How I Make $5,000 Each Month Writing Ultimate Guides
Here’s how I do it
Writing ultimate guides has changed my life.
Every month, I can’t believe how lucky I am to now be making $5K from my portfolio of websites and other platforms.
If you want to know how to write ultimate guides, then keep reading.
I’m about to break down exactly how I do it.
This article will show you the step-by-step process for writing ultimate guides and making decent money in your own right.
What Is an Ultimate Guide?
An ultimate guide is, quite simply, the best damn guide you’ll ever find on the web (on a given topic).
Think of it like a golden ticket to knowledge — all the answers to your questions without needing to step foot in an actual library.
These guides come with all sorts of information about their given topic, ranging from general overviews to in-depth analysis and practical advice. They may even include other helpful resources such as videos, links, pictures, and graphs for further exploration.
An ultimate guide should also be written in a way that is engaging and entertaining, avoiding being overly technical or dry.
Ultimately, it’s an invaluable resource when researching topics you don’t know much about and that can make learning fun while still getting useful information.
How I Write Ultimate Guides
Writing an ultimate guide for a blog post is truly a labor of love.
The basic steps include researching keywords with tools such as Ahrefs, or even simpler ones like Google Autocomplete.
I almost always filter by search volume and competition:
- Low competition 0–10 (but I stick as close to zero as possible)
- High volume (Thousands of monthly searches are great but a few hundred works, too)
It’s best to do this first so that you have something to focus on when crafting the perfect piece within your niche — for which no sacrifice should be spared.
Next, it’s essential to study the competition, learning from their structure and fine-tuning your own uniqueness.
Any data gathering or further research should be done at this point, too.
A great way to make things easier is to create a dynamic outline of the guide you plan to write; think of it as a roadmap that shows you where you’re headed before taking off.
I always like to cover the topic from as many angles as possible:
- Definitions
- Types
- Pros
- Cons
- Beginner questions (What, Who, Why, When, Where, How)
- Charts with details or statistics
- Step-by-step instructions (as applicable)
- Personal experiences
- Mistakes (and how to avoid them)
- Examples, examples, examples
Lastly, you want to get support visuals in place.
Images and videos are great assets that can help keep readers’ eyes glued and provide visual interest — and only then can you write the content itself.
Next, you write the dang thing.
With these elements in place, you’re sure to end up with an ultimate guide with impressive results.
How Long Are Ultimate Guides?
Let’s get something straight — “ultimate” doesn’t always mean “super long.”
Some of the best ultimate guides I’ve seen have been well-researched and nicely packaged nuggets of knowledge, coming in at a cool 1,000 to 1,500 words.
Sure, if you’re specializing in a crowded marketplace or need to cover a whole lot of ground, then yes… longer is often better.
It isn’t quantity that matters so much as quality.
By doing some research into your competition and audience expectations (and maybe using a few optimization techniques), you can create an ultimate guide that may land shorter than expected but packs a maximum punch.
My suggestion?
Aim for 1,500 to 2,000 words and then feel free to go longer if needed but don’t force it just for the sake of size. You can always extend it later if the competition picks up.
Let’s make “ultimate” mean something more than just “who could write the longest article?”
Examples of Ultimate Guides
I always appreciate examples, so here are a few ultimate guides that might help inspire you to write your own.
Ultimate Guide #1: The Ultimate Guide to Selling Your Home
This guide ranks #2 (currently) on Google and is only 1,800 words (fits nicely into my word count range mentioned earlier.
What I like about this guide:
- The intro is short
- The guide goes right into tips
- There are lots of images
- There is a checklist
- There is consistent bolding to keep the reader’s attention
Ultimate Guide #2: The Ultimate Guide to Camera Shots (50+ Types of Shots and Angles in Film)
A great example of an ultimate guide, this one is super-long.
According to my Word Counter Chrome Extension (highly recommended by the way), the guide clocks in at a jaw-dropping, eye-popping 7,000+ words.
What I like about it:
- The easy-to-scan and read formatting
- Images to go with every type of shot and angle (as examples)
- A video
- A cheat sheet
- A free PDF
- Short, clear descriptions
How I Make Money From Ultimate Guides
Ultimate guides are the cornerstone of many successful blog posts and have the potential to generate a handsome profit when done correctly.
In my case, I make money from ultimate guides by utilizing two methods: display advertising and affiliate marketing.
Display advertising means that ad networks place ads on my website and whenever someone clicks on them, I get paid.
I use Google Adsense and Ezoic at the moment.
Affiliate marketing is another efficient way to monetize a blog.
With affiliate marketing, I promote products and services on my website in order to get a commission every time someone buys something.
This can also be done by strategically placing product or service mentions within the post itself as well as on separate dedicated discount pages. All in all, implementing both of my monetization strategies helps me get the best possible return on investment — with minimal effort.
Tools I Use To Write Ultimate Guides
I use a suite of free and paid tools to write my ultimate guides.
Free tools I use:
- Google autocomplete
- Google Also Ask
- Google Also Search
- SearchResponse.io
- DeapMarket
- AnswerSocrates
- Grammarly
- Canva
- YouTube
Paid tools I use:
- Jasper AI Writer (Formally conversion ai) and Text-to-Image Maker (Not an affiliate link)
- Ahrefs
- Canva Pro
Final Thoughts
To me, the key to writing a good ultimate guide is how well you cover the topic and how helpful your content is to the reader/user.
In the end, it’s all about offering as much value as possible.
Related posts:
- How I Make $5,000 Per Month Writing Slow Articles
- How I Make $5,000 Each Month Blogging Like a Hipster
- How To Make $5,000 a Month Writing Short Articles
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