Empire Flippers Podcast

Starting your first niche site is one thing – buying, growing, and flipping an empire of sites is another. So how do you scale and sell a portfolio of niche sites? Shawna Newman is an SEO expert with nearly 20 years of experience acquiring and scaling niche sites. She is one of the most seasoned SEO professionals in the industry, known for her unique testing methods and extensive year-long case studies. She is also the founder of Skipblast, where she shares her key findings from her SEO and business research. Shawna joined us on this episode to discuss her methods for building a niche site portfolio, what to look out for when buying and selling sites, how to scale newly acquired sites, and much, much more. Topics Discussed in this episode: How to build an SEO site portfolio from scratch  How long it takes to make $1,000/month from a niche site How to buy and sell sites as part of an SEO portfolio How to diversify your revenue streams, grow your sites, and run an email list When to monetize your site How Shawna developed a successful system to acquire aged and expired domains Shawna’s monthly growth and selling plan How to bounce back from an algorithm update The misconceptions about monetizing and “dripping out” your content The future of building niche sites Mentions: Empire Flippers Podcast Empire Flippers Marketplace Skipblast Copyhackers Authority Hacker Google Trends Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini Cashvertising by Drew Eric Whitman Sit back, grab a coffee, and learn the secrets to building a portfolio of high-performing niche sites.

We've got some exciting podcast guests in store as we kick off Q2 of 2023. But in the meantime, let's revisit the many nuggets of wisdom Greg shared in our 100th-episode special.  The 100th episode of The Opportunity podcast is finally here! To celebrate this milestone, we’re mixing things up. This extra special episode revisits a few of our most memorable interviews to review the top 7 lessons learned from the last 100 shows.  You’ll hear many familiar voices as some of our favorite entrepreneurs and industry experts share their top tips for building, running, and scaling successful online businesses. Greg acts as our guide, walking us through each lesson and sharing his own unique insights and pearls of wisdom. One of Greg’s top takeaways includes, “If you want to build wealth, don’t focus on making money today. Focus on making an experience that will create fans of yours for years to come. Because if you make enough of those fans you’re going to create a snowball effect that’ll carry you far into the future.” Join in the celebration by letting us know which episode or guest has been your favorite so far! Be sure to share this episode with your friends and family so that they can join us for the next 100 episodes where we’ll continue to uncover all of the hidden growth opportunities in the online business industry. Topics Discussed in This Episode: Lesson 1: Creating a Machine of Leverage by Knowing the Value of Your Time (02:07) Lesson 2: Learning to Love Risk to Create Wealth (10:30) Lesson 3: Spending 9 Hours Sharpening the Axe, and One Hour Cutting Down the Tree (17:07) Lesson 4: Creating Value While Respecting Your Audience’s Time (26:33) Lesson 5: Communication and Thinking in Four Degrees of Impact (31:43) Lesson 6: Why the Best Marketing Isn’t a Tactic, It’s an Experience (39:45) Lesson 7: Persistence Through Adversarial Wins (44:23) Mentions: Empire Flippers Podcast Empire Flippers Marketplace Schedule a call with our expert sales advisors  Jobs to be Done Framework Featured Guests: Kevin Espiritu (Ep #87) Matt Diggity (Ep #23) Sushee Nzeutem (Ep #59) John Hefter (Ep #19) Emma Shermer Tamir (Ep #49) Doron Wolffberg (Ep #41) Perrin Carrell (Ep #79) Alexis Grant (Ep #84) Chelsea Cohen (Ep #42) Fabricio Miranda (Ep #91) Chelsea Jones and Rachel Saul (Ep #74) Nicole Baqcai (Ep #55) Ben Donovan (Ep #71) Bill Szabrak (Ep #6) Sit back, grab a coffee, and take a trip down memory lane as we discuss the valuable lessons learned from the past 100 episodes.

It’s easy to get lost in the complexities and nuances of SEO. But what if, instead of spreading yourself thin by focusing on backlinks, page speed, and endless technicalities, you focused solely on content? To many, this may sound like a recipe for disaster. But Nick Jordan, the founder of Content Distribution, has proven that a content-first approach can achieve successful, repeatable results. According to Nick, “If you want more results, the number one thing you need to do is just publish more content. Publish better content than your competition and focus a hundred percent of your attention on that.” To prove his point, Nick built a framework that allowed him to take several projects from zero to a hundred thousand organics a month without building backlinks or doing any technical tweaking. Now, Nick and his team produce hundreds of pieces of content every month without sacrificing quality. In this episode, Nick discusses why he believes content is king, and walks us through the carefully thought-out systems he has put in place to allow him to produce such large volumes of content. Nick explains, “You need two things to scale high-quality content velocity. First, you need people who care. The only way you can publish hundreds of articles every month that are really good and consistently better than the competition is if the folks who are writing and editing the content are passionate about what they do.  The next thing you need is documentation to hold people accountable. If you want something done consistently the same way every single time, you need documentation that enables your team to execute at a level just as high as you or even higher.” Nick’s all-in approach to content also inspired additional business ventures. He introduces us to Cluster AI, the keyword grouping tool that he built to make creating topic clusters a breeze, as well as Workello, a platform that helps entrepreneurs source quality writers in minutes. We end off the episode with some useful tips on how to find the best writers, and Nick weighs in on the impact he thinks AI might have on the SEO industry. If you’re struggling to produce enough content to get your site off the ground, or simply want to learn how to take your content game to the next level, then this is an episode you don’t want to miss out on! Topics Discussed in This Episode: Nick’s 30-second elevator pitch and how he got started in the SEO industry (02:14) Why Nick prioritizes content over backlinks (06:06) Nick’s content-first framework (09:33) How Nick automated his keyword research process (16:11) How Nick’s keyword grouping AI tool informs  page optimization (23:21) How Nick's content production team is structured to mass produce content (25:08) Bootstrapping mass content production using Nick’s strategy (32:56) The metrics Nick measures to determine if a campaign will be successful (40:23) The inspiration behind Workello (46:16) Nick’s tips for hiring quality writers (52:11) The impact Nick thinks AI will have on the SEO industry (1:01:03) Mentions: Empire Flippers Podcast Empire Flippers Marketplace Schedule a call with our expert sales advisors  Create an Empire Flippers account Content Distribution  Cluster Ai Workello Content Distribution Youtube channel Ahrefs Slite Airtable Originality.ai Sit back, grab a coffee, and learn how to produce large volumes of content without sacrificing quality!

Since the release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, AI has been the talk of the town among affiliate marketers. Some hail it as a hero that will usher in a new age of efficiency and money-making opportunities. Others see AI as their downfall and are ready to grab their torches and pitchforks to defend their livelihood.  So, is AI the beginning of the end for affiliate marketing?  That is the question that Greg seeks to answer in this week’s episode. Greg assesses the most common fears content site owners have when it comes to AI. These fears include Google punishing AI content, and AI-powered search killing organic SEO. Greg counters these arguments by breaking down the many uses of AI in affiliate marketing and explains that Google can’t afford the financial costs of deploying AI-powered search or the resulting loss of paid advertising revenue. Even if AI were to reinvent SEO, Greg doesn’t believe it will happen any time soon. He explains, “SEO as we know it will change… after a while. The overnight destruction of content websites as we know it won’t happen in the span of weeks. At lightning speed, we might see a significant shift in 2 years, more than likely we’re over 5 years away from a significant change.” Lastly, Greg takes a closer look at Bing’s role in the AI revolution and explains how Bing could use AI as a weapon against their oldest foe Google.So, what do you think? Will AI be a bridge to greener pastures for affiliate marketers, or is this the end of the line for SEO? Topics Discussed in This Episode: Will AI be the death of search engines? (01:50)  How to use AI to boost your online business (03:40) Why SEOs are nervous about the impact of AI (17:07) Why Google search and Bing won’t be replaced by AI (22:16) How Bing could use AI to bring down Google (29:05) Why AI shouldn’t put you off buying a website (33:54) How to hedge your bets against search engines by owning your data (38:00) Mentions: Empire Flippers Podcast Empire Flippers Marketplace Schedule a call with our expert sales advisors  Create an Empire Flippers account Greg’s Did AI Just Kill Affiliate Marketing? article  ZimmWriter semianalysis.com Sit back, grab a coffee, and learn more about the role AI will play in the future of affiliate marketing.

For many years, an inability to code has held aspiring SaaS founders back from success. Now, no-code and low-code tools are lowering the barriers to entry for entrepreneurs looking to enter the software and tech industries.  But what exactly are no-code and low-code solutions? In this episode, Lola Ojabowale gives us a thorough overview of this exciting technology. Lola is the founder of Lunch Pail Labs, a full-service digital product studio that helps clients research, build, and maintain platforms and apps using no or low-code solutions.  Lola provides a definition of what no-code and low-code actually refer to, and outlines the skills and experience entrepreneurs will need in order to use no-code tools. We discuss the various projects no-code can be used for and the limitations and downsides of choosing no-code over traditional coding solutions.  Lola also explains why she is so passionate about economic equity, and how no-code applications help to further the pursuit of this goal. According to Lola, “What’s so interesting about no-code and low-code is this “permissionlessness” that it enables. Even as a non-technical founder, you don’t have to have anybody’s say-so or permission. And that enables more folks to empower themselves and build solutions that are authentic to themselves.” If you want to dive deeper into the world of no-code, listen carefully to this conversation as Lola shares a long list of tools, educational platforms, and communities that you can use to further your no-code journey. Topics Discussed in This Episode: Lola shares insights into how she became involved with no-code platforms (03:58) An explanation of what no-code and low-code really mean (06:42) The type of projects that no code solutions could be used for (08:06) The skills and requirements needed to build no-code platforms (12:26) How LunchPail Labs assists businesses in creating no-code solutions (14:41) The downsides and limitations of no-code (18:31) Changes within the no-code space that are exciting Lola right now (23:34) The best no-code communities for beginners (26:26) The catalyst that inspired Lola to start her own business (28:10) The unique way that Lola approaches risk (33:20) Lola explains why she is so passionate about economic equity (37:43) Mentions: Empire Flippers Podcast Empire Flippers Marketplace Lunch Pail Labs Shoutout Atlanta interview Webflow Zapier Airtable No Code Founders 100 Days of No Code  No Code Family No-Code Cheat Sheet Bubble GitHub CoPilot Makerpad On Deck No-Code Sit back, grab a coffee, and discover the many benefits of no-code and low-code solutions!

In today's tough economic climate, building a passive income has become more important than ever. With that in mind, we thought we'd revisit a popular previous episode that focuses on just that. Enjoy! Affiliate sites are a fantastic way to boost your passive income, but how do you start and scale an affiliate site from nothing? Doug Cunnington is an expert affiliate marketer and the founder of Niche Site Project, where he empowers people with systems and templates to create and scale their own affiliate sites. He is also the host of The Doug Show and a self-titled YouTube channel where he talks about his affiliate marketing journey so far. In this episode, Doug shares a behind-the-scenes look into what works and what doesn’t in affiliate marketing. He talks candidly about the Amazon affiliate program, when and how to scale an affiliate marketing business, and his top tips for driving traffic to your site. Topics Discussed in this episode: Diversifying an affiliate marketing portfolio The love/hate relationship with Amazon Affiliates Why scaling too early could be problematic How to implement the Keyword Golden Ratio How a gap analysis can help you get unstuck The benefits of outsourcing to build a team How to retain and scale freelancer roles within your business Doug’s top three productivity hacks What it takes to stay ahead in affiliate marketing Mentions: Empire Flippers Podcast Empire Flippers Marketplace Doug’s Podcast Niche Site Project Niche Site Project Templates Trello Tropical MBA podcast Allintitle.co Mile High FI Podcast Sit back, grab a coffee, and learn how to build a robust affiliate business of your own!

While Greg works his magic at yet another conference, sourcing new and exciting guests for the podcast, we'll revisit an episode with one of our favorite guests, Kevin Espiritu. Enjoy! How do you turn a humble content site into a multi-platform, globally recognized brand? For Kevin Espiritu, the answer lay in producing human-focused, genuinely useful content instead of churning out articles for profit. Kevin is the founder of Epic Gardening, a gardening brand with a relatively simple mission: to teach 10,000,000 people around the world how to grow plants and food. What started as just a website, is now a multi-faceted content and eCommerce brand with millions of followers on social media.  In this episode, Kevin walks us through the things he wished he had known when he first started building his business, including outsourcing labor to free up valuable time. According to Kevin, “When it comes to growing your business, knowing where your time is most valuable as the founder is the most important thing. If you have the resources, what you should be doing is either automating, delegating, hiring, or deleting things that are not as valuable as your leveraged time.” We dive into the ins and outs of Kevin’s content creation strategy, discussing the techniques and approaches that helped him attract over 10 million readers to his website last year and over 3 million followers on his various social media channels.  Kevin also shares some insights into the future of Epic Gardening, including how he plans to use the $17.5 million in growth capital he recently raised.  Kevin’s success story is a wonderful example of the merits of a human-focused, instead of profit-driven, business strategy. Listen in to learn how to grow your brand across multiple sales and social media platforms while maintaining a cohesive brand identity.  Topics Discussed in This Episode: Kevin shares how his entrepreneurial journey started and where he is today (02:22) The origins and inspiration behind Epic Gardening (06:25) The secret sauce behind Epic Gardening’s enduring success (08:45) How Kevin approaches creating content across various channels and platforms (16:25) The biggest setbacks and challenges Kevin faced while building Epic Gardening (22:46) How Kevin identified the right time to expand into eCommerce (27:41) Why and how Kevin raised $17.5 million in growth capital (34:53) How Kevin plans to use this growth capital to scale Epic Gardening (38:07) Why websites make such a good investment vehicle (41:09) What Kevin would do differently if he had to start Epic Gardening all over again (43:06) Kevin’s dreams for the future of Epic Gardening (49:26) Mentions: Empire Flippers Podcast Empire Flippers Marketplace Schedule a call with our expert sales advisors  Create your own Empire Flippers account Epic Gardening Epic Homesteading   Authority Hacker Backlinko Sit back, grab a coffee, and learn how to successfully scale your business while remaining true to your brand identity.

AI is poised to revolutionize the marketing and online business industries. It can increase your revenue, decrease your costs, and according to Mike Kaput, it could 100x your output in the next few years.  Despite these benefits, many marketers and entrepreneurs are still hesitant to embrace AI. In this episode, Mike, the Director of Marketing at the AI Marketing Insitute, joins us to discuss the misconceptions, untapped potential, and use cases of AI in online business. He breaks down the various ways business owners can use AI to optimize their business, including how AI can help take solopreneurs to previously unachievable heights. We dig into how rapidly the AI industry is evolving and the steps entrepreneurs and marketers can take to ensure they don’t get left in the dust. According to Mike, “No matter who you are, or what you do, you’re going to have to start experimenting with AI.  Otherwise, you're going to see some pretty serious existential risks in your career, and in your business. The first thing to do is figure out how to make your content different than what a machine can output. Then, take that unique perspective and scale it using AI tools.” Mike also provides actionable advice on how to write killer AI prompts and how to use AI to improve your email open rates. We also address the common concerns surrounding AI, including the legal and ethical concerns surrounding the technology, and the various jobs that AI is likely to replace. Though there are some uncertain times ahead as we navigate an AI-influenced world, Mike maintains that the pros outweigh the cons when it comes to integrating AI into your online business.  This episode is full of useful tips, advice, and insider knowledge to make sure you don’t get left behind during the coming AI revolution! Topics Discussed in This Episode: Mike introduces himself and shares what the AI Marketing Institute does (02:21) How AI can reduce costs and increase revenue for online businesses (05:24) The Genius in the Room method for writing a great AI prompt (08:30) How to use AI to improve your email open rates (11:49) How to really take advantage of AI as a solopreneur (14:31) What marketers can do to become irreplaceable in the face of AI (20:30) Why Mike believes search engines will become extinct (28:32) How entrepreneurs can stay up to date with rapidly evolving AI (37:12) The ethical concerns involved with using AI (42:23) Mike puts to rest some common myths and misconceptions about AI (47:40) Interesting findings from the AI Marketing Institute state of the industry report (52:57) Mentions: Empire Flippers Podcast Empire Flippers Marketplace Schedule a call with our expert sales advisors  AI Marketing Institute Mike’s LinkedIn Marketing Artificial Intelligence book  State of the Industry report Hubspot Seventh Sense Emad Mostaque’s Twitter Allie K. Miller’s Twitter Robert Scoble’s Twitter Sit back, grab a coffee, and learn how to leverage AI to reduce costs and increase your ROI!

Amazon sellers need to be flexible to adapt to market fluctuations, changes in consumer behavior, and supply chain disruptions. But one area where they tend to remain rigid is in their pricing.  Chad Rubin believes this is a fatal flaw for FBA business. This flaw inspired him to create Profasee, a dynamic repricing tool that helps sellers maximize profits without sacrificing their product ranking on Amazon.  In this episode, Chad joins us to discuss the origins of Profasee and walks us through his experiences as the founder of Skubana and co-founder of the Prosper Show. He shares why he chose to exit those businesses, and the challenges of being a multi-disciplined entrepreneur running eCommerce, agency, Saas, and event businesses. Chad explains how Profasee was born out of his need to revive his flagging eCommerce business, and how pricing is an often overlooked growth opportunity by Amazon sellers. According to Chad, “Your price should never be static. Especially in a fast marketplace like Amazon. Your competitors are changing prices. Your inventory, stock positions, your positioning on Amazon, your BSR, your ad spend - everything is changing. So your price should always change too. It's the quickest lever to pull that nobody's pulling on Amazon.” Chad also debunks some common misconceptions about Ai in SaaS and shares how he integrated Ai into Profasee to forecast optimal pricing. We dig into the signals and data that his Ai uses to calculate dynamic pricing, and how his data science team co-pilots the Ai.  Plus, Chad shares his predictions on upcoming trends that will shape the Amazon FBA industry in the coming years, including how embracing Ai is the key to ensuring the longevity of your brand.  This episode is overflowing with information on how to maximize your profits, stay ahead of the competition and secure the long-term success of your online business. Don’t miss out! Topics Discussed in This Episode: A brief look into Chad’s background and entrepreneurial journey (02:11) How Chad manages multiple brands simultaneously (04:50) How an Integrator can help businesses grow (07:41) The mistakes and obstacles Chad faced when building Skubana (10:12) Chad sheds some light on his exit from Skubana (13:40) How Chad became involved in the creation of Prosper show (23:51) A breakdown of Profasee and how it uses Ai to calculate optimal pricing (30:27) The most common mistakes FBA sellers make when it comes to pricing (42:51) The trends Chad foresees in the Amazon FBA industry moving forward (50:29) Mentions: Empire Flippers Podcast Empire Flippers Marketplace Schedule a call with our expert sales advisors  Create your own Empire Flippers account Profasee Prosper Show Chat GBT Sit back, grab a coffee, and learn how to gain the upper hand on Amazon by using dynamic pricing!

The beauty of being an affiliate marketer is that you don’t have to deal with the hassle of product development, manufacturing, or customer support. You use your marketing and copywriting skills to promote other businesses and make a healthy profit while you’re at it.  This is what drew Jason Akatiff to affiliate marketing, but he didn’t stop there. He went on to create ambitious partnerships with other businesses, pooling his ideas and capital with their resources to execute some pretty impressive projects. As these projects started stacking up, Jason decided to consolidate his ideas into one business. And that's how A4D, his very own affiliate network, was born. Thanks to Jason's reputation in forums and the affiliate community, A4D quickly gained traction and is now one of the biggest affiliate networks out there. In this episode, Jason joins us to share his unique insights into the affiliate industry, and to discuss the challenges and successes he’s experienced while scaling A4D.  He reveals how customers who weren’t paying almost bankrupted the business, and how pivoting away from the supplements niche into lead generation, mortgage, and insurance helped to save A4D.  Jason paints a picture of an ideal affiliate partner and outlines the characteristics affiliates need to make a name a name for themselves in the industry. He also discusses his passion for AI and how affiliates can use it to boost their businesses. According to Jason, “I think AI is going to create a massive wave of opportunity in the affiliate marketing world. Most affiliates just want to focus on being marketers and building an audience and a readership that they can monetize. They don’t want to have employees. AI can help them write their content, create graphics, or do video editing without having to use third parties or VAs.” If you’re looking to join the affiliate industry or go one step further and start an affiliate network of your own, then don’t miss out on Jason’s expert advice and inside knowledge! Topics Discussed in This Episode: Jason reveals the origins of A4D as well as other projects he has worked on (02:13) How Jason scaled A4D and the challenges he faced along the way (09:52) How AI will impact affiliate marketing and how to use it to grow your skills quickly (21:17) How Jason vets affiliates who want to join A4D (28:50) Using affiliate commissions to monetize your email list with the help of AI (32:20) The characteristics affiliates need to be successful (37:06) The foundations you should have in place before becoming an affiliate (42:51) How to structure the commission for your affiliate program (46:37) The best way for brands to capitalize on top-of-funnel affiliate conversions (50:17) Mentions: Empire Flippers Podcast Empire Flippers Marketplace Schedule a call with our expert sales advisors  A4D Jason’s blog Jason’s Twitter Built with AI group Midjourney Canva Chat GBT Pictory Descript Stack That Money forum Facebook Ad Buyers group Click Bank Sit back, grab a coffee, and learn what it takes to become a key player in the affiliate world!