The End of Niche Site Project 4! How I Sold My Niche Site for Over $250,000
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Today, I want to share why I sold my site OwnTheYard.com, how much I sold it for, and what's next.
I was able to sit down with Jared Bauman and record an entire interview to recap the history of Niche Site Project 4, the exit, and all the details.
More episodes from Niche Pursuits Podcast: Find Your Next "Niche" Business Idea!
3 days ago
The Open AI Drama, New Google Features, the Best Black Friday Deals, and a Weird Cloud Niche Site
Welcome back to another episode of the Niche Pursuits Podcast, where Spencer and Jared cover the latest news in SEO, AI, affiliate marketing, and content creation.
As always, there’s a lot that happened since the previous episode, and they talk about the best Black Friday deals, so don’t miss this one!
The first news story they cover was the major upheaval at OpenAI over the last few days. Essentially, the board ousted Sam Altman as its CEO due to a lack of confidence and trust in him.
This led to a whirlwind of events: other employees quit in solidarity, he was hired by Microsoft, and then the board at OpenAI changed course and hired him back.
What does this all mean and how will it eventually play out? How did Sam and Microsoft really fare in this debacle? And how does this ultimately impact content creators? Tune in to hear Spencer and Jared’s takeaways.
The next bit of news they cover is that Google is testing out a “Simple Search” function, which would allow users to filter their search queries and simplify them.
How exactly does it work? What does this mean for the Search Generative Experience? What is Google really doing as it implements all of these changes? And what does it mean for bloggers? Listen and find out.
The next topics are about shopping, which could not be more appropriate, since it is Black Friday after all.
Google is now using AI to help people shop for their holiday gifts. Spencer and Jared discuss how it works and show the demo. Essentially, AI will help refine gift categories and help people find exactly what they’re looking for. The new functions even let you virtually try on clothes!
In other shopping news, Amazon has announced that, on Black Friday, its Prime Video will feature shoppable ads, allowing users to scan QR codes to make “instant purchases” during the NFL game.
Speaking of shopping, as it’s Black Friday, Spencer and Jared forgo the usual Shiny Object Shenanigans portion of the podcast to share some of the biggest and best deals they’ve seen this season.
They talk about special discounts on Spencer’s tools, like Link Whisper and Rank Logic, as well as on Jared’s photography course. To save big on the best tools, check out the Niche Pursuits Black Friday Deals page!
As for this week’s Weird Niche Sites, Spencer goes first and reveals Rhyme Zone which, as the name suggests, identifies words that rhyme with your chosen word. The extensive results are organized by syllable. But what’s really shocking is how much traffic the site gets! It’s off the charts!
How is it monetized? And what could it do better to earn more from ads? Listen to the episode for all the details.
Jared’s site is a bit more whimsical: Cloud Appreciation Society. This weird site features everything from the cloud of the day and cloud of the month to a “Recent Clouds Spotted” section.
It also has a very cool UGC feature that Jared and Spencer discuss, as well as the possibility of buying a membership. Is this DR69 site ranking for a lot of keywords? How is it probably doing in terms of revenue?
And that brings us to the end of another episode! Hopefully, you feel like you’re in the loop and caught up on recent happenings with Google and SEO. See you next week for another jam-packed episode!
Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter
Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper
Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
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5 days ago
How to Grow an Email List Faster and Make More Money from Subscribers with Matt Molen
The importance of email marketing in today's digital landscape is front and center in this excellent podcast episode.
Matt Molen is an expert in email marketing and shares his background and experience in helping content creators grow their email lists.
And the conversation is particularly timely with the changes in Google's algorithms and the disappearance of cookies, highlighting the need for building a brand and owning your audience through email marketing!
Three avatars are identified:
* Those not doing email marketing,
* Those doing the bare minimum,
* And those making a go of it but not seeing significant results.
The key to growing your email list is to identify your biggest source of traffic and create lead magnets that address their specific problems.
And Matt emphasizes the importance of using existing website traffic (be it SEO, Pinterest, etc.) as the source for list growth and suggests creating targeted lead magnets that solve specific problems for visitors.
Lead magnets can include quick start guides, PDFs, eBooks, calculators, quizzes, and more. Even repurposing existing content and making it relevant to the audience landing on your page or post can help improve email list growth.
The success of lead magnets depends on the message and solution they provide rather than the specific conversion tool used. Segmenting your audience allows for more targeted and personalized email marketing, leading to higher engagement and conversions.
Monetizing your email list requires serving your audience with relevant content and building trust before presenting offers. Consistently sending valuable free content helps establish trust and credibility, making it more likely for subscribers to purchase paid products or services.
Other successful monetization strategies include creating communities, courses, physical and digital products, affiliate offers, and getting sponsorships.
It's important to create a sense of urgency and scarcity in your email offers to encourage action. To grow your email list faster, consider using tactics like pop-ups, calls to action, Facebook or Instagram ads, YouTube pre-roll ads, and partnerships with other creators.
Trial and error is necessary in email marketing to find what works best for your audience.
And Matt also dives into the best tools he believes can help with email automation campaigns as well as the biggest mistakes people make in email marketing!
Hope you enjoy!
Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter
Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper
Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
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Nov 17, 2023
Apple Gets 36% of Google Ad Revenue, New Google Experiments and Updates + Weird Niche Sites
Welcome back to Niche Pursuits News, where Spencer and Jared share the most important and recent news in SEO, digital marketing, content creation, and website building. Grab something to drink and get comfortable—there’s lots to cover this week!
The first topic they cover is Google's antitrust lawsuit. One of Google's witnesses made a mistake on the stand and accidentally revealed that it pays Apple 36% of the revenue earned via search ad activity on Apple’s Safari browser.
Essentially, Google is paying billions of dollars to Apple to ensure that it's the default browser on all of its products and it did not want this data to be revealed. What does this mean for other search engines? Does Google have a monopoly in the search engine market?
Or, maybe a better question is, how good is Google really? Does it need to go to these lengths to become the default browser? Is the quality of its search actually getting worse? And what is the science behind being the “default?”
The next news item up for discussion is Google's announcement about new ways that users can find what they're looking for on Search.
Google is testing out three features: allowing users to follow topics that they're interested in by adding a follow button, adding a perspective filter to allow users to get the best first-hand knowledge on a topic, and including information about content creators to highlight their expertise.
What other potentially controversial announcements has Google made with regard to new features? What’s the role of AI in all of this? Tune in to find out!
Jared and Spencer then talk about Danny Sullivan's recent presentation at brightonSEO. The Google Search Liaison essentially told attendees to get ready for even more changes, tweaks, and improvements to Google’s search rankings.
To get a peek at his full presentation, head on over to Twitter, where he posted all the slides and see for yourself. But what were the overarching themes? Listen to the podcast to hear Jared and Spencer's impressions.
When it comes to Shiny Object Shenanigans, Spencer goes first and talks about his adventures building a faceless YouTube channel.
He offers a summary on Twitter, but the gist is that he started uploading videos and one video went viral in May and got 474k views. He started to earn money and was making plans for the future when his viral video got hit with a copyright notification and had to be taken down.
How have things gone since then? What’s in store for this side hustle? Listen and find out what Spencer’s doing now!
When it’s Jared’s turn, he gives an update on his Amazon Influencer Program side hustle which, if you've been tuning in over the last few weeks, has been particularly volatile. The good news is that earnings appear to be picking up, so stay tuned to see if he sees a full recovery.
He also talks about his photography course on Weekend Growth and the importance of having high-quality photos, particularly in view of all the changes in Google. His course, which offers useful tips for non-professionals, is celebrating its 1-year anniversary.
Don’t miss out on the chance to get it! Jared’s offering it for 50% off with the code “Niche Pursuits.”
When it comes to Weird Niche Sites, the co-hosts really capture the weirdness of the web. Spencer reveals his ‘90s-looking website, Disk Prices, which is essentially a list of hard drive prices and their different characteristics.
All of the links are Amazon affiliate links, and search engine traffic varies according to the source: 2600 organic searches per month according to Ahrefs, 20k according to SimilarWeb.
How is the website updated? How is it doing on mobile? How did it fare during the HCU? What are the key takeaways from this website?
When it’s Jared’s turn, he shows his love for cats with Cat News Headlines. It’s a repository of daily (and probably) manually updated cat news from all over the web. This DR4 site only ranks for 250 keywords. The main articles it’s ranking for are cat food reviews and, in general, the site isn’t doing especially well.
What do they think of the design? What is the site doing correctly (if anything)?
And that brings us to the end of another great podcast. We hope you feel informed of all the latest news in the SEO space and inspired to launch or continue your business projects and side hustles. See you next week!
Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter
Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper
Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative
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