Niche Pursuits Podcast: Find Your Next "Niche" Business Idea‪!‬ Spencer Haws: NichePursuits.com

Welcome back, everybody, to another episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast, where Spencer and Jared bring you the most important headlines in the SEO space.

Spencer wastes no time this week and dives headfirst into an important video published on The Verge. 

Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai is interviewed by Nilay Patel, and he asks him some very direct, hard-hitting questions and comments, including ones about the future of niche sites.

He also asks him directly about Google using publishers’ content for its AI answers and talks about the catastrophic loss of traffic for independent publishers.

He discusses two sites that Spencer and Jared have discussed on several occasions: Housefresh and Retrododo, and he asks him about the availability of data from AI Overviews in Google Search Console.


Moving along, Spencer shares a supplemental article about Google’s Ads VP being asked about the impact of AI Search on publishers. 

And lastly, they discuss an article on the recent results from AI Overviews. 

Moving on to their Shiny Object Shenanigans, Spencer talks about an experiment he’s conducting with one of his sites where he received 11k visitors from Reddit in a single day.

Neal.fun is full of absurd and entertaining games which have likely gone viral, and it’s monetized with display ads.

When it’s Jared’s turn, he reveals Caffeine Informer, a DR73 site with 818 pages, a lot of helpful blog content, and organic traffic of 141k per month.

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

Blair Williams is an experienced developer who has been in the membership site game for well over a decade, so he knows his way around the space. 

Back in the day, he looked at existing membership plugins and was unimpressed, so he decided to scratch his own itch and create his own. He called it MemberPress.

As of today, his plugin has generated more than a billion dollars in revenue for his customers, of which there are thousands.

Over the years, he has built it up to become one of the best, most powerful membership plugins on the market.

Don’t miss this interview with Blair as he shares many of ways to incorporate a membership component into your business, how to get started, and many other tips and tricks for adding an additional income stream.


Links & Resources
MemberPress 100 Membership Site Examples WP Beginner All-in-One SEO Monster Insights Use coupon code “podcast” to get $15 off Link Whisper to build smarter internal links fast 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

Welcome, everyone, to another episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast, where Spencer and Jared offer an overview of the week in news related to SEO, AI, and Google.

As is usually the case, this was a news-heavy week, especially in terms of AI. 

They kicked the episode off by talking about Google’s O/I event, where the company revealed everything it has been working on, much of it revolving around AI.

The biggest announcement was that SGE has now been renamed AI Overviews, which will be available to users in the US immediately.

What’s the full impact of these AI Overviews? How often do they show up in search results? Does the change in name mean it’s going to work differently?

AI was definitely the theme of the presentation, but how does Google’s offer measure up with that of OpenAI?

Jared highlighted information about AI Overview as it relates to publishers and content creators. What interesting (and promising) data did he share? 

And what happens if you don’t want Google to use your information for its AI results? Why does Spencer call this a “frustrating state of affairs?” Is this really what users want?

And is anyone fighting for small, independent publishers?

Moving along, Spencer and Jared talk about their Shiny Object Shenanigans. Spencer talks about his experiment getting Reddit traffic. 

He shares a bit of his strategy, talks about Reddit and RPMs, and his efforts to join Mediavine’s Journey program.

When it’s Jared’s turn, he talks about growing his Facebook page, his current cost per like, his cost per lead, and his plans for video ads.

Moving along to the Weird Niche Site portion of the podcast, Spencer breaks all the rules (which is okay, because he also makes them) and reveals a weird YouTube channel, Tiny Cakes. 

With more than 6 million subscribers, their videos are getting millions and millions of views. According to Social Blade, the site has received 960 million lifetime views, he and Jared talk about the thumbnails, 

Jared shares the site Famous For A Day, which allows you to hire a paparazzi for the day. He talks about the packages available on the site, whether this is real or a prank, and how it might be used by people.

He also talks about the keywords it’s ranking for and potential marketing techniques it’s using.

And that concludes another episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast. We hope you’re feeling more informed about recent events in Google’s sphere and feel inspired by the side hustles and weird sites and channels we covered.

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

From working remotely while traveling around the world - to acquiring a business for 43% of its asking price and 4x'ing its revenue within a year, Mike Swigunski has a lot of cool insights on deal-making, delegation, pricing strategies, and more.

In short, Mike is an inspirational example of a remote worker turned entrepreneur.


Drawing from his time working at Empire Flippers, Mike gained valuable insights into the intricacies of the acquisition process for a software business.

A key takeaway from Mike's experience is the importance of understanding seller motivations and using factual data to structure deals for effective negotiation.

The acquisition he gets into was structured to enable a quick return on investment.

Again, thanks to his experience brokering several big deals with Empire Flippers, he has a deep understanding of monetization opportunities in the online space.

Pricing psychology and benchmarking were crucial in the immediate aftermath of acquiring the business. As he outlines, he prioritized testing prices, optimizing the pricing page, optimizing customer service, and ensuring mobile-friendliness for enhanced user experience. 

He also chose to add a free trial of the full suite of tools, remove a free basic plan, translate the site into multiple languages, and focus on improving its conversion rate optimization.

His success is also attributed to his focus on lean operations and strategic outsourcing for important tasks like code auditing.

And he stresses the importance of hiring the right talent, mastering delegation, honing managerial skills, and possessing marketing and sales expertise.

All of this helped the site go from $10k in monthly profit to nearly $40k per month at the time of recording—all within a period of approximately 14-15 months!



Links & Resources
Global Career Book - How to Work Anywhere & Travel Forever w/ Digital Nomad Jobs How To Travel & Work Remotely Forever | Mike Swigunski | TEDxVake (youtube.com) Use coupon code “podcast” to get $15 off Link Whisper to build smarter internal links fast 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

Welcome back, everyone, to another episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast.
The first news item they cover is Google’s move to enforce site reputation abuse, also known as parasite SEO.

He also shares a tweet from Glen Allsopp with early insights into these measures. 

In positive news, Spencer and Jared talk about a potential correction from the recent Google updates. 

Still talking about Google, it looks like the company’s market share has taken a dip, and Spencer shares some of the recent stats.

By how much did its share of the global market shrink in the last year?

Speaking of a declining market share, Google may see itself up against a new search engine, launched by OpenAI. Although it’s not official, rumors suggest that it’s in the works.

In the Shiny Object Shenanigans portion of the podcast, Spencer shares an experiment he’s doing with a small website trying to drive traffic from Reddit.

He talks briefly about some of the things he did to get that traffic and what he plans to do moving forward.

When it’s Jared’s turn, he talks briefly about his newsletter side hustle but goes into more detail on a YouTube side hustle he’s working on.

One of his channels has seen a boost in traffic thanks to the Amazon Influencer videos he uploaded there; in fact, it now has reached the threshold for monetization.

As for Weird Niche Sites, Spencer goes first with James Bond Lifestyle, a DR57 website that provides exhaustive information about all things James Bond—clothing, accessories, gadgets, etc. 

According to Ahrefs, it gets 20k monthly organic visitors, and according to SimilarWeb, 200k. Spencer also takes a look at its keywords and its optimization opportunities and reveals if it was impacted by the HCU.

When it’s Jared’s turn, he reveals his weird site: This Is Why I’m Broke. 

Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and here from industry experts each week?  Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com
Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter
Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links?  Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper
Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative

Looking to grow your email list?

Liz Wilcox is here to help. She's worn many hats:

A former Survivor contestant (yep, the reality TV show) RV blogger Virtual assistant
But above all - she's an email growth expert joining us with awesome tips and tricks to help you connect with your target audience and make good money doing it!

And she's an absolutely great example to learn from - she was featured as a Niche Pursuits' success story in 2023 (link below), making $20k per month, and has since "doubled that!"


Email marketing helped revolutionize Liz Wilcox's business.

Over the years, she's scaled her email marketing efforts, refined her lead magnets, and boosted conversions.

During this process, she developed her innovative "email staircase method." This is a strategic approach to converting followers into friends by building authentic and lasting connections with subscribers and, ultimately - lasting customers.

Infusing personality and relatability into email content is crucial for fostering these connections with an audience.

She has lots of practical tips to help, like crafting effective welcome sequences and evaluating performance to enhance engagement and conversion rates.

This not only helps with connections and authenticity but also with finding your own niche.

She also discusses the importance of setting clear expectations, sharing values, and offering a mix of free and paid products in welcome sequences to nurture a loyal subscriber base.

Tripwire offers transparent communication and strategic sales placements within newsletters to help her nudge subscribers from passive to paid. And she prioritizes products that address the needs she's found interacting with her audience.

Check out the episode to learn all about the transformative effects of starting with a well-crafted welcome sequence, engaging newsletters, and more!

Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and here from industry experts each week?  Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com
Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter
Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links?  Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper
Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative