Make More Money From Your Website Content or Blog – Get on Page 1 of Google!
This post contains affiliate links to products. I may receive a commission for purchases made through these links. I only recommend products, courses or services that have gotten me results, so if it was 💩 you wouldn’t hear about it from me. 💖
It is possible to get your website in front of your ideal audience. The caveat is that it will take a bit of time. One approach that has stood the test of time is search engine optimisation or helping search engines like Google understand your website, so that you are higher up the search results.
Is SEO a lot of work Helen?
I’m not saying it’s a bed of roses, but you want to help your audience in the most authentic way right? This is what Google going into 2024 and beyond is looking for. You are in the perfect position to write great content in the form of blog posts, that will enrich your site, and your audience’s knowledge of what you are an expert at.
This is a post from my SEO beginnings.
It shows how with the right course, you can grow your organic traffic, and it keeps serving your audience and you over time. The biggest lesson I have learned since is that SEO content should answer the most compelling questions your audience is trying to solve. It needs to come from your own experience so it is authentic and written with integrity. This course is everything you need to get your SEO strategy started!
Here is one of my Samcart screenshots. This is all from one blog post recommending a copywriting course that is amazing, and continues to serve me to this day.
Also the other thing I learned from Mike Futia, the course tutor of Stupid Simple SEO, is that if you are promoting affiliate products, you must use them, believe in them and know they work. Otherwise you are not operating with integrity and wasting people’s time.
Check out Mike’s free SEO BootCamp here – it will give you a great grounding in what the big deal with SEO is in 2024 and beyond.
GET FREE ACCESS TO THE SEO BOOTCAMP >>
The context here – this was written in 2019 when I was trying to exit a draining primary teaching job. (I can’t believe I managed to exit and live my dream life as a copywriter. Courses like this helped me make extra income along the way. Good luck on your journey – whatever that may be.
Let’s dig in…
If I can make it to page 1 by implementing what I learned from an SEO course and make my first $2000 dollars, so can you!
My main role was a demanding one at the time, so I made the decision four years ago to look at how I could make more money from home.
I decided phase 1 would be starting a blog. After 14 months of running my blog, I finally had the cash saved to invest in Stupid Simple SEO. (I wish I’d have done it sooner)
This post is designed to help you avoid the masses of information overload.
It will give my opinion of the Stupid Simple SEO course, how it is helping my blog rank, increasing my blog traffic, and now making me more money from home.
In a rush or hurry?
Main Points:
⭐SEO is essential to the success of your blog or website.
⭐Stupid Simple SEO is the best online SEO course.
(in my humble opinion)
⭐The course will pay itself back many times!
⭐Build your organic traffic, so that if your Pinterest traffic tanks, you are not in a traffic hole!
✅ Try it! Watch this free training and see for yourself!
Where I’m at in 2023 with SEO
Additional context for you. I have now moved to being a fulltime online CEO. Partly a freelance email copywriter and online business owner. Mid way through 2022 I sold my niche site inspiredcyclist and budgetingischallenge because I really wanted to focus on one site. This one! So here are my SEO results so far. I am posting once a month with expert copywriter content, obviously from my own experience.
It’s great that I can still use the skills I learned from Stupid Simple SEO and also apply copywriter knowledge to my content writing. Buying the course has been one of the best investments I have made for my business. I can now offer content writing services, and know that my techniques (along with some unique to me) give my clients results and their posts show up on page 1.
The dip from 14 November 2022 is when I got really organized and linked Google Analytics to the corresponding Gdrive, so I could close another email account.
Here are the results.
I’m so excited to see how my organic traffic will grow in 2023, particularly as now I am not splitting my focus or drained by teaching any more.
My Initial Thoughts – back in 2019
I was at a weird point in my career, believe me. I wasn’t getting the creative buzz and the chance to make uncapped money in my main role.
What role could I do to seriously make money from home?
I wanted the chance to:
- potentially earn more for working fewer bone-crunching hours.
- work flexibly, so I can spend more time with my husband.
- earn passive income continually
- be creative.
- write about topics I was passionate about – saving money, making money, and budgeting.
Fast forward to 14 months down the road of my blog, and I had finally saved enough to buy the course. Loads of bloggers I knew and trusted had recommended the course to me, but I was determined I was going to stay true to my blog’s messages. I was not going to go into debt to finance it.
Mike, the course author, was lovely and gave me estimates (at the time) about what it might cost, so there I was, on my vacation in the US, pushing the button to purchase.
I truly got going, after a lot of pausing to learn, in September.
You can see in my Google Analytics what happened to my organic traffic.
Updated organic traffic for Budgeting is a Challenge – June 2018 to 16 August 2020
Latest organic traffic performance figures 2020 vs. 2019
As you can see, my traffic has exploded! 565%. Just to give you some context, I applied the techniques of this course but not really going for it. So I posted about once a month and updated some older posts.
So in 2021, this my plan is to create at least 4 posts a month!
I can’t wait to share the figures when I REALLY go for it!
Why I saved and invested in an SEO course
About four months into my blog, my web traffic was building, but not at the rate I wanted it to. Pinterest was my main source of blog traffic at the time. But I was overreliant on it.
It only took one Pinterest algorithm change, and my traffic plummeted.
The thing I needed to solve was not to be depending on Pinterest for my success.
Research told me that learning simple SEO or search engine optimization was the way to go.
Basically, SEO is really getting Google to like your site, so your page is clicked on by more people out there.
The truth about SEO
Every expert I had come across said the same thing.
SEO will take a while to build.
So don’t expect to see instant results from your efforts. This, at first, put me off, as it does with so many bloggers.
Also, it seemed way more technical than I was prepared to be!
On the flip side, I was determined not to let fear get in my way, so I pushed through it and started researching. I knew I needed some kind of SEO strategy, along with Pinterest, so that I wasn’t just relying on one thing for building my blog traffic.
Researching Possible Courses
I came to the conclusion early on that I wouldn’t be able to devote the time or money to attend a one-day course in London for £3000. These types of courses were way beyond what I could afford, especially for a start-up blog.
Boost Your Blog Traffic by Ana from the She Approach
This is a great ebook, especially if you are on a budget, but I was ready to invest more in a solution. Ana has had a lot of success with her blog traffic and I love that she is explicit with everything she is offering. What she sells, will get you results. If you love following an ebook, this is for you, but personally I like video training better. Boost Your Blog Traffic >>
Ready Set Blog for Traffic – Elna Cain
However, one blogger I had followed right from the start was Elna Cain, who offered Ready Set Blog for Traffic. It was a really tempting offer, as the price is only $79, and she does offer a 2-month payment plan.
As with all of Elna’s course products, she offers a clear curriculum of what you will learn, and lots of people clearly happy with their results. It is also suitable for beginner bloggers and also includes a module on Pinterest.
Traffic Transformation – Lena Gott
I also found Lena Gott’s Traffic Transformation. It appealed because she had been so successful. But in the end, I ended up feeling overwhelmed at the thought of reading an entire ebook. Not my thing at all. I like to have bite-size chunks I can handle every day. Especially if I am learning something new.
It seems she has chunked it up into two pdfs and a 40min SEO video. She is great with how to analyze what you see and improve on it, but I didn’t think the course was focused enough solely on teaching me about SEO. Price is $79, which is also reasonable.
Stupid Simple SEO
The third course I actually had recommended to me by two or three of the UK Money Bloggers. They rated it as being totally focused on SEO and also building your traffic quickly, but giving users a better experience than your competitors. It seemed like a business-like way of approaching the thing I wanted to learn the most.
I had also seen online some other very successful bloggers who had taken the course and were recommending it.
Examples:
- Jeff and Ben over at Breaking the One Percent and DollarSprout
- Michelle from Making Sense of Cents
- Carly over at Mommy on Purpose
- Kelan and Brittany from The Savvy Couple
- Suzi over at Start a Mom Blog
- Ling from Finsavvypanda
So I subscribed to all three options above, but it was only really Mike Futia’s free masterclass and videos that really helped me.
The price point was the tough thing. It was expensive. To top it off, I had just missed one intake of the course and now would have to wait. (At the time, the course only opened 3 times a year). I got in touch with Mike, and he was able to tell me approximately how much the course would cost and when it was due to open next. It was hard to watch my savings build, but I put a plan together, and I have never regretted purchasing the course!
Now you can opt-in all year round because Mike has made the course evergreen.
Price: $497 (or 4 payments of $147 a month)
My experiences so far
I am now in my eighth month of implementing the course.
I’ve learned that it’s best to pace yourself and not to try to learn too much at once!
Mike guides you step by step through the process of setting up your blog correctly for speed and usability. Then you learn how to access and analyze your competitor’s keywords, and then it’s all about implementing great SEO strategies when you write your content.
I am soo excited to see the long-term results of this! Only last week, I saw my post go to page 1 of Google the day after I posted it!
(Update 17/05/20 – it is at number 1!!!!)
Search term – Filthy Rich Writer Reviews
Mike also helps you to audit and improve your site. I completed an SEO review on one post, and it is now on page one of Google. Update Jan 2023 – I have now successfully transferred the post from budgetingisachallenge to helennuttall.com and it is proudly sitting at number 2 on page 1! Woop!
Search term – Fleas empty house
Fleas in an Empty House – Quick Flea Treatment
(Update Jan 2023) Note: this will reroute to Wealth of Geeks, who purchased budgetingisachallenge.com)
I’ve still got a bit of studying and implementing to do – like getting awesome backlinks and building more credibility with guest posting.
The one thing that is fab about this course is that Mike updates, so it is always current, and once you have purchased it, you have a lifetime membership.
Blogging truly is a long-term game, but for me, that’s fine – it has long-term gains in terms of passive income.
(Yes, this week I made my first big affiliate income amount – $200 for one recommendation!Yay!)
(Update 17/05/20 – Learning Mike’s strategy, I have now made $2400 in affiliate sales)
Updated April 2021 – now, using his strategies, I hit over 7k organic traffic in November and December 2021. Affiliate sales stand at over $25k!!
Affiliate Income Growth – $0 – $25,000!
Here is proof that Mike’s strategies helped me to explode my affiliate earnings! This explosion has happened recently from a few posts that have hit page one over time, so as yet, this hasn’t changed to payable, but look at the figure.
I’m not saying that studying Stupid Simple SEO is going to be easy. It is not!
But consistency and determination to implement his tried and tested ideas really do work!
Blog post hits page 1 Google =
More affiliate links clicked on =
More affiliate income!
Update below – 17/08/2020
As you can see, ranking on page 1 has increased my commissions! These SEO strategies really work!
And okay, I might not have the lion’s share of traffic yet, but it proves how much you can make when you know how to target SEO keywords.
Latest figures from Samcart for one of my affiliate posts. April 2021
Update – SEO review July 2021
I’m so excited to say that my success using this course is going from strength to strength. For the first quarter, I had enough affiliate income to decide to outsource my writing and create 4 blog posts a month.
The second quarter got crazy, and I didn’t manage to create as much content; however, I used the course’s and the group’s amazing Facebook group to help me optimize my site speed. Also, I optimized many more posts, which helped maintain the levels of affiliate income I was seeing. ($2000 average – I still can’t believe it!)
It also got crazy busy with my freelance copywriting business, so I had to balance things out.
My new actions for this month need to be to do a full SEO review of my blog, so it continues to grow and make even more money. Mike covers this in the course, along with how to do in-depth keyword research. I figure I need to do that again, as it has been 12 months now.
Do you think you need a simple SEO course like I did?
Underneath here, you will see examples of other questions I was asking myself, so you can get a feel for what’s involved with SEO, more information on the course, and whether it is a fit for you.
If you have any questions, as always, email me at helen@helennuttall.com
Questions and Thoughts SEO
What is SEO?
Neil Patel breaks this down brilliantly:
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of optimizing your online content so that a search engine likes to show it as a top result for searches of a certain keyword.
Pro Example
If you want to know how to get rid of fleas from your house, as a searcher, you would maybe key in:
best house flea treatments
As the content writer, you want that person to see your article about fleas and click on it. This means you need to know how to make Google love your post! SEO is this magic!
Who is Stupid Simple SEO for?
When I took the course, I established my blog and learned the absolute basics. I’d implemented Pinterest strategies, but I knew I needed to have more traffic sources.
In my humble opinion, this course is best for someone who is not an absolute blogging beginner. So it’s great for a blogger who has set up Pinterest already and has learned these strategies. So SEO for bloggers who have some learning headspace.
If you have just set up and need Pinterest guidance, I would invest in Pinterest with Ell by Ell Duclos. It has led to a steep rise in my Pinterest traffic – I only wish I’d found it sooner! (Well worth the $46.02 price tag).
Stupid Simple SEO is an easy SEO course for blogs that you will really benefit from if you are ready to explode your traffic over time by adding to your traffic sources. So you will be able to use Pinterest and SEO side by side to start seeing great numbers of page views and money in your bank account.
This is for you if you have heard of blogger SEO and know it’s important to get it nailed. But you’re not sure where to start – and the freebie material all seems overwhelming and confusing.
Who is Stupid Simple SEO not for?
Let me make this clear and be honest from the off. This SEO course is not for beginner bloggers. If you have 3 posts published and you are editing your theme template still, you are still learning a lot of information all at once.
You need to wait until you have mastered this.
One downside of the course is that it is all video learning – so if you don’t like this way of learning, the course is firmly not for you.
SEO, compared to Pinterest, can take a long time to build.
Sometimes I see my posts on Google page 1 in the same week. But mostly, it will take a few months. But this is my blog – it is nearly two years old.
A blog under 12 months old will not see traffic as fast.
My recommendation goes like this – if you have more than 15 blog posts published, you could make a start and be ready to learn the skills of Stupid Simple SEO.
Is Stupid Simple SEO a legit training course?
Stupid Simple SEO is very much a legit training course teaching seo for bloggers. Tap Mike Pearson google into any search engine and you will find information about his success.
It’s main instructor, Mike Pearson, is a very successful blogger. He has even set up a training website, that showed us, over the course of 18 months, how he built a niche website.
He regularly shows his Facebook group his income reports and is now earning over $15000 a month from this site alone. His site is below:
Not only that, but he also runs several blogs, including a highly successful home and garden blog, which makes far more. He’s made over $200,000 on the Amazon Associate’s Program so far. He prefers to keep the name of this one private but regularly shares his stats for this site too!
He also sold a blog recently for 6 figures!
Successful Bloggers are raving about this SEO training!
You know this course is legit when many other famous, trustworthy, and successful bloggers are saying buy this! Take another look at the list of people who recommended it above. Over 1800 bloggers, including me, have now taken Mike’s course.
Does Stupid Simple SEO actually work?
Like with everything else, you need to put the work in to see results. Here is some feedback and results Mike has had from people who have taken the course.
Mike runs a super supportive Facebook group and shares the success of students within the group regularly! Take a look at this!
Basically, Sara was super successful using Pinterest alone – so was making $3000 a month.
But she knew she could do more using SEO. The cost of the course has been repaid many times when she looks at her monthly income of $10,000!
Sarah now earns $10,0000 a month thanks to the online SEO course Stupid Simple SEO.
Bloggers in the Stupid Simple SEO Facebook group are getting results of around 60% increase or more in their Organic traffic!
Not only results from higher rankings in Google but getting backlinks from big names in the industry Forbes, for example, which builds their authority in Google’s eyes.
What you will learn
This course consists of:
- 55+ lessons
- 11+ hours of video on the following topics
- a private Facebook group
You will learn:
- how to set up your blog with SEO success in mind.
- what user intent is and why is it so important
- why user experience is the most important thing.
- how to do keyword research
- how to create and optimize content
- how to use SEO to build your affiliate sales
- how to build links
- how to pitch for and write guest posts
- how to do blogger outreach
- how to use Help A Reporter Out to get links
Benefits for You
You will:
- have a full understanding of SEO
- increase your rankings on Google
- grow your organic traffic
- increase your affiliate sales
- increase your domain authority with backlinks.
The Full Stupid Simple SEO Curriculum 2023
I have now included screenshots from the newly updated course that has moved over to Kajabi. Previously there was a standard course and a more advanced version, but now EVERYTHING is included when you buy!
Stupid Simple SEO Curriculum as of January 2023
You can be sure that this is accurate and updated – this course curriculum comes from Mike himself and my course dashboard.
Stupid Simple SEO bonuses 2023
Original Stupid Simple SEO curriculum – 2020 and before
Phase 1: The Build Formula
- Get in Google’s good graces by making sure your blog is secure, mobile-friendly, and most of all, lightning-fast.
- Optimize your homepage structure to send serious “link juice” to your most important pages.
- Structure your category pages in a way so Google knows exactly what your blog is about.
Phase 2: The Design Method
- Get a master spreadsheet filled with golden keyword opportunities that will fill your editorial calendar for months.
- Have a process to confidently determine if you can actually rank for a given keyword.
- Optimize old blog posts to get them ranking higher in Google asap.
- Uncover new keyword ideas using Google Search Console (for free).
Phase 3: The Create Strategy
- Easily research, outline, and create epic blog posts that rank in Google.
- Uncover long-tail keywords with one super simple hack (no paid tools required).
- Optimize your on-page SEO with easy-to-follow 9-step process (checklist included).
- Finally use the Yoast plugin the right way (and know when it’s totally fine to ignore it).
Phase 4: The Promote Technique
- Swipe your competitors’ best backlinks to help build your domain authority.
- Build powerful guest post links with over-the-shoulder prospecting process.
- Get quoted by and linked from the biggest publications in your niche (no “cold outreach” required).
- Learn how to build links that matter (and stop wasting time on ones that don’t).
- What are Links & Why are they so Important?
- The 5 Characteristics of a Great Link
- Link Building Expectations
- Getting into the Outreach Mindset
- Links you don’t want any Part of
- Understanding your Competitor’s Backlinks
- How to Spy on Your Competitor’s Backlinks
- How to Merge your Backlink Spreadsheets
- How to Organize & Analyze Backlink Data for Link Opportunities
- An Introduction to Help a Reporter Out
- Getting set up with HARO
- How to Respond to HARO Requests
- An Introduction to Guest Posting
- Getting Organized for your First Guest Post Campaign
- How to Find Guest Posting Opportunities
- Sending your Guest Post Pitches
- Handling Replies & Writing your Guest Post
- An Introduction to the GuestoRoundup Technique
- Using Google Sheets to get Organized
- Expert Roundup Review & Choosing your Question(S)
- How to Find Bloggers to Participate in your Roundup
- How to Execute the Expert Roundup & Land your Guest Posts
- An Introduction to Blogger Outreach & Linkable Assets
- Three Types of Linkable Assets: Infographics, Guides & Surveys
- How to Brainstorm Ideas for your Linkable Asset
- How to Create your Linkable Asset
- How to Outreach to Bloggers with Linkable Assets
- An Introduction to Resource Page Link Building
- How to Find & Filter Resource Page Assets
- How to do Resource Page Outreach
What extras are included?
Monthly Live Q&A Calls:
Get deep insights and lightbulb moments about how to scale your own blog during our monthly LIVE group Q&A calls throughout the program. This is the ONLY way to get direct access to Mike to take a look at your blog and SEO.
Private Facebook Community:
Get 24/7 access to a community FULL of current students and alumni who are growing their own highly-successful blogs with SEO. Ask our most successful members ANYTHING about scaling their blog income and traffic.
Scale With Sponsored Posts:
Tracie Fobes shares her best tips for consistently landing four-figure sponsored post partnerships with top brands.
Niche Site Explosion ($197 value):
Learn exactly how Mike scaled his niche site (Credit Takeoff) from $0 to $5,000 per month in only 13 months. He’s taking you behind the scenes with niche selection, keyword research, and how he creates his content.
SEO Tools On A Budget ($97 value):
If you’ve always wanted to use a keyword research tool every month, but didn’t have the $99/mo budget, you’re in luck—in this six-video training, you’ll learn how to use KeySearch ($12/mo) like a pro, without breaking the bank.
Scaling Content Creation ($97 value):
The best way to actually scale your blog’s income is to produce as much high-quality, keyword-researched content as efficiently as possible. In this bonus, Mike peels back the curtains on how he outsources all his content.
FAQ
How much does this SEO course cost?
Pricing is currently at $497 or Mike offers a 4-month payment plan of $147/month.
Is this a simple SEO course?
This course is brilliant because it is delivered via video so you can pause the lesson as you go. All the information you need to know is so broken down into bitesize chunks by Mike. It makes SEO so much easier to understand.
Can you do an SEO review with this course?
Part of this course guides you through how to do your own keyword research and how to review your site, in order to improve. As you can see above, it has already made a massive impact on my traffic.
My recommendations and conclusions
If you are at the point where you are ready to take on the SEO challenge, then don’t wait.
The biggest thing I learned from this course is a structure, highly effective way of writing my content that now is outranking my competitors. I have done everything from tweaking my About Me page SEO to writing new blog posts in this way!
I am seeing affiliate earnings grow in a way they weren’t before, and I think of my user first, every time. My course fees have paid for themselves!
Take the leap – are you ready? Go on, take the training below.
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