Ask HN: Best way to monetize how-to content?
Frequently when working on a project, I figure out how to do something novel with a technology/language/framework, or something that's unique for a combination of tools. Often times there just isn't any helpful explanations of the use-case online, or the documentation/tutorials out there are not fleshed out in any quality format that's beginner friendly.
In those cases, I'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'd love to know what combination others have found that has produced the most results in exposure and profit.
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Then place adds for these products on a sidebar via your affiliate link.
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...
[1] https://nathanbarry.com/2018-review/
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.
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.
Other ad networks pay out $20-$30 CPM
Add are, sadly, a good way to monetize