Ch. 5: Info content vs money pages, which to build first

Ch. 5: Info content vs money pages, which to build first

My gardening site, 2023. Every guru said 'build informational content for authority, then add affiliate.' So I wrote 30 how-to posts first. Traffic: 12k/mo by month 7. Revenue: $48. The traffic converted at nothing because 'how to prune tomatoes' buyers buy nothing.

Month 8 I flipped it. Wrote 'best raised garden beds,' 'best soil moisture meters' — 14 buyer-intent posts. Traffic only added 4k/mo, but revenue jumped to $390. Then the info posts started funneling internal links to the money pages, and by month 12 the whole thing hit $1,100.

The sequencing that's taught is backwards for revenue. Money pages first proves the niche pays; info content later builds the moat.

Lesson banked: build 5-10 buyer-intent pages first to confirm the niche converts. Authority content is the second chapter, not the first.