Join Nate Matherson as he sits down with Ash Read for the sixteenth episode of the Optimize podcast. Ash has spent more than a decade building audiences for startups through content and SEO. He was previously head of content at Buffer and an early marketing hire Wayflyer. Now, he’s building a portfolio of niche media brands (including Living Cozy which was just acquired) and occasionally consulting to help businesses scale content and connect with customers. In this episode, Ash and Nate explore the world of affiliate channels, building and exiting niche websites, and creating a great user experience. Ash reveals the tactical tips he’s discovered through developing his niche sites into traffic magnets (with Living Cozy garnering 350k monthly page views!) Throughout the episode, Ash shares his opinions on the value of human vs. AI content, guest posts, and backlink strategies. Closing out the episode is our popular lightning round of questions! For more information please visit www.positional.com, or email us at [email protected]. Resources:Join Positional’s Private Beta Here: www.positional.comCheck in with Nate on LinkedIn & TwitterCheck in with Ash on LinkedIn & Twitter & NineThreeSeven What To Listen For:02:15 Ash’s background 04:24 Living Cozy’s journey from founding to exit 09:14 What makes like a content site for sale ‘low quality’? 10:57 Monetizing Living Cozy with affiliate partnerships 15:53 What should you do after an algorithm update? 20:31 Building Living Cozy’s content channel with freelancers and agencies 22:34 Easy ways to implement Google’s E-E-A-T guidelines on your website 25:34 What are good user experience (UX) metrics for a website? 29:51 White Hat podcast, Grey Hat tactics 31:54 Creating great UX and UI at Living Cozy 34:07 Ash’s thoughts on Google's new SGE experience 37:51 Does AI-generated content perform at scale? As a content creation strategy? 39:46 Lightning question round