A long, thoughtful and insightful discussion of what exactly they mean by the term "authority blog", what their long-term objective/purpose is in building one, what skills they have, and why they think that SEO's likely to be particularly relevant to the outcome.

Sorry, but I can't tell from what you've said above whether joining the War Room will help you. There's certainly an enormous amount of stuff in there - including many "free downloads of former WSO's" and similar things; I've very rarely - if ever - heard anyone say that they were actually sorry they joined it.

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This can be done with Wordpress if you download a good theme from ThemeForest. Are you looking to write the content yourself or outsourcing it?


I am not a War Room member but I have head a lot of great things from those who are.


You should learn content writing then, search on google for how to write good articles etc...
Another great blog to follow is CopyBlogger, they teach a lot of great stuff regarding copywriting.


That is what I do for my authority sites, I outsource and edit the text because normally it is badly formatted.


Researching keywords you can use LongTail pro, its like Google Keyword planner.
I wrote a review on it here

Don't focus too much on SEO, focus on bringing value to your readers. It really depends on your article to decide how many images to use.

Bold out words that you think is important

Link out only if you think that article or link will provide value to your readers.
Cloaking affiliate links you can use a lot of wordpress plugins to do that. A quick google search will find you loads.


I suggest you get the website blog set up and start adding in content. Then drive traffic.

Congrats Selfridge! This has been a fun journey for me. I know you'll enjoy it too.

Why do you want to become an authority blogger? Answer that one to start off on the right foot. I spent years trying to make money - a weak why - and fell flat on my face. When I decided to seek out freedom, and when I wanted to share that freedom, with my target audience, then things started to come together, and I had some clout.

The WHY is your driver. Write it out on a piece of paper, and make it pure so it involves you and other folks. So much more fun, that way. At least I think so.

1: Choose a topic you love. Become a publishing machine by writing about a topic which makes you feel amazing. No chasing money here; money follows people who live their passions, because people give money freely to folks who provide immensely helpful service....and passionate bloggers are the folks who provide that level of service.

2: Build a detailed, vivid picture of your ideal reader. Name, age, wants, problems, dreams. Doing this creates great clarity in choosing your domain name, header tagline, post titles and advertisements, as well as your free giveaway. Do this in your mind, then list the attributes on a piece of paper. Build your entire blog around this image, and the qualities on the paper.

3: Post detailed, in-depth, thoughtful comments on top blogs from within your niche. This is an easy, time-saving form of guest posting, that will help you build bonds, and'll also help you gain exposure among people from your niche.

4:Write practical posts. You can also tell a story through posts, relating some experience in your life to your niche. Solve problems. Scour blog posts, forums about your niche and the comments section to ID problems, then solve them via your posts.

5: Craft enticing titles. Titles make or break your post in a split second. Number-themed titles rock, as do question-asking titles. Make titles relevant to your domain name and tag headline. Stay on topic to become known as a pro's pro in that niche.

6: Never give up. Keep at it. Each impactful comment, and helpful post, makes a nice little dent in the Universe. I'm blogging from paradise - living in Fiji now - because I created for a series of years, and networked, and promoted other bloggers generously. Give, and you'll get.

Bonus Tip: Promote other people, especially authority bloggers, and you'll come up on their radar more quickly. Everybody loves a free giver, no?

All the best with your endeavor. Know WHY you wish to become an authority, and tie that that reason to helping other people, and to inspiring them to live their dreams, and you'll succeed in due time. Knowing why helps you follow each practical tip on a daily basis so you can rock it out.

I've built a prospering freelance writing and blogging business by following these tips, and I learned them from some bloggers a bunch more well known than me. They work oh so well if you just stick with them.

Good Evening from Fiji!

Ryan

An authority blog is a good way to go BUT I wouldn't focus just on SEO traffic.

There are a ton of sources and SEO is unpredictable anyway so it would be sad to see you build up a site of 10,000 pages then Google makes an algorithm change and wipes your traffic and makes you bankrupt over night.

Of course you'd still have your mailing list and some referall traffic but you get my point I think.

Just because it's an authority site don't make it about a ton of different, loosely related (or un-related) topic but instead quite focused or "niche".

Be an authority site on a specific topic without going super super narrow.

I'd learn from the experts if I was you and Ryan Diess and the Digital Marketer team run a ton of successful authority sites and share their results...

How We Grew a Blog to $6 Million+ in 12 Months

How To Find Writers For Your Blog

I also did a case study on Survival Life where I examine why it's such a huge success and what you can do to emulate them...

Forget 'Surviving' Find Out How One Blog Makes $1 MILLION Per Month : NicheHacks


P.S.

The War Room is full of information but you could easily end up with information overload and I'm not sure if there's anything specific in there that's going to benefit you.

I'd say it's not essential for you right now even though it is good.

If you really want to do it the right way, let your competitors and social media do your homework for you. Use Quicksprout and Topsy to reverse engineer authority content in your niche. Everyone can give you their opinion until the cows come home. The only thing that matters is whether you can get RESULTS. Reverse engineer proven authority content and come up with a better version.

Real traffic and marketing gurus like Neil Patel, Brian Dean, and Rand Fishkin can point you in the right direction. Just check out their stuff.

I've been blogging since 2004 and I've been teaching other bloggers how to build basically what you call an authority blog since 2007. I can tell you things have changed a lot over the years.

When I started you wrote good content and Google rewarded you. Then things got crowded and Google got ruthless with their ranking algorithms. Then social media became a driving force for traffic, although I still get most of my new visitors from Google.

The format for good blog content hasn't changed, but nowadays you really do need to have an outreach program to market your good content.

I used to advise people to write an article a day. Today I recommend one really good article a week, and spend just as much time connecting with others and promoting your work.

It sounds to me though that you want to create what I call a "blog magazine", something like a mashable, or huffington post, or techcrunch. This requires a greater volume of content, usually focused on news style articles rather than in-depth resources. Hiring a writing team in that case is definitely a good idea, but I'd validate the topic area before investing too much.

I've got a ton of MP3 interviews with people who have built authority blogs, plus a free report, and nearly ten years worth of articles and podcasts on this subject all on my blog if you are interested.

Personally I've made over a million dollars thanks to my blog (and of course my email list), which started with advertising income, then affiliate income, but today is focused entirely on digital products and coaching.

If you have any specific questions I'm happy to answer. The more specific the question the better the answer I can provide.

Yaro

Yaro, you make a great point about outreach.

Although I'd change nothing and still see the benefits of posting 30 times daily - and I did, to get my creative juices flowing - who you're friends with can expand your presence oh so fast. Just connecting with people, promoting them, not being in so much of a hurry, and detaching from outcomes, all while providing practical content, will give you a glimpse into how Yaro made his millions.

Steve, great point too. Do not copy, never, or else you'll lose any possible impact you can make. My blog is kinda one of a kind, and even though I'm closing it out my new one will mimic it in many ways, staying true to my brand so I don't confuse my audience. Outreach is huge, but finding your voice, style, and presentation, and following your intuition, will help you create something that nobody else in history has created.

Sure, maybe some bloggers have lived on the ocean in Fiji for 4 months from their blogging proceeds, but nobody can do it just like me, with my voice, and my blog layout.....and the same goes for Yaro, Steve, and anybody on this thread. We each have so many gifts nobody else has had, or will never have, and when we simply speak our voice through practice, and repetition, writing, writing and writing, and when we start an aggressive outreach campaign, helping so many others bloggers, well, awesome things will happen for us.

Thanks guys, super thread.

RB

Thanks so much for all your responses guys, I'm genuinely working through all of them and any links you suggested for further learning. Didn't expect this level of information.

I'm doing my best not to get overwhelmed by making sure I DO something everyday as well as learning which is already having a positive effect traffic wise. But, by the end of July I will only have about 25 x 3500+ word quality articles on the blog and following Alexa's advice I will submit some if not most of them to article directories and approach some other Webmasters in my niche directly to let them see if the quality of the content is to their liking.

For August and September, I only have a budget of around $3000 for content creation. This will be outsourced to writers far more knowledgeable about the niche than myself. I love the niche and find it very interesting but I want to provide the best content hence outsourcing. Would you suggest this initial approach for this budget? As the blog isn't IM, make money online related, I don't have a high ticket coaching program. At best we are talking smaller ongoing membership recurring fees for however long they remain signed up.

UPDATE: Having now read through most of the info and fully read Yaro's blog profits blueprint I now know what I'm supposed to be doing to at least get my blog off to a great start. So glad I posted here.

Good stuff Selfridge - one suggestion if you have a budget to spend as much as you do, create something with that money that keeps on giving. For example put it towards a powerful resource you can give away as an incentive to join your email list. This might be an app, or a free report, or a well produced series of videos.

Thanks for the kind words Steve and Ryan, you guys had some great advice there too!

Yaro