{"id":79812,"date":"2020-01-12T16:09:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-12T16:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/?p=79812"},"modified":"2024-03-27T23:31:28","modified_gmt":"2024-03-27T23:31:28","slug":"what-is-an-authority-site","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/what-is-an-authority-site\/","title":{"rendered":"The Authority Site Business Model"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Let\u2019s talk specifics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Regardless of whether or not you are familiar with niche sites, let&#8217;s address the elephant in the room. The question: \u201cWhat is an authority site?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An authority site is a content-driven website that is a respected and trusted source of information. It is a larger site that delivers real value through its excellent editorial standards. This makes people trust the advice and recommendations from the site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Authority sites = large, content-driven sites with multiple traffic channels and revenue streams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Basically, they\u2019re a business in the form of a website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Importantly, they can be built without selling any physical product. In fact, the way we like to build them, authority sites are blog-style sites in which the main commodity is information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This makes them extremely attractive as assets since:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>There is no physical inventory<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>There\u2019s virtually no customer service<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>They can become almost entirely passive later in their development cycle<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Additionally, since it\u2019s extremely easy to publish a website these days, they\u2019re easy to bootstrap and can be started (theoretically) for under $100.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is one of the reasons authority sites are attractive to people: they\u2019re a very realistic way for people to build thriving businesses that produce passive income without quitting their 9-5 jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course, the more you invest, the easier and quicker it is to build, but the point is that, in terms of raw percentages, the ROI on authority sites can be nutty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s perhaps the most important characteristic, however\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2026authority sites have diversification built in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They have it built into both their traffic and their revenue. Why? Because the internet changes often, diversification of both traffic and revenue = longevity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Like any long-term investment, diversification is the key to success. It\u2019s a lot like investing in financial markets. You don\u2019t buy one stock and hope for the best; you buy a bunch of them that all come from different places to reduce risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s not tough to find horror stories of people getting penalized by Google, having their Facebook accounts canceled, or getting banned by Amazon. The authority site model inherently protects against this kind of event risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What\u2019s that look like?<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"gb-container gb-container-7261535d\"><div class=\"gb-inside-container\">\n\n<h2 class=\"gb-headline gb-headline-c11cd2c1\"><span class=\"gb-icon\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 448 512\" width=\"1em\" height=\"1em\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><path d=\"M323.56 51.2c-20.8 19.3-39.58 39.59-56.22 59.97C240.08 73.62 206.28 35.53 168 0 69.74 91.17 0 209.96 0 281.6 0 408.85 100.29 512 224 512s224-103.15 224-230.4c0-53.27-51.98-163.14-124.44-230.4zm-19.47 340.65C282.43 407.01 255.72 416 226.86 416 154.71 416 96 368.26 96 290.75c0-38.61 24.31-72.63 72.79-130.75 6.93 7.98 98.83 125.34 98.83 125.34l58.63-66.88c4.14 6.85 7.91 13.55 11.27 19.97 27.35 52.19 15.81 118.97-33.43 153.42z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><\/span><span class=\"gb-headline-text\">What is an authority site?<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"gb-headline gb-headline-d7a89976 gb-headline-text\">An authority site is a website that has earned the trust of its readers and industry experts alike. Authority websites have earned that respect through the useful content and pages they have published.<\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"diversification-of-traffic\">Diversification Of Traffic<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Having multiple sources of traffic protects you against catastrophic losses of traffic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>All search engines and all social media platforms have terms of service, and all of them ban people for perceived egregious offenses, which can happen to anyone, even if you\u2019re not trying to \u201cgame\u201d the system. If you only rely on one source of traffic, and that platform bans or penalizes you, your business can disappear overnight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The authority site model diversifies by generating traffic from multiple sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"551\" src=\"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/diversification-of-traffic.jpeg\" alt=\"Diversification Of Traffic\" class=\"wp-image-79828\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/diversification-of-traffic.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/diversification-of-traffic-300x161.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/diversification-of-traffic-768x413.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The 4 Traffic Sources of the Authority Site Model<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>SEO traffic<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Social traffic<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Paid traffic<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Owned media<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"diversification-of-revenue\">Diversification Of Revenue<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Diversification of revenue can help protect against losses the same way traffic diversification can, but mostly, it helps maximize revenue per visitor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When we talk about revenue for a website, we usually use the term RPM, or revenue per thousand visitors. The general rule is that your RPM will grow every time you add a new revenue source.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, we diversify our revenue by \u201cstacking\u201d three main monetization techniques: ad revenue, affiliate revenue, and sales of our own products. Of course, this can be more granular, since there are many different affiliates and ad platforms, but those are the three main types.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"551\" src=\"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/diversification-of-revenue.jpeg\" alt=\"Diversification Of Revenue\" class=\"wp-image-79827\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/diversification-of-revenue.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/diversification-of-revenue-300x161.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/diversification-of-revenue-768x413.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>Here is a breakdown of revenues and profit levels for each monetization model according to our&nbsp;make money blogging&nbsp;research:<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"796\" height=\"233\" src=\"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/startah3.jpeg\" alt=\"Startah3\" class=\"wp-image-79826\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/startah3.jpeg 796w, https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/startah3-300x88.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/startah3-768x225.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 796px) 100vw, 796px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"the-3-main-revenue-streams-of-the-authority-site-model\">The 3 Main Revenue Streams Of The Authority Site Model<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Affiliate revenue<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ad revenue<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Products<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"the-moving-parts\">The Moving Parts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Before we get into the structure and development process of the authority site model, it\u2019s important to understand the various moving parts, since you need to have a handle on the lexicon to really understand the conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are the main areas of the authority site model and their various moving parts; click through to read a synopsis if you\u2019re new to any of it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Blogging<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Video<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Podcasts<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Images<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator aligncenter has-text-color has-accent-color has-alpha-channel-opacity has-accent-background-color has-background is-style-dots\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"the-challenges-of-building-authority-sites\">The Challenges Of Building Authority Sites<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course, like with all businesses, there are inherent challenges associated with building authority sites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"challenge-1-rapid-skill-acquisition\">Challenge #1: Rapid Skill Acquisition<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>People often come across the authority site business model when searching for how to \u201cmake money online,\u201d and, for better or for worse, lots of the information in that space focuses on making \u201cquick\u201d or \u201ceasy\u201d money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not only are authority sites neither quick nor easy to build, but they require you to build entire skill sets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For brand-new site builders, this can be a major challenge, since some of the skills required might be altogether foreign (like link building or media buying), or they might be things people almost universally find difficult (like writing at scale).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To build authority sites, you must develop competency in each skill required to develop each part\u2013and you must&nbsp;<em>master<\/em>&nbsp;the truly important ones, the&nbsp;<em>core competencies<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Niche research<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Link building<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Content writing<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Small-scale systems management<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"challenge-2-resources\">Challenge #2: Resources<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>There\u2019s also a significant resource challenge for most site builders\u2013namely, that&nbsp;it\u2019s very easy to spend money&nbsp;building an authority site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is compounded by two truths:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Buying&nbsp;site stuff&nbsp;(like content) is generally getting more expensive<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It\u2019s easy for new site builders to spend money on the&nbsp;wrong things<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Additionally, site builders have fairly strict budgets. And because it\u2019s so easy to spend money building authority sites, even budgets on the larger side can feel insufficient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We\u2019ve built sites for $500, $2,000, and $20,000, and we\u2019ve never felt like my budget was big enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For this reason, authority sites also tend to require quite a bit of that other resource we\u2019re all stingy about:&nbsp;time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And for many of us, our time is&nbsp;<em>also limited<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>All of this combined means we end up with resources that are&nbsp;inherently limited.&nbsp;And if we\u2019re new, it can be extremely difficult to decide what to spend money on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"challenge-3-complexity\">Challenge #3: Complexity<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Authority sites are wonderfully, dreadfully complex machines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They\u2019re made up of multiple traffic and revenue streams, and each incremental business model will add complexity to the ecosystem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Each requires its own set of skills, its own technology stacks, and its own management. And, as you start automating, each will require its own&nbsp;<em>system<\/em>s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you look at&nbsp;<em>finished<\/em>&nbsp;authority sites, the complexity can be daunting; however, they don\u2019t all start that way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"what-do-we-do-with-these-challenges\">What Do We Do With These Challenges?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Alright, so we have all these challenges:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Skill Acquisition<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Resources<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Complexity<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The root cause of these, I think, is also the greatest asset of authority sites:&nbsp;their diversity.&nbsp;In other words, there are just too many parts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are too many skills to learn. Too many things to spend money on. Too many complex models working together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To tackle that, we simply break the model down\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator aligncenter has-text-color has-accent-color has-alpha-channel-opacity has-accent-background-color has-background is-style-dots\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"the-solution-stacks-stages\">The Solution: \u201cStacks\u201d &amp; Stages<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>We like to break diversification down into something we call&nbsp;stacking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Stacking =&nbsp;diversifying by mastering and adding one thing at a time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We\u2019ve found that most people, including us, have much less success if they try to diversify a site all at once, since each traffic and revenue stream usually requires different skills, resources, and systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, instead, we\u2019ve found it\u2019s more efficient and more profitable to master one thing at a time, get it working, and then&nbsp;<em>stack the next thing on top of it.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can stack both traffic and revenue, which means we think it\u2019s best if you\u2019re spending most of your energy on one traffic source and one revenue source at any given time.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/site-traffic-revenue-stacks.jpeg\" alt=\"Site Traffic Revenue Stacks\" class=\"wp-image-79825\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/site-traffic-revenue-stacks.jpeg 1000w, https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/site-traffic-revenue-stacks-300x300.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/site-traffic-revenue-stacks-768x768.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>One key component of stacking is&nbsp;automation.&nbsp;Why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because in order to&nbsp;<em>stop<\/em>&nbsp;spending time on one traffic or revenue stream and&nbsp;<em>start<\/em>&nbsp;spending time on another, the first must be&nbsp;<em>automated<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is one of the major reasons we\u2019re such big sticklers for systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, you might start a site by building organic traffic and monetizing with affiliate content. After affiliate content is working and bringing in money, you might add display ads and spend your energy on producing content around them and monetizing them. Similarly, if your organic traffic is working, you might automate it so you can then focus on building your social traffic. And so on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Read More:&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/successful-affiliate-websites-examples\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Check out our list of Real Life Successful affiliate website examples<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator aligncenter has-text-color has-accent-color has-alpha-channel-opacity has-accent-background-color has-background is-style-dots\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"the-3-stages-of-the-authority-site-model\">The 3 Stages Of The Authority Site Model<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course, you can\u2019t just start stacking willy-nilly; you also&nbsp;need some structure for the stacking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To achieve this structure, we break the authority site model into&nbsp;3 stages.&nbsp;Each stage tackles specific parts of the revenue and traffic stack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We break the authority site model down into three stages. We call these Stage 1 Authority sites, Stage 2 Authority sites, etc. We do this for a couple of reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>First, authority sites are simply too complex to do everything at once right out of the gate (see the section on complexity above).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Second and most importantly though, we\u2019ve found that it\u2019s much quicker and more efficient to build sites by working on one thing at a time. If you work on multiple things at once, everything goes slower. The ROI is much better if you work hard on a few key profit systems&nbsp;first&nbsp;and use that capital to grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s take a quick look at all of them, see what they look like, and what it takes to transition between them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"niche-selection\">Niche Selection<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Niche selection&nbsp;is something that really happens before you enter into any stage. It\u2019s part of the research phase, and it should realistically be executed with the knowledge of all three stages of the authority site model to be done correctly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The idea, then, is that when doing our niche research, we want to pick something that will&nbsp;work well in all three stages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To that end, we do niche research, we usually look at nine key factors that will help us find niches that&nbsp;<em>can<\/em>&nbsp;perform at every stage. Of course, this is a pretty involved process, but just to get the advantage of seeing it from a bird\u2019s eye view, here are the nine factors we look at (we like to frame them as questions):<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Are there big sites doing well?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Are there small sites doing well?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Is it a passion, lifestyle or problem niche?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Are there physical products to sell or recommend?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Are there informational products to sell or recommend?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Do people seem to be making money with ad revenue?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Is it easy to find keywords?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Do keywords seem to be low competition?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Are there niche sites ranking well?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>We typically use these questions to narrow down big lists of niches that we brainstorm and move into more in-depth research from there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After we have our niche picked out, we transition into Stage I.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"stage-i-authority-sites\">Stage I Authority Sites<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"the-idea\">The Idea<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Stage I authority sites focus almost exclusively on&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/affiliate-marketing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">affiliate revenue<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/seo\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">organic traffic<\/a>&nbsp;because they are the easiest, cheapest, and highest-ROI combination of traffic and revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/stage-1-site.jpeg\" alt=\"Stage 1 Site\" class=\"wp-image-79824\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/stage-1-site.jpeg 1000w, https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/stage-1-site-300x300.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/stage-1-site-768x768.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"why-is-this-first\">Why Is This First?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>What we need from a Stage I authority site is to get as much consistent money coming in as quickly as possible for the lowest investment possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Affiliate revenue and organic traffic need both of those goals since they both tend to return more revenue&nbsp;<em>per dollar invested<\/em>&nbsp;in any other traffic or revenue combination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"traffic-promotion\">Traffic &amp; Promotion<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Since almost all the traffic for the stage I authority site is going to be coming from search engines, we are going to focus almost all of our promotional efforts on&nbsp;SEO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That usually means we are going to be spending&nbsp;quite a bit of time building links; in fact, after we get an initial batch of content up, we\u2019re going to be building backlinks almost exclusively in order to improve our search engine rankings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, with proper&nbsp;keyword research, you usually don\u2019t need THAT much link building. Here\u2019s an example of a Stage I site that is doing&nbsp;really well.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"817\" height=\"124\" src=\"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/startah5.jpeg\" alt=\"ahrefs stage 1 site\" class=\"wp-image-79823\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/startah5.jpeg 817w, https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/startah5-300x46.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/startah5-768x117.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 817px) 100vw, 817px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>SEO takes longer and longer these days, and both links and content seem to have what is now commonly known as \u201csandboxes,\u201d or incubation periods, and it can take months for them to kick in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As such, the timeline from zero traffic to meaningful traffic is usually 6-12 months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, after traffic is established, it usually stays the same or grows consistently long-term (which is the major benefit of organic traffic).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some site builders even opt to slow down link building efforts and focus mostly on content after their site has been established in Google.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"monetization\">Monetization<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>To monetize a Stage I authority site, we use affiliate marketing and affiliate content, which is as simple as adding affiliate links to our articles.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"809\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/startah6.jpeg\" alt=\"site monetization\" class=\"wp-image-79822\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/startah6.jpeg 809w, https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/startah6-300x178.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/startah6-768x456.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 809px) 100vw, 809px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>We don\u2019t worry about ads (we won\u2019t have enough traffic to make meaningful money). And we don\u2019t worry about products (we don\u2019t know our audience yet, we don\u2019t have traffic, and they take a long time to build).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Instead, we focus almost exclusively on writing affiliate content that will attract the right kind of organic traffic from Google.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"content\">Content<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>In Stage I, we need two types of content:&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/how-to-write-product-reviews-that-sell\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">affiliate content<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;linkable assets. Affiliate content makes money, while linkable assets help us build links.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We start with&nbsp;~50 affiliate articles.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"969\" height=\"780\" src=\"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/startah7.jpeg\" alt=\"affiliate links\" class=\"wp-image-79821\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/startah7.jpeg 969w, https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/startah7-300x241.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/startah7-768x618.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 969px) 100vw, 969px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>We follow that up with roughly&nbsp;5 linkable assets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From there, sites absolutely can still grow while still being in Stage I. In fact, some sites choose never to leave! One of the biggest affiliate sites ever, TheWireCutter, sold to the New York Times along with its sister site, TheSweetHome,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2016\/10\/25\/business\/media\/new-york-times-company-buys-the-wirecutter.html?_r=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">for $30 million<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Both of those sites<\/em>&nbsp;are what I would consider Stage I authority sites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"examples\">Examples<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/wirecutter\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">TheWireCutter<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/coffeemakerpicks.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CoffeeMakerPicks<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bestcrossbowsource.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">BestCrossbowSource<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"stage-ii-authority-sites\">Stage II Authority Sites<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"the-idea\">The Idea<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Stage II authority sites build on the success of Stage I and add one new revenue stream and one new traffic stream.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/stage-2-site.jpeg\" alt=\"Stage 2 Site\" class=\"wp-image-79820\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/stage-2-site.jpeg 1000w, https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/stage-2-site-300x300.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/stage-2-site-768x768.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"from-stage-i-to-stage-ii\">From Stage I To Stage II<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>In Stage I, we were focused almost exclusively on affiliate content and organic traffic. In Stage II, we want to add at least one more traffic stream and one more revenue stream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most of the time, Stage II sites add&nbsp;social media traffic&nbsp;and revenue from&nbsp;display ads, both of which require an influx of informational content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is also where we usually&nbsp;start collecting emails&nbsp;to have more direct and consistent access to a bigger audience \u2014 mostly in preparation for Stage III.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"traffic\">Traffic<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>This is where we start to build our social channels. It doesn\u2019t particularly matter what social platform we choose, but most of the time, Stage II authority sites start building audiences on either&nbsp;Facebook&nbsp;or&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/pinterest-affiliate-marketing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Pinterest<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"809\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/startah6.jpeg\" alt=\"site monetization\" class=\"wp-image-79822\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/startah6.jpeg 809w, https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/startah6-300x178.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/startah6-768x456.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 809px) 100vw, 809px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"monetization\">Monetization<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>In Stage II, we stack ad revenue on top of our affiliate revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first step is typically to install AdSense to get at least some revenue coming in immediately; however, in some niches,&nbsp;networks like Media.net&nbsp;outperform AdSense, so we eventually want to test a bunch of different combinations.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"730\" height=\"439\" src=\"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/startah9.jpeg\" alt=\"media.net ads\" class=\"wp-image-79818\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/startah9.jpeg 730w, https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/startah9-300x180.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 730px) 100vw, 730px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>To help us do that, we use a meta-platform like&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/recommends\/ezoic\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Ezoic<\/a>&nbsp;to take care of the testing for us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"content\">Content<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Perhaps the biggest change for Stage II authority sites is the content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Affiliate content usually has to target highly specific keywords and requires you to write about products. If our new goal is to generate ad revenue, however, are new focus is more on traffic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Traffic can come from both search engines and our new social media audiences, but in either case, the major differences that we are mostly writing&nbsp;<em>informational<\/em>&nbsp;content (non-affiliate content).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s an example of content geared toward social media.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"470\" src=\"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/startah10-1024x470-1.jpeg\" alt=\"pinchofyum\" class=\"wp-image-79817\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/startah10-1024x470-1.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/startah10-1024x470-1-300x138.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/startah10-1024x470-1-768x353.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>This content often answers specific questions, curates other content, and can sometimes even be&nbsp;very short. In other words, it\u2019s a shift away from things like product reviews and towards content that begins to establish you as an authority on the topic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"examples\">Examples<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/pinchofyum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">PinchOfYum<\/a>\u00a0(the shop is really just affiliate links)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/herepup.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">HerePup.com<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"stage-iii-authority-sites\">Stage III Authority Sites<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"the-idea\">The Idea<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Stage III is the final stage of the authority site model where all the moving parts come together and we combine our final sources of traffic and revenue to our stack:&nbsp;paid traffic&nbsp;and&nbsp;products.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/stage-3-site.jpeg\" alt=\"Stage 3 Site\" class=\"wp-image-79816\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/stage-3-site.jpeg 1000w, https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/stage-3-site-300x300.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/stage-3-site-768x768.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"from-stage-ii-to-stage-iii\">From Stage II To Stage III<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>In Stage II we should have significantly increased our traffic and started building an email list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With better access to a bigger audience, a gives us the flexibility to spend resources creating our own products and to experiment driving a paid traffic to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"monetization\">Monetization<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>The biggest addition in stage III is the creation of our own products as a way to monetize our audience further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is an extremely difficult thing to do, and it requires us to understand our audience very well; however, if we can create a product our audience wants, it can represent the biggest single revenue opportunity for an authority site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Products can take any forms:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Informational products<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Physical products<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Memberships<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>What you choose will depend strongly on your niche, your audience, and your resources. One of my favorite examples is DrAxe.com, who added a beastly store to their site after it was raking in traffic.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"510\" src=\"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/startah11-1024x510-1.jpeg\" alt=\"similar web\" class=\"wp-image-79815\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/startah11-1024x510-1.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/startah11-1024x510-1-300x149.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/startah11-1024x510-1-768x383.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"traffic\">Traffic<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>In Stage III we want to continue building our organic and social traffic channels, but because we\u2019ve created a product that we can sell for a high profit margin, will have the flexibility to buy traffic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s DrAxe again.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"797\" height=\"473\" src=\"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/startah12-1.jpeg\" alt=\"dr axe\" class=\"wp-image-79814\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/startah12-1.jpeg 797w, https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/startah12-1-300x178.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/startah12-1-768x456.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 797px) 100vw, 797px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>We also want to start leveraging our email list to get our readers into sales funnels in which we can effectively offer them our products and maybe if you related upsells.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"682\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/startah13.jpeg\" alt=\"dr axe traffic\" class=\"wp-image-79813\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/startah13.jpeg 682w, https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/startah13-300x260.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 682px) 100vw, 682px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"content\">Content<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>The content in stage III is going to be mostly the same as it wasn\u2019t Stage II: we&#8217;re going to keep adding content that will help us grow our organic and social traffic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, we might also write some engaging email series, or if we think an info product might sell well to our audience, we might also spend resources to create&nbsp;<em>that<\/em>&nbsp;content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Examples<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/draxe.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">DrAxe<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/healthambition.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">HealthAmbition<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Let\u2019s talk specifics. Regardless of whether or not you are familiar with niche sites, let&#8217;s address the elephant in the room. The question: \u201cWhat is an authority site?\u201d An authority site is a content-driven website that is a respected and trusted source of information. It is a larger site that delivers real value through its &#8230; <a title=\"The Authority Site Business Model\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/what-is-an-authority-site\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about The Authority Site Business Model\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":22868,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[17],"acf":{"coauthors":null},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/affiliate-generic-illustration-1.png",1764,1024,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/affiliate-generic-illustration-1-520x292.png",520,292,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/affiliate-generic-illustration-1-300x174.png",300,174,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/affiliate-generic-illustration-1-768x446.png",768,446,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/affiliate-generic-illustration-1-1024x594.png",1024,594,true],"gs-tiny":["https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/affiliate-generic-illustration-1.png",50,29,false],"xl":["https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/affiliate-generic-illustration-1-1600x929.png",1600,929,true],"xxl":["https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/affiliate-generic-illustration-1.png",1764,1024,false],"xxxl":["https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/affiliate-generic-illustration-1.png",1764,1024,false],"xxxxl":["https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/affiliate-generic-illustration-1.png",1764,1024,false],"xxxxxl":["https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/affiliate-generic-illustration-1.png",1764,1024,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/affiliate-generic-illustration-1-1536x892.png",1536,892,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/affiliate-generic-illustration-1.png",1764,1024,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Gael Breton","author_link":"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/author\/gael\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Let\u2019s talk specifics. Regardless of whether or not you are familiar with niche sites, let&#8217;s address the elephant in the room. The question: \u201cWhat is an authority site?\u201d An authority site is a content-driven website that is a respected and trusted source of information. It is a larger site that delivers real value through its&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79812"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79812"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79812\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":110125,"href":"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79812\/revisions\/110125"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}