☝️ Picking Just One Thing

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So I had a reader request asking me of all the things I’ve done, if I had to pick just one of focus on, which would it be?

I’d want to go with something that has good monthly income potential, good potential flip, good longevity chances.

Honestly, this one took me while to decide on. So I also included a bonus pick.

Before we jump in, I’ve got one sponsors today…

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My Pick

If you had asked me a year ago, I would have whole-heartedly told you that local newsletters would be it.

While I still think it’s a sound business model, and I’ve seen lots of people doing really well, I’ve also seen lots of people struggle and I’ve had my own struggles.

Honestly, of all the things I done/tried in 2024, my answer is going to be very boring for you.

SEO agency.

But a niched down one.

Why? It meets my three requirements, which I’ll expand on in more detail below.

1. Good runaway for longevity

2. Good income potential

3. Good flip potential

Disclosure/opinion: Dealing with clients often sucks.

Criteria One

For me, I see longevity as considering the following -

• Risk of outside factors prematurely ending the business?

• What’s the growth forecast look like for the industry?

• Is there an easy pivot, if needed?

• What the chance of overhead costs rising faster than revenue?

The only part of the SEO industry where agency work is drying up is niche/content sites. Everything else is booming.

And it seems to only be growing up and to the right. I don’t really see anything as an immediate risk here because there is always some type of SEO service that real businesses will need.

But let’s say you niche down to a TikTok agency for ecommerce brands and TikTok does get banned in the US. Can you pivot? Yes, to doing Instagram/Facebook reels or YouTube videos for ecomms.

Or, learn PPC and pivot to PPC management for ecomms.

I think most, if not all, SEO skills can be learned, so even if you’re outsourcing and costs to outsource rise, you can always reel in the overhead costs by learning it yourself.

Criteria Two

Agencies have incredible revenue potential, but it really depends on your profit margin. And niche.

That means you need to be smart about what you sell + pick a niche/industry used to paying a lot. Definitely think on this before you pick your niche to serve as an agency.

And if you have to outsource everything, then that lowers your profit margin. But, you can claw some of that back if you can outsource to countries where the wages are lower.

Ideally, you want to identify a niche where you can sell services that aren’t too time consuming or costly for you to produce, while also charging a decent amount.

Even better if you can use AI to do it, but it’s something that isn’t widely known or easy to do with AI.

Criteria Three

Agencies are real businesses, so of course you can flip them.

But here’s the thing - you can’t sell them if you’re doing most/all the work yourself.

People want to buy a business that will continue bringing in money without them needing to do anything. So, you’ll need to have a team in place.

You’ll also want to have at least two years of revenue to show how the business is doing.

I can tell you that I watch this space to see what types of agencies sell, and more niched down agencies sell than general ones.

Things like dental SEO agencies, law firm SEO agencies, podcast agencies, guest post agencies, and so on.

How I’d Start

If I had no reputation in the industry, this is what I’d do to build that + get some clients.

YouTube. Twitter. Facebook Groups.

Find Facebook groups where your ideal clients hang out. Make yourself as helpful as possible with replying to questions.

Make sure your agency deets are in your profile so they know you have one. And in your replies use language like ‘one of my clients’ and ‘at my agency’ and so on.

Post frequently on Twitter to be a thought leader in your industry about the services you sell.

Start a YouTube channel and do videos on the types of topics your ideal clients would be searching for. You could even start a podcast with just yourself talking about relevant stuff.

Bonus Pick

If I was looking to level up cash ASAP, then I’d loosen some of that criteria and go with Faceless YouTube.

Spend some time figuring out niches where you can grow quickly (my YouTube course was originally made to compliment your niche site, but it 100% works for standalone channels).

Use stock video footage. Use your own voice ideally. Or a paid Eleven Labs account.

I think Freepik Premium gives you lots of great stock video options for cheap + you get access to Flux within Freepik Premium and you can use that to generate AI video clips.

Use chatGPT for your first draft of scripts. But make sure you understand what you need in a YouTube script to do well.

Do a sprint to get up as many videos as you can, as fast as you can. Learn what works and what doesn’t.

Get monetized. Flip it after three months. Rinse and repeat.

Sure, you won’t get as much for the channel after only three months, but this is what I’d do if I wanted to stack cash as fast as possible.

Hell, I might even sell after only a week of monetization cause loads of people buy monetized channels that barely earn anything just so they can wipe all the videos and start new with a monetized channel.

Coming up…

I’ll share what I do actually intend to work on this year.

Stay awesome,

Shawna

P.S. If you’re looking for high level discussions or tips on things like local SEO and Rank & Rent, I highly recommend Jacky Chou’s Advise community. I’ve been in it for several months and there’s tons of value in it, including a SOP for local SEO.

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