About Me

Welcome to Niche Pursuits!  My name is Spencer Haws, founder of Niche Pursuits and family man with 4 kids.

So, what in the world is a “Niche Pursuit?”

Well, I created this blog originally as a way to discuss the various niche business ideas I was trying out.  I wanted a way to share what I was learning by experimenting with all these different ideas, or “niche pursuits”.

I created my very first website in 2006, but since that time I've launched dozens of different online businesses.

After trying, failing, and sometimes succeeding with my “crazy” online business ideas, I finally found enough success in 2011 to quit my full-time job as a Business Banker.

Here's a few of my Niche Pursuits that I worked on over the years:

  • 2005 – 2010 – Mostly failing at building affiliate websites.  But these years were critical to me learning about SEO, how to build sites, and how the online world operates.
  • 2011 – Present: Niche Websites. I started making $10,000 a month in early 2011 from my small affiliate sites, so I quit my job.  I continue to build, buy, and sell niche websites as part of my business.
  • 2011 – Present: NichePursuits.com.  Yes, Niche Pursuits is my blog.  But it's also a very successful business on it's own.
  • 2011 – 2016: Long Tail Pro . I founded the popular keyword research tool, Long Tail Pro.  After growing this business, I decided it was time to move on to other projects.  I sold this software business in early 2016.
  • 2015 – 2018: Amazon FBA. I started manufacturing and selling pillows through the Amazon FBA program.  This was my first attempt at selling “physical” products and it went extremely well. I enjoyed diving into this new venture, but eventually realized it was taking away from my core business.  I sold my Amazon FBA business in early 2018.
  • 2017 – 2020: Table Labs. I created Table Labs as quick and easy way for Amazon Associates to create product comparison tables for their affiliate sites. I sold the business in 2020.
  • 2019 – Present: Link Whisper. I created Link Whisper as a way to speed up the process of building effective and smart internal links using artificial intelligence.  This premium plugin is quickly becoming the number 1 internal link building tool for WordPress users.
  • 2019 – Present: Motion Invest. I co-founded Motion Invest as a place for people to either buy or sell smaller content sites.  We saw an obvious gap in the marketplace for this underserved audience.  If you are looking to buy or sell an affiliate site, consider Motion Invest.

Over the years, I've also tried many other small businesses including: a mobile phone app, a WordPress theme and plugin, purchased other sites, and I've invested and advised in several additional online companies.

Where You Can Find Me

The best place to keep up to date with all my business ventures is on my email newsletter. Subscribe below:

Besides staying active on my blog, you can also find me in other places:

Additional Background

P1020924small I grew up in sunny Mesa, Arizona and love to get back and visit family and friends when I can.  I now live in Richland, WA (where my wife grew up).

My dad started his own company when I was about 21, and this had a huge influence on me deciding to finally graduate in Business Management from BYU in 2002.

I was in college during some of the dot com boom/bust years and this also had an impact on me.  A couple of years after I graduated – around 2005 – I started dabbling around with creating websites.

I was pretty bad at it.

But after a few years I finally figured out how search engine optimization worked.  I also discovered that I could rank my websites in Google much easier for low competition keywords than high competition (pretty amazing stuff, huh?) and this directly led to my success.

However, it didn't come all at once.  From about 2005 to the middle of 2009 I basically made no money, but just learned a lot about websites and SEO.  During that time I worked as a Business Relationship Manager for Wells Fargo Bank and also got my MBA from Arizona State University in 2007 (my back up plan).

Quitting My Job

Then towards the end of 2009 I really started to find some success building niche websites.  In 2010 I went a little nuts with it and built almost 200 websites (which is a really bad idea to try nowadays) that year targeting low competition keywords.

Well, I had some lows, but I also had some highs.  I learned how to build better quality sites and prevent future problems with Google.  All in all by the end of 2010, I was ready to quit my job and pursue my business full-time.

However, being the over cautious person financially that I am (okay my wife had something to do with it too); I decided to wait until March 11th, 2011 to quit my job.  Since that day, I have been working full-time from home!

My income has been well above what my day job income was and I'm enjoying building my online business.  Now its time to go out and try some more “niche pursuits”!

I'm also a runner and have run over a dozen marathons.  I qualified for and ran the Boston Marathon in 2018.

If you would like to contact me, you can do so here.

– Last Updated: March 2020