Making money blogging can actually make you really rich. I have proven this when I spoke about blogs that sold for millions but how do they get that way? A typically blog sells for 12 months revenue, so if it’s making $1000 a month, it’s likely to sell for $12,000. There are a lot of exceptions to this rule, for example if it’s an authority site and the age of the business, big sites that have been around for years can sell for 10′s of years of revenue. My goal for every business I have ever made has been to build and build till one day it’s worth millions, this post is all about how to build an authority site so that one day this could become a possibility for you.
I remember being at Underground Seminar 2 years ago and Ryan Allis saying something on stage that really stuck with me.
Have the end in mind and every day make sure your working towards it – Ryan Allis
Authority Sites Have These 7 Things in Common
Post Content Daily
People want content daily, for the very reason your reading this post, it helps them in some way so naturally they want more and more. If your not posting daily, they will look else where for someone who will publish more content then you do. This is what I would say is one of the most defining factors of a authority site and for anyone who’s going to take this year seriously, you need to work out a way to do this.
Having more content isn’t just a benefit to your regular readers, it means you will get more and more traffic because search engines have more to index and other sites have more to link to which in turn will make you more money.
A Well Thought Out Website Design
Version one and two of IncomeDiary looked more like a personal site then authority site, version three however looks a lot different. When I compared the biggest sites in my industry, I found they had a lot of things in common, here’s the check list I wrote down:
- No clutter, they kept things simple!
- 100% width header, this may seem like a small thing but it is actually a common difference between big and small sites.
- Important content on the homepage.
- They are Sticky! This means, they are good at getting people back to their site, most use social media or RSS readers. I personally choose email marketing.
- Great branding.
Less Ads, More Money
The majority of big sites don’t clutter there whole site with adverts in every possible spot, it’s tacky and looks terrible. Instead they have as little as possible, however charge a lot more. This makes a lot of sense, it requires less work which means they can focus more on publishing content to bring in more traffic to keep advertisers happy. To find out more about monetizing your blog, check out Site Profit Domination.
Diversify Their Income
Someone who’s been in business longer then probably a year will know just how important this is. Something that works today, probably won’t work the same in a years time. Having multiple income streams means that if something stops working, you can focus more on the other things that do. Some of the most common income streams for big sites include:
- Selling Advertising
- Selling Their Own Products
- Job Boards
- Paid Directory Listings
- Premium Membership
- Reviewing Products
- Email Marketing
- Affiliate Marketing
I personally have 5 income streams in my business, originally I just had Google Adsense, I got banned and my earnings went to 0 over night. Then I did banner advertising which can be hard work for new sites, my best tip is definitely to not have all your eggs in on basket. Having multiple income streams is also great for making sure you meet targets.
They Have a Whole Team
There is no way one person can do everything, for example, I’m an entrepreneur, it’s not in my best interest to learn to design a website or do jobs that anyone else can do. Every big site has a team, most teams include:
- Editors, this personal will make sure the content goes out on time and looks its best.
- A developer, depending on the size of the site, usually they will be a “web guy” who can do a bit of everything, so if they need a new page designed or something coded, it can be done quickly.
- Guest Bloggers, sometimes they work for free and sometimes they get paid, it depends on the arrangement with the blog. The editor will make sure these guys look good.
- Virtual Assistant, something that every business owner needs, this guy does all the jobs that you can do but don’t want to so you can focus your time on more important things. This could be anything from managing your email, accepting comments, working with your team etc.
They Are Always Changing and Adapting
It’s important for authority sites to stay ahead of the crowd, that’s why they are the authority. Most of the big sites I read update their site design every year or two, this will always allow them to adapt the design to follow the trends on how people are using there site and what is making them the money at that period of time. Another prime example of a business owner reinvesting what they earn, something I recommend to you all.
They See The Bigger Picture
This is a hard one for most new bloggers, I would imagine the majority of people reading this would just like to make $500 or something a month to help with their mortgage. People who create a big site usually invest in a good domain and work hard to scale their business as quick as possible. Once one site is doing well they begin another and another and gradually build a network of sites.
Take a look at these people:
Michael Dunlop, started Retireat21, then IncomeDiary, Popup Domination, SiteProfitDomination and BlogCreationDomination.
Collis Ta’eed started FreelanceSwitch, then PSDTuts, Nettuts, ThemeForest and now a couple years later has a network of over 20 websites called Envato.
Darren Rowes started Problogger, then wrote a book, launched a successful eBook, then started Twittip, then another successful eBook and the list goes on.
*not exact but near enough for you to see what I’m talking about 
The main thing you will notice is, we all capitalized on the success we had at the beginning, we didn’t just sit around, collect out cheques and spend our money on ourselves. We took it and invested into another project which made us even more money and just kept scaling things up.
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