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How Izzy Nicholls’ Overland Truck Travel Blog Earns $7.5k+/Month Via SEO

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How Izzy Nicholls' Overland Truck Travel Blog Earns $7.5k+/Month Via SEO

Izzy and Phil were living the good life in the UK, but they still felt something was missing. So they did what anyone would do: they sold their home and everything they owned, bought a motorhome and set off to travel Europe.

Although they originally planned on taking a “gap” year from their regular lives, the more they traveled, the happier they were. Izzy took it upon herself to document their adventures and The Gap Decaders was born.

Five years later and they’re still on the road, they’ve traveled Europe, Asia, and North Africa, they upgraded to an overland truck, and they completely changed their lives! They’re earning $7.5k+ per month and are living their dream.

Keep reading to find out:

  • Why they decided to start traveling
  • Why they decided to start a travel blog
  • How the blog did at first
  • How and why Izzy changed her strategy
  • How long it took to reach her target
  • Where their income comes from
  • Her top marketing strategy
  • Her thoughts on SEO
  • Her approach to keyword research and link building
  • How she creates content
  • Her favorite resources and tools
  • Her biggest challenge
  • Her greatest accomplishment
  • Her main mistake
  • The advice she would give other entrepreneurs

Meet Izzy and Phil

We met in the Falkland Islands over 20 years ago before moving back to the UK. Phil spent 25 years in the British Army and I worked as an Operations Director in healthcare. 

We had a shared interest in travel and property and renovated houses on the side whilst packing in as many holidays as possible. We found our forever home in 2012 and got married the same year.

Phil left the army and retrained as a building inspector and life was pretty good. We spent five years renovating our house, took regular luxury holidays, and didn’t worry about money. But, something was missing and we knew that we weren’t fulfilled.

We decided to sell our house (not so forever then!) and almost everything we owned to buy a motorhome and travel Europe for a couple of years. We knew we’d be able to walk back into jobs and thought we would use the equity from the sale to buy another house to renovate.

Five years later we’re still on the road, having graduated from a motorhome to an overland truck, started a successful business, and completely changed our lives!

Why They Created The Gap Decaders

About six months into our travels, in January 2019, I got bored. 

The weather changed, the days got shorter, and I needed something to occupy my brain. I was browsing the internet one day, looking for some information about where we were and I stumbled upon a few travel blogs. 

I had never used a travel blog as a method of research. In fact, I was not on any social media and very rarely looked at my phone, so the concept of sharing information via a blog was a new phenomenon to me.

The more I thought about it, the more I thought “I could do this!” I could write about motorhome life on a blog and it would be so amazing that millions of people would read it and I’d make a ton of money. Seriously, that’s what I thought and that’s how I sold it to Phil!

Around that time, a good friend came out to see us and over a beer laughingly called us “the gap decaders,” because by that point we knew we’d want longer than the typical gap year or two. 

The name stuck, but in hindsight, it’s probably not the best name for a blog, although at the time we felt it described us perfectly—and people don’t forget it!

And so I bought the domain (funnily enough it was available) and started a website on Wix. I was painfully aware of my lack of any technical knowledge, although I had worked in senior roles with oversight of many elements of managing a business, so had an idea about strategy, finances, and marketing.

After a few months, I realized that I needed a bit more input, so I signed up for Nomadic Matt’s Superstar Blogging course. I moved the site from Wix to WordPress and slowly started to understand the basics of my new job.

Moving across to WordPress was a whole new world of technical confusion! I had to find a host and start almost from scratch (with hindsight a great thing), but slowly, slowly I learned how the back end of WordPress works, and created my new site.

I spent way too much time worrying about how it looked, wanting every element of the visuals to be perfect. I dabbled with Elementor and various other page builders, then got hung up on speed. I tried several different themes, and each change required work to get the theme perfect.

But those millions of people didn’t materialize, and after a year, I still wasn’t making any money. 

What Happened When Covid Hit

Right around that time, the pandemic hit and I thought maybe my dream was at an end. We made it back to our bolthole in Spain just before lockdown, which we now know would keep us there for at least a year.

The house is off-grid in the mountains, with a bit of land, so whilst Phil was collecting water and firewood and tilling a veggie plot, I carried on working. To be honest, it was more because I knew I’d go stir-crazy if I didn’t keep myself occupied.

I stumbled upon Sharon Gourlay (Digital Nomad Wannabe) on Facebook and took her free SEO course, which was a game changer. 

From Nomadic Matt’s philosophy of “if you write it well, they will find it” (easy for him to say!) to Sharon’s much more aggressive, but more realistic, SEO strategies, I felt like I finally had a plan.

I moved to a simple theme—no page builders—and rebuilt the site from the ground up with an SEO-driven structure. 

I invested in a keyword research tool and rewrote everything, using an effective on and off-page SEO strategy, and did a mountain of keyword research. I added affiliate links wherever I could and pushed out 2 to 3 posts every week.

At that time, I was writing about all the stuff we’d seen and done on the road and our experience with motorhomes and as road trippers—things I’d previously not had time to focus on. I would say that for every month of travel, I gather enough content to keep me writing for at least two months, so I had a lot of content stacked up in my head!

Within a month, I could see growth, and within three months I had made £500, my original target. 

How Izzy Nicholls Overland Truck Travel Blog Earns 75kMonth Via

Ok, I thought, I’ll up that target to £5k a month and get myself into Mediavine, which I did within about 9 months. I’m sure lockdown helped me on the way, but I’ll take whatever I can get!

We made the decision to broaden the niche to include road trips, as the term motorhome is not really used outside the UK, which makes it difficult to rank in the US and Europe. 

A combination of that change, which opened up hundreds of keywords, together with pent-up demand after the pandemic and driving content creation helped us really take off. 

Within 18 months, I started a second website, Norfolk Travel Guide, which is about my home county in the UK. I took everything that had worked from The Gap Decaders and applied it from day one to my new site, which is now a whisper away from 50k sessions, the magic Mediavine number.

How Much They’re Making

In the last 12 months, both sites combined made just over £68k. It’s taken 4.5 years to get to this point. There are multiple revenue streams but, fundamentally, three headliners: ad revenue, affiliate revenue, and product sales (ebooks and itineraries).  

We occasionally do a bit of consultancy work and write bespoke itineraries, but I prefer not to do these as they’re a time suck and for the effort involved, I can earn way more elsewhere.

Phil also started a YouTube channel a year ago under The Gap Decaders brand, and that is slowly building, although the revenue per 1,000 YouTube watchers compared to 1,000 visitors to the website is small and the revenue takes much more work to achieve.

These are monthly earnings, averaged over the past 12 months. We tend to take a seasonal dip from late October to early February, when we see things start to pick up again.

Mediavine Ads 2997
Amazon Affiliates 388
Ezoic Ads 562
Digital Sales 837
Hotel Affiliates 408
Tour Affiliates 209
Ferry Affiliates 71
Insurance Affiliates 89
Tech Affiliates 91
Rental Car Affiliates 137
Kindle Publishing 88
YouTube Ads 179
Total 6055

As for traffic, in our best month of 2023 (so far) we got 158k sessions/199k page views. I anticipate at least a 20% increase on that in July and August.

1690309567 3 How Izzy Nicholls Overland Truck Travel Blog Earns 75kMonth Via
Growth chart over the last 12 months

For the first couple of years, we worked on our business 60 to 70 hours most weeks. Now it depends. If the weather is bad, we might do five days in a row, but if the sun is shining, it might be two!

Izzy’s Top Marketing Strategy

The only marketing strategy in my opinion is SEO. 

If you follow good SEO practice both on and off the page, conduct keyword gap research, and write detailed and long-form evergreen content which answers every question the reader might have, then you’re much more likely to see the post rank well and receive ongoing traffic.

Early on, I took a free training session with Ahrefs, and they talked about the traffic “spike of hope and the flatline of nope” that comes from pushing your content on social media without the backing of a solid SEO strategy, and it’s so true.

We see that with YouTube, where we share our truck life on a weekly basis, but this is not informational or transactional content which can be keyword researched, it’s our story. 

We have a spike of viewers every Sunday night which dies off until we have another spike the next week. That being said, it’s worth it from a brand perspective, and because YouTube can’t be faked, it gives you credibility in a marketplace that’s becoming saturated by AI.

The beauty of SEO-researched content is that it keeps on giving and the line becomes a steady stream of income, potentially evermore as long as you update regularly.

The Importance of SEO

It’s the number one most important thing, and I learned that the hard way!

I tend to work in clusters, so I’ll find a high search volume keyword that I can rank for and write about that as a hub post, then add spoke posts off that which may have a smaller search volume but help to support the main keyword. The hub and spoke method means all the posts interlink and create a structure for Google to understand.

I always try to find the nuggets no one else has mentioned and when I’m writing I’ll always be asking “why?” and “how?”. Why is x the best museum in x, why does x have a fascinating history, how do I get to x mountain pass, etc. 

In that way, the post becomes more informative and interesting for the reader, keeps them on the page longer, and tells Google you know more than your competitors.

Keyword Research

I use the KeySearch tool to find keywords I know I can write about. I look for high-volume/low-difficulty keywords, but they’re not always easy to find! 

It is possible to find clusters of low volume/low difficulty keywords and rank for many in the same post.

I check the competition and take a look at the top three posts currently ranking. I assess their DA and see whether I think I could outrank them. If I can, I go ahead and write the post.

Link Building

For The Gap Decaders, link building was incredibly important, but as the site has grown it has become slightly less so. We’re now so prominent in the motorhome-road trip niche that we attract natural links from high authority sites.

I’ve had success using Facebook groups to connect with other bloggers to swap links. We also have a couple of key posts which rank in the top spot in the UK about what we do and how we travel, and post-pandemic there’s been a lot of press interest. 

Media outlets have reached out and we’ve gained do-follow links through being featured by international and national news websites, like National Geographic and ITV News, and these super-high authority links really make a difference.

I’ve never tried cold emailing to create links as I just delete anything I receive like that and assume others do the same. 

With Norfolk Travel Guide, I’ve never sought nor swapped links. Because it’s such a niche site, it’s hard to find other bloggers to swap links with who are not direct competition, and links from other businesses in the region tend to come naturally.

Her Content Creation Process

The strategy is simple: content is king. I still try to publish at least once a week, but when most of your posts are 5k+ words, and you have two websites, that can be challenging.

I maintain a drafts list and I work on expanding my hub and spoke posts, usually writing about the highest search volume keyword, or keywords where I can score big with affiliate links, first.

I spend a couple of hours a week doing keyword research and adding to my drafts list. This might be about something that’s caught my eye online, in the press or on socials, or about where we’re traveling at the time.

1690309567 849 How Izzy Nicholls Overland Truck Travel Blog Earns 75kMonth Via

We might also divert somewhere so I can write about it. A couple of years ago we were traveling in Portugal and I was doing some research about the route, when I came across a fascinating place I wanted to visit, and when I keyword-researched it, it was huge! Needless to say, we went there! 

In terms of process, I write directly into WordPress, researching as I go. Once the words are done, I add images and then go through and add affiliate links. I often use a resource block which is repeated in every post, so there is some easy cut-and-paste stuff. 

I find it’s usually the affiliate links that take up the time, formatting the post so it’s on brand, adding internal links and resources information, as well as call to action blocks scattered through the post.

Her Email List

Our list is currently about 9k strong and we have an over 50% open rate with an average 15% clickthrough. 

I started with Mailchimp and moved across to Mailerlite when it became too expensive. Originally, I created lots of different sign-up forms and lead magnets, but now I used Mediavine’s GrowMe tools, which add spotlight subscribe to all my pages with no input from me at all.

That triggers an automated welcome email and I send a newsletter once a month.

Izzy’s Favorite Resources

I don’t much like social media for myself, but it’s been a fantastic learning tool for the business. I spent hours stalking the various blogging groups on Facebook, asking questions, and reading others’ views and I learned so much from that.

Phil is a much more visual person and has learned everything he knows about video editing and social media from YouTube.

If you want to take a course (and I think the two I did are no longer available) make sure it’s by a blogger who has multiple successful blogs, so you know their advice is tried and tested and they’ve not just got lucky.

Her Go-To Tools

My preferred tools are:

KeySearch: This is my go-to keyword research tool. There are lots of elements to this tool including, competitor analysis, keyword gap analysis, and keyword tracking.

Canva: This covers all the bases when creating social media posts, Pinterest pins, and YouTube thumbnails, and also provides stock images.

Google Sheets: I can track all the financial aspects of the business, giving me insights into seasonal trends, per user income, and the performance of each affiliate. This helps me plan in advance when I might offer discounts on my digital products, which affiliates are worth the effort, and what to write more of.

Her Biggest Challenge

This is definitely how to scale up. It’s still a challenge as I want to break £10k per month, but I know I need to really ramp up content creation to achieve that. 

I started 2023 with the goal of doubling my content output and tried hiring writers to support the aim, but it wasn’t a great success. I found I had to either re-write or edit heavily to get the standard of content I wanted.

So, scaling up remains a question and I’m not sure about the answer right now.

Her Most Important Accomplishment

That would be creating something of value from literally nothing, especially as I never considered myself an entrepreneur!

Working for ourselves has given us the freedom to keep traveling and has made our way of life sustainable. I’ve even been able to start paying into my pension again!

1690309567 153 How Izzy Nicholls Overland Truck Travel Blog Earns 75kMonth Via

What She Wishes She Knew When She Started

I wish I had known that it’s not easy and you’re never going to get rich quick. Nomadic Matt’s philosophy on the course was that you’ll succeed if you just keep going, because most others will give up, and I think that’s very true. 

Her Main Mistake

My mistake was trying to be like everyone else. Sure, it’s important to know your competition, but don’t try to be like them as you won’t be authentic. 

Instead, find your own voice, work out what you want to say, and carve your own path. You’ll be much happier for it.

Her Advice for Other Entrepreneurs

Do something you love. I had no idea I would love all aspects of being a website owner, from the creative and writing side to the technical aspects and being my own boss. I feel like I’ve found my calling!

It’s only sustainable, and it needs to be because it can be really hard, if you have passion for what you do.



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First, AI came for Sports Illustrated. Soon, it will want to give you sports betting advice

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First, AI came for Sports Illustrated. Soon, it will want to give you sports betting advice

Open this photo in gallery:

Real Sports Bar and Grill in Toronto on Nov. 24, 2016.Glenn Lowson/The Globe and Mail

When Sports Illustrated was outed last week for its alleged use of generative AI to create online articles – and, even worse, for topping them with fake bylines and AI author headshots – readers of the legendary glossy were appalled and disappointed at how the mighty had fallen.

But there was one element of the story that largely got lost amid the outrage, and it hints at an even darker prospect of what lies ahead for sports media and fans.

The SI pieces in question were product reviews: Inoffensive rankings of say, seven brands of volleyballs, which included links to Amazon that a reader could click on if they suddenly felt the urge to take up the sport. So, not only was the editorial copy generated by fake people, it was actually fake editorial copy. It was real advertising.

The practice of peppering editorial content with commercial links – known in the business as affiliate marketing – is a mainstay of Internet advertising, from movie reviews that direct readers to online ticketing sites, to podcasters and TikTok influencers giving out discount codes for listeners or viewers to buy merch from specific retailers.

But affiliate marketing has exploded in recent years in one notorious segment of the industry – sports betting, and its gush of ad dollars that are falling on a desperate media sector like rain on a parched prairie.

Affiliate sites that funnel new customers to online gambling operators are raking in the cash because of a quirk in that segment of the business – and they’re doing it on the backs of those new bettors.

In the spring of 2021, the Canadian sports media startup Playmaker Capital went public on the TSX Venture Exchange and quickly began scooping up digital properties with large followings that the company believed could be converted to bettors. When I interviewed Playmaker’s CEO, Jordan Gnat, shortly after shares began trading, he said he wanted to be in “the fan monetization business.”

There were tens of millions to monetize. The company began by buying soccer-focused sites in Latin America such as Bolavip, which targeted fans in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, Central America and the United States, then expanded into the English-language North American market with the newsletter publisher and aggregator Yardbarker. Here in Canada it bought The Nation Network, which operates the hockey fantasy site, Daily Faceoff, and the Quebec-based La Poche Bleue.

But last month, Playmaker went from the hunter to the hunted when Better Collective, an affiliate-marketing giant based in Denmark that Gnat had cited to me as an inspiration for his company, gobbled it up for about $260-million.

The flurry of activity is partly because affiliate marketers who funnel customers to sportsbooks are an entirely different beast. They’re not just making one-time commissions, as they would if they were helping to sell concert tickets or tennis racquets or fly traps. Instead, they get a percentage of the sportsbook’s net revenue made from any new bettor.

“Net revenue” is another term for “total lifetime losses by a new bettor.”

Forget the pennies that digital ads are infamous for bringing in. If a site converts a reader or listener or viewer into a regular gambler – that is, a regular loser – the payday can be hundreds of dollars or more.

Here’s where it might occur to you that the incentives for a site to give you good betting advice might clash with that same site’s incentive to get you to sign up with a sports book and then lose a lot of money.

You would not be wrong.

In the social-media industry, there’s a saying that if you’re not paying for the product, you are the product. In the world of affiliate marketing, you are the product – the one that’s being sold to the sportsbooks. But boy, are you paying for it.

An academic paper published in January, 2020, in International Gambling Studies titled Affiliate Marketing of Sports Betting – A Cause for Concern? points out that many sites aren’t transparent about their duelling allegiances. It also notes that “people assign greater levels of trust to expert advice during decision-making tasks involving financial risk. This may be a particular concern for those who are just beginning to gamble upon sport, as they may be more inclined to rely on expert advice on bet choice due to their lack of experience.” Newbies may be especially susceptible, given that affiliates position themselves as being on the side of the bettor, when in fact they’re being paid by the sportsbook.

Which brings us full circle back to where we started. Generative AI is notoriously bad at a lot of things, including getting facts straight. But it’s very good at sounding confident, even as it bluffs its way through life.

And it’s about to use its charms to lull you into thinking you can beat the house.

Last May, Lloyd Danzig, the managing partner at the New York-based venture-capital company Sharp Alpha Advisors, noted in a piece for Sports Business Journal that publishers doing affiliate marketing for sportsbooks, “will soon leverage generative AI to instantly create thousands of SEO-optimized articles that discuss the current day’s calendar of games, betting trends, stories to follow, and sportsbook promotions. Pregame previews, postgame summaries, and highlight reels can be created on command without the use of specialized software or manual oversight. Articles, sportsbook reviews, and odds comparison pieces can be generated for any audience, with a fraction of the effort required from human writers.”

Think we’re already swamped with sports betting content? You haven’t seen anything yet.

Après ChatGPT, le déluge.

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What Are the Duties of a Content Strategist?

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What Are the Duties of a Content Strategist?

You’ve decided you want a career as a content strategist, and we’re here to help you reach your goal. A content strategist is a key player in determining the success of a brand’s content strategy, and it can be an exciting career path.

We discuss below the duties of a content strategist along with tips for becoming the most successful one you can be.

What Does a Content Strategist Do?

A content strategist brainstorms, plans, and executes the content strategy for a brand. This can be done either in a solo environment or with a content strategy team.

The material that’s crafted by content strategists for various social media platforms and other digital marketing efforts is designed with the objectives of the business in mind.

Understanding what content strategists do means we first need to understand content marketing.

Content marketing is a useful type of marketing that involves creating content designed to build interest in a brand’s products or services without explicitly promoting them.

Content strategists are content marketing experts.

For example, a content marketing strategy for a social media coach could involve a series of blog posts about why it’s so important to post on social media.

content strategist

Now you can understand how a content marketing strategist engages in content marketing in the day-to-day execution of their job.

Content Strategist Job Description

Here is a sample content strategist job description:

The content strategist will develop a content strategy that meets key business objectives. They will reach the brand’s target audience through various marketing channels using their supreme content delivery skills.

The content strategist will use the organization’s content management system to oversee marketing campaigns across a variety of specific social media channels. In addition to content planning and content creation, content strategists will report on how their work met content strategy deliverables.

A typical content strategist salary ranges from $40,000-$80,000 based on location, experience, and the type of company you’re working for.

Here are a few examples of roles for the job title “content strategist” that illustrate a varying salary range based on location throughout the United States:

content strategistcontent strategist

As you gain more experience and rise in seniority, you could become a senior content strategist or even advance into marketing leadership. It’s up to you where you want to take your career.

The Roles and Responsibilities of a Content Strategist

To add to the content strategist job description, we list the roles and responsibilities of a content strategist below.

The content strategist role varies on a day-to-day basis, but the overall tasks that need to be completed remain consistent. Content strategists will:

  • Facilitate content planning sessions across a variety of editorial calendars and marketing channels.
  • Perform a content audit of all existing content, evaluate its effectiveness, and update as necessary.
  • Conduct extensive keyword research to guide the direction of the brand’s content creation.
  • Pitch existing and prospective clients on their content creation ideas.
  • Build target audience profiles to create content for.
  • Understand the many ways future content can generate leads and be monetized.
  • Stay informed on social media trends and changes in consumer behavior.
  • Create content across various digital platforms and social media accounts.
  • Oversee a marketing team and delegate tasks for ongoing and upcoming projects.
  • Collaborate with other team members, like copywriters, UX/UI designers, editors, and more when creating online content.
  • Analyze its successful content strategy and report back on its performance. A working knowledge of SEO reporting tools is crucial.

Who Does a Content Strategist Report To?

The content strategist will typically report to a manager in the marketing department. This could include a marketing manager, the vice president of marketing, or the marketing director.

However, keep in mind that every company is structured differently.

For example, a large corporation will be structured differently than a small start-up.

The content strategist role at a start-up might report directly to the CEO. Furthermore, a content strategist at a large corporation might report to the marketing manager.

Depending on how large the marketing team is, the content strategist might report to a more specialized person, like the digital content manager.

Understanding the marketing team structure of the company you want to apply for will help you understand where you fit in the organization.

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Types of Companies Content Strategists Work For

Because every type of company can benefit from having a content strategy team, there are a variety of companies a content strategist could work for.

A few types of companies a content strategist could work for include:

Large Corporations:

Major recognizable brands need content strategists to maintain their position in the market as thought leaders.

Marketing Agencies:

Marketing agencies provide a wide range of services, and content marketing is just one of those services. A content marketer will help marketing agencies create engaging content as part of overall content strategies for clients.

Small Start-ups:

Content strategists are an important part of the business for small start-ups because they help attract new and existing customers.

Having content monetization skills can be especially important for start-ups as they run lean in the early days.

Content Agencies:

Content agencies are similar to marketing agencies. However, they provide a more niche service that’s specific to content marketing.

These types of agencies will need to hire teams of content strategists to serve their clients’ content marketing needs.

Freelance:

There is another option that’s entirely different from the employers we’ve discussed on this list. That alternative is freelancing.

A career as a freelancer means that you will be self-employed and responsible for obtaining your own clients, delivering the project, and billing the client.

While there is potentially more money to be made as a freelancer, it does also come with more risk.

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What Skills Do You Need to Become a Content Strategist?

Becoming a successful content strategist requires a variety of soft skills and technical expertise. We break down the necessary skills in each category below.

Soft Skills

Here are a list of the soft skills you’ll need in your career as a content strategist:

Storytelling:

You will need to tell compelling stories to a variety of audiences as a content strategist. Whether it’s pitching ideas to clients or educating your audience, you will need to learn to relay information in an engaging way.

Creativity:

Ultimately, you’re creating content for your target audience to consume. This means that it needs to be engaging, exciting, and creative. Having creativity will help you put together the best content.

Communication:

As a content strategist, you are communicating every day. Whether it’s to your boss, other teams within the company, or your target audience, having top-notch communication skills will be very important.

Organization:

An aspiring content strategist needs to be very organized. They will be managing multiple campaigns simultaneously, so they need expert organizational skills to keep everything running smoothly.

Technical Skills

Beyond the very important soft skills you’ll need, there are a variety of technical skills that you’ll also need in your career as a content strategist.

Here are a few of them:

Writing:

Strong technical writing skills are one of the most important hard skills you’ll need. Being able to write high-quality long-form content will be a key component of your job.

Search Engine Optimization:

SEO is another one of the most important technical skills you will need to have in your career. You’ll need to understand how to perform keyword research with SEO research software, along with how to seamlessly incorporate these keywords into the text as part of the content creation process.

Social Media Platforms:

Having an understanding of the posting style of each of the different social media platforms will be helpful to your success as a content strategist.

Your long-form content will be shared with your audience in the form of social media campaigns. If you’re able to lend your knowledge when creating these campaigns, you will be able to provide more value for your team.

Monetization:

Part of the content strategist’s job is understanding how the content you’re creating can be monetized and earn your employer money.

Whether it’s incorporating banner ads or partnering with affiliates, you will need to be an expert in monetization methods for the content strategies you implement.

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Tips for Becoming a Content Strategist

You know the skills you need to develop and what the job description entails. Now it’s time to discuss tips for optimizing your career in content marketing. Read our top 5 tips for becoming a content strategist below.

Prioritize Your Education

You will need to have the knowledge if you want to earn a job as a content strategist. This means that prioritizing your education should be at the top of your list.

While this doesn’t necessarily mean you have to have a bachelor’s degree, some employers might require you to have one. For example, if you want to work at a large corporation or a major brand where you work your way up to a leadership position, they might require a bachelor’s degree for those types of roles.

Examples of bachelor’s degrees that you could obtain include marketing, journalism, public relations, or communications.

Gain Professional Experience

After you’ve obtained the education, you want to add professional experience to your resume.

Professional experience can occur in many forms, including internships and paid positions. Learn from the other content strategists you’re working with as you contribute to content marketing campaigns.

Whether you’re working directly as a content strategist or something adjacent to this position, give it your best effort to learn as much as you can while also impressing your employer.

References from internships and entry-level jobs will be helpful to you in the future!

Start Networking

In addition to developing your skills, you’ll also want to start networking.

Networking with other professionals in the industry will be helpful for you when searching for jobs. Sometimes, jobs aren’t even posted on online job boards, and instead, companies ask for referrals from their existing employees.

Similarly, when employers are looking at a large stack of resumes, seeing a name they recognize makes the hiring process easier for them.

Also, remember that you’re networking with people of all experience levels, not just people who are more advanced than you in your career. The person that you’re taking a course with could one day be promoted to the marketing manager you’re applying to work for.

All this to say, conduct yourself professionally and courteously when networking.

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Show Your Expertise Through Personal Projects

Even if you haven’t obtained that internship or first job yet, you can showcase your expertise through your personal projects.

Starting your own blog site, YouTube channel or newsletter will help you develop skills and gain hands-on experience.

Working on your own projects requires you to develop a content strategy, create content, and grow your audience.

How long does it take to make money from a blog? You will be able to answer this question for future employers based on firsthand knowledge.

You can then tell future employers about your expertise and the success of your marketing campaigns.

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Always Continue Learning

Even though education was already a priority for you on your path toward being a content strategist, learning will always be important for furthering your career.

Whether it’s taking online courses, reading books, or listening to podcasts, find the learning method that feels right for you.

Courses are a great way to further your education as a content marketer. Here are two great courses to get you started:

The Affiliate Lab

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The Affiliate Lab is an expert source on creating content optimized for SEO. This course contains more than 100 hours of training on how to conduct keyword research, select your niche, rank in search results, and more.

If you’re looking to improve the SEO rankings of your content, this course is for you. Niche Pursuits readers receive an exclusive discount of $200 off The Affiliate Lab course here.

Project 24

If you want to learn how to drive real results, Project 24 is the course for you. This will help teach you how to create the best possible content for a blog site or YouTube channel.

Its 27 online courses will teach you how to create and monetize content that’s been optimized for SEO.

The end goal of this course is to teach you how to generate passive income from your content marketing efforts. Check out our Income School Review to learn more about Project 24 and its founders.

No matter which course you choose based on your goals, what’s important is that you’re expanding your knowledge base to create results-driven content.

Your Career as a Content Strategist

Whether you work for a fast-paced marketing agency or an exciting brand, your career in digital content creation is sure to be an exciting one. We wish you the best of luck in your career as a content strategist!



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HustleGPT: An Intriguing Blend of Humor and Concern in AI Capitalism

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HustleGPT is a hilarious and scary AI experiment in capitalism

This article serves as a condensed overview of the original piece titled “HustleGPT is a hilarious and scary AI experiment in capitalism.”

Introduction:

OpenAI’s release of GPT-4, an advanced generative AI model, sparked an innovative experiment that blends humor and concern in the realm of AI capitalism. Brand designer and writer Jackson Greathouse Fall initiated a project, transforming GPT-4 into “HustleGPT” with a mission to automate hustle culture. This intriguing venture has captivated the internet, with its potential to redefine get-rich-quick schemes and shed light on the role of AI in the pursuit of wealth.

The Birth of HustleGPT:

With a mere $100 and a straightforward prompt, the experiment unfolded. The objective was clear: turn the initial amount into as much money as possible in the shortest time, all while adhering to legal boundaries. The human counterpart, Jackson Greathouse Fall, acted as a liaison between the AI and the physical world, providing updates on the cash total without engaging in manual labor.

The Business Plan Unveiled:

HustleGPT’s proposed business plan involved setting up an affiliate marketing site for eco-friendly products. A cheap domain, greengadgetguru.com, was swiftly acquired, and with the assistance of GPT-4, a logo and a detailed site layout were generated. The project took a tangible form as Hall invested $29 in hosting, bringing the Green Gadget Guru website to life.

Strategic Moves and Investments:

With $62.84 remaining, Hall sought guidance from HustleGPT on the next steps. The AI suggested allocating funds for Facebook and Instagram ads to enhance visibility. The project gained momentum as Twitter hype attracted an undisclosed investor, injecting $100 into Green Gadget Guru on the first day.

Scaling Up the Operation:

As the experiment progressed, GPT-4 displayed its capabilities beyond initial expectations. It recommended hiring freelance content creators and developing a Software as a Service (SaaS) product. The project expanded rapidly, with GPT-4 advising on capitalizing on Twitter followers, launching a GitHub repository for others to replicate the challenge, and attracting more investments.

The Viral Success:

HustleGPT’s viral success is a testament to the fascination surrounding AI capabilities. However, beyond the entertainment factor, the project is demonstrating the potential to build a legitimate business. With $7,812.84 in investment, a growing team, and content in the pipeline, the experiment has garnered attention. The question remains: can Hall and HustleGPT transcend the common startup pitfall of hype without profits?

AI’s Role in Capitalist Ambitions:

HustleGPT’s journey reflects the ongoing debate about AI’s role in capitalist endeavors. While the experiment leverages GPT-4’s virality to achieve financial goals quickly, it raises concerns about the ethical implications of automating hustle culture. The project showcases how AI can navigate the business landscape, from generating content and attracting investors to scaling up operations.

Conclusion:

In the evolving landscape of AI and capitalism, HustleGPT stands as a unique and thought-provoking experiment. It encapsulates the potential and challenges of integrating advanced AI models into entrepreneurial endeavors. Whether it succeeds or encounters the common pitfalls of startups, the project serves as a fascinating case study, offering insights into the intersection of AI, hustle culture, and the pursuit of wealth in the digital age.

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