The Authority Site System Review: Will It Help You Build a Profitable Site?

There are many ways to make money online, and one of them is building an authority site.

Unlike most money-making schemes online, creating an authority website from the ground up takes lots of work. You could end up spending months—if not years—before your site starts earning a substantial income.

But when it does, you’re never going to look back. In time, you could begin earning five figures (or more) in a month. If you do things the right way, your website could turn it into a successful online business.

For many, building an authority site is a project worth pursuing. But where do you start?

There are lots of resources online that cover this topic. But if you’re new to site building, you’d want a guide that takes your hand from beginning to end until you start earning a steady income stream from it.

Again, this is easier said than done, but The Authority Site System (TASS) will be your beacon of light in this complex world of online marketing.

The Authority Site System in a Nutshell

TASS is the brainchild of Gael Breton and Mark Webster, the guys behind the Authority Hacker website. 

Gael has a decade's worth of experience working and growing client sites. He then used this to build authority sites of his own that reached seven figures in annual earnings. 

Mark is the yin to Gael's yang. He is all about creating efficient systems to help simplify workflows and maximize production and earnings in building authority sites. He shares his expertise in the course through the SOPs that we'll discuss later.

These guys at The Authority Site System teach its members how to build an authority site that generates money for you via affiliate marketing. It breaks down each step in fine detail so you can take action and follow the steps to a tee.

Both guys are also behind the Authority Hacker Pro, which is the logical follow-up to TASS. It contains more advanced strategies to help your site move up from five figures to six or even seven figures a year.

Going back to TASS, it was formerly called The Authority Site System 3.0. But the course was recently updated for 2022 to include new material to help your website adapt to the ever-evolving Internet marketing landscape.

What’s Great About this Course?

There are many things TASS gets right—too right that it will be the only program you’ll need among the host of affiliate marketing courses available!

Below are the great things about this Authority Hacker course to help you decide why you should get this program.

Super Detailed and Well Thought Out Modules

The Authority Site System training works because of how Gael and Mark take you through the step-by-step process of building a successful authority site.

Below is a list of modules included in the course:

• Module 0: Introduction - A quick preparatory module about the resources you need and the challenges you must face before going through the course.
  
  
• Module 1: The Authority Site Business Model 101 - Discusses the basics of an authority website, how it generates income, and examples of the best authority sites that you can replicate with TASS.
  
  
• Module 2: Finding Niches - Helps you brainstorm for potential niches for your authority website. 
  
  
• Module 3: Qualifying Niches - This shows you how to vet the list of niches you found according to different variables. It should help you decide which niche in your list has the highest traffic and low Domain Rating (DR) ranking.
  
  
• Module 4: Site Planning - Introduces you to SEO concepts like search volume and keyword difficulty (using a keyword research tool) and competitor analysis. These help you identify the best sites in your niche and their strengths and weaknesses. 
  
  
• Module 5: Site Setup - Teaches you how to buy a domain name and set up a WordPress site on the best web hosting. Following the steps in this module helps search spiders crawl and index your website faster and easier.
  
  
• Module 6: Branding - This shows you how to decide on a font and color scheme to use for your website. The module also teaches you how to create a logo (even without design experience).

Related: How to Build an Authority Site in 2022 (Free Webinar)

• Module 7: Building Posts & Pages - Helps you create the necessary pages on your site (About, Contact, Privacy Policy/Disclaimer, etc.).
  
  
• Module 8: Creating Info Content - It shows the different info content types you can create and publish on your website. The goal is for your blog posts to meet the demands of users and search engines. The module also shows different templates for crafting different info content (SUPER USEFUL, especially for non-writers).
  
  
• Module 9: Writing Content: Step-by-Step - Guides you through TASS’s content creation framework for providing readers with all the necessary information they need to know about the topic. You can use the framework to teach your writers (once you decide on hiring writers for your site).
  
  
• Module 10: Optimizing & Publishing Content - Observes the best on-page SEO practices before publishing your content. Includes concepts like improving readability, keeping track of internal and external links, and more.
  
  
• Module 11: Initial Link Building - Introduces the concept of link building, which is arguably the most important ranking factor. It also talks about the top link building tactics: HARO, guest posting, and skyscraper link building.
  
  
• Module 12: Affiliate Setup - This is where things get interesting. The module discusses how affiliate marketing works, sign up for affiliate programs related to your niche, and more. 
  
  
• Module 13: Writing & Optimizing Commercial Content - Unlike info content, commercial content aims to convert readers to referral customers using your affiliate link. The module delves into the commercial content types to publish on your authority site.
  
  
• Module 14: Advanced Tactics - Once your website gains steam, use the techniques featured in this module to take your site to the next level. Most of these tactics require you to have a budget to spend, so it’s best to focus on growing your site first before taking this step.
  
  
• Bonus: Becoming an Authority - Teaches you how to measure your website using various KPIs. You can use the data as a benchmark to scale your website’s performance and increase your authority in your niche.

Everything is broken down into easy to follow modules. They explain each piece of the puzzle, show why it’s essential, and how you should proceed from there. They do this by providing you with video and text instructions.

There’s even a list of templates you can use from niche research to content creation so you don’t have to start from scratch.

The modules leave little to the imagination and explain each topic crystal-clearly.  With TASS, it’s hard NOT to follow their teachings and take action even if you have no prior experience.

Related: Mark Webster & Gael Breton's Free Web Training - How to Build an Authority Site (2022)

Uncompromising Focus on White Hat SEO

The Authority Site System course uses search engine optimization (SEO) as its foundation. After taking the course, you should be in a place to effectively create a website optimized to rank on Google search for your target keywords. 

SEO, however, can either make or break your site. Depending on which practices you observe and how you execute them, you can make your site pages appear on top of organic search… OR your site can lose organic traffic by dropping out from Google search and never appearing again.

There are two camps in SEO: black hat and white hat. 

Image Source

Black hat SEO consists of tactics to manipulate Google (which is against Google guidelines) and rank your website on top of search results quickly. 

This approach seems ideal, but there’s a HUGE risk of getting your site penalized if Google catches you. 

And because Google’s algorithm has gotten smarter, your site’s chances of getting caught due to black hat SEO are much more significant.

On the flipside of black hat SEO is white hat SEO, which TASS preaches to its members. All of the practices shared in the course comply with Google’s guidelines. 

From creating content to building links, this course shows what's working today to properly scale your business while still observing Google’s best practices. Create engaging content that meets your audience's search intent and learn to build backlinks in a way that doesn't engage in link schemes or other suspect strategies.

Remember that most of these tactics take time to develop and execute. In addition, you have to wait for Google to pick up the developments you made on your site before you begin to rank for target keywords.

Related: SEMRush Review - Is the Suite of SEO Tools Worth It?

The Authority Site System: Regularly Updated

A course like TASS needs to be updated with the best and most current information and practices. Internet marketing is an ever-evolving industry in which tactics not only can become ineffective but also harmful to your website.

Case in point: Google released two updates regarding product reviews on your site in 2021. The goal was to encourage site owners to create useful and informative content for their audience. That means they must:

• Create content containing visual and audio evidence that they have tested the product to support the points in their reviews.
• Include links to multiple sellers of the same product and not just one, i.e., Amazon, etc., to provide users with options on where to purchase them.

The same year, Google took page experience into account when ranking websites. Using Core Web Vitals as ranking factors, site owners need to make their site load faster and more efficiently to meet the demands of the search engine and its users.

TASS 3.0 was unable to address these factors. However, the 2022 version comes with new modules on writing product reviews that satisfy Google’s algorithm and how to speed up your site (a technical topic that is broken down into EXTREMELY easy-to-do and actionable items), plus others!

This batch of updates just proves how VALUABLE this course is. Instead of searching for the best practices for these new guidelines (and sifting through which practices are accurate), TASS hands them to you on a silver platter by the very best in the business.

Related: What are Backlinks and How Do They Work?

My Very Minor Gripe About TASS

First, The Authority Site System course is an affiliate marketing training program. Its primary website monetization method is to generate clicks to your affiliate links in the hopes of converting them into referral customers.

While that’s great and all, it would be nice to have an in-depth module dedicated to display ads. It was only mentioned in passing in the Advanced Tactics module:

Many websites have generated income using ad platforms like Ezoic and Mediavine that are comparable to affiliate sites. 

A quick look at Jon Dykstra and his seven-figure portfolio of websites shows you that display ads as an income stream work.

This is also important because affiliate marketing may not be everyone’s cup of tea as a way to monetize their websites. 

I believe display ads may not be in Gael and Mark’s wheelhouse, which is totally understandable. Again, this is a minor quibble on an otherwise excellent program.

How Much Does The Authority Site System Cost?

As of writing, there are two ways to subscribe to the Authority Site System.

The first is the Payment Plan, where you have to pay $249 for the next four month (a total of $996). The second is the One-time payment of $997, so you can just get the payment out of the way and focus on building your own authority site.

Strangely enough, the Payment Plan makes more sense as you can stagger the payment and is cheaper than the one-time payment by a dollar.

Regardless of how you pay for TASS, you will get all course materials, including SOPs and “to-do” lists, so that you can take action from the get-go. 

You will also gain access to its Facebook group exclusive to members of the course. Here, you can discuss the course with other members and raise questions about the course to Gael and Mark. Some members may share valuable tips on building an authority site not covered in the course, giving you more reason to join this group.

If you’re not satisfied with the course, you can revoke your access and get your money back—no questions asked. But you can also refund the system within 30 days after buying it. 

Click here to visit their website and learn more.

Verdict: Should You Get The Authority Site System?

To answer the post title’s question: YES, The Authority Site System will help you create a profitable site that will make you money in the long run.

The member success stories found on their landing page are all the proof you’ll need to know that TASS works.

Now comes the next question: should I buy The Authority Site System?

If you’re a complete newbie in online marketing, I can’t think of a better course that best caters to your needs. 

TASS lays out the blueprint and guides you along the way on how you should build money-making websites. Gael and Mark discuss even the most complex topics with clarity and precision, giving members an all-in-one resource for all their online marketing needs.

Even if you’re an online marketing veteran, TASS offers tried and tested tactics that you may have missed out on. After all, we’re talking here about guys who have built multiple profitable and authoritative websites for years, so they probably know a thing or two about building sites that you don’t.

In particular, its excellent modules on niche research are well worth the price tag. The money is in the niche, and it’s vital to shore up your knowledge on finding untapped niches with serious income potential.

Overall, The Authority Site System comes highly recommended if you’re looking for a single resource to draw the best information on how to build authority websites.