
Ask HN: Best way to monetize how-to content? - devbot9
Frequently when working on a project, I figure out how to do something novel with a technology&#x2F;language&#x2F;framework, or something that&#x27;s unique for a combination of tools. Often times there just isn&#x27;t any helpful explanations of the use-case online, or the documentation&#x2F;tutorials out there are not fleshed out in any quality format that&#x27;s beginner friendly.<p>In those cases, I&#x27;d love to have a process to make content that shows others how to get started solving the similar problems I faced. What would be the optimal choice (or combination) of formats that would be the most profitable? Youtube tutorial video, along with a written article (personal blog post, then exported to Medium) and link to github sample code? Micro course on a proprietary learning platform like Udemy? I&#x27;d love to know what combination others have found that has produced the most results in exposure and profit.
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gesman
Find products that are most relevant to the subject where vendor offers
commissions for referral sales.

Then place adds for these products on a sidebar via your affiliate link.

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aaavl2821
I don't have any personal experience w this but have been thinking about doing
similar things myself. I recently listened to a podcast on Indie Hackers with
Nat Eliason, who has monetized his SEO knowledge quite effectively [0]

He wrote a few blog posts that went viral, for some he did affiliate stuff,
for others he actually built apps that he sold through the article and
apparently made $3-7K / month from that in a nearly entirely passive manner.

He also monetized his knowledge on SEO by starting a growth agency that does
SEO for clients and apparently makes $85K / month for that after just like 8
months of working on it

If you can turn your knowledge into an app or plugin (solve the problem for
them instead of tell them how to), or an e-book, and sell them for $20-50+,
that might be more profitable than ads or affiliate stuff, as long as you
convert at a high enough rate

He also writes and publishes notes on all books he reads, and he sells an
evernote notebook with notes on like 200 books for $50 or so. He does a lot of
other clever monetization stuff. Of course his advantage is that he has a
personal blog that gets a lot of organic traffic, and lots of SEO knowledge,
so distribution is easy for him

Another person, Nathan Barry, wrote e-books on how to write apps, how to write
etc and made 5-6 figures from those. That then evolved into a bootstrapped
startup that currently does $1.2M rev / mo [1]

Both of them are good marketers and their product / monetization flows from
that.

[0] [https://www.indiehackers.com/podcast/065-nat-eliason-of-
grow...](https://www.indiehackers.com/podcast/065-nat-eliason-of-growth-
machine)

[1]
[https://nathanbarry.com/2018-review/](https://nathanbarry.com/2018-review/)

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tmaly
I did a ton of research. There is no sure fire way. But.. if you are looking
for most profitable, you want to make an online course.

Udemy is good for a lead generation channel but with their pricing,your only
making $2.50 per student. Plus you cannot mention your site in the main
videos. You are only allowed to advertise your site in a bonus video.

Gumroad is a good option for payment and distribution. Host the blog posts on
your own Wordpress site.

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gtirloni
If your content isn't long enough, it'll be hard to monetize individually.
Unfortunately, micropayments isn't a reality yet.

I think your best bet is to amass enough content for a blog and either make
money through ads or a subscription model.

If your content is niche enough, I wouldn't even bother with ad revenue from
YouTube.

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magical_mishka
Set up a website with blogs and embedded YouTube videos. Do import some of
your blogs to Medium (but dont expect to get paid much from them). The real
money lies in Google Adsense implemented on your site and YT videos.

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galfarragem
In my experience (2 niche blogs), nowadays, the real money comes from Amazon
affiliates and direct ads. I gave up from Adsense 2 years ago.

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username444
AdSense pays out $2-$3 CPM

Other ad networks pay out $20-$30 CPM

Add are, sadly, a good way to monetize

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ksahin
Who are the ad networks paying $20-$30 CPM for tech ?

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slipwalker
i am curious too...

