If you’ve ever asked “What is Authority Site System?”, you’re in the right place because I’ll be answering that in detail here.
If you’re genuinely interested in creating an authority website or a niche website to make money online, it’s likely you may have come across Authority Site System. There are several notable people who rave about this course. They say “it’s a gamechanger”, and their excitement may be causing you to wonder whether it’s a good investment for you.
In this review, I plan to do my best to answer the questions you might have before buying Authority Site System. In this Authority Site System review, I will tell you:
- What it is
- How it works
- Pros and Cons
- What it does well and what it does not
- What others are saying (good and bad)
- My Recommendation
- And, Alternatives (in case you want to do some comparison shopping)
To see this full review in video, check it out here:
What is Authority Site System? An Overview
Authority Site System is a training program created by Gael Breton and Mark Webster, two very successful online entrepreneurs. They have created several very successful authority websites like HealthAmbition.com that drive millions of pageviews every month. After replicating their process numerous times with successful recults, they decided to build a system that was a step-by-step blueprint: from the technical setup of the site to the exact tasks you have to do daily to the outsourcing and scaling the company! Their system is called Authority Hacker Pro.
They make strong claims, but they have student results to support them. Their claims include:
- “You can make a 4 figure+ per month site after taking this course.”
- “They’ve helped 2500+ people to see results”
- “They can Help many people learn to make their first income online”
- and, “If you work on your site for 1 hour or more everyday, you’ll start to see results.”
For most people looking to run an online business, there claims are exactly what they’re looking for: to make money online, to grow it into a online business, and to make enough from their online business to support themselves. Some people want even more from their online businesses, so it’s nice to note that the system can be scaled up (as far as Mark and Gael have) and beyond 6-figures per month!
It also helps to note that they’re recommended by industry leaders like Noah Kagan from Appsumo and the head of Marketing from Ahrefs.
How Does Authority Site System Work?
At its core, Authority Hacker is an online training course that’s stored inside of a membership site. Once you check out, you’ll have access to their courses, blog templates, case studies, forums, community groups and more.
To summarize what they teach, you’ll learn:
- How to pick a niche
- How to pick good offers
- How to have clear monetization
- How to do Affiliate marketing
- How to do keyword and market research
- How to outsource
- and, collectively this information will help you to build an authority site
Niche Selection
They go into much more depth about niche selection (with a 70+ video course), but in summary, to pick a niche, they want you to answer these questions:
- Are there products available to promote?
- Do people buy products in this industry?
- Are people on Google looking for products in this industry?
- Do you have good commission opportunities for well priced items in the niche?
- Are there sites in the niche making money?
If you can answer, “Yes” to any of those questions, then it’s likely you can make money in the niche. The top niches they recommend fall into Passion, Problems, and Lifestyle. Some examples of Niches within passion problems, and lifestyle include:
Passions
- Fishing
- Barbeque
- Home brewing
- Sewing
- Knitting
- Golf
Problems
- Back Pain
- Weight Loss
- Cancer
Lifetyle
- Parenting
- Business
- Fitness
- Healthy Living
- Personal Development
- Religion
- Politics
- Celebrity News
Site Planning
After you’ve picked your niche, they recommend you go into site planning before doing the technical setup, which is contrary to what many people teach. Even in my #1 recommended training course, they recommend creating goals, but don’t go this in depth about site planning, so this module could be a gamechanger (even if you’ve taken other online business courses).
Other business do business planning and it works, so online business should learn how to do it in a relevant way for them, right? Again, I’ll summarize by saying, they teach you to visually layout the content and make sure the keyword data would yield you results consistent with what you want–this includes calculating keyword volume, content type, and projecting conversions. They call this a “V1 Site”. You can plan your site by…
1. Making a List of Competitors
You have to see what’s working in the niche you plan to go into. What products or services are they selling? What content is popular and what’s not?
2. Plan Sales Content vs. Link Content
They recommend using the 80/20 rule in the beginning of the site where you’re creating 80% sales content and 20% informational content. The differences between sales content and link content breaks down like this…
Sales Content: Reviews, X vs. Y, Best of, Buyer’s Guides
Link Content:Â List Posts, How to’s, Industry News, Popular News
3. Branding
After planning the content and growth, then Authority Hacker recommends you to begin planning your branding.
- Choosing a Logo (they recommend Fiverr)
- Colors
- and Fonts
3. Tech Setup
After most of the planning is out of the way is when they recommend planning the tech stuff: what tools you’ll be using. They teach you to use WordPress, host with Siteground, use the GeneratePress free theme, and optionally use Pagebuilders (like Elementor or Thrive Architect), however, the decision is really up to you.
I personally don’t use the tools they recommend and I tell you the ones I prefer in the Alternatives below.
4. OutSourcing
When you’re ready, they also teach you how to outsource content using sites like Word Agents and Textbroker. They give you blueprints to help you brief your writers and templates to maintain your content consistency–that way your reviews always look uniform and so on.
5. Link-Building
And, in contrast to my #1 recommended training (who teaches organic linkbuilding), they teach you to initiate your linkbuilding efforts. Find those that link to similar content as yours, ask for a guest post, and link the guest posts to your money pages. Then, add them to a list called your “army of sharers” and continue exchanging links with them on important content. If you’re stuck trying to find email addresses, they recommend using Facebook pages or Hunter.io.
6. Time Management — Trello To-Do List
Many online entrepreneurs get stuck on the time management piece of business building. They don’t realize which tasks are most important at what times. They may find themselves trying to build a Facebook following or get Pinterest engagement, when in fact, those metrics don’t directly correlate to their big goals like making money. As a result, Authority Hacker comes with a step-by-step to do list where you follow each task exactly to get your results–this alone could be invaluable if you’re stuggling to know what you should be doing!
I haven’t seen another program that lays your daily schedule and tasks out like that. In my opinion, that’s a gamechanger especially since it’s working for lots of people.
The Three Stages of Building an Authority Site
The Authority Site program is broken into three stages of website development, and in each stage they guide you step-by-step to building your authority website. The three stages break down like this…
Stage One: Product Focused Content (SEO and affiliate marketing)
You’ll be creating content that’s about products and helping them make a decision: high quality information content. You’ll be building relevance and link-building. It creates the baseline trust with an audience and with Google, and it creates leveraged income where you’re expenses are covered. The goal is to get to 5-figures from the stage one site: between $2000-$5000. You can definitely pass 5-figures with a stage one site, and some sites never go past this stage–it’s up to you.
Recommended Content types: Product reviews, Comparisons (X vs.Y), Buyers Guides (Ultimate Guides), Best of Guides (Approximately 80% Commercial content and 20% Informational Content)
Stage Two: Additional Streams of Traffic (social media and others)
Maintain the same content as a stage one site and add:
- Push notifications
- Social media
- Ads
- Email marketing
With a stage two site, you’ll have your own audience thru your email list and you’ll also have more awareness as a result. You’ll be pulling in more traffic and you’ll be attracting people from various stages of the buyers cycle rather than stage one where you’re laser focused on people with a clear intent to buy. You can take the insight from your stage two site and create products for stage three.
Recommended Content to Create: Question Posts (answering a popular question), How to, Curation Posts (Finding cool Posts), and Roundup Posts (like interviews of influencers, rounding up influential content, etc.)
Stage Three: Product Development
At this point, you have money, relationships, and an email list. You’ve promoted other people’s products and services, brought them sales, you probably know other publishers and affiliates, so you can collaborate to sell your products, and it makes product development and sales much easier.
The Recommended Content to Create: Sales funnels, Affiliate marketing content, Audio, Video, and Content to sell your products
How Do I Get Started with Authority Hacker Pro?
To get started with Authority Hacker, you can either watch their free webinar (which is packed with great information) or you can go straight to their sales page and buy their course–it’s up to you.
Who is Authority Site System For?
- Those just starting into Internet Marketing
- Lurkers: Those who have been studying and taking courses but haven’t taken action yet
- Those who want to quit their jobs or freelance gigs
- Those who have tried online marketing but failed
- Those who want to scale their websites up
- Or, those who haven’t yet made the income they were hoping for
Authority Site System & Training
The Authority Site System courses are training and they have everything laid out to help you achieve your goal of creating an authority website. They also have a knowledge base to answer questions before you buy.
Authority Site System Support
The owners are involved in their Facebook group and Forums primarily, so if you have questions about building your website, you can get answers from peers, those who are further along, or the instructors in the Facebook group or in the forums. For billing issues or personal concerns, you have to contact support via email.
What Does Authority Hacker Pro Do Well
- They teach methods that are getting results
- They have students who started as newbies and are earning full-time incomes after the training
- They guide their beginners step-by-step down to the task
- They have a 30-day money back guarantee
- You pay one-time for a lifetime membership
- They owners are engaged with their students
What Doesn’t Authority Site System Do Well
- They require additional tools and they don’t forecast the cost for you: Ahrefs, website hosting, and other tools that add onto the costs and the costs are not explicitly explained
- They offer training only with no additional tools – Many other SaaS companies offer online business training and tools
Authority Site System Review Roundup
I looked thoroughly for what people had to say about Authority Hacker Pro so you could see the good and the bad. They had an obvious monopoly of positive reviews and results, which is a great thing to see! This helps you to know that it’s not just a well-thought out program, but it’s one that is satisfying customers and generating returns for them. Here’s what you see when doing a random Google search for “Authority Hacker reviews”:
Video Reviews
Common Positive Feedback
- The course helped me start making money online
- It was easy to follow
- I love the step-by-step approach
- The community answers my questions
Common Negative Feedback
- It’s hard work to build an authority site
- It was harder than I expected
- The tools cost more than I expected
- The course is high comparable to others
- Support could be better
Most Helpful Positive Authority Site System Review
“When I first got started making money online, had I found a course like this… It would have shaved years off of my learning curve and gotten me to a million dollar business much faster.
100% No Doubt!
To this day, I personally find myself logging into this program for new blueprints, webinars, and their templates when I want to expand my content marketing efforts.
And as I stated earlier, anytime I hire a new marketing teammate… I plug them into the Authority Hacker training so they can get caught up to speed on the marketing best practices for content marketing online, fast.
Honestly, there is only one thing missing from the Authority Hacker Pro course that stands between you and the financial freedom you deserve from an online business… That one thing is implementation!“
Miles Beckler, MilesBeckler.com
Most Helpful Negative Authority Hacker Review
“I have sent at least 5 emails to the Authority Hacker support and I have never received a single answer. It seems that the support is dead and they are not answering people’s requests.
This is a big red flag and one of the major reasons why I recommend staying away from Authority Hacker Pro.
What’s the benefit of buying a program if they don’t even answer your emails?”
Roope Kiuttu, YourOnlineRevenue.com
Authority Site System Prices
Authority Site System
Authority Site System gives you access to the authority site system for $997.
My Final Opinion of Authority Site System
Overall, the Authority Hacker Pro is a solid system. They teach methods I was able to learn from my #1 recommended system and they’re different because:
- They break the recommended content into stages (whereas my #1 recommendation teaches without hard numbers like “80/20”)
- They have a Trello Board for time management
- and, they have a different perspective on link building (which has mixed reviews in the internet marketing industry).
I personally don’t use the tools they recommend because I prefer the alternatives I list below, but I have used those recommendations before and I know they work well for others. They teach you proven methods, they are getting great results for people, they have an engaged community, they have a 30-day refund guarantee, and they operate with ethics. If you’re looking for a step-by-step method to create an authority site, you might want to take a look at authority site system.
Top Alternatives
If you’re:
- New to internet marketing
- Looking for a different option to compare
- Thinking this is too expensive
- Wanting 1-on-1 mentorship
- Wanting to avoid buying lots of additional tools like hosting and keyword research tools
- And you want something you can try before you buy…
Then, You’ll love my #1 recommendation!
For me personally, I don’t use the tools they recommend like Ahrefs or Siteground. You can see my Siteground review to see why. It’s not a bad company. I just believe I’ve found a better alternative than those, and the proof is in the third party reviews.
Also, I prefer to engage outside of Facebook (just my personal preference). If you find Authority Hacker is too expensive for you, you think the tools are too complicated, you want a more all-in-one option, or you want to use alternative tools (than Siteground and Ahrefs), then I’d recommend Wealthy Affiliate.
#1 Recommended Internet Marketing Training – Wealthy Affiliate
Here’s a breakdown of what you get at Wealthy Affiliate:
#1 Recommended Keyword Research Tool
Instead of Ahrefs (which is a great tool but can be a little complicated for some people), I recommend using Jaaxy first, then adding a more advanced tool like Ahrefs down the line. You can try Jaaxy out for yourself free here:
It’s included for free in your Wealthy Affiliate membership!
Wealthy Affiliate vs. Authority Hacker
Here’s a breakdown of the differences between Wealthy Affiliate and Authority Hacker:
Added to these, they’ve had:
- More success stories
- Been in the industry longer
- They include hosting and a keyword research/market research tool
- Their community is bigger: 1.4 million+ members
- They have more training 1000’s of hours
- It includes 1-on-1 coaching (when you join thru my link)
- They have a SiteComments and Sitefeedback platform so you can get insight about your website on-demand
- There’s content writing software included that drastically improves your writing proficiency
- and, you can get started for free!
Want to learn more about Wealthy Affiliate? check out my full Wealthy Affiliate review here.
VERDICT: Highly Recommended
But Try My #1 Recommendation First
——————————————————-
Authority Site System
Pros
- Lifetime updates
- The product developers are engaged in the community
- Lots of success stories and case studies proving the system works
- Very step-by-step and easy to follow
- Great supplementary course for ongoing development
Cons
- One of the higher priced courses to learn to build an online business
- Customer reviews suggest email support is slow
- Requires additional tools that cost (like hosting and keyword research tools)
- There are other competitors with more comprehensive systems like my #1 recommendation
- There's a heavy emphasis on link building
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