How To Make Money From An Authority Site
This is the fourth article in my “building authority sites” series.
In this article, we’re going to talk about what most people will be reading for; making money with an authority site.
I’ll run through some of the ways you can make money with authority websites, as well as my plan for Project I (the authority site I’ve built for this case study – and which will go on my monthly reports from here on out.)
Before We Start (Mindset/Attitude)
I hope that I’ve been clear enough throughout the series, but it bears repeating anyway: With an authority website, your authority trumps everything. Any money you make comes from your integrity and your ability to provide value to your readers.
As such, money is always a secondary concern.
At the same time, you probably want to get some return on the hours you’ll have spent building and writing for your site.
The best way to look at this is to think of your website as a high-quality, free product. The actual content that people will pay for is an upsell.
Many people who write a website expect to be paid just because they’ve written a website. This is backward: You can’t give away something for free and then be mad when people don’t pay.
Similarly, you’ll see loads of writers, website owners and general blog/media people who have donate buttons or Patreon accounts. Again, this is asking for people to pay for something that other people are getting for free.
Worst of all is the combination of the two – people who ask for donations and then sell stuff on top of that.
Regardless of what not to do, here is what to do: Give away loads of free information. Then give premium content of some sort for those readers who want to pay for it.
Ways To Monetize An Authority Site
There are several ways to make money from an authority website. Here are some of the most common ways to monetize a site, some that I’ve used myself, and others that people I know use.
- Affiliate Earnings
Affiliate marketing is where you refer people to other people’s products, and you receive a commission. This is greatif you’re writing a review of a specific product your market is interested in. However, if this is how you’re going to make money from your authority site, it’s worth bearing in mind you have to use this technique sparingly and only when it’s relevant. You will lose your authority if you become a salesman.
- Selling Information Products
You can make numerous products, regardless of your market, if you concentrate on providing helpful information to people. I wrote a review of Bob Bly’s How To Write and Sell Simple Information for Fun And Profit which you should read. The contents page for that book is basically a list of different options for you – e-books, physical books, video courses and more.
- Selling Physical Products
If it’s relevant to your site, there’s no reason you can’t go from being a writer about X to a producer of X. For instance, if you were writing a website about the best T-Shirts to wear at Comic Con, there’s no reason why you couldn’t take what you’ve learned about T-Shirts and start printing your own to sell via your website.
- Selling A Course
If you’re an authority on something, then people will want to learn from you. I got my start in writing because I read a freelance writer’s blog and he offered a course for $10 on how to get started writing. I followed the course and have since made an immeasurable return on that investment.
- Selling Consulting/Training on a One-to-One Basis
A lot of people will want personalised help. You’ll get comments on your authority site posts about fixing a specific issue. If you’re running a dog training site, then it might be “My dog Truffle has this weird behaviour where when I give it a treat it jumps up and down and then throws the treat in the bin.”
That is a problem that is (I imagine) too rare for you to really give general advice to the world on. But to that one person, your advice might be really valuable – and they might pay for it. If I had a dog which misbehaved and there was an expert willing to help me fix the problem for a few pounds, then I’d pay. Other people will too.
- Using Your Authority Site As A Soft-Sell For Your Career.
Back when I was a web-designer, I used to tell people that everyone should get a website. Not so that they’d give me their custom, but because a website is an amazing tool.
With a website, you get to demonstrate your competence, knowledge and ability to do the things you’ve said you can. That’s better than a CV, in which you have a half-a-page to interest someone who doesn’t actually want to read it anyway.
For instance, with this site, I don’t really have any plans yet to make a huge amount of money directly from it. Every month though, I’m going through a new case study which showcases a new skill.
This month it’s authority website building.
Next month it’s going to be publishing books.
In September it was Photography For Writers.
In the future it’ll be email marketing, social media marketing, freelance writing and all manner of other things that are relevant and add value to my freelance copywriting company.
These case studies and guides all add up to showing that I’m competent; so that when I have a prospective client who asks me if I can do X, I can point to a page on the site and they’ll see all the information they need, as well as the results they can expect.
That leads to more customers, which is a great – yet indirect – way of making money through an authority site.
Project I
Project I is a site which is almost completely unrelated to freelance writing. That means I can’t use it to sell my services in any meaningful way. So I have had to think about making money from it in an unrelated capacity.
I’ve chosen to (at this moment) write three books that address three of the major problems my readers suffer from. These will be available in print, in digital, and probably in a bundle. They are going to be full-length as opposed to a 20-page e-“book” that retails for $27.
These will be priced as what they are; actual paperback books.
Aside from the books, which I’ll release in December, I haven’t thought of making money from the site in any other way. I’m using no affiliate advertising. I’m not going to consult on anything. I’m not going to sell a “Project I .com” T-Shirt with slogans on it. I don’t think those things really fit.
Closing Thoughts
I’m in danger of entering into ramble territory with this article. That’s because making money from a site is really quite a unique thing. Each site will have a different set of revenue streams, and some won’t be appropriate for some sites, but will be for other sites.
However, to round off the series, here’s a link to all the other articles.
As always, if there’s anything I haven’t written about but should have done, drop a comment below and I’ll try to answer.