In Episode 18 of The Side Hustle Show, Spencer Haws of NichePursuits.com shares his detailed process for niche site creation and monetization, including idea generation, competitive analysis, content creation, link building, and much more.
Spencer is the leading expert in this field, which is one of the most popular side hustles around. If you know a thing or two about WordPress (or are willing to learn) and can follow a few simple rules that Spencer lays out, there’s no reason why you can’t borrow his process to get started with a niche site or ten of your own.
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In this episode, you’ll learn:
- One smart way to generate “seed” keyword ideas.
- Why worm farms and buffalo nickels hold a special place in Spencer’s heart.
- The tools and metrics used to evaluate a niche.
- How Spencer overcame a $10,000/month ban from Google Adsense.
- Why rumors of the death of “exact match domains” are false.
- The link-building strategies Spencer uses to rank new sites quickly.
Links mentioned:
- Long Tail Pro – Spencer’s powerful and proprietary keyword analysis and competitive research tool. Use that (affiliate) link for $30 off.
- Elance
- Textbroker
- Pat Flynn’s Niche Site Duel
- Google Keyword Planner
- Moz (formerly SEOmoz)
- Open Site Explorer
- LayeredLinks.com
- Ubersuggest
Learn more about Spencer at his blog, NichePursuits.com or hit him up on twitter. And of course, you’re welcome to leave a comment here as well and I’ll make sure he sees it.
What do you think? Are niche sites a viable side hustle? Have you ever built one (or several)?
Let me know!
Hey Nick – Thanks for the interview! I enjoyed discussing my business and sharing some of my story.
Its all about the side hustle :). Thanks Nick!
You bet, thanks for bringing some great value for Side Hustle Nation!
So you went from your first few podcast guests having around 800 Twitter followers to Spencer from Niche Pursuits?
BOSS!
Thanks! Just working the network one week at a time :)
At the end of each call I’m like “ok who else do you know who would be a good fit?”
Thanks for a great interview. I actually discovered this today, and I think it’s a gem.
Obviously, Spencer’s a legend. A lot of people forget that he has actually gone through the mill, “figuratively”, and done what most of us side hustlers are trying to achieve. He did the original “niche website”, “iron man” challenge, back in 2009, and built 100 niche sites in 30 days. Hard to beat that. There’s a post on the warrior forum, where he even speaks about it. Legendary.
Do those techniques still work today? Yep. Still do. In fact, I plan on digging up those older work, and studying them. Then doing the same with his most recent work, which is even better.
Thanks again for a solid interview.
PS: You’ve got a couple of good books out yourself. Definitely worth a read. Thanks.
Hey Colin, thanks for stopping by! I was definitely excited to have Spencer on and share some of his wisdom. So awesome to get the step-by-step rundown on how to get started.
Listened to this episode last night. Was completely hooked! Plan on listening to it again. Have been considering starting a few niche sites and had few unanswered questions which this episode helped me answer. Really enjoying the podcasts and working my way through the archive. Will be listening to the udemy one next!
Hey Mr Explainer, thanks so much for stopping by and for the kind words! If you have a minute, would you mind leaving a quick review on iTunes for me? https://www.sidehustlenation.com/itunes — That would be awesome!
Reg. Udemy, I’ve come across a couple great resources lately that are definitely worth checking out as well:
http://robcubbon.com/make-money-on-udemy-week/
http://jbdcolley.com/tag/udemy/
Let me know how it goes! Is the explainer video biz a side hustle for you a full-time gig?
Listening to your Youtube video that discusses bestsurvivalknifeguide.com. I can’t find it. Just curious. What happened to it?
Does it still work in 2016? I mean Google Adsense pays peanuts our days. I gonna start a small 2-3 pages’ site. I know people who’d be interested in my one [I hope they will]. But I don’t see another way to monetize it – only Adsense.