Google’s Useful Content Update (HCU) hit many online businesses hard.
Even well-established and reputable websites have seen a significant drop in their rankings.
That’s why I went behind the scenes with Kelan Kline Savvy Coupleweathered this storm quite well.
Kelan built his online business from scratch 50 dollars I see the surroundings from the first year until now 500k page views per month. This led to his online business growing into 7 figures last year.
Tune into Episode 605 of The Side Hustle Show to find out:
- Strategies for creating content that resonates with Google’s algorithm changes
- Ways to get your traffic sources beyond just Google search
- Content creation, email marketing, monetization and more. tools/technologies for.
- Squarespace – Start building your professional website today!
- Indeed – Get started NOW with a $75 sponsored job loan to upgrade your job posting!
- Airbnb – Start an Airbnb business and earn money as an Airbnb Host!
- melon — Join 30,000+ entrepreneurs who trust Cantaloupe to manage and grow their sales business!
Building Brand Authority after Google’s HCU
Kelan says a strong online brand is essential to surviving Google algorithm updates like HCU.
“You have to build a brand,” he said, stressing the importance of social media, email lists and video.
Back links from respected sites still carries weight in the rankings. Staying niche also helps bloggers become a trusted source trusted by their followers.
Create Really Useful Content
But in the eyes of Google, just creating a brand is not enough. Breaking them down requires truly useful content that provides unique value beyond simply rewriting what’s already there.
Kelan creates YouTube videos summarizing his blog posts to demonstrate his authority and expertise on each topic. tools like Heatmap.com and Crazy Egg enable it to analyze visitor engagement metrics and optimize content plans.
It also uses AI writing assistants like SurferSEO, Jasper AIand ChatGPT. This speeds up production while preserving the human touch of the final product.
Content Production Engine
Kelan team uses Asana for content workflow management. For Savvy Couple, they publish 2-3 new posts per week, about production costs 150-200 dollars each one. For newbies Savvy Mother blog (run by his wife Brittany), that volume increases to about 4-5 posts per week.
They set a minimum search of 500 months (each Ahrefs data) for new topics, but don’t care about “keyword difficulty” scores. When at least one other blog is in the top 10 results, they will focus on that keyword.
“Make sure there’s at least one other blog similar to yours in the SERPs or in the top 10 when you’re doing keyword research. Because if it’s Forbes and the New York Times … there’s no way you’re going to rank,” he said.
Content Audit and Republishing Process
Currently, Kela’s content team spends more time updating and republishing existing articles than creating pure new pieces.
Using SurferAI, they will analyze posts that are losing traffic based on Ahrefs data. Those audits determine what user experience or content improvements are needed to make the post more valuable, such as adding new videos, visuals, or interviews.
It’s a bit of a never-ending cycle. “When you’re done updating everything, it’s time to start over and do it all over again.”
However, after HCU changes, content updates are critical to maintaining a high-quality library that Google likes.
Diversification of traffic sources
While email lists don’t convert particularly well for course sales/affiliate offers, Kelan uses them strategically to send traffic and engagement signals to new blog posts.
He will usually include a link to a fresh article or two in his regular email newsletter sent to that “hot” audience. These initial spikes in page views right after publication can increase posts’ visibility on Google.
Email lists are built mainly through ConvertBox “Ready to find your perfect side hustle?” Exit intent pop-ups that promote lead magnets like quiz popup or general selection suggestions for organization/productivity tips for moms.
A bigger traffic diversification play is to create videos that summarize the same topics and keywords as Kela’s best posts, then post those clips on relevant blog pages.
This is his “7 Best Budgeting Apps for 2024 (Mint Alternatives)” to blast the video 46,000+ views— generating a ton of new affiliate conversions and back traffic to the blog.
Pinterest has become a major source of traffic for The Savvy Mama in particular, thanks to another site acquiring a Pinterest account with 100,000 followers.
And paid advertising was a huge investment at Kelan’s team’s expense up to $10,000 per day at one point Facebook campaigns around the holidays to rapidly grow the Savvy Mama membership base.
Chaos to Control Bundle Funnel
Most of Kela’s advertising dollars go towards promoting the SavvyMama side of the business.
The main funnel is the starting offer Chaos for the control pack of digital products and printables designed to help busy moms organize.
After you factor in increments, the average order value for this package is $35. Through some serious testing and tracking, Kelan found the cost of acquiring those customers’ lands was about $30 each.
The real purpose of these paid campaigns is to get buyers into the membership lifecycle.
While the initial bundle operation has low(ish) profit margins, Kelan said it’s really about turning those customers into repeat subscribers.
Savvy Mama Membership
Kelan said they go in the order below Build and Go Six Figure Course Builder. It all starts with igniting a problem that potential members are struggling with.
There is also an element of scarcity and limited time bonuses. For example, the Chaos to Control package may be offered as a bonus that is removed if you do not join the membership within the launch window.
Kelan noted that this is facilitated through an evergreen release funnel ThriveCart. This all-in-one platform manages payment streams, membership access and content delivery in just one go $495 one time fee instead of recurring monthly fees from some competing solutions.
Once they are connected membershipsubscribers get access to a library of printables, meal plans, calendars and other premium digital downloads updated monthly. There is also a Facebook group community component.
Membership was initially priced $9 per month (they got the idea from him Liz Wilcox), but it’s around now $17 per month.
In about 2 years, Savvy Mama’s membership has grown rapidly to over 2,000 active paying subscribers.
Tools and Tech Stack
To manage it all, Kelan has an extensive technology stack that powers the content production, website, email marketing and membership sides of the business:
- SurferSEO, Jasper AIand ChatGPT – AI writing tools for outlining, designing and optimizing blog content
- HeatMapIt and Crazy Egg – Heat and scroll maps to analyze how visitors engage with each web page
- Asana – A project management center to delegate writing tasks to a freelance content team
- ConvertBox – Pop-ups and lead capture tools to build email lists
- ThriveCart – Savvy Mama handles membership sales, access and content delivery all in one platform
- Mediavine – Display ad network to monetize increased blog traffic
A Day in the Life of a Blogger with 7 Pictures
With this much moving part, you can expect Kelan and his wife Brittany to be chained to their computers for 12 hours a day. But they built efficient systems and brought in a team to share the workload.
Kelan described a fairly focused 3-4 hour work day. “After that, my mind is completely messed up. I don’t know how people work 8 hours a day, but after only 4 hours of deep work, my productivity drops,” he said.
The operations manager manages the point across writers, editors and the team virtual assistants in fact, it handles most of the day-to-day content creation, optimization, and other tasks.
Kelan simply checks to review the analytics and determine which of their top 20 posts need additional optimization efforts.
Challenges and Surprises
Business has not been smooth sailing, though.
Kelan recalled the painful experience of one of the best affiliate income streams – it was a partnership that promoted a partnership. Fixed Software gig job service – shuts down unexpectedly.
“At our peak, we were making about $5,000 a month. If you extrapolate that over 12 months, that’s $60,000. And all of a sudden they come and say, ‘Hey, the program’s closed.’
It taught Kelan how important it is to have various sources of income.
So the Savvy Mama membership, “It’s such a joy to have Savvy Couple and to be free from the stress of relying so much on Google by having this recurring monthly membership that we can rely on,” she said.
What’s Next for the Savvy Blogger?
Looking ahead, Kela’s goal is to continue growing its membership to 10,000 members, further strengthening its recurring revenue base.
YouTube is another top priority that he’s doubling down on. With a strong “double-dip” SEO strategy of co-producing videos and blog posts around the same topics, Kelan sees great potential in the video platform before oversaturating AI-powered content.
By combining blogs and videos with multiple sources of income, Kela’s online business will not only survive but also do well in the post-HCU era.
Kela’s #1 Tip for Side Hustle Nation
“Operating on excellence.”
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