Ask HN: Best way to monetize how-to content?

by devbot9 on 6/1/2019, 5:35:04 PM with 10 comments
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.

  • by gesman on 6/1/2019, 6:45:15 PM

    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.

  • by aaavl2821 on 6/4/2019, 4:56:18 AM

    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...

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

  • by tmaly on 6/1/2019, 8:50:39 PM

    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.

  • by gtirloni on 6/1/2019, 6:24:28 PM

    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.

  • by magical_mishka on 6/1/2019, 6:43:20 PM

    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.