Interview with Spencer Haws of NichePursuits.com

We interviewed Spencer Haws of popular business and advice website NichePursuits.com to find out more about his websites and tips for building a passive income online.

Hi Spencer! Tell us a bit about yourself.

My background in the “internet” industry, didn’t even begin until 2005.My schooling is in finance and I worked in the banking industry primarily until I quit my job in March 2011.However, I got started building websites purely out of interest.I wanted to teach myself how to build a site from scratch and just get something online.

From that initial curiosity grew a desire to learn about how sites were making money and how the search engines worked.From 2005 until about 2009 I built several sites; most of which made me very little money.However, it was through these “failed” experiences that I learned the importance of keyword research and search engine optimization.

I have always been fascinated by the fact that through my own planning and effort I can rank #1 on Google and get free traffic to a website.Perhaps it’s the competitive nature in me; I want to rank #1!But overall I enjoy finding hidden opportunities (i.e. keywords I can rank for) and then planning out how I can beat the competition and then obviously reaping the benefits that can bring.

Now that I am full-time online, I enjoy being able to pursue the opportunities which I choose to pursue.Having the freedom to try out different ideas keeps things new and exciting.I also like the fact that I can work from home and do so on my own schedule; choosing to spend more time with my family if I want or need to.

How did you decide when to quit your day job? Did you have a specific target in mind?

I decided to quit my job when my income from my online business had exceeded my day job income.I also wanted to have about 6 months’ worth of living expenses saved up before I quit my job.

Many successful affiliates and passive income earners prefer to keep their advice and experiences a secret (or charge for advice), why did you decide to be so open on NichePursuits.com and what effect has it had on the website?

I debated whether or not to share the information I had learned or not for a long time.In fact, when I first created NichePursuits.com, I was only going to share a very little about “niche websites”; rather, I was going to share my experiences as I tried various small business ventures or “niche pursuits”.However, I always received the most positive feedback when I shared my experiences building niche websites.

So, in the end my readers really encouraged me to share my advice and experiences about how I make a living online.I see NichePursuits.com as a sounding board for my online businesses.So, if I ever change what I am doing in the future, this will still be where I share that information.It feels good to meet a need and desire of other people through sharing information with them.By sharing what people want to hear, I am obviously able to attract more readers as well.For that reason, I try to be as open as feasible about how I make a living online.

There are a lot of misleading ‘make money online’ websites, how can you tell which have genuine advice?

It can really be difficult to ascertain who is telling the truth, and who is not.One sign that they may be trying to mislead is if the site is overly pushy in their sales tactics.If all they are trying to do is sell you a product, this is perhaps a red flag.

You can also look at the experience that the blogger or site creator has.If they have been around for a while and can clearly show that they have in-depth experience in the topic they are covering then you can feel better about following their advice.However, if their experience is limited but they simply “talk” like an expert, this should raise some question marks.

How do you see NichePursuits.com developing in the future?

For the present, I will continue to share in-depth guidance on how to build niche websites – which is my primary business.However, in the future I may begin discussing other small business ventures that I pursue.Either way, I expect it will continue to be a place where I discuss my entrepreneurial pursuits whether that be online or otherwise.

What advice would you give to someone looking to make enough passive income online to support a family?

My advice would be to be realistic.Unfortunately, it’s a difficult business and most people will not be able to ever work full-time from home.I feel fortunate every day that I have been able to achieve what I have.

So, if you decide that you want to create a business for yourself online, you need to work very very hard.My advice would be to find a business that makes sense to you and do NOT just try to follow what others are doing online.That includes me too.

Just because something is a good fit for one person does not mean that it is a good fit for you.Develop a business strategy in your own mind and then pursue that strategy.I always had to remember that my family comes first.I wanted to quit my job for years, but had to stick with it because my business income just wasn’t there.So, I would also advise to keep your job and feed your family first before you even try to start building a business online.

When it comes to choosing specific niches and keywords to target, is skill or luck more important?

Skill is certainly more important.Being able to analyse the competitors in Google is an acquired skill that can take years to develop.However, the reality is that there is SOME level of luck involved in how successful a particular keyword may be.

So, picking a winning keyword takes skill, but you might luck out and find a keyword that earns you 3 or 4 times what you were expecting it to make.

You have a lot of websites, how much work do you put into maintaining a site after it’s gone live?

Well, to be honest I used to do a lot more direct work on my sites than I do now.I now have a full-time virtual assistant and I hire writers to produce content for my sites rather than doing it myself.However, in general once I have had the initial content produced and the site is live, there is very little maintenance after that.Some sites might get an article or 2 added throughout the month, but most do not.

I do very little layout changes and only do so if I feel like I can optimize the earnings of the sites based on changes to the layout.There is some on-going link building, but I also have my virtual assistant help me with this.Usually after the first 90 days of a site going live, most of link building and other maintenance is complete.Only for my larger sites, or smaller sites that I see have big potential will I add additional content or put additional time into.

What are your top three Adsense tips?

1.To increase your earnings with Adsense, you really need to pick great keywords.Fortunately, the Google Adwords Keyword Tool shows estimated Cost Per Click for each keyword, so you can get a general idea of how much a keyword might earn you.I only like to look at keywords that have a CPC of $1 or more.

2.In-content ads will get a much higher Adsense Click through rate.If you want to make money with adsense you need to think about where the eyeballs of the visitors to your sites go.If you can place ads within the content of your pages, such as an ad just below the title and right justified, you are much more likely to have someone actually see your ads and eventually click on them.

3.Don’t click your ads, don’t tell anyone to click your ads, and ALWAYS do exactly what Google has set forth in their Google Adsense Terms of Service.I have never been banned by Google Adsense, but I have heard of too many other people that try some really dumb things to try and “game” the system.My advice would be to play by the rules and you are much more likely to succeed.

Which online resources would you recommend to people interested in monetising their website?

Obviously, I share a lot about how to monetize sites through Google Adsense via my blog found at https://www.nichepursuits.com.

However, there are lots of other great resources out there including some affiliate networks at:

And many others.

For general guidance and building a blog or site, search engine optimization, and other tips – here are few good resources:

Aaron Wall @ Seobook.com

Darron Rowse @ Problogger.net

Pat Flynn @ SmartPassiveIncome.com

SEOmoz.org

Thanks so much for the interview!