Niche Pursuits Podcast: Find Your Next "Niche" Business Idea!

Welcome back everybody to the Niche Pursuits News Podcast. Join us as Spencer and Jared tackle the latest headlines about Google, SEO, AI, and content creation.

Get inspired hearing about progress with their side hustles, and learn about some weird niche sites and the unique strategies they’re using.

The first news item up for discussion is Google's own reporting on the future of SGE during its recent earnings call. Although Spencer and Jared have hypothesized in the past that SGE might hit a dead end, this call confirmed Google leadership's commitment to, and belief in, this new tool.

The company is investing heavily in SGE and expects it to be extremely useful and popular in the future. Spencer underlines the diversity of results using this feature, where the first 10 SGE results are different from the first 10 organic search results, and Jared shares a few highlights from the article about the breadth of search and Google Assistant.

How do Spencer and Jared interpret the CEO’s comments on SGE? What do they think about his comments about long tail searches? What did the company have to say about publishers? And how did its ad revenue perform?

Check out the episode for their take on these questions.

The next topic up for discussion is Google Bard’s ability to now create images. What happened when Spencer played around with it? What happens if you use them on your website? And how good are the photos it generates? See the images it created for Jared and judge for yourself!

The last article they share features a podcast guest, Brandon Salt, who asked for help on Twitter when his traffic tanked. Surprisingly, Danny Sullivan from Google Search Liaison answered him directly and their exchange was highlighted in an article on Search Engine Roundtable.

What do Spencer and Jared think about Danny’s response? Is his feedback useful and do they agree with his comments? What do they say about embedding videos? And what advice do they give to publishers who like to update their article dates each year?

As for their Shiny Object Shenanigans, Spencer once again spoke about his experiment where he’s to grow his Facebook page and drive that traffic to his website.

How does he run a Facebook likes campaign? What does it cost and entail? He recently launched several campaigns and he shares the results and a little bit about the strategy.

How many likes does he have at the moment? And how would he use this strategy to get into the Amazon Influencer Program? Listen and find out!

When it's Jared's turn to talk about side hustles, he shares the latest on his efforts to land public speaking gigs. He has discovered that there are more opportunities than he had anticipated and he talks about his plans going forward.

Both he and Spencer share an update from their Amazon Influencer side hustle. How did they do in January? What do they expect in February?

Moving on to their Weird Niche Sites, Spencer shares his site which, unlike the usual sites he shares, is not a content website. Weather Embed is a SaaS tool with a very simple website that is very niche as it’s specifically for embedding in newsletters.

Who might use this type of tool? Who might have built this tool? And can it be used beyond newsletters? How do Spencer and Jared think people could use this for their businesses?

He doesn’t know how much they’re making and it barely gets any traffic from Google Search, but it is a very cool, very niche website.

Jared then shares his Weird Niche Site: IMCDB, an internet cars movie database. It’s essentially a Wikipedia of every car that was ever used in every movie.

Although the site is not very user-friendly, it is extremely extensive and includes information and photos about all the cars.

It’s a classic, old-school directory with a DR of 68, it ranks for 95k keywords, and it gets around 32k organic sessions per month. Which keywords are getting the most traffic? What kind of affiliate program is it using? Listen to find out!

And that wraps up another episode of the Niche Pursuits News podcast! Thanks for joining us, and we hope that you’re feeling informed and inspired to keep on building, creating, and publishing. See you next week!

Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter

Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper

Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative

Ready for a masterclass on how to survive and thrive with an AI site in today's Google?

Casey Botticello joins us on the podcast to share how he took an AI site from zero to $21k+ monthly in under a year.

To explain his approach, he dives into all sorts of interesting topics:

• AI content production advice,
• Careful niche selection when using AI,
• Tips for avoiding the Google sandbox,
• The importance of adding value and new information in the chosen niche,
• His process of topical mapping,
• Focusing on broad research,
• Coupled with in-depth analysis to identify important topics,
• And much more!

Casey shares that AI played a role in content ideation and the generation of article drafts, but how extensive editing and fact-checking were essential before publishing.

He highlights the importance of maintaining high-quality content and strategic planning to avoid appearing AI-generated.

As well as the increasing dangers of obvious optimization and over-reliance on popular keyword research tools.

There's also a discussion on multimedia with some advice that seems to work even in an age where Reddit and other forums are seeing an advantage on Google.

Overall, this is an excellent and actionable look into how to successfully harness

Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter

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Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative

Welcome back to this week’s episode of the Niche Pursuits News podcast, where Spencer and Jared report on all the latest news in SEO.

It was a busy week, so tune in to hear what’s new at Google and how changes there effect content creators and webmasters. Stay for the latest updates on their side hustles, and don’t miss the weird niche site discussion at the end.

The first news item is a big one. Based on a post on LinkedIn, there's speculation that Google's SGE might not be rolled out now, or maybe not even at all. That’s obviously great news for SEOs.

Spencer and Jared dissect this news item and try to understand what Google’s future plans are. Are there really going to be changes? What’s behind the gradual shift in the language they’re using? Listen to the episode to hear what they think is actually happening.

The conversation continues to revolve around Google, but the topic shifts to what’s going on behind the scenes there. Another LinkedIn post gives a bit of insight into the company, suggesting that the company has no real leadership and is plowing ahead with AI while slowly killing organic search.

Is Google really done innovating? Does the company need new leadership? Hear what Spencer and Jared have to say about the situation.

The next news item up for discussion is Google’s announcement that its contract with Appen has ended and it has cut thousands of search quality rater jobs.

Although there was confusion about whether or not Google was getting rid of all of its quality raters, the company confirmed that it’s simply cutting ties with Appen.

How did this news initially come to light? Spencer has the scoop!

The last news item today is that Sports Illustrated’s publisher has laid off most of its union staff. You might recall that SI was busted recently for using fake AI-generated personnel on its website and, as a result, the CEO got fired.

Want to hear more of the drama at SI and with AI and the world of publishing? Listen to the full episode!

In the Shiny Object Shenanigans portion of the podcast, Spencer revisits a website he started about a year ago, the goal being to drive traffic from Facebook. His Facebook page has 45k likes, and he shared the strategy he’s using to get people to his site.

How’s it doing? Does it have potential? What happened when he applied to Mediavine? He shares some Facebook page metrics, including link clicks, and he fields several questions from Jared about his strategy.

Jared reveals a new and exciting side hustle he’s got in the works: a public speaking side hustle. He’s set a goal for the year to speak at 4 conferences, and he’s already got a few lined up. But what does he hope to earn or achieve from this new side hustle?

When it comes to Weird Niche Sites, Spencer goes first with Let’s Learn Slang, and he looks at a few of the articles and shares their stats from Ahrefs.

How could the site have established more topical relevance? And what do Spencer and Jared think of the About page?

Jared then shares his site: Easy Toilet Tips, the number one source for lavatory bias-free reviews.

The site has a ton of content but hasn’t put a lot of thought or effort into UX. Although it seems like an AI-generated website, Ahrefs reveals that it’s been around longer than that. Traffic peaked at one point, but it was devastated by the HCU.

And that brings us to the end of another episode of the Niche Pursuits News podcast. We hope you’re feeling up-to-speed on all the latest SEO news and inspired by Spencer and Jared’s side hustles and general insight.

See you next Friday!

Want some timely tips on how to grow an audience and brand from the ground up?

Jessica Holmes is on the podcast to share the surprisingly unique perspectives she's gained from growing a successful food blog.

Just as a sample:

• She wants direct traffic more than SEO traffic
• She uses the principles of quality customer service to help grow her audience
• She rarely looks at keyword tools to source topics
• And she doesn't shy away from showing the good, the bad, and the ugly when testing the recipes she shares on her blog

It all started back in 2014 while juggling a full-time job as a copywriter. Jessica wanted a creative outlet, so she started up her blog sweetestmenu.com.

Initially, she knew nothing about SEO or turning her site into a business so it was a true hobby blog.

She'd promote her content mainly on social media until a pivotal moment in 2016 when she transitioned to an SEO strategy after an audit with Casey Markee.

But this is not your traditional 'SEO' story.

Her content strategy heavily prioritizes the actual reader over any search engine algorithm, and it seems to be working.

For instance, Jessica emphasizes the importance of creating content based on reader demand and feedback rather than the usual keyword research approach.

She looks to the reader, then her own interests, then the season, and then if necessary - a keyword research tool.

She also speaks openly and honestly about the challenges of maintaining a successful food blog, including the need to update old posts and the importance of engaging with the audience and providing excellent customer service.

And the cherry on top is that she does all of this while working 'part-time' on the site!

It really is a wonderful discussion and Jessica has a lot of great advice we could all start testing on our own blogs.

Enjoy!

Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter

Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper

Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative

Welcome back! We’re here with another episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast, where Spencer and Jared highlight what’s happening in SEO, content creation, website creation, and beyond.

Listen in if you want to hear the latest about Google, SGE, unique side hustle strategies, and some weird niche sites.

The first news item this week that Spencer and Jared discuss is a recent report that says that Google’s results are getting worse. It’s based on a year-long study of product review queries.

How did Google respond? What exactly did the study assess to come to this conclusion? And what do they consider “low quality?” Spencer and Jared have many thoughts on this topic, so tune in to find out whether they think it’s legit or not.

The next topic up for discussion is Google’s SGE. A recent article states that 94% of GoogleSGE links are different from organic search results. So now we have about 10 links in the SGE results plus another 10 from organic search and most are not the same.

What does this mean for publishers? Is this good news or bad news? How does this affect you if you’re ranking first in the organic results but have an SGE pack ahead of you? And what does this mean for you if you’re not appearing in organic results? Are there 2 different standards at play here?

Talk about Google SGE continues when Spencer and Jared discuss an article about the impact of SGE by industry, which reveals that the sector most impacted by the SGE is healthcare as those queries have triggered the most responses. In contrast, finance is at the bottom of the list.

What’s interesting about the difference in performance between these YMYL niches? And what conclusions do Spencer and Jared come to as they analyze the SGE performance statistics by industry?

As for Shiny Object Shenanigans, Spencer goes first and talks about his new YouTube channel, where all of his podcast episodes will now live. Although he was initially worried that people wouldn’t be able to find the channel, he was pleasantly surprised to see that the first episode published there got over 1200 listens in just over 24 hours.

With over 350 subscribers already, Spencer’s confident that he made the right decision to separate the channels and that people will still be able to find the podcast episodes.

When it’s Jared’s turn, he talks about a strategy he’s using for his Weekend Growth newsletter that’s allowing him to increase his agency business by providing a new service. Essentially it’s a side hustle on top of a side hustle! It’s definitely an idea that anyone with their own email list and business can adapt to their niche.

He also gives an interesting update on the Amazon Influencer Program and his family. Check out the episode to hear the latest developments.

When it comes to Weird Niche Sites this week, Spencer comes with a sub-niche of a niche with his site: The Arcade Stick. Arcade sticks can be customized and plugged in just about anywhere. The site, which is just a DR8, could be getting around 100k visitors per month, which is pretty interesting considering how niche it is, plus It’s monetized on Mediavine.

When it’s Jared’s turn, he shares a site called Emoji Combos. Although it’s in beta, it still works perfectly. This DR43 site ranks for 140k keywords and gets over a million organic visits per month.

What unique keywords is it ranking for? How is the site monetized? And how much money do they think the site is making per month?

And that brings us to the end of another episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast. Now you’re caught up on all the latest SEO news and, hopefully, you’re feeling inspired and motivated to continue to work on your side hustles.

See you next Friday!

Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter

Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper

Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative

Amy Aitman, the COO of Venture Fourth Media, joins us on the Niche Pursuits podcast to share her journey from a freelance writer to leading a prominent media company.

Venture 4th Media manages around 150 websites with a massive writing and editing team of subject matter experts.

And Amy is an open book regarding the operational insights and challenges that have come along with this experience.

For one, over the years, she has been involved with hiring 500+ writers and thus has seen it all.

To build a quality team, she emphasizes the importance of a thorough hiring process and how advantageous, particularly in the age of AI, it can be to have writers and editors with genuine expertise, opinions, and passion in their niche to 'talk shop'.

As she mentions, it's what can separate us from AI.

She highlights her operational approach of going slow to grow fast - making rational, data-driven decisions every step of the way.

So, she also gets into Venture 4th Media's strategies for diversifying content and brand building, including adding email marketing, newsletters, podcasts, and Twitch campaigns to their sites.

And with so many sites under management, Amy has some valuable thoughts about the Helpful Content Update, including how the company is navigating the aftermath, how they're evaluating content, and prioritizing growth opportunities.

Overall, Amy is a great source of optimism. Her tips and experience are invaluable. And her insights into the evolving landscape of content creation and audience engagement are sure to help site operators of all levels. Enjoy!

Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter

Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper

Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative

Hello, and welcome to the latest episode of The Niche Pursuits News podcast!

Spencer and Jared are back this week to bring you all the latest happenings in the world of SEO and to break the news down. There’s a lot to talk about, so let’s get started!

The first topic of discussion is the latest article in The Verge about Google.

According to the article, content creators and website owners have essentially created their websites with Google in mind, with the result that they all look and feel the same. As a result, Google has shaped how we build our websites.

Do Spencer and Jared believe that the article’s premise is accurate? Is there too much homogenization going on? Should we really be preparing people-first content? And what about the use of Reddit in content creation?

They also talk about the response from Danny Sullivan, sharing a particularly thought-provoking tweet from the Google Search Liaison about “chasing the algorithm,” EEAT, and the “perfect” page formula.

The last news item they cover is an article about Google's efforts to combat spam. There are still a lot of spammy results in the SERPs and Google reports that it's aware and is working onthe situation. Spam is a huge problem, and it's only increasing with the rise of AI. Google certainly has its work cut out for it!

When it's time for the Shiny Object Shenanigans portion of the podcast, Spencer kicks things off by explaining that he's going to put all of his podcast videos on a new YouTube channel going forward.

But what are the reasons behind his decision? And is he going to move existing videos to the new channel?

When it's Jared's turn, he wants to continue to grow his Weekend Growth newsletter, but he flips the script this week. Instead of talking about his future plans, he asks for Spencer's input on new actions he can take. They have a productive brainstorming session with several interesting ideas!

As for this week's weird niche sites, Spencer shares a directory site for dude ranches. His site this week is a little bit different in that he knows the backstory because he discovered it on Twitter.

He shares the interesting story behind the site, which has excellent visuals and branding andmakes money through its paid listings.

Jared’s weird niche site is certainly a sight to behold: Dogica. This DR12 site ranks for 10kkeywords, including lots of first-page rankings. He and Spencer agree that the very old-school design might be holding it back, plus it doesn’t seem to be on top of many modern monetization methods, although it does offer a dog rental service.

And that brings us to the end of another episode of The Niche Pursuits News podcast.

We hope that we helped catch you up to speed on all the latest news in SEO, website development, and content creation. See you next Friday!

Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter

Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper

Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative

Will Hatton, founder of thebrokebackpacker.com, shares his remarkable journey and true entrepreneurial spirit with us on the latest episode of the Niche Pursuits podcast.

At 18, he embarked on a journey, spending two and a half years in India with almost no money. This was where his entrepreneurial journey began, selling items collected during his travels back home in England.

He initially started The Broke Backpacker as an email list, later evolving it into a site in 2013 focusing on budget travel information.

Will's travel experiences in less touristy countries like Iran and Pakistan led to unique content that when combined with his outreach efforts, attracted media attention and high-profile backlinks.

He began earning income from sponsored posts and later ventured into small group tours, providing a cash injection to go all in scaling the website and team.

The site gained immense popularity, reaching 1.5 million unique users a month before COVID caused a significant setback.

But despite some struggles and his carefree demeanor, Will Hatton proves to be a wizard in his entrepreneurial pursuits.

He discusses his strategies for brand building, systematizing his content needs for maximum results, and following through to reach his goals.

He covers the importance of building real relationships with affiliates, managing the team and content creation process, updating old content, and addressing the impact of Google updates on their approach to content creation.

Will also shares his plans for the future, including focusing on the backpacker lifestyle, launching a podcast, and expanding his coworking hostel brand in Bali.

If you're interested in hearing from a truly memorable entrepreneur with a lot of interesting stories and helpful insights - this one's for you!

Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter

Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper

Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative

Welcome back everybody to the first Niche Pursuits News Podcast of 2024!

Jared and Spencer kick off the year with another great episode, offering a close-up look at all the news in the SEO, AI, and website creation world.

This week they start off discussing the Google update on New Year’s Eve, with people noting volatility in the SERPs and even upticks in traffic in a reversal of the effects of the HCU.

How difficult is it to gauge SERP changes that happened around the holiday period? What changes in traffic has Spencer noted on Niche Pursuits between December and January? Listen to find out their thoughts.

The next topic Spencer and Jared cover is The New York Times’ announcement that it’s suing OpenAI and Microsoft.

Millions of articles from the NTY were used to train the OpenAI model, and a lot of the content that was used was behind a paywall. Meanwhile, the media outlet spends millions of dollars to have professionals write and produce its content, and now OpenAI is using that information freely and making it available to everyone.

Notably, this includes information from The Wirecutter, with the result that the NYT isn’t collecting the affiliate commissions.

But what’s at the heart of this lawsuit? Could this set a precedent for how copyright law is interpreted? Does the media company have a strong case? Tune in to hear the discussion.

Still on the subject of OpenAI, Spencer and Jared talk briefly about its offer to pay publishers between $1 and 5 million in compensation for their content. They agree that it’s far less than what publishers should get, especially considering that the NYT could be earning over 2 billion a year.

What’s going to happen moving forward? Can AI be contained at all?

Google seems to be moving ahead with, and making changes to, Bard, and now it’s going to implement its Google Assistant with Bard. Bard will power the Assistant to make it smarter and to make better recommendations. But how will this affect content creators?

In other Google Bard news, a paid version of the tool is coming, which hasn’t even been announced officially by Google. How was the move to a paid model discovered? And how might the payment plans work? Listen to hear Spencer and Jared’s predictions.

In the Shiny Object Shenanigans portion of the podcast, Spencer talks about his year-long experience in the Amazon Influencer Program. He made $6179 in December, and his entire revenue for the year is $17k+. Although he officially started in January, it took him a while to ramp up video production.

What is Spencer’s plan moving forward? Listen to hear what he has in store and why he’s approaching his side hustle in this way.

When it’s Jared’s turn, he shares some surprising stats from his Amazon Influencer Program side hustle. Although his December numbers were good, coming in at $4026, his November earnings were higher. Overall, for the year he earned $18k+ and although he started in May, he took a different approach to video production than Spencer.

He also talks about progress with his Weekend Growth newsletter and YouTube channel and how he has finished the year with just under 4.5k subscribers. He shares some of his monetization methods as well as his inspiration for starting this side hustle.

As for the Weird Niche Sites of the week, Spencer goes first with an Online Stopwatch, a simple website with a free stopwatch and countdown timer. It has ads everywhere and also offers a premium paid stopwatch feature. Who might this type of subscription appeal to?

With 2.2 million organic visitors per month, according to Ahrefs, and double that according to SimilarWeb, could this site be generating around $50k per month in ad revenue?

Jared’s Weird Niche Site is National Today, which highlights the current holidays around the world. This DR81 site ranks for 1.4 million keywords and has organic traffic of 4.4 million, but what does Jared discover when he scrolls down the homepage? What type of content are they publishing? Don’t miss their thoughts on this ultra-successful site.

And that brings us to the end of another episode of the podcast. We’re hoping you feel up-to-speed on the latest happenings in the industry, excited to start your side hustle today, and inspired by some weird websites that are killing it online.

See you next week!

Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter

Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper

Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative

Want some expert help reaching your online marketing goals?

Authority Hacker co-founder Gael Breton is back on the podcast to shed some light on the ever-changing SEO landscape.

Google's Helpful Content Update (HCU) had a big impact on many niche sites, and so Gael dove into the data to decode what is and isn't working to share some pretty surprising insights with us.

He first discusses the evolution of SEO practices, emphasizing the challenges of creating content based solely on search intent and the need for more user-friendly and engaging content.

And he has some great examples of sites doing this that have grown traffic by as much as 2000+% despite the updates.

These aren't your typical niche sites publishing 3000-word 'SEO' articles based on what existing articles say.

They're doing real reviews, including tons of visual content to be more like a 'comic book', and being rewarded for it.

The role of YouTube and social media in building credibility and trust with real people is also discussed, and Gael emphasizes the increasing importance of transparency and identity in your online presence.

Of course, the impact of user-generated content (UGC) on Google is also discussed, including probable future changes in the SERPs and potential effects on site traffic.

Overall, it's an important discussion about the online marketing business model, its ongoing evolution, and what we should all likely be doing to adapt, overcome, and ultimately succeed.

Enjoy!

Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter

Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links? Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper

Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative