How to Turn Your Blog Into an Authority Website: 21+ Tips

In this guide, you will learn, step by step, how to transform your blog into an authority website that can generate thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits every month.

On top of that, you will be able to sell your authority website for at least 30X or even 40X of your monthly profits. 👌

An authority website can make you a lot of money if done correctly.

However, it’s not an easy job. There is plenty of work and dedication along the line.

If you don’t do the right things, you will spend a lot of time and/or money, and the results will barely come! I can’t stress this enough!

Follow the blueprint if you want to turn your blog into an authority website and make real money; otherwise, you will spend a lot of time and money and end up frustrated and barely making any money.

Before starting this guide, check one authority website for sale on Flippa with a 46x monthly profit multiplication. The profit figures look good, don’t they?

Now that you’ve seen how much money an authority website can make, let’s determine the 21 most important points you should follow to transform your blog into an authority website.

Ready? Let’s start then!

Focus and dedication are critical.

As I’ve told you, a few things matter when starting an authority website.

Get those right, and your chances of building an authority site multiply!

With Authority Websites, as in life itself, the 80/20 rule applies! Approximately 80% of results come from 20% of your activity. Understand which 20% of activity matters, and your chances increase significantly. Don’t get caught up in things that don’t move the needle much.

Is this the most important thing I should be doing right now?

Check the video below to learn more about the Pareto principle and how to apply it to all your daily activities to improve your productivity.

Creating an Authority Website requires extreme dedication as a content creator—OR significant investment in content creation.

Or, in some cases, both!

Invest in Authority Website training

Your investment can be your time, but funds permitting, I encourage you to invest in training / join a mastermind. Many authority website developers want to supplement or match their current monthly income.

Others are looking for a six-figure income and a 7 figure exit.

Whatever your ambitions, you must invest time to acquire the necessary skills. Creating an authority website is not a get-rich-quick scheme.
It is more like a Get Rich in 24 – 36 months scheme, provided you put in the effort. People serious about building an Authority Blog or Website invest in training.
-> This is the only external training we recommend.

It is by far the best course available for selecting niches, selecting keywords, attracting backlinks, and SEO. With over 120 step-by-step training videos, this authority site training is comprehensive.

If funds are limited right now, do at least attend their Free Webinar. [You will learn more from their webinar than most paid courses] Ask yourself this question…

What 20% of Authority Site fundamentals do I need to learn to get 80% of the results I am looking for?

Select a Profitable Niche

Many Authority Website experts encourage you to use Ahrefs or Semrush [Semrush review] to find that magical niche with lots of traffic and low competition. This is reasonable advice, but it should not be your only consideration.

You should also select a niche for which you have passion and knowledge.

A competitive niche that interests and inspires you is better than a niche with low competition. (that doesn’t interest you). After all, if you spend a lot of time building your own Authority Website, your chances of success are greater if you write about something you are passionate about.

It may not feel like it right now, but there will come days when you won’t feel like writing. There will be fewer days if you are passionate about the subject and the niche. Pick the wrong niche, and it will feel like you are pushing water uphill.

Create your buyer persona(s)

Chances are, you won’t market your authority website to everyone. It’s better to focus your efforts on only your target customers rather than trying to please everyone.

The more specific you get about who you want on your site, the more effectively you can tailor your marketing strategy.

So that’s where buyer personas come into play:

According to Hubspot, a buyer persona in user-centered design and marketing is a fictional character created to represent a user type that might use a site, brand, or product similarly.

Nailing down your ideal reader can be one of the trickiest areas, full of abstracts, guesswork, and dead ends. Buyer personas are so important because they keep logical thinkers grounded in evidence-based data instead of shooting in the dark.

For example, if you create an authority website for people to start and grow a blog, a dedicated piece of content on how to buy a SaaS business, even if it is related, will not get much attention.

On the other hand, articles on social media marketing or how to monetize your blog will be appreciated.

Check the video below to learn more about buyer personas, how they help you, and how to create them.

The bottom line is that a detailed buyer persona will help you choose precisely the person you are creating the website for, their struggles, how you can help them, and how to make money.

Find the Perfect Domain Name

Let’s assume you are starting from scratch. It would be best to try to secure a .com or aim for a local audience, then to secure a country domain extension such as .au or .co.uk.

Many people spend far too long trying to find the perfect domain rather than get started.

Let’s talk about Wirecutter.

If you don’t know what Wirecutter is, it is a product review website owned by The New York Times. It was founded by Brian Lam in 2011 and purchased by The New York Times Company in 2016 for about $30 million.

Let’s face it: Wirecutter would not have been the prominent name to choose if your target market were electronics, home goods, and tools reviews. (and it didn’t hold them back).

That said, if you can find a keyword-rich domain that suits your niche, then so much the better.

SEO and Keyword research

SEO is almost mandatory if you want to create an authority website. That’s because it can drive you quality and constant traffic to your content at excellent prices (if done right). Besides that, using a tool like Ahrefs or SEMRush will help you determine what keywords and topics your audience is looking for.

As mentioned earlier, don’t build your authority site around a random topic you are not interested in just because there appears to be little competition. (there are usually good reasons for low competition)

I would recommend you start with easy-to-rank keywords. This will bring some immediate traffic to your site, although there will not be much volume. Think of it as getting your website warmed up with the search engines.

A bit later (3 – 6 months), you can focus on more challenging keywords to rank for, bringing you a larger audience.

Later still, especially after you have built up some backlinks, you can target more difficult keywords to bring the most visitors to your site.
The above is a suggestion, not a rule. You can target keywords of any difficulty at any time.
However, I have found that this approach will give you some early wins and encouragement, which is essential.

Publish quality content

In my experience, the more quality content you publish, the more authority your site develops. In particular, the more content you post around a topic, the greater the topical cluster you create, and the more likely the search engines will send you more visitors.

I experience that the more content you create around the long tail variations of your primary keyword, the more authoritative your website has for your short tail keyword.

Your blog should have reliable, easy-to-understand, and shareable posts. When people read your posts, they should not be bored. Your expertise and experience should shine through.

Quality content comes in many different formats. To demonstrate your expertise, use blog posts, tutorials, videos, podcasts, reports, resource pages, reviews, and listicles. The more versatile the types of content you produce, the more likely you will become an authority.

Core content articles should be extended—around 1500-5,000 words, depending on the format. These posts should not be time-dependent; a reader who sees the post a year from now should still find it relevant. These posts are the most likely to receive backlinks from other websites and, ideally, will continue to bring in new readers long after you initially post them.

The more of these core content posts you include on your blog, the better. Ten is a good minimum; you should consist of at least three in your first 15 posts.

You can think that your writing sucks, but you have to try. Maybe you don’t know how to write. In the end, you can always outsource.

Content I Do Not Publish On My Authority Website

In the picture below, you will see what kind of content we will publish on Monetize.info and, most importantly, what type of content we will reject.

To summarize, I will never publish content that is too thin, does not offer something new or valuable to the reader, is generic, or is simply dull.

Your first test for publishing content is: “Will this content be of value to my reader?” or “Will my reader thank me for this content?”

No reader thanks you for BORING BLAND content. Remember that it is better to publish less high-quality content than numerous bland and uninteresting articles that no one reads. And don’t forget that your content should be better than what your competition has to offer.

Before closing this tip and going to the next one, I should remember that content doesn’t mean only text. Add as many images, videos, or audio materials as possible to empower your content. Speaking video, having a YouTube channel, and creating videos that complement your content will bring you even more readers, as YouTube is so hot.

Website design

An authority site doesn’t have to look fancy. However, if your website looks unprofessional, people will not stay around. Your site should be an easy-to-use website that provides a great user experience.

Besides that, your website should load very fast; otherwise, people will leave it and (almost) never come back.

Invest in a premium WordPress theme that presents your brand in the best possible light. Free themes are great for starting, but most cannot be customized appropriately. I recommend checking out our list of 50+ themes for affiliate marketing blogs. Remember that saying: First impressions count!

Branding Your Authority Website

Branding is an essential aspect of building and growing your authority website. You must ensure that your website stands out from the competition and becomes your visitors’ first choice when looking for news, guides, product recommendations, or advertising.

Some of these things are more important than others.

For example, having a memorable logo is more important than sorting out your favicon. Ensure you use the logo on all thumbnails and social media profiles. If you build the authority website around your person, add your picture to the About page, contact pages, and author bio.

Use memorable color schemes on your site that represent your overall brand image. This will help when your website becomes the authority website in your niche. People will recognize it from its look.

It would be best to secure your brand’s leading social media channels. (LinkedIn, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter at a minimum) Namecheckr.com is excellent for checking if your brand name is available for a social media channel.

It would be best to link to all your social media accounts from your website and vice versa.

If you have a local business site, it is always good to register with local directory sites like Google My Business, Bing Places, Yellow Pages, and Yelp.

Implement Social Media Marketing

Social media provides abundant opportunities to connect with others and influencers within your niche. This means you can easily exchange knowledge with a broad audience and engage with that audience further. It is also one of the best shortcuts for promoting expert knowledge.

Search engines use social signals and other user behavioral metrics to determine a page’s relevance to a search query. The main idea is that the more content is shared, liked, and commented on, the higher its quality, value, relevance, and ranking in SERPs.

You can check domain & social username availability across multiple networks using namecheckr.

Make sure you have profiles on all the relevant social media profiles that are relevant to your business.

Anytime you publish a new piece of content, syndicate your content on all of these social platforms. If you have time and resources, spend some time each week responding to people’s questions and interacting on these social accounts.

Contribute as a Guest Blogger

This is a popular way to get backlinks for your website. Guest blogging on high-authority websites effectively builds your authority and grows your readership.
To implement guest posting and establish authority, you must find authoritative sites in your niche. You can Google search by using Google’s advanced search operators and/or SEO tools like Semrush.

Alternatively, you can search for the names of Influencers in your niche and contact them. Remember that many people will not be willing to provide you with a guest posting opportunity when you are just starting.

In that case, you should write the article in advance (Google Docs is suitable for this), circulate it to several Influencers, and see who will first say yes. Of course, your writing better stands out!

Build an email list

Suppose there is one thing I would want to know sooner when launching and managing my authority website: the power of email lists. I tell anyone to build an email list right after the launch.

This way, you will gather visitors’ email addresses, and you will be able to send them updates regarding new content, your services, deals, and offers through your affiliate links to earn a commission for each sale.

Your subscribers are people who trust you and are hungry for your content. If you plan to launch your products, you will have your first customers as soon as you email the list.

There are many solutions to building a newsletter and grabbing users’ email addresses. I prefer using OptinMonster [OptinMonster discount] for their well-designed opt-in forms and customization options and ActiveCampaign for marketing automation and email-sending capabilities.

Below is another example of an authority website with a making list. In exchange for the email, they send the subscribers updates about plans.

Create valuable reports

I am not talking about a lead magnet. But about a valuable report that is genuinely free. There is no requirement to provide an email address; anyone can share this document without any edits or changes.

In the image above, you can see a screenshot of an excellent report on inflation created by Finmasters.com. It contains valuable information, a calculator, and examples, all based on research. As you can imagine, it gets shared and attracts many visitors and potential clients to your business.

This guide is slightly tongue-in-cheek, adding to the “share-ability.” What can you give away that visitors would appreciate and share?

Host or Sponsor a Conference

My first authority website was in the home improvement niche, focused on sunrooms, conservatories, and garden rooms.

As our authority grew, we got many media mentions and became a Key Sponsor of a competition to select the Best Conservatory / Sun-room installation.

This proved a great way to connect with leading industry players. It was also a great way to find more customers for my online lead-generation service.

Interestingly, one of the people I connected with led the team that bought my entire suite of Home Improvement Authority Sites in 2006.

Host case studies & leading researchers

This is the fast track to building an authority site. It requires time and investment, but it is one of the best ways to stand out from your competition and be recognized as an Authority.

When you provide well-researched information, people will talk about your research, link to your site, and share your content on social media.

Create unique tools and resources

In this guide, I’ve already told you how to turn your ordinary blog into an authority website. You have to create stellar content. Another strategy that will complement content creation is to create valuable tools and resources for your audience. These tools will make them return to the site multiple times and even recommend it to their peers.

You can build several tools, such as calculators, charts with historical data, quizzes, job or event listings in your niche, etc.

Check below what tools built the FinMasters.com’s admin for their personal finance audience:

Based on the buyer persona and keyword research you’ve already done, find out what tools your audience needs and hire a freelancer or a WordPress development company to build them.

Publish Expert Roundup posts

An expert roundup post is a blog post that features contributions from multiple experts. Typically, you, the host blogger, will raise a question or topic for discussion with various experts who share their insights.

The great thing about this is that guests usually link to your roundup article and share it on social media. Most of the time, people like to get flattered and earn backlinks.

Here are several expert roundups I’ve organized:

Although a roundup post can take a lot of effort, it can create massive exposure for your site, validate your website, and build brand awareness.

Host a Podcast

No rule says quality content should only consist of text and images.

You can use podcasting to open new opportunities for your site. A podcast will allow you to reach a whole new sub-set of your market that prefers to connect with your brand via audio.

Invite experts from your niche to be your guests. This can quickly set you up as an authority in your niche.

You can also be a guest on other people’s podcasts. This podcast exposure will help you build your authority since the podcasts often link to your website and social media profiles.

Check the following video for everything you need to know about starting a podcast.

Build a community

One of the most essential tips for starting an authority website is to ensure you’re building a community around it. A repeating visitor will bring you more value than a new one, and the acquisition costs are much lower.

As a community member, visitors will choose your website to read articles or reviews, purchase products, or advertise over your competition.

Highlight Your Social Proof

It should go without saying that your website should include social proof – this takes many forms, but the two most people will be familiar with are:

• Displaying customer testimonials.
• Details of where your content has been mentioned/quoted.
• Highlight your contributors or special guests.
• Pictures at events with top experts in your niche/industry.

You have probably seen many websites share where their content is published or where their names are mentioned. It can also be in customer testimonials showing what others said about that specific product or service.

What are these websites trying to achieve by sharing this information publicly?

They want to manage the audience’s perception by telling them they are a respected community brand; therefore, you should also trust them. This is also called social proof and will help establish your site authority.

Below is an example of showcasing several brands we’ve worked with, so our readers should know that the top brands in the industry trust us with the business, so they should as well.

In closing this tip, I’m adding a screenshot of one testimonial that I list on the advertise with us page from people who worked with us:

Learn from your competition

Note: I said to learn from other authoritative websites, not copy them! Inspiration is all around.

I often get inspired to implement changes on my website from authority websites in my niche and other niches. It is usually a tweak on their approach; rarely is it the same thing.

When comparing other authority websites, I note their web design, writing style, content length, depth, and even where they host their website to learn how they organize everything.

You can go to Wayback Machine and check how their site looked a year or maybe five years ago. Check individual articles. Success leaves clues. Studying other successful sites will help you find great points to utilize for your site.

Also, use a tool like Semrush or SimilarWeb to analyze your competitors. See their traffic figures and sources, what works best for them, and adapt to your project.

Authority Websites FAQ

Conclusion

Now, you have everything you need to create an authoritative website or turn your blog into an authoritative website in 2021. I’ve detailed every step along the way. Check out the sequence of this article to learn how to monetize your blog.

Thinking to speed up the process, save one or two years of hard work, and instead of starting an authority website to purchase one? Check our complete guide on how to buy an authority website.

As I’ve said, I’ve created over 40 authority blogs, and I’m happy to answer and help you succeed. Want our team to create an affiliate blog for you? Hire us.

Do you have a blog or want to set up one?

Let me know in the comments form below.