The Niche Media Publishing Newsletter: 13 February 2024

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Affiliate Disruption, Forums are New Again, Ways to Monetize Media, Niche Media Finds

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Alright, let’s get into the topics for this week.

The Great Affiliate Disruption

Last week I published a piece on Affiliate Insider regarding the coming affiliate turmoil and what publishers, brands, agencies, and affiliate tech can do about it.

The TL;DR is that I see some significant mid-term risk for the affiliate ecosystem as a downstream effect of Google taking the hammer to pureplay content / SEO websites.

Some Follow-Ups for Niche Media: This seemed to resonate with many thought leaders on the affiliate management side (I had many folks quietly reach out).

I’m actually bullish on affiliate / referral marketing, but the distribution pattern is under threat. I highlighted some ways I’m testing traffic diversification, and I’ll repost here:

As a publisher, I’m looking to diversify traffic and platforms in the following ways:

1. Email Lists / Newsletters: A subscriber is durable in a way that Google visitors are not. Developing a long-term relationship with opted-in readers is a SLOW burn, but insulated and “moat-like” over a long time horizon. I’m particularly bullish on Beehiiv.

2. Reddit: I’ve been spending a lot of time trying to figure out Reddit, both as a social network and search engine. In some ways, it’s easier to publish on Reddit as there is instant domain authority. I could see a rise in “Reddit first” publishers, similar to how Buzzfeed leveraged Facebook early on.

3. Pinterest: Pinterest is in many ways the MOST similar to Google, with a similar algo quality. There’s still channel risk, but the INTENT profile is much higher than other social platforms like Instagram, Facebook, etc…

4. Expanding Video: Video - specifically YouTube and TikTok - have long term tailwinds and a different algorithm to optimize for. Note: the risk is very similar to Google Search, it’s just different. Affiliate tools for video aren’t as well established.

5. Facebook: Facebook isn’t great for high-intent traffic, but can be scaled quite rapidly with paid audience building. Probably more of a programmatic ad play at this point, but some downstream affiliate opportunity.

6. Forums: Forums seem to be back in vogue and there’s some intersection with the community-building macro trend that make them an interesting play. I’m not thinking about launching a bunch for stand-alone forums anytime soon, but may experiment with adding to already established publications. Adding affiliate monetization is different in a forum vs editorial content.

And I’ve been thinking a lot about “what’s old is new again” with forums…

Are Forums the New Newsletters?

Forums and UGC sites are one of the early BIG winners from the initial Google HCU updates.

Here’s a few I’m tracking…

• Reddit

• Fandom communities

• AVS Forum

• Anything owned by Vertical Scope

So there’s a near-term SEO opportunity here. Maybe we should all just add forums to our media properties to get some Google love.

In other words, do something to make your brand “not just a content site”:

That said, as I’ve alluded to before, I’m not sure this “war” is sustainable for Google. It’s far easier to parasite Reddit than it is to “fake” a content site.

In a similar way to how the “newsletter” trend is really just a reframe of the “old as the internet” list building strategy, a new spin on forums could be the next evolution of “community” and “UGC”.

If you own the forum platform, you still typically get access to profile data when users sign up (including their email) and often get MORE details than a standard email opt-in.

There’s also two key gaps I see with newsletters / lists that a forum-like resurgence could address:

1. SEO: Newsletters are still really poor SEO platforms. Beehiiv, Substack, and basically any email service provider are primarily built for the inbox, even if they offer some basic web versions. Forums are a known quantity and appear to be an emerging “content type” for Google search.

2. Community Interaction: Newsletters are great communication devices for your audience. They force the author to really think about who they are speaking to. But, it’s a one direction relationship. Readers can respond to emails (that’s great), but the community doesn’t get the benefit of these comments. Some premium newsletters offer private Facebook group access or Slack channels, but these are largely closed-end networks. There’s value to exclusivity (and you can still have private forum areas), but there’s no inherent discoverability in a Slack channel or closed group).

There is some interesting tech in the “community building” space like Circle.so, but these are still closed-end systems.

There’s also Reddit as a “community” for your audience to hang out. Reddit certainly as SEO visibility right now.

You can even create private sub-reddits. That said, you are still building your house on rented land. A good lead gen growth hack, but ultimately little control if Reddit decides to change their model.

I’m not sure what the right tech stack is just yet.

There’s the old school forum builders like:

• phpBB

• vBulletin

And some WordPress plugins like:

• bbPress

• BuddyPress

• WPForo

• Discussion Board

But it does feel like forum tech is a bit tired and out of date. There are some, more modern, solutions like Discourse.org that I’m watching, but nothing of late.

I don’t have a favorite just yet, but we are experimenting with different ideas and options around the re-imagined forum experience.

Ways to Monetize Your Niche Media Business

Beehiiv came out with a great post on 20 ways to monetize your newsletter.

My Take: I would remove “newsletter” from the headline and insert “niche media”. It’s all still relevant.

As I’m looking at all sorts of new monetization angles, what makes a “good niche” is increasingly one that can fit more of these boxes than not.

Thinking about these angles is also a great filter for whether or not you (or your team) has enough experience or expertise to create durable value over time.

Just because their is a gap in the market, a search opportunity, or easy growth hack (distribution), doesn’t mean it’s a good long term bet.

Niche Media Finds This Week

Here are some niche media businesses I’ve found this week that piqued my interest:

• TechnologyAdvice: This B2B website is an example of taking it to the next level. While they rank for a mountain of lucrative terms and have plenty of on-page lead gen links, they actually have an entire team dedicated to helping B2B decision makers pick the right software. What other markets could this work in for media brands?

• The Sims Resource: A great example of a forum + UGC and paid membership model. Not only is the forum content user-generated, but the actual game mods are user generated (for free). Talk about an incredible evergreen asset! This one is owned by Enthusiast Gaming (EGLX), a publicly traded media company in the fandom and esports arena.

Interesting News Below the Fold

These are some other interesting things I read recently. Didn’t quite make the main feature, but worth reading.

• My Interview on Food Blogger Pro: A recent podcast where I sit down with my friend Bjork Ostrom (PinchofYum.com) to discuss the media landscape, diversifying traffic (and revenue).

• Anne Moss on Why Expertise / Experience Isn’t Enough: A great personal example from Anne & why there’s a need for professional media as the “rails” for platforming experts. Being an expert and effectively communicating in digital mediums are two very different skills!

• Sistrix Publishes Biggest Losers of 2023: Lily Ray shares who lost in 2023 (lot of publishers, for sure).

Other Newsletters Worth Following

Here are some other publications I subscribe to, author, or co-sign.

If you are operating a newsletter (or even just interested), this next one is one of my “must opens” every week:

If you leverage affiliate relationships in your media business, Affiliate Insider is where I share my in-the-field experience.

Our COO (Amy), publishes an incredibly detailed and thoughtful newsletter for content marketers here:

We also cover the latest MarTech trends and deep dives with a monthly (soon to be weekly) newsletter for B2B operators:

OK, that's it for this week...

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