It's been a while since I've had this much fun with niche sites

I know it's weird I send my newsletters at the end of the day. Probably not optimal. I do it for two reasons: First, I spend the lion's share of my time going after every nook and cranny in the sector my niche site operates in. More on all that below. Second, writing these emails is a welcome break toward the end of the day after some heavy niche site lifting. This is where I can regale you with my work since the last email. 10 minutes ago I clicked publish probably for the last time today. I still don't tire of it after all these years and with the help of Koala, I get to do it way, way more. Speaking of Koala... I finally pulled myself away from cranking out niche content with Koala to actually write a Koala review. I know many of you are tired of hearing about it, but if you want to know why I like it so much, read [my Koala review](=). Koala continues to blow my mind. I'm now working Koala in bulk mode. As of tomorrow, Koala will offer a "scholarly" option which cites sources from Google Scholar (something I'm eager to try). New features seem to be added weekly. Next level AI IMO. ​[Try Koala for free here](). ​ Youtube channel restart This has been a long time coming. I sent a previous email about this. In case you missed it, I rebooted the Fat Stacks Youtube channel. The first video "How to rank your niche site in 2023 & beyond" is doing extremely well. [Click here]( if you want to watch it and subscribe for upcoming videos just like that. I've since recorded a few more vids which will be released in due course. ​ I'd like your opinion - your chance to weigh in I'm collecting feedback on this esteemed newsletter and would love your opinion. I write this email for readers; at least I try to. If you have topic suggestions or general feedback, I really do want to hear it. Plus submit your ideas for topics that I might cover on the newsletter or on the channel. ​[Click here for the FS feedback form]()​ ​ SEO Coaching I had to close it down pretty much as soon as I opened up the Fat Stacks coaching program with my SEO guy, Taylor Kimball. If you didn't get any of the 15 spots, you can [join the waitlist here](=). You'll be notified next opening. ​ Topical Maps I've started doing topical maps for my site. I have two underway (two distinct topics). I'm using [this course](=) (my review), which is very helpful. ​ It's been a while since I've had this much fun with niche sites That's an exaggeration. I've always had fun with them. I'm just venturing into somewhat new territory. If you don't look for something, you don't know it's there. That's what I've been learning about traffic sources over the last few months. Ever since Google started going nuts with updates, I started exploring additional (not alternative) traffic sources. It's undeniable that Google updates are random; traffic fluctuations on a broad scale are bigger. What was once relatively stable, growing traffic source is no longer. While Google is still one of my biggest traffic sources and will remain so, I'm working it so that every month, my dependence on Google traffic lessens. I'm cranking content out like nobody's business thanks to AI but it's costing me far less money and time to produce more content. That gives me money and time to develop other traffic sources. Kind of a perfect scenario. These days I'm dependent on multiple platforms, not just one. I actually have some control over three (email, push and FB groups). Those three aren't close to big enough yet, but in time they may be. I know, I know, for a long time I was a fan of focusing on two to three best traffic sources, search being first and foremost. Now I stack 'em. I still think if you find two or three that work for you, that's more than enough. Work 'em as hard as you can. I just want to see all what's possible. Besides, with Buffer, posting to multiple channels is pretty easy. I'm spending time on platforms that are harder to drive traffic but may help the brand. Here's the list of platforms I'm actively working: Facebook: pages and groups. Groups give me some control; not total like email, but some. Pages can be skittish like Google. Instagram (meager traffic but I THINK it could amount to something if I grow it. It's worth the gamble. I still don't know how a big IG account can earn money other than hustling for sponsored posts; I'll cross that bridge when I get there. Push notifications: I've re-fired up this traffic source. It's one of three I have some control over. Fortunately, all my push subs were still in an older account so I'm not starting from scratch. Traffic is push-button instant or automated if I let the push system run on its own. Email: I've been emailing daily. The newsletter is approaching 100K monthly pageviews. That's from 47K subs (scrubbed extensively). Not great but worth it. It's the traffic source I have the most control over so while not my best traffic source, it's important. That said, if leads dry up, its value declines over time. Twitter: Hopeless as a traffic source for me but Google indexes tweets almost instantly so good for my site's knowledge graph. It costs me no additional time to post to Twitter since I use Buffer. Pinterest: Been in a holding pattern lately but still working it hard. I deem it good potential. I have a healthy baseline amount of traffic. Also, Pinterest traffic earns well from ads (as does FB and search). It's a full court press. When all the traffic is added up, it's approaching diversified. Google search now makes up 32% of my traffic. A couple years back it was 60%. Is all this scalable? Yeah, totally. It just requires training people to manage the various social platforms. It has more moving parts but it's a repeatable process. I have two people helping out with social currently. I'm still testing and posting daily to see what works. it's certainly not as hands-off as publishing solely for search traffic. I'm paying attention daily. But then in the early days, growing search traffic was a ten hour a day job on my part. Is it working? Yeah. I've enjoyed record traffic and revenue days lately. Monthly costs and reinvestment are relatively low. It's working nicely. What about video? Not happening yet. It eludes me. I can't see my way to a big channel yet in my niche. It's possible because others are doing it. I just need to figure it out for me. Anything else? I'm testing some other things but without results nothing to report. Why tell you all this? Because it's what I'm doing. That's what this email publication is about. If going after as much as you can with one site appeals to you, this is an approach. However, folks are still doing well focusing solely on publishing reams and reams of content for search. AI tools like [Koala]() certainly help that effort. Choose one or both; whatever works for you. Fun or a drag? On the balance, all this testing and growing other traffic sources is fun. I say that largely because I'm having some success. Certainly not batting 100 but doing well enough for it to be working and be a fun process. Each of these platforms have a learning curve. IG was (and is) totally foreign to me but there are some interesting features that could be solid traffic drivers such as stories. You can add link buttons on IG stories. I think I've driven 10 visitors from IG which tells me that in order for IG to drive mass traffic, I need a massive profile. Testing, testing, digging, measuring and more testing... that's what I'm doing. It's working. The best part of all this is results are fast. I know within a day or two whether something works. That's good for an impatient person like me. Jon Fatstacksblog.com DISCLAIMER: Assume all links in this email are affiliate links. 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