In this transcript from Episode 037, Mark covers buzz marketing strategies using trending news, shares Josh Spaulding's Rapid Niche Profits report, provides updates on both the corn sheller and snoring niche sites, and answers a detailed listener question about what backlink strategies still work after Google's Penguin update.
What You'll Learn in This Episode
- How to use trending topics and buzz content to drive traffic to your site
- Why keyword suggestion tools like HitTail help uncover hidden long-tail opportunities
- What backlink building strategies still work post-Penguin
- How your WordPress template can affect SEO rankings
- The truth about niche site failure rates
Episode Summary
Buzz Marketing with Trending News
Mark highlights an article from Lynn Terry at ClickNewz about leveraging buzz content. The strategy: monitor Google Trends, CNN Newspulse, YouTube trends, or Twitter trending topics to identify high-volume keywords, then create content that connects those trending topics to your niche. Mark used this technique early on with MasonWorld.com, targeting Google April Fools keywords and driving 6,000 visitors overnight to a new blog.
The challenge is converting that traffic. Visitors searching for trending celebrity news who land on an internet marketing blog are unlikely to convert. Mark advises either having a relevant opt-in offer ready or using AdSense to monetize the traffic directly.
Corn Sheller and Snoring Site Updates
Mark introduces HitTail, a tool that analyzes your incoming search traffic and identifies long-tail keywords worth targeting. He created seven new pages based on HitTail recommendations for the corn sheller site. The concept aligns with Pat Flynn's observation that a large percentage of traffic comes from long-tail keywords you never intentionally targeted.
The snoring niche site update is less encouraging: four visitors per week. Mark discusses possible reasons including the domain's previous ownership history, which can negatively affect Google rankings. He notes that Josh Spaulding expects only 60-70% of micro niche sites to succeed, and rapid failure is actually valuable because it costs little and frees you to try something that works.
Listener Q&A: What Backlink Strategies Still Work?
Jeremy from Minnesota asks about backlink strategies after Penguin. Mark provides a detailed breakdown of what Google's updates actually target:
Penguin primarily targets over-optimization of anchor text. If your backlinks all use the exact same anchor text above a certain threshold, Google reduces their weight.
Panda uses machine learning trained by human quality raters to identify low-quality websites.
Blog network de-indexing removed entire networks of fake blogs used for link schemes, which made it look like sites were penalized when really their link juice simply disappeared.
Mark's conclusion: with the exception of de-indexed blog networks and over-optimized anchor text, all the linking strategies that used to work still work. Article marketing, link directories, guest blogging, website commenting, and social signals all contribute. The key is mixing everything together with diversified anchor text at a reasonable pace.
Jeremy also asks whether his WordPress template could be affecting rankings. Mark confirms this is absolutely possible. Poor templates can have bad HTML structure, incorrect title tag handling, and content placement issues. The Yoast WordPress SEO plugin addresses most on-page SEO concerns regardless of template.
Key Takeaways
- Trending topic content can drive massive traffic spikes, but converting that traffic requires strategy
- Long-tail keywords you never targeted can represent significant untapped traffic
- Expect 30-40% of micro niche sites to fail, and plan accordingly
- Post-Penguin, diversifying anchor text is more important than any single link building technique
- Your WordPress template absolutely can affect rankings through poor on-page SEO
What's Changed Since This Episode
Mark recorded this in October 2012. The SEO landscape has continued evolving.
Link building has shifted dramatically toward earned links. The manual link building strategies Mark describes, article directories, web 2.0 links, profile links, have been largely devalued by subsequent Google updates. In 2026, the most effective approach is creating genuinely useful content that earns editorial links naturally.
Buzz marketing has evolved into real-time content marketing. The principles Lynn Terry described are now practiced at scale using tools like Google Trends, social listening platforms, and AI-powered content generation. The speed required to capitalize on trending topics has compressed from days to hours.
Niche site failure rates are higher than ever. Google's helpful content updates and E-E-A-T requirements mean that thin, low-effort niche sites rarely gain traction. The bar for quality has risen dramatically since 2012.
Resources Mentioned
- Lynn Terry — ClickNewz
- HitTail — Long-tail keyword tool
- Yoast WordPress SEO
- LNIM Podcast
Related Episodes
Listen and Subscribe
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