How Ben Rojas Grew an SEO WordPress Plugin to 3,000,000 Users

Welcome back to another episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast! This week Spencer and Jared cover all the latest happenings in the SEO and content creation space and share their opinions and insight. Then they share some very interesting and inspiring side hustles they’re working on, and they wrap things up with some weird niche sites. They jump into things with the news that Google’s March Update is finally complete!  It finished rolling out on April 19th, and Spencer and Jared discuss the update in general, how long it took, and why its conclusion might not have been announced by Google until later.  They talk about Google’s original ambitions with regard to the update and the feedback form they created as well as the site reputation abuse update that’s going to get underway. They also discuss why nobody has recovered from the Helpful Content Update, whether Google even knows how someone might recover, and what this all means. They move on to discuss the winners and losers from the March 2023 Core and Spam Updates, looking at different types of traffic losses and naming some surprising sites on the list as well as looking at some of the winners. Of course, Amazon, Reddit, and YouTube come up, as do dictionary sites, Etsy, and Quora. Moving on, they share an article on HouseFresh about how it no longer appears in Google Search and how Google is killing independent review websites.  They show the article’s graph, which reflects a giant 91% decline in traffic, and discuss interesting topics it covers, such as the rise of Forbes in Search and keyword swarming. Spencer and Jared then share a public plea from Marie Haynes for Google to help publishers hit by the update.  Why is this unusual? How does Jared summarize the situation? As for their Shiny Object Shenanigans, Spencer talks briefly about his Amazon Influencer Program side hustle.  He shares his earnings for the last 30 days and talks about his future plans for it. Although this project provides passive income, Spencer actually gave a highly detailed presentation as part of his Niche Pursuits Community program where he talked about all the work that went into the side hustle in the beginning.  Jared then goes on to talk about his Amazon Influencer side hustle, talking about the new videos he’s uploaded in 2024 and his total earnings for March and April. How did he do? How do his stats measure up to Spencer’s? He also talks about his most recent newsletters side hustle, which of the 2 is getting the most traction, his Facebook page lead generation strategy, and his current number of email subscribers. Tune in to hear more about his strategy. As for their Weird Niche Sites, Spencer goes first with Secret Fan Base, which takes a closer look at the story and clothes from well-known brand Banana Republic.  As the clothes are now more mainstream and mass produced, the site covers its original safari style and is created by a group of original fans. Although it doesn’t get a ton of traffic, the site has a unique story and is a true labor of love. Jared shares his site, Passport Waiting Time, and shares some of the site’s interesting aspects, like a forum. This DR27 site is ranking for 2k keywords and gets 3k in organic search traffic per month. They discuss potential strategies the site could use, its current monetization, and why they think the site wasn’t impacted by Google’s updates. That concludes another great episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast.  We hope you learned about the latest events in the space and that you’re feeling inspired by the conversation. 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

Today, we're being joined by Brian Winum, a long-time digital marketer who started affiliate marketing in the late '90s... He runs a marketing agency in New York and specializes in building websites as sustainable and valuable business assets - specifically focusing on securing Google News approval and executing effective monetization strategies. And he's got a lot of tips on the topic and others that may interest you, including: Authority stacking, Tips for using AI-generated content, Adhering to Google Quality Rater guidelines, And taking a strategic approach to digital marketing.

Welcome back to another episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast! Are you ready to hear the latest news affecting Google, SEO, AI, and web publishers? As always, Spencer and Jared will break everything down into digestible pieces and share their thoughts, concerns, and predictions. They kick things off diving straight into a particularly spicy topic: who’s killing Google Search. They maintain that it’s an inside job, and talk about the news that came out this week about an internal meeting at Google regarding the division’s “new operating reality” and the decline in search queries and engagement. Word on the street is that the man who heads the Search team is the man who killed Google Search. Spencer and Jared talk about this possibility as well as a little bit about the history of Search, the results of updates over the years, why results have gotten worse over time, how ads have been redesigned, and how Google is trying to squeeze more money out of Search results. What incredible irony does Jared point out? What’s Spence’s takeaway for bloggers? Is Google going to implode? Spencer and Jared then move on to a related topic: how product recommendations have broken Google. They reference the Housefresh debacle from a few weeks ago, and talk about how the search for products has changed over time.  How do we know if the reviews are honest, or if they’re sponsored, or if they’re authentic? And what does the future hold for product reviews? The last article they discuss is how Google has become defensive when it comes to its Search quality and forum results. Experts are pointing out that the results being delivered by Google on Reddit offer very poor and misguided advice, especially when it comes to health queries. How has Danny Sullivan responded? Why do Spencer and Jared talk about the difference between “trust” and “like?” Moving on to their Side Hustle Shenanigans, Spencer talks about his Amazon Influencer videos going live on YouTube. Before his channel got shut down, he was getting between 100 and 200 views per day, peaking one day at 250. Now his biggest day has been 11 views. He and Jared talk about why this may be as well as his process for getting his videos live on YouTube. What program does he recommend using to automate the process? Jared then talks briefly about his Alt G Conference, which was held just a few days earlier, and he shares some interesting stats and stories from that online event. When it’s his turn, he talks about his email newsletter side hustle.  He recently launched a second email newsletter using content from one of his sites that was crushed by the HCU. He goes through many of the steps he took to get the project off the ground, so tune in for some great ideas! When it comes to Weird Niche Sites, Spencer shares his, which is Brick Economy, on the economics of Legos. The site offers the current value on lots of Lego sets as well as annual growth of certain themed Legos, and the ability to track the prices of your own Legos. It’s monetized with affiliate links and display ads, and according to SimilarWeb, it’s getting over a million visitors per month. When it’s Jared’s turn, he shares his site, Tractor Data, which is a small, family-run business that has been tracking data on tractors for the last 20 years. This DR61 site includes a news section and a directory and gets almost 400k pageviews a month, according to Ahrefs. What keywords is it ranking for? Does it rank first for any terms? Is it making any money? And what kind of potential does Jared see in the site? As both of these sites are doing well in Google, what can we learn from them and their strategies? And that brings us to the end of another informative and inspiring episode. See you next Friday! Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and here from industry experts each week?  Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links?  Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative

What better way to respond to a time of uncertainty and transition than to share a true success story of change. Joining the podcast is a truly hopeful example of growth and evolution. Ben started off as an IT and web development guy and now runs of the SEO plugin All-In-One-SEO (AIOSEO) since it was acquired in 2020. Over these years, both he and the plugin have experienced massive change and transformation to be in the positions they are today. And we're gonna learn some of the key takeaways of how this was possible.  Links & Resources AIOSEO - The World's Best All-in-one SEO Plugin for WordPress: https://www.nichepursuits.com/aioseo  Benjamin Rojas | LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminprojas/ Benjamin Rojas (@benjaminprojas): https://twitter.com/benjaminprojas Use coupon code “podcast” to get $15 off Link Whisper to build smarter internal links fast: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative This Episode is Sponsored by Search Intelligence - https://search-intelligence.co.uk/  

Welcome back to a new episode of the Niche Pursuits News podcast!  Jared and Spencer, as always, offer an insightful take on the latest happenings with SEO, publishers, Google, and AI, and give a peek behind the curtain at their latest projects. Stick around for a laugh when they reveal the weird niche sites they found. The first order of business is to mention that the March Core Update has still not finished rolling out and Spencer and Jared decline to guess when that might be. Moving along, they jump into the first big news item: The Verge trolling Google, once again.The Verge published a new article for 2024 “reviewing printers,” when in reality the article is just mocking Google for how they rank articles. Did The Verge actually test the printers? What outbound links did they include? What did John Mueller have to say about it?  And most importantly, how’s the article ranking? Find out the amusing, and depressing, story behind this news item. Moving along to another article in The Verge, Spencer and Jared talk about how Google is experimenting with a small subset of news publishers, removing their links from Google News. It’s doing this because California is thinking about forcing Google to pay its news publishers. What are the implications for publishers? Is there any precedent in these types of situations? What happened in Australia? And will Google extend this to other areas? In other Google news, the company is launching a new ad product whereby ads appear inside your content, as hyperlinked text, which takes users to advertisers’ products. This is optional for publishers within Google AdSense. What does Spencer think? Would he enable this on his own websites? What scenarios does Jared share where this might work? Tune in to find out. The latest news item is that Brave Search has released an Answer with AI feature.  What do Spencer and Jared think of it and its impact? What does it remind them of? Moving along to the Shiny Object Shenanigans portion of the podcast, Spencer talks about his Amazon Influencer side hustle and his decision to publish those shopping videos on YouTube. Incredibly, his channel disappeared! What happened? How did it turn out and what’s happening now? When it’s Jared’s turn, he announces a new side hustle: an email newsletter. He talks about how he plans to build it, why he decided to dive into this project, and his experience in this area. When it comes to Weird Niche Sites, Spencer reveals Pets or Food, a very entertaining tongue-in-cheek website that does get some traffic, according to Ahrefs. It doesn’t have a lot of ads but it does have merch, which may be a source of revenue. Jared then reveals Line Rusher, which allows people to hire someone to wait in line for them at places like the DMV, Apple, and at restaurants and amusement parks. They offer some interesting services and are constantly hiring line sitters, which may be an interesting option in the current gig economy. What do the stats in Ahrefs reveal? What spin would Jared put on this service? And that brings us to the end of another episode! We hope you learned from the latest headlines in the space, felt inspired by our side hustle projects, and got ideas from this week’s weird niche sites. Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and here from industry experts each week?  Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative

Stephen Regenold is a true digital media success story. Around 2010, when print media was starting to really feel the effects of the Internet, he decided to start his own outdoor blog. Early in his online journey, Steven made wise decisions in the site's revenue model for direct ad sales, affiliate commerce, and SEO strategies. These, combined with some viral luck when a term they helped coin was being considered for the Oxford Dictionary, helped the brand become a massive success. (He also touches on how video content, from shorts to documentaries, played a crucial role in their strategy.) Gear Junkie's achievements led to multi-million dollar revenue and partnerships with major brands, positioning the site and its editors as an influencer proposition. They engaged audiences through influencers like YouTubers and Instagram personalities, along with their SEO success. In 2018, acquisition offers started pouring in, and Gear Junkie eventually sold to Lola Digital in 2020. Post-acquisition, the company rebranded as All Gear Digital, raising $40 million, making eight additional acquisitions, growing into an outdoor media conglomerate, and bringing back Stephen to help them grow. This was well-timed as the outdoor industry saw surprising growth during the pandemic, with a surge of interest in outdoor activities and gear. Stephen discusses how All Gear Digital's brands are doing today, providing numbers and sharing strategies for adding value to conversations and maintaining a unique voice in a competitive space. As a result of all this, you won't believe how long their dwell time on site is. Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and here from industry experts each week?  Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links?  Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative

Welcome back to another episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast!  Come join Spencer and Jared as they take on the latest news in SEO, AI, Google, and beyond. This week’s episode kicks off with some big news from Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, who talks about the future of Search.  The main pivot he focuses on in the interview is the shift to AI, which he expects to serve the company well over the coming decade. He notes that AI has been working behind the scenes for a long time now and that Google has to evolve to meet the changing needs of users. What does he say about chatbots? And what does he say about websites? Are they going away and is SGE going to take over? Tune in to hear what Spencer and Jared think about his comments. Moving along, they talk about a LinkedIn post from Lily Ray on the SEO visibility growth of Reddit and the mindblowing statistics she shares.  What theory does she share that Spencer doesn’t agree with? How does this all play into Google’s antitrust lawsuit, problems with Gemini, and its declining share price?  And what about Reddit’s poor-quality results in Search? Listen to the episode to hear the ridiculous Reddit response to a weight loss query. Spencer then shares a tweet from a series by Glenn Gabe on the March Core Update, talking about whether the update has finished or not, the role played by the HCU, and the lack of recoveries from these updates. What did John Mueller say about the core update? What do Spencer and Jared think about the updates and when they’ll finish? Check out the episode to find out. The last topic is that Bing usage is on the rise, having gained some footing recently, and Spencer and Jared note from the article that Bing actually powers several other search engines, including DuckDuckGo and Yahoo. What do they recommend when it comes to optimization? Who uses Bing and why does it matter? What’s happening with desktop search? As for their Shiny Object Shenanigans, Spencer highlights two of his side hustles, the Amazon Influencer Program and his Facebook traffic project, neither of which rely on search engine traffic at all. Jared then announces the Alt G Online Conference: Unleash Your Content’s Potential Beyond Google, which will bring together people earning money on alternative platforms. It will be held on April 25th, and both Spencer and Jared will be speakers. In line with the conference, the Niche Pursuits Community is welcoming a series of expert speakers each week who are also talking about using alternative traffic sources. Jared talks briefly about his Amazon Influencer Program side hustle and then teases a new side hustle he’s about to launch. Come back next week for all the details! As for the Weird Niche Sites, Spencer reveals iScrap App, which reports local scrap prices. They’ve got a blog and a directory and they’re doing well in search: 300k visitors per month according to SimilarWeb. They monetize with display ads, they have a store, they sell directory space to scrapyards, and the owner probably has a nice little side hustle with this weird niche site. When it’s Jared’s turn, he reveals Live Oasis, which lets you research the toxicity of many water brands and rates the water quality in different municipalities. It has a subscription model, which provides access to more information and research, but is it earning money? Beyond that, this brand-new website is doing quite well and ranking for lots of keywords. What does Jared discover when he digs into the backstory? And where is all of the data coming from? And what if they were to change the model a bit? Hear Jared and Spencer’s recommendations. We hope this episode helped bring you up to speed on the latest happenings in the SEO and content creation space and gave you some new ideas when it comes to your own businesses. See you next week! Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and here from industry experts each week?  Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links?  Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative

Michael Dinich has had tremendous success with Flipboard as a traffic source for his site Wealth of Geeks. Thanks to this focus, he gets about one-third of his traffic from the platform and avoids much of the pain and stress felt about Google updates. Flipboard is described as a less time-consuming Pinterest and offers a broad approach suitable for diverse industries beyond strictly visual-centric ones. It's platform that caters to a diverse demographic, slightly leaning towards males, and supports a wide range of niches such as finance, muscle cars, and video games. And he's got tips on how we can follow in his footsteps. For starters, he emphasizes the importance of participating in the community, and optimizing content for the platform. Things like: Creating magazines, Flipping trending content, And joining group shares. Success on Flipboard hinges on strong headlines, engaging images, and community interaction to drive high-quality traffic and engagement rates. And strategies like cloning posts with seasonal variations and maintaining SEO titles on website URLs can enhance visibility. He also suggests following influencers, and adding a Flipboard button to your website are recommended for growth. And highlights how consistent effort and experimentation are key to seeing significant gains on Flipboard, with the process taking around six months. He gets quite a bit deeper into the specifics though and if you're in the market for a new traffic source you won't want to miss this one! Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and here from industry experts each week?  Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links?  Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative

Welcome to another episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast! This week's news podcast is brought to you by Jared Bauman and Thomas Smith, who’s filling in for Spencer. As always, they’re bringing you all of the latest news related to SEO, Google, and AI, along with their analyses. Stay until the end to hear about their side hustles and weird niche sites! The first item up for discussion is the fact that Google is thinking about charging for its AI-powered features, such as the Search Generative Experience (SGE).  Jared and Thomas talk about SGE and the reasons why Google may consider this path, and if they do go ahead with it, what it might look like. They also discuss a Tweet from Glenn Gabe, sharing his predictions about where this is headed.  Moving along, they discuss how Google’s search engine market share has declined by around 2%, which may not sound like very much, but it is, and it most likely has Google worried. It looks like Bing’s market share is growing, and Jared and Thomas talk about potentially optimizing for the platform. The conversation then shifts to Microsoft Start, which is Microsoft’s version of Discover, and its  recently-announced and very interesting AI policy. Thomas shares his experience using Microsoft Start and his interpretation of their stance on AI. What do he and Jared think about this policy? And how is it different, or similar, to Google’s? Moving to a lighter topic, Thomas talks about a musician named Matt Farley, who essentially mined Spotify for keywords and created songs around them. Today he's earning $200k a year. Tune in to hear his excellent advice around this story as well as the stats behind Matt’s “business.” When it comes to Shiny Object Shenanigans, Jared starts by talking about his Amazon Influencer side hustle. In March, his earnings totalled almost $4k and, inspired by this progress, he uploaded another 66 videos. He shares some of his stats and talks about how passive this business model really is. Thomas shares his Medium side hustle, explaining how the platform works, its stance on AI, and how he makes money from it. Last year he was earning $500 or $600 per month from it, and last month he made $3k.  Listen to hear him explain his thoughts on that growth and what Medium is doing right. He also recently started an Etsy store for fun? Find out what he’s selling! As for Weird Niche Sites, Jared shares his first: MeetWays, which helps you find a spot in the middle when you’re meeting up with someone. This DR34 site has seen its traffic grow from 15k last year to 30k this year and ranks for 188k keywords. They talk about how the site is monetized, how it was potentially built, and whether or not it’s helpful. Thomas shares the site Antipodes Map, which lets you see what’s on the exact opposite side of you on the earth.  He plays around with some locations to show how it works, and then shares the stats: DR52, 4k organic search traffic according to Ahrefs, and 113k searches per month according to SimilarWeb.  Is it monetized or is it a passion project? Listen to find out! That brings us to the end of another episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast! We hope you enjoyed this episode with Jared and Thomas and feel informed and inspired in your own business projects. Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and here from industry experts each week?  Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links?  Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative

Want to escape the 9 to 5 rat race but struggle to come up with good business ideas? This episode is for you. Peter Askew got into the internet business working for .com startups in the late 90s. Due to a series of bad experiences though, he was pretty much forced into entrepreneurship (his words). Thanks to this, over time, he developed an awesome ability to create opportunities by acquiring strategic aged domains. This is what he dives into today which you don't want to miss! Peter's strategy is really cool and the interview covers a lot of interesting stories and insights from his journey. It all started when he acquired the domain duderanch.com, which became the cornerstone of his success. And while growing it - he learned a lot of lessons about diving into a niche that have continued to help him in all sorts of ways. He talks about attending industry conferences and fostering relationships with ranch owners. And how these real-world relationships translate to online business growth. Over time, Peter continued to grow his site's directory-style business by improving rankings and revenue. And he discusses some key insights from various metrics, regarding his site's design, imagery, and brand reputation. It hasn't been all successes though. He also shares how important the niche is for success with this model - highlighting the expensive lessons he learned after acquiring 'birthdayparties.com'. Peter also discusses the growth of his job board in the ranching industry, and his DTC onion project. These are projects that highlight his ability to compete with comparatively massive companies thanks to his domain strategy. Overall his story is really inspirational. And one that highlights the sometimes overlooked techniques that can be used to grow nearly any business. And is an episode that is absolutely worth watching. Ready to join a niche publishing mastermind, and here from industry experts each week?  Join the Niche Pursuits Community here: https://community.nichepursuits.com Be sure to get more content like this in the Niche Pursuits Newsletter Right Here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/newsletter Want a Faster and Easier Way to Build Internal Links?  Get $15 off Link Whisper with Discount Code "Podcast" on the Checkout Screen: https://www.nichepursuits.com/linkwhisper Get SEO Consulting from the Niche Pursuits Podcast Host, Jared Bauman: https://www.nichepursuits.com/201creative