Hike Your Likes Andy on Twitter Andy on LinkedIn Strevio Canva The Dodo PostPlanner Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
01:01:2519/06/2024
Hope For Google Helpful Content Update Recovery?
Welcome back, everyone, to the latest episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast! As always, Spencer and Jared offer a quick overview of the most important news items affecting content creators, publishers, SEOs and entrepreneurs. On this week’s podcast, they decide to lead with positivity, kicking things off with potentially good news for sites pummelled by the HCU. Recent comments from Danny Sullivan and John Mueller suggest that sites may see a recovery with the next core update, whenever that may be. Should we believe them? Find out what Jared thinks about all of this. Also, Spencer has some very interesting insider details about this, so check out the episode to find out what he knows that may or may not affect you and your site! Moving along, they talk about Google usage over time. Studies show that people are spending more time looking at search results compared with 5 years ago. So what does that mean exactly? Are people dissatisfied with the initial results, or are they more savvy? Or, is this a strategy from Google? Spencer and Jared have a few theories about this. And Spencer shares some stats that are completely shocking to him. Tune in to hear it all. The next news item is about the site The Wirecutter, which is owned by the NYT and has come to be an example to follow in affiliate marketing over the years. Spencer reveals how the site has seen its visibility decline following the HCU, potentially losing half of its traffic. According to Jared, they are seeing a very slight uptick recently, according to Ahrefs, which could be a sign of hope for others. As for Shiny Object Shenanigans, Spencer goes first and talks about the challenge he announced last week where he’s trying to earn $1000 from a new Facebook page in one month. He’s currently 10 days in and nowhere near $1000 in earnings, but he does highlight some positive results of his experiment so far. How many followers does he have? What’s his ad spend so far? What interesting and potentially profitable advice does Jared offer him? Tune in to hear all the details! When it’s Jared’s turn, he talks about a strategy he’s using to try to revive traffic to a site hit by the HCU with a newsletter and a Facebook page. He also shares his stats and progress from the last 7 weeks: Facebook followers, ad spend, email subscribers, cost per lead, etc. He’s also working on a digital product that he wants to sell to his audience. What’s going well and what’s not? Check out the full episode to find out. Then it’s time to discover some weird niche sites. Spencer shares Million Dollar Homepage, which was created by an entrepreneur in 2005 with the goal of selling pixels on the homepage to earn a million dollars. As it was an unusual idea at the time, the creator got some press coverage and was able to sell out all the pixels and he did, in fact, earn a million dollars. What happened after he reached his goal? How is his site doing now? What did he go on to create? And did his success streak continue or did it die? Check out the podcast to find out. Jared then shares his site, US Beer Labels, a DR19 website created in 1999 by a guy who collects and trades vintage beer labels. It only ranks for 242 keywords and gets minimal traffic. What’s Jared’s theory about this very niche website? What’s so fascinating about it and what can we learn from it? And that concludes another episode of Niche Pursuits News. Thanks so much for tuning in! We hope you feel informed and inspired, like every week. See you next Friday! Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter 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
01:02:4514/06/2024
How This Blogger Makes $10k/month Traveling in China
What do you do when the job market looks bleak and you’re tired of waiting tables? You move to China! Well, that’s what Robert Schrader did. He set off on a giant adventure that would eventually lead him to create 4 successful websites earning more than $10k per month. After being in the business for 15 years, Robert has a wealth of experience to draw on and offers a unique perspective. In this interview, he shares his blogging strategies and philosophies, some clever monetization techniques, and much more. He begins by offering a great overview of how he got started traveling and writing travel-related content, and how he came to create his very first site, Leave Your Daily Hell, back in 2009, although it was not a travel blog at that time. He talks about his fortuitous participation in a blogging contest that helped him realize the business potential of blogging, and his unconventional route to monetization. Robert initially resisted niching down but eventually took the plunge. It’s a good thing he did, because his first niche site, Japan Starts Here, is currently his most profitable venture. He has a unique approach to content that he talks about, even sharing the exact formula he uses for his articles along with his anti-keyword research strategy. Robert talks about his reasons for starting his two other niche sites, Thailand Starts Here and Taiwan Starts Here, and reveals some of his productivity hacks for managing 4 different sites. He shares his strategy for planning his trips as well as his thoughts on updating content. Robert has a somewhat unconventional philosophy when it comes to blogging, and this interview will absolutely provide some great food for thought. Links & Resources: Leave Your Daily Hell Leave Your Daily Hell Instagram Japan Starts Here Japan Starts Here Instagram Thailand Starts Here Taiwan Starts Here Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
58:3512/06/2024
Google DROPS AI Overviews to Just 15% of Searches
Welcome back to another episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast! This week, like every week, Spencer and Jared dive deep into the latest news affecting SEOs, publishers, and entrepreneurs relating to Google, AI, and beyond. The call kicked off with AI Overviews and a letter from Google’s VP/Head of Search, Liz Reid, in response to pushback from the public about the crazy answers users have been finding. In the last few weeks, the amount of queries for which AI Overviews has appeared has dramatically dropped, and Spencer and Jared share a graph that shows the niches where it has the largest and smallest presence. Moving along, they return to a popular topic of late: Google’s API leak, confirmed by Google themselves. Spencer and Jared share some of the latest and most interesting discoveries from the leak, like how YouTube comments are a ranking factor for YouTube, whether or not small personal sites are really being torched, and how baby Panda is not the HCU. They also share tips on how to approach SEO going forward, such as author authority and a focus on short, original content vs. longer, regurgitated content. If you want to hear their thoughts on what you should do differently in SEO, knowing what we now know, check out the episode! Moving along to their Shiny Object Shenanigans, Spencer goes first and talks about a challenge he recently revealed where he’s trying to drive traffic from a brand new Facebook page to his website to earn $1000 in just 30 days. Listen to the episode to find out these details, and if you want to see the actual Facebook page, join the Niche Pursuits Community! When it’s Jared’s turn, he teases the success he’s having with his newsletter side hustle, but ultimately talks about Amazon Influencer. He reveals how many videos he’s uploaded recently and how much he earned in May. He also did some digging into a drop he experienced in his earnings and made a funny discovery. Check out the episode to hear what he discovered. As for their Weird Niche Sites, Spencer reveals r74n, a site with lots of mini-games. He plays around with the most popular one and talks about monetization and the site’s unique features. He also reveals that it gets 180k organic visitors per month, and in some months over a million organic visitors. When it’s Jared’s turn, he shares Green Screen Memes, the largest memes download website for green screen video templates. This DR27 site ranks for 6k keywords, gets some good branded traffic, and has done particularly well throughout all the updates. He talks about how it works and how it would be relatively easy to set something like this up. Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter 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
01:03:2807/06/2024
How to Build High PR Links That Work (in 2024)
Chris Panteli takes us into the fast-paced world of linkbuilding in this interview packed with tons of actionable tips. Chris, who runs the agency Linkifi, is on the front lines and shares a wealth of knowledge that nobody looking to build a brand should miss. In this interview, Chris brings us up to speed on everything new in the linkbuilding world and covers a range of topics, from new platforms and what journalists want to winning strategies for 2024 and beyond. Links & Resources Chris's previous interview Linkifi (use the coupon code nichepursuits20 for 20% off) Chris's Twitter Prowly Connectively Qwoted Source of Sources Google Alerts Talkwalker Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
01:05:4305/06/2024
Google Lied! What the Google Search Leak REALLY Tells SEOs
Welcome back, everyone, to another episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast, where Spencer and Jared offer their interpretation of the most recent events in the SEO, content creation, and online marketing space. It’s been a big week with a massive leak coming out of Google, so get ready for a jam-packed episode where Spencer and Jared break it all down. They kick things off by giving a bit of the backstory behind the leak and the scope of the leak before diving into the details of the leak. That being said, what strategy does Spencer think could be useful for ranking going forward? And what do they think about Google’s spokespeople? If you want to hear their thoughts on Twiddlers, small personal sites, baby panda demotion, and site radius, and also catch Spencer’s advice to Google, check out the full episode. Moving along, Spencer talks about an experiment he’s working on: a site where the traffic comes from Facebook and Reddit. With 50k followers on his Facebook page and 11k visitors in a single day from Reddit, his site got 55k pageviews in the last month. He’s currently with Ezoic but his goal is to get into Mediavine or Raptive, start earning $1k per month, and build on that. When it’s Jared’s turn, he talks about his Amazon Influencer side hustle and how he has had success creating videos about the products he uses when he stays at Airbnbs. Then he shares a fantastic hack for making those videos. Moving onto some weird niche sites, Spencer shares Search Craigslist, a search engine for Craigslist. He shows how it works and shares a funny story about his own personal experience with this kind of site. This site gets over 100k visitors a month, a mix of direct and Search traffic. Are there any other sites you could create a search engine for or make other websites easier to navigate? Why does Jared call this idea brilliant? Jared then reveals his site, Tree.fm, which lets you enjoy the sounds of random forests and stunning photography. This DR50 site doesn’t rank for a lot of content, obviously, but they do have a clever monetization strategy. Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter 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
01:05:2331/05/2024
I Indie Hacked a $1M/Yr. App Idea in a Weekend
What does it take to build a million-dollar business? Just ask Dawson Botsford, the developer behind Earnifi. Dawson is a crypto entrepreneur who leveraged a unique opportunity in the space and turned it into a highly profitable company. He built it in a day, started out with no following, and used some counterintuitive strategies to grow his audience. In this fascinating interview, Dawson tells the story behind building his business, “an overnight success 10 years in the making.” Links & Resources Earnifi Starter Story episode Twitter Github Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and hear from industry experts each week? Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
44:2329/05/2024