This is my first live case study.  In this case study, I will build and grow an autoscale, autopilot, value-add site from scratch.  The purpose of this case study is to demonstrate techniques in real time.  With the exception of coding the initial site (these activities are tabulated under day 0), everything is done in real time, including domain registration.

The subject of this case study will be a a niche jobs search site, built off the Indeed API.  Indeed.com is an established jobs search engine of US-based job opportunities.  They have a publishers program with an API that allows our site to pull the job results.  For job seekers that click through to Indeed, we will also get paid as a publisher.  A nice added bonus, eh?

Our niche job search site will focus on clerical jobs.  Within clerical jobs, we have 3 sections: 1 for accounting jobs, 1 for bookkeeping jobs, and 1 for auditing jobs.

Now, how does the autoscale work?

First, upon launch, the site will have 300,000 pages.  Note, this does not mean all 300K pages will be indexed by Google.  It only means a Googlebot will find 300K unique pages across our site.  Here’s how I came up with that estimate. […]

A couple days ago, I posted an article about autoscaling via an API.  (I suggest you read that article first, as it provides some context for this discussion.)  In this article, we’ll examine a site that adds tremendous value, is on complete autopilot, and gets all its content from other sites.   The unfortunate thing is… it doesn’t autoscale.

The site is HousingMaps.  Have a look.

[…]

Recently, I had the privilege of being interviewed by Bes Zain, founder of the Reader Appreciation Project.  RA Project is one of the first and, likewise, longest running blogs on the Internet!

In the interview, I discuss one of my biggest projects, NuTang, and my latest project, this one–The Man Who Sold the Web.  I answered questions around automation, niche selection, past mistakes, among others.  You can read the full interview here:

http://raproject.com/blog/starting-niche-autopilot-sites-nutang-creator-david-tang-interview

If you have any questions after reading the interview, please reply directly to that article.  I will be responding to questions there.

Thanks.

dave

So, you want to autoscale your site.  Now what?

A great and easy way to autoscale is to leverage another site’s API. What’s an API, you ask?  An API, or application program interface, is, as defined by Wikipedia, a particular set of rules and specifications that a software program can follow to access and make use of the services and resources provided by another particular software program that implements that API.  Okay, now let’s translate that into English.  An API is a tool that big sites (e.g. Google, Wikipedia, eBay, Amazon) create to allow other sites (i.e. think your site) to easily access their data.

Here are some examples.  Amazon and eBay affiliate sites all use APIs provided by Amazon and eBay.  That’s how they are able to extract all the product info they need for their own spin-off sites.  This is also how sites integrate Google Maps–by leveraging the Google Maps API.

Now, how does this help you autoscale?

An API is the doorway between your site and your site’s content.  This means you essentially don’t need to create any data yourself, because all the data you need is already created for you.  You just need to go through the API (i.e. the doorway) to get the data being requested by your site’s visitor.  […]

If you are looking to start a site, but have no clue how, then I wrote this article just for you.  Seriously.  In this article, I lay out 7 steps to starting a web site from scratch.

These steps are very prescriptive.  In fact, I will be recommending specific tools and services for you to use at each step.  These recommendations are examples.  You do not need to use the specified tools and services to accomplish each step.  However, as you will notice, these tools and services are either completely free or as low cost as you can possibly find! […]

Craigslist is a great resource for a number of reasons.  Here are three reasons.  One, everyone uses it.  It’s ranked as the 10th biggest site in the US (per Alexa).  Two, it’s very well organized.  You start with a specific geography, browse by niche–finally, you can even search by keyword on top of that.  Lastly, it’s free.  Free and with no annoying ads! Man, that guy Craig is a good samaritan.

Now, for you to find customers on Craigslist, your particular niche has to be listed on Craigslist.  I suppose that’s the catch.

Let’s walk through a few, different examples of how one can effectively use Craigslist to find customers. […]

Before you continue, take a look at this blog post by Bob Cringely. It’s titled Parrot Secrets and tells a story of a guy making over $400,000 a year selling ebooks about parrot training.

http://www.cringely.com/2009/03/parrot-secrets/

Done?  Don’t cheat and skip ahead. 🙂

Now, let’s tie the brilliance of selling a digital book to our autoscale, autopilot, value-add model.  […]

The key take-away from a number of very popular business strategy frameworks is to FOCUS.  This includes Porter’s Five Forces, Blue Ocean Strategy, Bowling Pin Strategy, etc.  This same principle holds true for SEO strategy.

Like myself, I assume you are also a one-man team.  You have a lot of priorities, and so your time and energy is limited.  You may want to conquer your niche, but to do, requires focus.  In conducting SEO, take down a handful of keywords at a time.   Once you have them ranked high, or at least with upwards momentum, expand your list of keywords.

To help myself focus, I use 3 tools (pretty much on a daily basis).  They are all free. 🙂  […]

Search engine optimization is a subject that requires continuous study and practice, because Google is constantly updating its ranking algorithms.  However, there are basic principles of SEO that hold true.  I call these  the 6 levers to SEO.

Whenever you read about specific SEO tactics, it helps to anchor that discussion against these 6 levers.  You want your SEO strategy to span across all 6 levers and not focus on any single one. […]

So, imagine this situation.  Your page finally got ranked for that keyword.  But, now it’s stuck.

Sound familiar?

Here’s a simple and easy way to move up the rankings for your keyword.  Do a search for your keyword and scan all the listings before yours.  Maybe even look a few pages back after your listing.  Look for any page that allows commenting, which can take the form of a blog post, news article, forum thread, etc. […]