Remember that RetroDodo niche site case study?
Where Brandon built the site to 1M+ monthly clicks and $50K revenue?
That one certainly made a few heads turn.
Well, exciting news my friends.
Brandon’s back at it.
He’s diversifying his portfolio with a brand new site: CardGamer.com.
And two months in, it’s already at 1,346 clicks per day.
And the latest update Brandon sent to me:
This is prime time for an SEO case study.
So this week, I’ll walk you through the blueprint Brandon’s using to launch his new site and the secrets behind its already quick success.
Essentials Numbers
- Total Pages: 86
- Cost so far: $10,000
- Clicks: 1,346/day
Let's dive in 👇
Card Gamer - The Content Strategy
I love Brandon’s approach to content. His goal is to build a media company for the long haul, not a quick hack to success.
The topics are in subjects he personally loves (card gaming this time), which is a sure way to build a lifestyle he also loves that’s filled with daily fun for him.
Where Brandon has continued to find success is human-written, high-end content. Each article is filled with elements of “quality” like custom images, professional content writing and video production.
The site he’s building, Card Gamer, is an independent publication dedicated to “trading and collectible card games.”
But Card Gamer, is not just an SEO site. It’s built to be a multi-channel ecosystem with a YouTube channel, social media, newsletter, and likely even more premium community features later down the line.
Since I last spoke to Brandon, generative AI really became even more present in our lives as marketers.
His point back then about communities is even more relevant now:
“AI can’t really build a brand or community. So, moving forward over the next 5, 10, 15 years, Google’s really gonna push that forward and try to put brands with a community at the top of their search.”—Brandon Saltalamacchia
This is clearly the time to zig while AI zags. To build a long-term competitive advantage in this era, it’s key to invest in a differentiated, experience-led content program.
“95% of websites out there are either really bad or they’re just okay. They’re the ones who get penalized by Google. Google wants to push the top great 5% to the top of their results because that’s what pushes their product. That’s what gives Google the respect it deserves. To do that, you have to do what the 95% won’t. Everyone’s creating a website in every niche, nobody is getting custom images, getting the products in yourself, doing video, that’s the 5% that will push you into Google’s good product.”—Brandon Saltalamacchia, How the F*ck SEO Podcast
This philosophy is one every new media company should be adopting today.
The SEO Strategy - The Secret to Winning So Fast
Brandon launched Card Gamer with 50 articles.
Interestingly, this exactly echoes advice that Samantha North gave us in her interview on building niche sites.
Starting with a batch of kick-starter articles (say, 50) is an antidote to slow results. More content always means more opportunities for earning:
- Backlinks
- Topical authority
- Keyword rankings
So the faster you can get it out, the faster you start accumulating the wealth a site needs to win in Google.
As you’ll likely have experienced, in SEO it’s hard to predict which articles will rank the fastest.
So getting your first 50 out as soon as possible will also give you your first wins (key for motivation) and some data to work with.
Topic Clustering - Setting Up For Long-Term Success
Brandon kicked off Card Gamer with several content clusters. For example, Pokemon already has 25 pages dedicated to the topic.
And Brandon has begun fleshing out 9 other card game categories, each likely representing the future of where the site will create content.
This gives Brandon and his team a clear vision for what content they’re going to build next, which is key for planning and building expertise.
It also shows they’ve built a keyword-targeting strategy that prioritizes building authority in a few clear topics. This aligns well with community-building, where it is key to bring together people around a common interest.
To learn about more about why building content in topical clusters is important (and effective), dig into my guide on topical authority here.
Backlinks - Starting Strong
Anyone who says backlinks aren’t important for SEO probably already has them…
Brandon’s site is still only a DR 8, but he did start off with some “strong backlinks” so the site got instant lift-off from a backlink standpoint.
The site currently has 31 referring domains, including from high-authority sites like:
- Buzzsumo.com
- Beehiiv.com
And niche-relevant sites like:
- RetroDodo.com
- Nintendosmash.com
- Superjumpmagazine.com
Having started a few sites from scratch myself now, I know you don’t need backlinks to get traffic within the first month BUT getting 10+ from authoritative sites will definitely have a big impact on the pace of traffic in the early days.
Here's a tip from Brandon on earning backlinks:
I believe some of the best ways to attract links for websites are both news posts (typically aiming to be one of the first to cover that piece so other publications credit you) and high-quality feature articles that are very in-depth, well researched, and/or strike an emotion about a niche topic in your niche.
Too many folks only write best lists or guides… that’s a 2010 strategy, publications want to link to content that gives unique, never seen before value and to sites that deserve it.—Brandon
The Impact of Building on Social Media
Card Gamer already has 2,482 followers on Twitter and 1,600 YouTube subscribers. And, although social signals are said to not be a ranking factor, building up social signals is still important for SEO.
Social signals can speak to your E-A-T, if people know and love your brand away from Google then they’re more likely to backlink your site, click your link in the SERPs, and read your content for longer. Big brands with existing trust and authority enjoy this advantage in search.
So, regardless of whether Google really notices or not that you’ve got social media engagement, it’s a smart move to take a multi-channel approach to marketing here.
How the Site is Monetized
Like Retro Dodo, Card Gamer is shaping up to be monetized via ads and affiliate revenue in the shorter term.
Card Gamer already has 4 product reviews and 6 gear reviews, all of which focus on products that can be purchased via affiliate links.
When the site passes the threshold to enter the Mediavine Ad Network (around 50,000 monthly sessions), Brandon has stated he’ll start advertising via their network.
What Would Brandon Do Differently If He Could Start Again?
The last time I asked Brandon this question, he said he would “build a newsletter from day one.” Which he has done with Card Gamer.
Although it’s only been two months, I asked Brandon the same question again…and he said:
"This is a tough question, because I launched CardGamer as perfectly as I possibly could with my budget, so far as paying an illustrator to come up with custom images that you can see across our homepage, about page and contact us page. And who the f*ck does that these days? Nobody with sense, but I am very specific with how I want this brand to look/feel."
"We even hopped on calls with some of the largest card games in the world to secure review products, such as Magic: The Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh and more, so it’s hard for me to see how I could have done better on our budget, that’s not to boast, but more about my personal inexperience launching sites of this caliber."
"If I did it differently, I would have had to expand my budget, and then it simply just comes down to “more community driven content”."
"By that I don’t mean more best lists, or more guides, or more news, I would target being guests on card gaming podcasts to hype up the launch, I would create high quality mini-documentary style videos on our channel to build a following there before launch, I would contact the 10 most well known card gaming journalists and pay them to write a feature on our site so I can have their names in our “portfolio” at launch, etc."
"As mentioned in my previous interview with you Ben, I stated that 95% of all websites are just meh, so you need to do what the 95% won’t and that’s building phenomenal sites, with character, with community and with incredibly high quality content."
"Many disagree with me when I say this, but I do believe passion for your niche is the most fundamental strategy for long term success."
"If you’re building an average site like everyone else, all that’s needed to kick you from your SERPs over the next 10 years, is one passionate creator to come into your niche who loves what they do, and won’t stop until they’re big enough to knock you off your pedestal."
"And I say that because I am one of them. I built Retro Dodo to almost 2M monthly readers not because I am a SEO expert or a good writer, but because I love what I do, I know exactly what content to write about, I meet well known names in the industry because I attend events in my personal time, I get invited to podcasts because I am a genuine expert etc."
"Many other gaming sites made by non-passionate experts have watched me drive by them because of that one fundamental tactic… passion."
"And that’s exactly what I am now going to do with CardGamer.com, I won’t beat these high authority card gaming sites in my first year, or my second year, and maybe not my third, but I bet you I will by my 10th year, because I am passionate about this niche, more so than 95% of others building purely for profit in my niche."
"Before RetroDodo started in 2019 I tried building many different websites over a number of years. I built websites in tech, I reviewed phone cases, I focused on electric vehicles and I even started one about mens candles…"
"They all flopped because my passion eventually ran out. Focus on what you love."— Brandon
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