454: Easy Website Wins: Marketing and Monetization Lessons From 175 Website Flips

Today we’re diving into the easy wins — the quick updates you can make to your websites to drive more traffic and sales.

To help me out on that topic is Mushfiq S., a side hustler who has been building, buying, growing, and selling websites since 2008, all on the side from his full-time career.

During that time he’s done over 175 transactions and has a wealth of knowledge on what it takes to make money and build equity online.

You can think of it a little like flipping houses — trying to find these undervalued fixer-upper projects, and making ’em shine.

Only it’s better suited to those who are more comfortable creating content than they are replacing countertops and cabinets — and your upfront costs may be a lot lower too.

You can find out more about Mushfiq over at TheWebsiteFlip.com and EasyWins.io where you can buy a copy of his “easy wins” spreadsheet listing the things he does to fix up sites he purchases.

Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to learn:

• where Mushfiq finds “distressed assets” he knows he can fix up and flip for a profit
• the buying criteria he uses to find the best deals
• some of his best “quick wins” that have the biggest impact on a site’s revenue

Full Show Notes: Easy Website Wins: Marketing and Monetization Lessons From 175 Website Flips

453: 12 Expert SEO Tips for 2021: Get More Free Traffic

Want to drive more organic traffic to your website?

I’m sure you do.

At the heart of organic traffic is SEO or Search Engine Optimization.

The better optimized your site is for search engines, the higher you’ll rank for your target keywords, and the more visitors you’ll get.

For everyone interested in SEO, I have an excellent round-up style show for you today.

To help you get up to speed with the latest SEO techniques and methods that are working right now, I invited a bunch of friends of mine and experts who make a living online to share their top SEO tips.

I asked them what’s working today in terms of driving more search traffic to their sites, and they shared some insights, resources, and tips that are easily replicable for your sites.

Tune in to The Side Hustle Show this week what’s working now in the world of SEO, including how to:

• find easy-to-rank-for keywords
• perform a free SEO site audit and identify easy SEO fixes
• use content editors to write better-optimized content

Full Show Notes: 12 Expert SEO Tips for 2021: Get More Free Traffic

452: Blogging vs. YouTube: Which Platform is Best to Grow an Online Business?

If you’re starting an online business, you’re almost certainly going to create content. But should you focus on written content on your blog, or video content to try and tap into the massive YouTube audience?

Which is better to focus on for audience growth, monetization, and for the best ROI on your limited time?

To help you figure out which type of content is best for you, it’s time for another Side Hustle Showdown.

For the debate, I found two gracious volunteers. Both are from the food and recipe niche, so we can compare proverbial apples to apples.

They are:

• Blogger Jannese Torres-Rodriguez, who started DelishD’Lites.com as a side hustle to share her love of Latin food. She has since turned it into one of several income streams under her multi-6-figure business umbrella.
• YouTuber Nisha Vora, who is a former lawyer who started RainbowPlantLife.com and the Rainbow Plant Life YouTube Channel to share how to master vegan cooking at home. She’s closing in on half a million YouTube subscribers and has more than 20 million lifetime views.

Tune in to hear:

• Which type of content takes the longest to create
• How they go about creating content that ranks well on each platform
• The pros and cons of “owning” your blog content vs. relying on YouTube
• How monetization compares on the two platforms
• And more

This is a fun one, and by the end, you’ll have an idea which platform is going to be best for your business.

Full Show Notes: Blogging vs. YouTube: Which Platform is Best to Grow an Online Business?

451: Affiliate Marketing, Early Retirement, and Side Hustle Shifts Over 8 Years of Podcasting: 20 Questions with Nick

It’s time to dive into the ol’ listener mailbag and answer a few questions in this week’s edition of The Side Hustle Show.

I’ve had quite a few interesting questions come in since the last Q&A episode, and picked 20 to talk through in today’s show.

Click here to join Side Hustle Nation for free!

The questions:

1. How I can use my knowledge for a blog or a podcast or affiliate marketing?
2. How have your attitudes about side hustling changed over the last 8 years in the space?
3. How do bundle sales work? Why would these product creators give their work away for so little?
4. What’s the table of contents plugin you’re using on your site?
5. How is the “You Might Also Like” box in your newsletter working for you in terms of boosting clicks, pageviews, etc.?
6. I noticed that you are using Teachable — any particular reason?
7. Which WordPress theme should I use?
8. How much do podcasters get paid by sponsors?
9. What made you “jump” [from your day job]? How did failure not become an option for you?
10. Should you build a review site around a single product or service, or broaden it a bit to the whole family of products of services?
11. What are some good potential side hustles for retirees?
12. How can you protect yourself from legal liability related to online content?
13. What’s your take on services like Skimlinks?
14. Do you still recommend putting your books in Kindle Unlimited / KDP Select?
15. When registering a business, can I be my own registered agent?
16. I have 11 separate websites for the local towns where we operate. Should I consolidate domains?
17. I’m just getting started. Should I write and publish a book or start a service business?
18. How much is enough to retire at 35?
19. What side hustles or gigs grew the most in the last year?
20. How would you speed up the process of growing a community?

Full Show Notes: Affiliate Marketing, Early Retirement, and Side Hustle Shifts Over 8 Years of Podcasting: 20 Questions with Nick

450: How to Make Money with Kids Books on Amazon

Royalties from book sales is one of the most passive of all my income streams.

After you create a book, with print or digital distribution handled by Amazon, you can collect royalties for years.

And while I enjoy the writing process and have published several titles myself, I have yet to venture into the world of children’s books. 

(Despite having the outlines of a couple kids books on my phone for the last two or three years!)

This week I connected with Matthew Ralph, a children’s book author from England, who recently quit his full-time marketing job to focus on his publishing and freelancing business.

His bestselling work to date is Sam the Speedy Sloth. The idea of which came to him while walking through an airport, and by the time his flight landed, the book was almost written.

Matt has since added more books to his portfolio, while freelancing to help other self-publishing authors.

Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to learn:

• what the children’s book creation process is like
• the most effective ways he’s found to market his books
• how he’s expanding his portfolio and entering different markets

Full Show Notes: How to Make Money with Kids Books on Amazon

Bonus: My Graduation Speech from 20 Years Ago

What advice would you give your 18-year-old self? Here’s my actual valedictorian speech from 20 years ago!

449: $10,000 a Month Selling Digital Products on Etsy

Creating assets you can sell over and over again — that’s the passive income dream, right?

This is exactly what Rachel Jones at MoneyHackingMama.com has done by creating and selling downloadable printables on Etsy.

This year she’s averaging over $10,000 a month in sales, all while balancing a full-time job and two young kids.

Rachel has only been doing this for two years, and she’s planning on leaving her full-time job in the near future and going in full-time on her Etsy business.

Big thanks to Cody from Gold City Ventures and The FI Show for the intro!

Note: I call this the Buy Buttons strategy. To kickstart your business, find the mini-marketplaces your target customers are already shopping at. Go where the cash is already flowing!

Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to learn:

• how to find profitable niches to sell digital products in on Etsy
• some of the categories Rachel likes
• the tools and technology she uses to get it all done

Full Show Notes: $10,000 a Month Selling Digital Products on Etsy

448: Rank and Rent: $1000 a Month From Simple Local Websites

What if you could rent out digital real estate just as you would traditional real estate, but without all the headaches that come with maintaining a property?

That’s exactly what Luke Van Der Veer is doing with his digital “Rank and Rent” business.

I found Luke through the Side Hustle Nation Facebook group, where he shared a unique take on online business, kind of at the intersection of service businesses, SEO, and real estate.

Really taking a page out from all of those playbooks.

What Luke does is he builds a local service business website, then “rents” it out to a local, less digital-savvy business that is more than happy for the extra leads.

Luke has been doing this for several years but said it took about 6 months to replace his day job income, and 12 months to hit 6-figures.

Today he runs a portfolio of over 100 different websites using this “rank and rent” model, earning predictable recurring revenue taking up just a few hours per week.

Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to learn:

• how Luke picks a niche and evaluates the competition
• how to price your service
• how to find qualified “tenants” for your digital properties

Full Show Notes: Rank and Rent: $1000 a Month From Simple Local Websites

447: $10k a Month Going to Parties

Earning up to $2,000 for 45 minutes doing something you love — who wouldn’t want to do that?

That’s exactly what Brian McGovern of McMagical.com does. Brian is a party entertainer — he’s been practicing magic and performing since he was in high school.

The success of the side hustle allowed him to walk away from a well-paying, but stressful, career on Wall Street.

Despite the pandemic forcing him to perform shows from his living room, he’s still making up to $2,000 for an hour’s work.

Tune in to The Side Hustle Show interview to learn how to:

• Get started, even if you don’t have any experience
• Attract event producers and party planners for high-paying events
• Turn something you love into something that can make you an extra $1000-2000 in just a few hours on weekends

Full Show Notes: $10k a Month Going to Parties

446: From Kickstarter Success to a Sustainable Brand [Side Hustle Coaching]

“Apples to Apples meets Shark Tank” in SideHustle, the party game for entrepreneurs.

After a successful crowdfunding campaign, the team behind the game is looking for ways to raise awareness and stand out on the crowded Amazon marketplace.

In this coaching episode, you’ll meet co-founders Darby Rollins and Tomer Soran, who (along with a 3rd co-founder, Tim Palladino) are looking for some ways to expand on the initial traction and grow a brand in the “productive play” space.

To help out with this one, I enlisted Side Hustle Show alumni and e-commerce and branding pro, Scott Voelker. 

Full Show Notes: From Kickstarter Success to a Sustainable Brand [Side Hustle Coaching]