This is probably one of the most informative, down-to-earth, clear-as-water videos about what's going on in blogging and what should we do next that I've come across lately. It's true I haven't watched a lot of them even in Income School, but ... Really loved this one, got me a few ideas on what to do next. I've watched 40 minutes of video without realizing time passing by, that's how interested I was. Thanks a lot!!
Thanks for always being honest and straight forward with your content. Negativity is rampant on the internet and it can be draining. I'm on social media a lot less now for that reason. Over the years I've noticed most of the negativity comes from people who are suffering or struggling. Healthy debates and disagreements are essential to move us forward but often some are not here for that and are not worth putting in the time and effort to respond.
My biggest takeaway is that it is going to be more complicated/difficult to monetize. Ads and affiliate was so easy. However, as you correctly stated, not enough traffic anymore. Therefore, we need to make more $ per visitor. That means selling product(s), digital or real, or services. That is starting to take it from a little side hustle to full time gig. It certainly can be done, but IMO the success rate will be small. Best bet I think is to use marketing to supplement an existing business.
That's certainly going to be the easiest route. If you already have a business, using content for digital marketing will be really effective. Creating blog content with the intent to make money from the content alone is not working very well right now. That said, starting a business absolutely can be a side hustle. It often is at first.
@@IncomeSchool So, let's say your expertise or interest is in a hobby like golf, tennis, or even gardening. Affiliate marketing is a no-brainer, along with ads. What are you going to sell? Lessons? E-books? Courses? Open a real e-commerce store? I just think the jump from generating income from ads and affiliate to something else is a BIG jump, not to mention the competition in most every niche or subject.
We’ve been teaching information products like courses, ebooks, and virtual consultations for several years now. Those are far less of a jump for most bloggers than e-commerce. There’s also the route of focusing on brand building. For any of those topics I strongly recommend video content! With that, you don’t have to sell products to make a living if you don’t want to because the traffic makes the ad revenue pretty good on its own. But with a strong following like you can get with video content, the options for products open way up too. Video content is scary for a lot of bloggers, but it really opens up a lot of opportunities.
@@IncomeSchool Digital products are the best, for sure! I have a couple fishing related, but conversion rates are small, still need decent traffic. Personally, I have not unlocked the YT code, and I know a lot of others in the same boat, just never got real traction (not on this channel, my main one). I use them mostly to enhance my blog posts. Fortunately, the main purpose of my site is to drive fishing charters, the blogging was just a side thing, which Google took away. Went from 75K views per month to zero. I think Ezoic ran too many ads and that is what did it.
Business is to always pivot towards the customer. Thank you for staying on point about us being business owners/future business owner’s who are profitable and will remain so.
Sorry you struggle with negativity in the comments. I've been following for a long time and love how down to earth and realistic you are... Even if it means you have to change your point of view. Even if you decided to "censor" the comments... Who cares. It's your channel and your choice. I'm forever blocking the miserable people on my channel 😅 haha... Not so much if they disagree with me but if they are picking on my voice, the way I look, etc. I don't have any need to let that stuff remain public.
I never lost traffic on HCU ... in fact, all my traffic has just skyrocketed since HCU. *Shrug* ... not sure why, but ... traffic has increased 400% in the last 4 months.
You are not alone. I went from getting about 120,000 monthly page views to 4000 today. Yet, on Bing, yahoo, and duckduckgo, my articles are still in the top 3. I am currently getting close to starting up a youtube channel, so I am hoping to get some traffic from that.
I make as much in a month selling biochar (a soil amendment) on Etsy as I do with ads. I also make about as much selling my magazine. And, I'm doing a poor job marketing my products.
Great talk! And info about reality right? I don’t look at sponsored content in the search either. But I do like the discussions in forums that I just can’t get anywhere else. Some is garbage but a lot can be beneficial. Thanks Ricky! 😍
Empowering vs. Disempowering comments, that's what it comes down to. Well said Ricky and professionally handled with regards to negative/tear-down comments. Which is basically "not helpful", while "helpful feedback" aka constructive feedback/criticism is something to work with, and it's made as a contribution. Cheers and successful growth to all
Thanks. Over the years I’ve learned how to learn from mean comments too. There’s often something of value buried in them somewhere. But it can be so draining and harmful to the rest of the community. So I’m setting a higher expectation for this channel! Thank you!
Hey Ricky! Love this advice and as usual I praise your honesty. Good luck to everyone!! Anyone can still make it, just don’t waste time and push hard like there’s no tomorrow :)
hey great Ricky - amazing authentic answers - long time since I was watching for a full hour 😂. I think people turn away from all the fake sauce and marketing lies on the internet and get back to real people talking honestly about reality - what a chance for humanity 😊
Thank you! I hope we can get to a place where the internet is primarily filled with genuine information. Anything I can do to get us closer to that is a win for me!
Thanks. I am pretty sure I said niche sites were dead several months ago. I also said the lazy approach to blogging wouldn’t work anymore back in March or early April. It’s been a real problem. But many people haven’t liked how I said it, or they missed the several times I said it. That’s why I’ve been focusing a lot on alternative sources of traffic and brand building for months. I guess it’s my optimism about the future that gives people the impression that I don’t think the situation is bad.
I have two websites that are around 15 years old. Since the HCU update, I have found that the direct traffic to those websites have consistently grown to an average of 60%. Before the HCU, the direct traffic was on average about 18%. Have others noticed that their direct traffic has increased?
So percent can also mean that the organic traffic is down to zero. So even 100% direct traffic could mean a very negative downtrend. What are the absolute numbers?
Thanks for this video, am new to your channel. Recommened by Mike Gastin. One of my takeaways: start using another search engine. Am sure I'm not the only one still using Google just out of habit or laziness. Might switch to AI search with Perplexity for doing research.
Are any of you guys noticing some improvements in good sites that got nuked during hcu or march? I'm seeing what looks to be some light lifts on what I think was a negative classifier on my site. Great site with exclusive content, interviews, and other info human made. Still nowhere near where I was, but some of my stuff is finding its way back into the serps.
Great video and I agree with so much of this. One thing I do wonder about with the “business with a blog” model is how does Google view having ads on a business website? Would this negate the business first approach and drop it into the niche blog category? And would affiliate links be treated the same as having ads? I’m pivoting one of my inactive businesses away from consulting and implementing projects to mostly free online training supported by ads and affiliate marketing. This is due to the competition in this niche (websites). I’m working on an app to sell as well but I’m expecting to rely on ads and affiliate links for most of the revenue.
It’s probably because it was live. Also, I forgot to check before the live to make sure RUclips was using my good mic as input, so it totally might have just been the webcam mic. 😬
The age of semi experts hawking mediocre info is over. Thankfully. Now real domain experts sell directly info to truly engaged consumers and business people.
Tnx for this video. Do you think this wider businesse can work with wordpress? Or this platforms is not suitable for the blogging extentions ur talking about
How about the the local business websites that owners try to rank for the organic traffic besides the their GBP on the map pack? Do you have any insights on how to rank these websites for the local keywords + product/service keywords?
This is most likely done by RUclips automatically and not by Income School. Yes, they can be manually adjusted but not everyone does it, especially on live streams where the replay value often isn’t as high as regular videos, or where the creator is busy focusing on other things.
I personally spent over an hour hosting this livestream. Then I spent another 30-45 minutes adding the timestamps. I didn’t get around to modifying the automatically placed ads, which I didn’t notice because RUclips showed me no ads when I replayed it to add the timestamps. I’m sorry for the oversight. Now, I suggest you rewatch the last 5 minutes of the stream.
See, what you call "traffic", I on the other hand call "viewers" (like myself), but sure, see how well that traffic works out without viewers. The pace at which viewers are leaving.... go do some research. I have been using this platform since 2011 (almost 15 years) and I am leaving before end of this year... unlike 2011 us viewers have MANY alternative options... you care about making money by creating content... sure... but I dislike how viewers are seen as some kind of something unrelated, which unless yt bot traffic counts, sure... but hey, if you are desperate mate... I heard you can purchase views also... it is not as if those yt guideline really mean anything these days
@@IncomeSchool and that is my point, helping creators means nothing without viewers... trust me, you can have the most effective, ingenious tips, but sadly you need viewers... if you still don't understand it, perhaps it will only be clear if there is none to subscribe, ergo zero click, views and engagement... I might sound blunt, disrespectful, but I am not, it is just who I am. Look I get it, you want to earn an income, so you suggest strategies and methods to maximize your income and those creators whom you are trying to help, but as a viewer, you should actually consider things from the perspective of the viewer not the creator... I mean have you engaged with viewers, asking them what would have them subscribe, watch and so on? That is my point, it is not about creators, it is about viewers... it really is as simple as that. Like I said, I have been using YT since 2011 which is longer than 65% of subscribers.
Its really simple. Its the same since 2003 (im not kidding!) Have a product. If youre not an 'expert' - stop pretending to be one. You've no business helping anyone. This whole, 'niche website' or 'authority site' is zero different from microsote, niche domain sites back in the day. Lazy people, hiring cheap writers...all trying to, 'make money online'. Pfft. If you dont have value to offer, you have nothing
But even if you are an expert, it takes years to create proof online and thus even experts need years for their sites to beat older sites with "ancient" reputation, even if the content there is produced by interns... As a consequence, real experts will find easier ways to monetize their knowledge...
I’m assuming RUclips inserted these. Creators can choose ad slots manually but it can be tedious so it’s often left to run automatically which, unfortunately, leads to more ads.
I set it to automatic but the lowest monetization level. I always minimize the ads in my videos. That must have been RUclips. Edit: Yep. RUclips added a TON of mid-roll ads and wouldn’t let me remove them individually. It was all or none, so now there should be none.
Not for a decade. But yeah, you have to be real. If you don’t do what you create content about, that makes you a fake and that’s why Google doesn’t show almost any blog content anymore.
@IncomeSchool When I look at those videos from pilots, lawyers professional martial artists. Jordan Peterson...etc Their successful youtube channels aren't overnight. Kids who just wanna skip work and school and just be successful online maybe will take longer.
This is probably one of the most informative, down-to-earth, clear-as-water videos about what's going on in blogging and what should we do next that I've come across lately.
It's true I haven't watched a lot of them even in Income School, but ... Really loved this one, got me a few ideas on what to do next. I've watched 40 minutes of video without realizing time passing by, that's how interested I was. Thanks a lot!!
Thank you for this comment. It’s very motivating for me to hear that it was so helpful for you!
I too skip the "sponsored", and I only pay for individuals that I support. Great Stuff in here Ricky. Thanks.
Thanks for always being honest and straight forward with your content. Negativity is rampant on the internet and it can be draining. I'm on social media a lot less now for that reason. Over the years I've noticed most of the negativity comes from people who are suffering or struggling. Healthy debates and disagreements are essential to move us forward but often some are not here for that and are not worth putting in the time and effort to respond.
My biggest takeaway is that it is going to be more complicated/difficult to monetize. Ads and affiliate was so easy. However, as you correctly stated, not enough traffic anymore. Therefore, we need to make more $ per visitor. That means selling product(s), digital or real, or services. That is starting to take it from a little side hustle to full time gig. It certainly can be done, but IMO the success rate will be small. Best bet I think is to use marketing to supplement an existing business.
That's certainly going to be the easiest route. If you already have a business, using content for digital marketing will be really effective. Creating blog content with the intent to make money from the content alone is not working very well right now. That said, starting a business absolutely can be a side hustle. It often is at first.
@@IncomeSchool So, let's say your expertise or interest is in a hobby like golf, tennis, or even gardening. Affiliate marketing is a no-brainer, along with ads. What are you going to sell? Lessons? E-books? Courses? Open a real e-commerce store? I just think the jump from generating income from ads and affiliate to something else is a BIG jump, not to mention the competition in most every niche or subject.
We’ve been teaching information products like courses, ebooks, and virtual consultations for several years now. Those are far less of a jump for most bloggers than e-commerce.
There’s also the route of focusing on brand building. For any of those topics I strongly recommend video content! With that, you don’t have to sell products to make a living if you don’t want to because the traffic makes the ad revenue pretty good on its own.
But with a strong following like you can get with video content, the options for products open way up too.
Video content is scary for a lot of bloggers, but it really opens up a lot of opportunities.
@@IncomeSchool Digital products are the best, for sure! I have a couple fishing related, but conversion rates are small, still need decent traffic. Personally, I have not unlocked the YT code, and I know a lot of others in the same boat, just never got real traction (not on this channel, my main one). I use them mostly to enhance my blog posts. Fortunately, the main purpose of my site is to drive fishing charters, the blogging was just a side thing, which Google took away. Went from 75K views per month to zero. I think Ezoic ran too many ads and that is what did it.
I always liked your channel and your work. With that ending, I am even more a fan of your attitude.
Business is to always pivot towards the customer. Thank you for staying on point about us being business owners/future business owner’s who are profitable and will remain so.
Sorry you struggle with negativity in the comments. I've been following for a long time and love how down to earth and realistic you are... Even if it means you have to change your point of view.
Even if you decided to "censor" the comments... Who cares. It's your channel and your choice. I'm forever blocking the miserable people on my channel 😅 haha... Not so much if they disagree with me but if they are picking on my voice, the way I look, etc. I don't have any need to let that stuff remain public.
Thank you! I'm not a fan of censoring ideas, but we don't have to put up with negativity.
I never lost traffic on HCU ... in fact, all my traffic has just skyrocketed since HCU. *Shrug* ... not sure why, but ... traffic has increased 400% in the last 4 months.
WUHOO! Well done!
That’s so great! You’re definitely doing many things right.
@@catedeanssmith what's your strategy for attracting traffic, without necessarily mentioning the niche?
Thanks for the honesty, I've struggled so hard with my blog for the last year. Thought it was just me not doing enough. ❤❤
You are not alone. I went from getting about 120,000 monthly page views to 4000 today. Yet, on Bing, yahoo, and duckduckgo, my articles are still in the top 3. I am currently getting close to starting up a youtube channel, so I am hoping to get some traffic from that.
I make as much in a month selling biochar (a soil amendment) on Etsy as I do with ads. I also make about as much selling my magazine. And, I'm doing a poor job marketing my products.
Great talk! And info about reality right? I don’t look at sponsored content in the search either. But I do like the discussions in forums that I just can’t get anywhere else. Some is garbage but a lot can be beneficial. Thanks Ricky! 😍
I agree. Sometimes forums really are the right content for my searches!
Hey Ricky, great advice.
You have inspired me over the past 7 years as a Project 24 member.
Great video Ricky and I totally support your choices for keeping this community strong.
Empowering vs. Disempowering comments, that's what it comes down to. Well said Ricky and professionally handled with regards to negative/tear-down comments. Which is basically "not helpful", while "helpful feedback" aka constructive feedback/criticism is something to work with, and it's made as a contribution. Cheers and successful growth to all
Thanks. Over the years I’ve learned how to learn from mean comments too. There’s often something of value buried in them somewhere. But it can be so draining and harmful to the rest of the community. So I’m setting a higher expectation for this channel!
Thank you!
Hey Ricky! Love this advice and as usual I praise your honesty. Good luck to everyone!! Anyone can still make it, just don’t waste time and push hard like there’s no tomorrow :)
hey great Ricky - amazing authentic answers - long time since I was watching for a full hour 😂. I think people turn away from all the fake sauce and marketing lies on the internet and get back to real people talking honestly about reality - what a chance for humanity 😊
Thank you! I hope we can get to a place where the internet is primarily filled with genuine information. Anything I can do to get us closer to that is a win for me!
Thank you for the humble admission of reality. The Google SEO / AI / Reddit update is a much bigger problem than you would say a few months ago.
Thanks.
I am pretty sure I said niche sites were dead several months ago. I also said the lazy approach to blogging wouldn’t work anymore back in March or early April.
It’s been a real problem. But many people haven’t liked how I said it, or they missed the several times I said it.
That’s why I’ve been focusing a lot on alternative sources of traffic and brand building for months.
I guess it’s my optimism about the future that gives people the impression that I don’t think the situation is bad.
Appreciate the honest perspective. Feeling this was the case and you provided confirmation. Always a pleasure to watch your channel. Thanks!
Of course! Thanks for watching.
I’m looking for other work simply because having a blog alone without a business attached IS finally dying! :(
I have two websites that are around 15 years old. Since the HCU update, I have found that the direct traffic to those websites have consistently grown to an average of 60%. Before the HCU, the direct traffic was on average about 18%. Have others noticed that their direct traffic has increased?
So percent can also mean that the organic traffic is down to zero. So even 100% direct traffic could mean a very negative downtrend. What are the absolute numbers?
Thanks, Ricky!
Thanks for this video, am new to your channel. Recommened by Mike Gastin. One of my takeaways: start using another search engine. Am sure I'm not the only one still using Google just out of habit or laziness. Might switch to AI search with Perplexity for doing research.
Are any of you guys noticing some improvements in good sites that got nuked during hcu or march? I'm seeing what looks to be some light lifts on what I think was a negative classifier on my site. Great site with exclusive content, interviews, and other info human made. Still nowhere near where I was, but some of my stuff is finding its way back into the serps.
Great video and I agree with so much of this. One thing I do wonder about with the “business with a blog” model is how does Google view having ads on a business website? Would this negate the business first approach and drop it into the niche blog category? And would affiliate links be treated the same as having ads? I’m pivoting one of my inactive businesses away from consulting and implementing projects to mostly free online training supported by ads and affiliate marketing. This is due to the competition in this niche (websites). I’m working on an app to sell as well but I’m expecting to rely on ads and affiliate links for most of the revenue.
I run a blog on a e-commerce site, does very well for us, helps that we sell the products that we are putting in the blogs.
Beautiful! I think that’s a great use for a blog that’s actually working today.
Is it only me? I find the sound on this video is hard, metallic, cold. Not the usual Income School sound I'm used to. Could it be the new microphone?
It’s probably because it was live. Also, I forgot to check before the live to make sure RUclips was using my good mic as input, so it totally might have just been the webcam mic. 😬
Will faceless videos work?
The age of semi experts hawking mediocre info is over. Thankfully. Now real domain experts sell directly info to truly engaged consumers and business people.
This is the important thing people need to understand, but few do
Dang, you summarized what took me an hour to say in a few sentences. Very nice! 👏🏼
Tnx for this video. Do you think this wider businesse can work with wordpress? Or this platforms is not suitable for the blogging extentions ur talking about
I’m still using Wordpress for everything and I’m building much broader businesses than the typical blog sites that most of our viewers have.
Pinterest shut me down for spamming.
I wasn't spamming but I used their bulk upload occasionally.
Screw them.
Google page 2 is the new page 1 … who would have predicted that!
How about the the local business websites that owners try to rank for the organic traffic besides the their GBP on the map pack? Do you have any insights on how to rank these websites for the local keywords + product/service keywords?
Thank you. 👍
You’re welcome! Thanks for watching
Seems like the focus is on how many commercials you can stuff into one video.
This is most likely done by RUclips automatically and not by Income School. Yes, they can be manually adjusted but not everyone does it, especially on live streams where the replay value often isn’t as high as regular videos, or where the creator is busy focusing on other things.
I personally spent over an hour hosting this livestream. Then I spent another 30-45 minutes adding the timestamps. I didn’t get around to modifying the automatically placed ads, which I didn’t notice because RUclips showed me no ads when I replayed it to add the timestamps.
I’m sorry for the oversight. Now, I suggest you rewatch the last 5 minutes of the stream.
See, what you call "traffic", I on the other hand call "viewers" (like myself), but sure, see how well that traffic works out without viewers. The pace at which viewers are leaving.... go do some research. I have been using this platform since 2011 (almost 15 years) and I am leaving before end of this year... unlike 2011 us viewers have MANY alternative options... you care about making money by creating content... sure... but I dislike how viewers are seen as some kind of something unrelated, which unless yt bot traffic counts, sure... but hey, if you are desperate mate... I heard you can purchase views also... it is not as if those yt guideline really mean anything these days
I don’t understand your comment. What point are you making? I’m here to help creators, if that was unclear.
@@IncomeSchool and that is my point, helping creators means nothing without viewers... trust me, you can have the most effective, ingenious tips, but sadly you need viewers... if you still don't understand it, perhaps it will only be clear if there is none to subscribe, ergo zero click, views and engagement... I might sound blunt, disrespectful, but I am not, it is just who I am. Look I get it, you want to earn an income, so you suggest strategies and methods to maximize your income and those creators whom you are trying to help, but as a viewer, you should actually consider things from the perspective of the viewer not the creator... I mean have you engaged with viewers, asking them what would have them subscribe, watch and so on? That is my point, it is not about creators, it is about viewers... it really is as simple as that. Like I said, I have been using YT since 2011 which is longer than 65% of subscribers.
Its really simple. Its the same since 2003 (im not kidding!)
Have a product.
If youre not an 'expert' - stop pretending to be one. You've no business helping anyone.
This whole, 'niche website' or 'authority site' is zero different from microsote, niche domain sites back in the day.
Lazy people, hiring cheap writers...all trying to, 'make money online'. Pfft.
If you dont have value to offer, you have nothing
Yep! Now it just doesn’t work where before you could get away with it.
But even if you are an expert, it takes years to create proof online and thus even experts need years for their sites to beat older sites with "ancient" reputation, even if the content there is produced by interns... As a consequence, real experts will find easier ways to monetize their knowledge...
Ok I totally understand this is an internet marketing channel but ads between almost every question seems a bit excessive lol
I’m assuming RUclips inserted these. Creators can choose ad slots manually but it can be tedious so it’s often left to run automatically which, unfortunately, leads to more ads.
I set it to automatic but the lowest monetization level. I always minimize the ads in my videos. That must have been RUclips.
Edit: Yep. RUclips added a TON of mid-roll ads and wouldn’t let me remove them individually. It was all or none, so now there should be none.
That means you gotta do something for real and a DECADE before you go online.
Not for a decade. But yeah, you have to be real. If you don’t do what you create content about, that makes you a fake and that’s why Google doesn’t show almost any blog content anymore.
@IncomeSchool When I look at those videos from pilots, lawyers professional martial artists. Jordan Peterson...etc Their successful youtube channels aren't overnight. Kids who just wanna skip work and school and just be successful online maybe will take longer.