Introductions Thread

[Grey]

It's been forever since I've been on a forum. It makes me feel like a dinosaur just typing in this box with Reddit and social media taking over how they have.

Hello everyone. I'm 36 from the Southeastern United States. At some point around 14-15 years ago or so, I decided that work and school sucked, and I went looking for how to "make money online." I did the Blue Hat SEO screensaver thing at one point in my early 20s and was paying my car payment with it. However, I settled on writing content, and I've made a pretty good run of it since then.

If we're being honest, I'm fairly lazy a lot of the time, or at least I think I am. I hate it about myself, but I'm at the point with it that I just know myself and try to work within those parameters. With my writing work for example, I put in less than 10 hours of actual work each week. I've just gotten to the point that my hourly is good enough that I can pull $60-70k/year with that. With cost of living being fairly low here, I've got a good thing going.

Writing was cool for the first few years because I was getting paid pretty decently (comparatively) to sit in my underwear at home on the computer. It didn't take long for it to become boring as fuck. Over the past few years, however, it has started becoming kind of soul-crushing like my last retail job when I was 21 despite how few hours I'm putting into it and how much it's giving me in return.

So I'm here to figure out how to make some websites and make some money so that I can at least do something that's more interesting and engaging. Maybe I'm not as lazy as I think I am, and it's just the boring ass dry work I'm doing. Idk.

 

[sgtrok]

It's a new year, and as much as I hate New Year's Resolutions, I've decided to try to and be more involved in the communities that I've been lurking in for years.

I've been in the online marketing/SEO/PPC game on and off for about 16 years. I'm currently a software developer by day and start new online marketing projects for myself when I have downtime at work or the mood strikes me right.

In the early days, I started off with adsense sites and made a little money. I eventually moved onto Amazon and Clickbank affiliate sites, and made a little more money but never enough to give up my day job. I dabbled in PPC/CPA offers and made good money in the Acai craze.

I was laid off from my day job right before Christmas 2008, during the financial crisis. I used all of my Acai money to start a local SEO/Website design company. The first couple years were good, but living in a small city/large town in flyover country, there wasn't enough businesses to sustain a viable business at the rates I needed. Plus, I got really sick of dealing with clients and having to chase down payments all the time, so I shut it down and went back to working as a software developer for "The Man".

I currently have one active project, that I started in the Fall of 2019, but have basically ignored due a hectic work schedule and the year that was 2020. Now that my work schedule has normalized, I plan to put more effort into this project this year.

Long story short, I'm glad to be here and to see some familiar names from my old WF days. I hope to not only be able to learn from everyone here, but also be able to contribute any knowledge I've gained from my 16 years of moderate success and failures in the online marketing world.

 

[Ryuzaki]

Welcome aboard, glad you joined.

I did the Blue Hat SEO screensaver thing at one point in my early 20s and was paying my car payment with it.

What was the screensaver thing? I never heard about this and was around during Eli's SEO haydays.

With cost of living being fairly low here, I've got a good thing going.

Sure, but imagine if you did 20 hours a week. Your current earnings are double the average income of us dirty southerners (represent), but still... If you doubled it you could build some wealth wealth rather than being comfy. Imagine doubling it again with 40 hours and then investing into passive income sources and working 0 hours instead. Sounds like you have a good opportunity on your hands if you can drum up enough demand to work 40 hours. Then again, you're here to build passive income websites. It's not passive at first, so get ready for the griiiiind.

Maybe I'm not as lazy as I think I am, and it's just the boring ass dry work I'm doing. Idk.

Could be. I think a lot about wishing I could derive more meaning from my work. But my work provides me the means to do other things that provide meaning, so it all balances out.

Hi, welcome, @liwern. How long have you been involved in the world of internet marketing?

@sgtrok, welcome. I'm glad you're taking off the lurker hat and sharing some of your experiences and knowledge. I love it when more long-time veterans join.

Plus, I got really sick of dealing with clients and having to chase down payments all the time

Having good clients is everything. I absolutely hate the web dev / design style client work even though I love the work. I don't imagine any of us love client work, which is why we're doing what we do. Which is when we start to learn how to properly set expectations and manage everything so that it's not as bad as we thought. One thing I've always done is "no work starts till I collect the payment". Money first, every time, and this problem stopped.

On huge projects where both parties need protection, I'll do a 50% up-front and 50% before delivery. In that case I can hold the deliverable hostage till, again, the money comes first. Chasing invoices is something that's way too normal and accepted in business and shouldn't be allowed to happen. It's usually a sign that the other company's income isn't assured and/or they need some kind of net-90 delay to stay afloat. I couldn't operate that way and I'm not into assuming someone else's risk for them.

Welcome again. I hope to catch you around the forum!

 

[sgtrok]

Thanks for the welcome @Ryuzaki .

I completely agree with you on this statement:

One thing I've always done is "no work starts till I collect the payment". Money first, every time, and this problem stopped.

When it came to actual deliverables, it was always 50% upfront and the remainder on delivery. The money chasing part that was the most annoying were for recurring services the client was under contract for: hosting, SEO, PPC ad management, etc.

 

[Grey]

What was the screensaver thing? I never heard about this and was around during Eli's SEO haydays.

I went and found an archived link: https://web.archive.org/web/20070202023213/http://www.bluehatseo.com/how-to-make-a-100-per-day/

It's not passive at first, so get ready for the griiiiind.

Yeah I'm cool with that. I'm just thinking that I'm going to eat a fucking bullet if I keep doing what I'm doing now for several more years.

But my work provides me the means to do other things that provide meaning, so it all balances out.

I feel you on that.

 

[liwern]

Hi, welcome, @liwern. How long have you been involved in the world of internet marketing?

Hello there, thanks!
I've been involved for almost 15 years now. Initially started MFA sites then got bored and sidetracked.
Ventured into other stuff like affiliate marketing but nothing big to shoot about.
Over the past year or so decided to come back to Display Ads sites as it's much easier to find content etc as opposed to finding content that has affiliate offers.
Averaging around $1k monthly now for a 1 year old website.
Hope i can keep this going and build more cash generating assets like these!

 

[Elon Tusk]

Been browsing BuSo for quite awhile now. Decided it was time to signup.

Been interested in Internet Marketing since around 2016, and I currently I co-own a handful of affiliate sites each earning around 200/mo. I'm confident that figure is gonna grow with the help of some of the stuff I've learned here.
So far most of the google updates have treated me well, including the recent one. The major bottleneck in growing sites I think for me is spreading myself too thin, and not outsourcing enough. I tend to think that freelancers won't do a it "right", so I think I need to change that mindset and look at things from a more managerial perspective rather than getting as involved in the nitty gritty as I am currently.
Anyways, glad to have found this forum!

 

[Ryuzaki]

Welcome, @Elon Tusk. I'm glad you joined and started posting with us.

The major bottleneck in growing sites I think for me is spreading myself too thin, and not outsourcing enough.

Yeah, this is the eternal struggle. The old shiny nickel syndrome. More projects can happen later once you have systems in place and the funds to operate them. But it's waaay more beneficial in the beginning to find a promising project and get over that first hurdle of cash flow problems.

Focusing all of your energies on one project that has good potential is exponentially more worthwhile. You can give 5 or 10 projects one-tenth of the focus they need from you so that none of them succeed, or you can give the best one all of the focus and nearly guarantee success.

I tend to think that freelancers won't do a it "right", so I think I need to change that mindset and look at things from a more managerial perspective rather than getting as involved in the nitty gritty as I am currently.

I'm the same way. It's really hard to let go of control and trust people to take care of your own babies the right way. Especially more so when you may be hiring virtual assistants from countries you're less familiar with and some language barriers or whatever that make it harder to feel out their competencies.

Anyways, welcome again. I hope you'll stick around!

 

[mrpotato]

Just wanted to take a quick moment to introduce myself and share my story, why I'm here, what I've done and what I'm hoping to contribute here, accomplish along this IM journey...

So, where do I start? I'll start with a friendly "Hello everyone and cheers!" It's great to meet you all and I'm happy to be here. I've been doing some form of Internet marketing for the last few years. I got started by dipping my toes in the water without knowing a single thing about any of it. I've...

- Teamed up with partners with heavy programming knowledge.

- Built a large single site that post-purchase was doing more than $20k a month (before tanking and acquiring to revive).

- Built a community in a microniche that ended up making no money and being a time suck.

- Purchased hundreds of domains and wasted money in fear that others would run with the idea or that I'd eventually get around to it.

- Learned SEO via trial and error (PBNS, fresh domains, multiple niches etc and made strides from basically nothing to 5-figure months.

- I also failed at quite a few after throwing money at projects I was not passionate about, simply chasing shiny objects.

- Lost all monthly IM earnings at one point and dropped to less than $1k a month due to rankings tanking and Algo update aftermath.

- Been working in a few niches that I like and am able to make money in but I'm looking to really throttle things in 2021.

Why am I telling you this? Because I think it helps us better understand one another, our IM journey and ultimately help everyone make money.

Last but not least, why did I choose Mrpotato? Well, I love potatoes and I was staring at my kids Mr Potato Head when I joined this forum.

Looking forward to connecting with IMers, SEOs, sharing what I know, and contributing where I can contribute.

Happy New Year everyone and looking forward to connecting with you all!

Sincerely,
MrPotato

 

[Potatoe]

Heh, hell yeah, I like this guy already.

Welcome to BuSo!

What are your plans to throttle things up for 2021, do you have any ideas in mind of what that looks like yet, for your niche sites? Are there things you're planning to do drastically differently this time around, or just focusing had and grinding out some more wins using what's worked for you in the past?

 

[mrpotato]

What are your plans to throttle things up for 2021, do you have any ideas in mind of what that looks like yet, for your niche sites? Are there things you're planning to do drastically differently this time around, or just focusing had and grinding out some more wins using what's worked for you in the past?

Hi Potatoe, from one potato to another, the pleasures all mine. Here's what I've decided so far (much of it is still up for debate but I'll give you an overview). For starters, I'm cleaning out my closets. Time to Marie Kondo the F outta things!

Domains not built out (shiny objects mostly) that don't have 2,000+ search volume as an exact match or great brand-ability - see ya, don't let the door hit you on the way out.

Affiliate sites built out with no power, no top 3 rankings, and no money coming in, see ya!

PBNs built out with low DR and less than 100 BLs, see ya!

Hosting accounts serving pretty much nothing or nothing of worth...bye Felicia!

So what the heck will I do?

1. I'll pick 1 - 2 projects per niche max and push it to the core on those. I will not focus on building small sites but instead more authoritative sites with many pages covering multiple topics within a niche.

2. I'm far less likely to jump into any new niche unless I have an edge of some kind. That could be understanding that a set of KWs converts, understanding that an affiliate program has great conversions which can be negotiated to pay much higher than traditional payouts, or knowing that there is room within the buyer intent rankings. There are lots of people who jump on the latest craze (including my past self) just because it's hot or trending in Google only to realize that it's further spreading thin with no real edge or knowing if the niche/product pays well.

3. I will commit to spending 4-5 figures in linking before jumping into anything. To make a lot of money, you need links and those links cost money.

4. I plan on being less aggressive and going after quality when acquiring links and domains. Just because it's got good DR and backlinks, I'm not going to fixate on that.

5. I'm going to waste less time and think less, but do more.

6. I am going to outsource way more. I actually came across BuSo while reading a blog that was suggested by an SEO who seems to outsource almost everything and he makes a very healthy net profit it seems based on case studies. That said, I'll be spending less time doing updates myself, looking for individual link ops, and formatting content.

That's where I'm starting for 2021 at least.

 

[TXsmitty]

Hello Everyone and Happy New Year!

Let me first start off by thanking all of the active members who have shared so much valuable information on this forum. I've been lurking for a few weeks, just trying to take it all in, and figured I should just introduce myself.

Quick background: I've done almost exclusively client SEO for the past 6 years. Grew a pretty large agency, got a new partner, came across some incredible opportunities then ended up spending most of 2020 flushing money down the drain on legal fees fighting to get back my assets that were stolen. In the middle of everything last year I lost a HUGE client which was pretty devastating so I ended up settling for pennies on the dollar just to get it over with (I probably could not have taken another 2 years of legal battles financially or mentally).

Basically I am a big ball of damaged goods at the moment, but I have one employee who stuck with me through everything so I launched a new agency in October just to cover expenses and to keep him employed. With all of the terrible shit the last year I do realize this is a fresh start, so I have been taking my time to make sure that I am going in the direction that makes the most sense. Even though SEO as a Service pays well and is the fastest path to profit, I'm still beholden to someone else which ultimately makes me want to vomit. So in addition to a few clients I have a couple affiliate sites off the ground to see if I can make the affiliate game work.

 

[Potatoe]

That sounds brutal, but it sounds like you've also got the experience and the knowledge to bounce back, too.

What are you going to be doing differently this time around with your new agency to safeguard against theft? Did you have contracts and all that in place last time - would it have made a difference?

 

[TXsmitty]

Thanks, definitely learned a lot from the ordeal.

What are you going to be doing differently this time around with your new agency to safeguard against theft? Did you have contracts and all that in place last time - would it have made a difference?

First thing, no partners this time, nor for a long time if ever. The theft had to do with accounts that my partner was the face for. We had contracts with our agency and then he started invoicing from a different legal entity he established and they just told the client we were rebranding. It was a convoluted mess because the agency was the parent company but we did not have executed operating agreements for sub entites. That is probably the biggest issue we ran into. That, and the simple fact that it was multi state, multi jurisdictional, but not enough money for anyone that could do anything to care. Right at the perfect threshold for it to be handled in civil court - but for anyone who hasnt had to deal with that yet, it is years to get something like that wrapped up. Even worse, we sent demand letters and they files suit first, against me, for purely slanderous and non provable things but it didnt matter. Biggest takeaway, if there is an issue like that get your lawyer to file suit immediately. You can always withdraw but the first to file gets an advantage.

 

[Philip J. Fry]

Did you have a non-compete signed? All partners and important employees should have a non-compete signed out of the best interest of the company. NDA, non-compete, and intellectual property rights contracts are pretty standard in any professionally run company. The workers, including the equity holders, are loyal to the company in return for a secure living. If they don't agree, don't give them equity.

Finally, the only people who wins in lawsuits are attorneys. They are the judge, the plaintiff's council, and the defense's council. Both sides lose. It's better to have good relationships than go to court.

Looks like there were lots of errors leading up to the court battle. Avoid court at all cost. Seems like you're still bitter about this.

 

[TXsmitty]

Did you have a non-compete signed? All partners and important employees should have a non-compete signed out of the best interest of the company. NDA, non-compete, and intellectual property rights contracts are pretty standard in any professionally run company. The workers, including the equity holders, are loyal to the company in return for a secure living. If they don't agree, don't give them equity.

Had all of those things. It was a "breach of fiduciary responsibility" and skirted around the edges of embezzlement, forgery, fraud, conspiracy, and more.

Finally, the only people who wins in lawsuits are attorneys. They are the judge, the plaintiff's council, and the defense's council. Both sides lose. It's better to have good relationships than go to court.

I agree 100%. In my case I could not walk away from everything we built when the revenue had just started to come in.

Looks like there were lots of errors leading up to the court battle. Avoid court at all cost. Seems like you're still bitter about this.

There were definitely errors leading up to this. Definitely still bitter, but here to learn more for the next endeavor.

 

[NorthernMonkey]

6. I am going to outsource way more. I actually came across BuSo while reading a blog that was suggested by an SEO who seems to outsource almost everything and he makes a very healthy net profit it seems based on case studies. That said, I'll be spending less time doing updates myself, looking for individual link ops, and formatting content.

Welcome the forum.

Do you have a link for the blog post as I'm currently planning to do something similar myself.

 

[dlangpap]

Hi,

Found this forum through FatStacks and a referral to the Keyword Avalanche Technique post. Long story short:

I have two small sites, one I bought after it had been hit by the Google Health update and the other about one year later. Managed to somehow revive traffic to the first site only to be hit again in September of 2019. Again was able to make traffic increase... to be hit again in December. Second site was bleeding traffic as well and got hit in December too.

So, probably willing to give this one last go, I want to try the Keyword Avalanche Technique. I started this whole journey first via Flipminds, then Authority Hackers, then Fat Stacks. Never really tried link building fully (maybe one campaign and a go at buying some links) and then decided I really didn't want to so aligned right away with Fat Stacks' paradigm. And Fat Stacks brought me to KAT and KGR.

Now, before diving deep into this again, I wanted to ask some questions in relation with KAT, based on some results I have been getting. Hopefully I'll be able to post that soon in the relevant thread.

Cheers!

Dirk

 

[Ryuzaki]

Hi, Dirk. Glad you joined us.

I wouldn't give up after this last go. I just wouldn't beat my head against the EAT wall in the YMYL (your money, your life) niches. I wouldn't dare step foot in anything health or medical related, and it seems like it's expanding outward to general fitness too in the last update. I'm sure it's gonna reach as far as to pet health, too. Then on from there. Google is having a hard time fighting spam and low quality results, it seems. They're turning up the "brand signal" and "link signals" weightings to block everyone else out. No point in sabotaging oneself in those niches.

You 100% have to get rid of the "No Links SEO" nonsense. 60% or more, if I had to make an off the cuff guess, of Google's entire algorithm is link-based. Page Rank is the entire reason they exist and are better than all competitors. Trying to win with 40% of the available tools while ignoring 60% of it simply isn't going to work out for you or anyone else. Fat Stacks says he didn't build links but he did massive amounts of PPC to his main site that netted him tons of exposure and links. He has links and you need them too.

Anyways, best of luck. Please join us in the conversation and ask questions. We love to talk about this stuff and most of us know quite a lot about the industry. This is the brightest think-tank for internet marketing online.

 

[NicheMaker]

This is the brightest think-tank for internet marketing online.

Absolutely true. Best place for real conversation, very little childish BS, cutting-edge tactics, and even more foundational strategies which are even more crucial.

 

[dlangpap]

Hi, Dirk. Glad you joined us.

I wouldn't give up after this last go. I just wouldn't beat my head against the EAT wall in the YMYL (your money, your life) niches. I wouldn't dare step foot in anything health or medical related, and it seems like it's expanding outward to general fitness too in the last update. I'm sure it's gonna reach as far as to pet health, too. Then on from there. Google is having a hard time fighting spam and low quality results, it seems. They're turning up the "brand signal" and "link signals" weightings to block everyone else out. No point in sabotaging oneself in those niches.

You 100% have to get rid of the "No Links SEO" nonsense. 60% or more, if I had to make an off the cuff guess, of Google's entire algorithm is link-based. Page Rank is the entire reason they exist and are better than all competitors. Trying to win with 40% of the available tools while ignoring 60% of it simply isn't going to work out for you or anyone else. Fat Stacks says he didn't build links but he did massive amounts of PPC to his main site that netted him tons of exposure and links. He has links and you need them too.

Anyways, best of luck. Please join us in the conversation and ask questions. We love to talk about this stuff and most of us know quite a lot about the industry. This is the brightest think-tank for internet marketing online.

Thanks Ryuzaki,

I appreciate the advice and am afraid I'll ask for more right away if you don't mind as, like I mentioned, I'm at a breaking point in this whole journey.

I'll be more concrete this time: for the sleep site I bought, I have tried to move away from the health aspect of it and focus on products, mattresses, pillows, toppers, etc. Had some success ranking with some really long roundup reviews but the update brought me down again and so I was ready to begin applying the Keyword Avalanche method. However, before beginning, almost from scratch and investing f. ex. in speed optimization, I wanted to run some real-life examples by the forum to better understand if/how I should proceed (I think I still can't post) or if it was even worth it.

The other site is outdoors, so I'm not sure if that qualifies as general fitness, but would love to hear everyone's opinion on the prospects of the niche, as selling the site is also an alternative. Sorry, did not understand, "They're turning up the "brand signal" and "link signals" weightings to block everyone else out". Meaning that they are focusing on links and brand names?

As far as link building is concerned, as mentioned, I did try a campaign where, without exception, I was asked for payment. Isn't it better then to directly pay for links? But can small owners afford this? And is it realistic to expect that someone will willingly link to your content unless you are already well known in the niche, you are already ranking high or your articles are written by PhDs, all of which imply investment, sunk or current?

So, aside from the concrete case of my two sites, and on a more general note, I think it would do a whole lot of good to have a "beginner's discussion" on the whole prospect of realistically making a living from starting or investing in blogs/websites, especially in the content niche (as opposed to e-commerce and others). I think this becomes even more relevant in these times, when lots of people are coming into e-business pushed by circumstances or from the discovery of them the pandemic has brought on. Many are coming lured by the promises of great returns on investment and low working hours and this seems very unrealistic at least.

As it is becoming evident that niche selection is more crucial than ever before, how do people recommend business starters to go about this either for building or buying sites? What is crucial information when buying or creating sites?

Pardon my somewhat pessimistic outlook but doing it a bit playing devil's advocate...and having two sites penalized hard by the last Google update...

Cheers!

 

[Ryuzaki]

@dlangpap, Anything related to "best _____" where ____ is a product is going to be far more competitive than (and valuable) than the ragtag traffic you'll get from extremely long-tail, low volume, low competition keywords. The question to be asking is whether or not you're ready to monetize that kind of traffic. If not, either don't chase that traffic or find a way to monetize it (display ads, for instance). Otherwise, you'll have to accept that the value in it is simply to gather more traffic and links and try to use them to power up the rankings of the "best ____" keywords.

Those kind of posts now also are "queries that deserve freshness" so consider updating the pages and making sure the Publish Date or Last Updated date gets updated too. This matters.

Just as another niche that I wouldn't go into unless I was prepared to really fight and spend a lot of money is mattress reviews and sleep stuff. There are some real vultures in that niche who sue each other and everything else. It goes well beyond just SEO and all that.

Outdoors is a fine niche. I have zero qualms about it.

"Turning up the brand and link signals" relates to how Google's ranking system is based on an algorithm. They assign "weights" to each metric, and the higher the weight in comparison to other metrics, the more it matters in the algorithm. This quote means that they're placing more value on figuring out what's a real brand to give them more ranking power. This blocks out spam.

Paying for links is a way to accelerate your growth without having to earn those links. Yes, it's costly, but the ROI is there if everything else in optimized on your site. You need to get traffic that turns into money, and be ready to monetize that traffic effectively. Link buying works or it wouldn't exist, but it's up to you as the site owner to be ready to effectively use the power of those links.

As far as being able to afford it, it just depends. If you can't afford it, you can earn links and build them yourself, despite people asking for payment when you do outreach. For instance, if you can get to the front page of Reddit, you'll get enough exposure that you'll gain some links (not to mention the Reddit link and all the worthless traffic). Same goes for ranking highly in Google. That gives you exposure and you get links from it. If you can monetize the traffic you can begin to afford links. But buying them is certainly not necessary if you're ready to do the work and learn more about marketing and public relations and all that.

We talk about all the beginner's stuff and niche selection and all that in our free Digital Strategy Crash Course. You seem like you could benefit from reading it to get a better idea of what's involved and what it takes to really strike out big. We cover pretty much every topic that could need to be talked about for a beginner or intermediate, and we especially try to get you to understand HOW to think, not just WHAT to think about.

 

[dlangpap]

@dlangpap, Anything related to "best _____" where ____ is a product is going to be far more competitive than (and valuable) than the ragtag traffic you'll get from extremely long-tail, low volume, low competition keywords. The question to be asking is whether or not you're ready to monetize that kind of traffic. If not, either don't chase that traffic or find a way to monetize it (display ads, for instance). Otherwise, you'll have to accept that the value in it is simply to gather more traffic and links and try to use them to power up the rankings of the "best ____" keywords.

Those kind of posts now also are "queries that deserve freshness" so consider updating the pages and making sure the Publish Date or Last Updated date gets updated too. This matters.

Just as another niche that I wouldn't go into unless I was prepared to really fight and spend a lot of money is mattress reviews and sleep stuff. There are some real vultures in that niche who sue each other and everything else. It goes well beyond just SEO and all that.

Outdoors is a fine niche. I have zero qualms about it.

"Turning up the brand and link signals" relates to how Google's ranking system is based on an algorithm. They assign "weights" to each metric, and the higher the weight in comparison to other metrics, the more it matters in the algorithm. This quote means that they're placing more value on figuring out what's a real brand to give them more ranking power. This blocks out spam.

Paying for links is a way to accelerate your growth without having to earn those links. Yes, it's costly, but the ROI is there if everything else in optimized on your site. You need to get traffic that turns into money, and be ready to monetize that traffic effectively. Link buying works or it wouldn't exist, but it's up to you as the site owner to be ready to effectively use the power of those links.

As far as being able to afford it, it just depends. If you can't afford it, you can earn links and build them yourself, despite people asking for payment when you do outreach. For instance, if you can get to the front page of Reddit, you'll get enough exposure that you'll gain some links (not to mention the Reddit link and all the worthless traffic). Same goes for ranking highly in Google. That gives you exposure and you get links from it. If you can monetize the traffic you can begin to afford links. But buying them is certainly not necessary if you're ready to do the work and learn more about marketing and public relations and all that.

We talk about all the beginner's stuff and niche selection and all that in our free Digital Strategy Crash Course. You seem like you could benefit from reading it to get a better idea of what's involved and what it takes to really strike out big. We cover pretty much every topic that could need to be talked about for a beginner or intermediate, and we especially try to get you to understand HOW to think, not just WHAT to think about.

Thanks man, really appreciate the long, thoughtful answer. I'll take a look right now at the Crash Course and hopefully gain some more insights.

 

[mrpotato]

Welcome the forum.

Do you have a link for the blog post as I'm currently planning to do something similar myself.

Hi NorthernMonkey, sorry for the delay in responding here. Sure, I'm happy to share. Actually, now that I remember, this is how I ended up on BuSo. In a roundabout way, I was reading some case studies from an SEO named Tom Spicky. I read, "90% of the work will be outsourced to other companies" and my ears perked up. He's got some case studies. Heck, he may even be here I have no idea, but either way, somehow, I ended up here from his blog and reading about Avalanche I think. I'm not sure if "newbies" here are allowed to link to case studies but this is the URL where I read it. https://tomspicky.com/project-aries/. Hope I'm not breaking any rules. Please delete if so.

 

[NorthernMonkey]

After bouncing round a few threads, I thought I'd take the opportunity to introduce myself and say hello...

... Hello

Up until last November I was a technical SEO for a large UK retailer. However, with the highstreet side of the business suffering heavy losses, they made a lot of redundancies including many of the digital marketing team, opting to use an agency to fulfil most of the digital function - to be fair the team was rather large even for the size of the website (1M SKUs).

For the last couple of months I've been applying for new roles and living off my redundancy package.

I was listening to an old Joe Rogan podcast with Naval Ravikant while running on Christmas Day and this hit me so hard I had to stop to process what he said...

I don’t care how rich you are. I don’t care whether you’re a top Wall Street banker, if somebody has to tell you when to be at work, what to wear and how to behave, you’re not a free person. You’re not actually rich.

Suddenly I understood what I've been missing - the freedom to live and die by my own rules.

I think I'm lucky in that I have an existing skillset that can help me with this but I don't currently have any existing websites to help me break free.

So here's what I'm going to do, I'm going to buy or build an affiliate site and then flip in 36 months for 6 figures.

If I buy a site then I'll have maybe 3 months runway before I have to get a job, if I build on a new domain I will have closer to six.

I've been looking round at buying sites but prices seem high right now and I've also started reading the SEO avalanche concept which could be interesting especially if outsourcing those easy initial keywords.