How to Create Profitable Hubs of Knowledge with Kahana

Last updated on Jul 5, 2023

Are you a creator or expert in a particular field with a wealth of knowledge that you would like to monetize?

Are you seeking a platform to share your expertise with others while generating recurring revenue?

If so, Kahana might be the ideal solution for you. Kahana is a collaborative software platform that empowers users to create and monetize hubs of content. These hubs frequently comprise files, notes, methodologies, best practices, templates, research, and more that users have carefully selected and crafted.

In this blog, we will walk through the key steps for becoming profitable on Kahana as quickly as possible. We will start with high-level instructions and provide links and resources to dive deeper at each step.

We will also cover best practices for effectively marketing hubs to improve overall sales volume, traffic, and click rates.

Setting up profitable streams of income

Let's be real - if you are a creator or expert, people want access to your best stuff on an ongoing basis. Generating recurring revenue doesn't have to be complicated.

You've accumulated years worth of invaluable information in your brain, and your digital resources are likely collecting dust in a computer folder. Now, it's time to turn that collective knowledge into an asset that generates income for you.

Kahana helps creators and experts build profitable hubs of knowledge within minutes. Here is a quick overview of the steps you will take to start from scratch and be open for business in minutes.

Create a free account
Create hubs and update key information
Connect payment processing (Stripe)
Upload more content to hubs
Share and monetize

Now with all that out of the way, let's break down each step of creating your monetized hub and how to get sales.

1. Create a free account

You can create an account for free. Signing up for Kahana is free of charge, and no credit card or payment information is necessary for the free plan. Kahana provides paid plans with premium features for those who require additional capabilities. While there is no initial cost to begin monetizing your content, Kahana receives a small percentage of your earnings (5%) as you generate revenue from your monetized hubs.

2. Create hubs and update key information

Create hubs and update key information. Start by clicking the "Add a new Hub" button to create a new hub or edit the existing hub that you automatically start with when you create an account. From there, give it a Title, Description (this will appear on the hub paywall), and a cover photo.

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You can use this Canva template to create a cover photo with the proper dimensions.

Update key hub information - make sure to click "Edit info" on your hub (click the 3 dots icon first) in order to update your:

Hub Title
Hub Description
Price
Hub Cover Photo

Add your own profile picture - start by clicking the "profile icon" in the top right-hand corner of your home dashboard. From there, a dropdown menu will appear.

Click "Profile" and then upload a profile picture by clicking the green edit button.

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Adding a profile picture is important because potential customers will see it when they visit your paywall page.

Example hub paywall - after you've completed the process of updating key hub information, adding a profile picture, connecting to Stripe, and setting a price, your hub paywall will appear similar to the hub in the screenshot below.

3. Connect payment processing (Stripe)

Kahana has integrated with Stripe to offer creators and experts a seamless and secure payment gateway. This integration enables you to receive payments in exchange for access to your hubs. Stripe's sophisticated security protocols guarantee that transactions are both safe and secure.

In order to set up Kahana for payouts, you must click the "3 dots" icon on any hub and then click "Edit monetization." From there, you will be brought to a standard Stripe onboarding flow that allows you to connect a bank account, provide some general information, and verify your identity.

4. Upload more content to hubs

Upload files, notes, media, and more to your hubs. The platform supports various file types, including Word documents, PDFs, images, and YouTube videos, making it easy to upload and share content with your audience. You can also create notes, folders, and subfolders within the platform, allowing you to organize and categorize your content effectively.

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In terms of timing, we recommend starting waitlists and pricing surveys for hubs before investing significant time or energy in adding or formatting content. You can test the willingness to pay and validate the demand for a hub with a simple price point, outline, and vision. More on this later in the article.

Kudos! After you set up Stripe and turn on monetization for your hub, you're open for business. Anybody that finds the link on social media, through blog posts, or emails will be able to pay to access it.

As people pay, you will receive payouts automatically through Stripe, and they will appear in your bank account after 3-5 business days.

Bonus: collaborate and invite others to edit

Invite others to collaborate on the hub with you. Take the Manifestation Hub, for instance, which was crafted by Olivia Mancuso, with Kahana co-founders Jonathan Gans and Adam Kershner. By collaborating asynchronously to upload, design, and curate the content, the team was able to streamline the hub-building process and save weeks of time.

6 best practices for improving profitability with Kahana

If you are a creator seeking to monetize your knowledge and generate income, Kahana can be an excellent platform to achieve your financial goals. However, merely uploading content to your hub is not enough to guarantee profitability. To improve your profitability with Kahana, it is crucial to follow certain best practices. In this article, we will explore some effective strategies to maximize your earnings and create a thriving hub of knowledge on Kahana.

1. Use waitlists

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Encourage people to join waitlists for hubs before launching. Before you even create a Kahana account, you can use waitlists like this to begin racking up customers who are interested in what you're building. You can add the waitlist link to your link in bio (e.g. Linktree, Beacons, Stan Store) and allow interested people that are passing by your profile to sign up to get notified if they are interested. This strategy is highly recommended because it allows creators and experts to better forecast sales volume and gather feedback around pricing.

Example waitlist for a hub - This waitlist (below) was created with Typeform and can be used to assess people's buying intend and develop an email list of people who will provide feedback and testimonials right when the hub is ready.

Add waitlist links to your link in bio page - Adding waitlists to your link in bio site takes less than 1 minute and will pay off when you are ready to launch your hub. Below is an example of a creator (Brianna) that added a waitlist to her link in bio page.

2. Get extra traffic from the Kahana Blog

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Get featured on the Kahana blog to increase traffic to your hub. Get more clicks, views, and sales by getting a featured article and podcast interview on the Kahana blog. This is an opportunity to talk more about your journey, provide context about your mission as a creator or expert, and discuss upcoming projects. All you need to do is schedule an interview with Kahana's host, Denali Keefe, through this booking page.

Go get a feel for what it's like to get on the blog, you can check out success stories and examples of other creators and experts on Kahana below. As an added benefit of getting a featured article and podcast, your recording will also be turned into a YouTube video on the Kahana YouTube channel.

3. Get extra traffic from the Featured Hubs page

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Submit your hub to be showcased on the Featured Hubs page. Getting additional traffic to your monetized hub from Kahana's Featured Hubs page can have a significant impact on your earnings. When your hub is featured on the platform, it receives increased visibility, which can attract new users and potential customers to your content. To get on the Featured Hubs page, kindly fill out this form after you have created a monetized hub.

This not only helps to build your reputation as a knowledgeable expert but also increases the likelihood of generating more income. Additionally, being featured on the platform can create networking opportunities with other creators and experts, leading to potential collaborations and even more monetization opportunities in the future. Overall, being featured on Kahana's featured hubs page can bring numerous benefits to your monetized hub and help you achieve greater profitability.

Example of Featured Hubs - when you submit your hub to be featured, it will appear on the Featured Hubs page like these creators and experts.

4. Grow a launch following with Product Hunt

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Build up launch hype and a following on Product Hunt. Launching your hub on Product Hunt can have several advantages for your monetization efforts. Product Hunt is a free community of tech enthusiasts, entrepreneurs, and investors who are always on the lookout for new and exciting products. Launching your Kahana hub on Product Hunt can provide you with a dedicated audience that is interested in the type of content you are offering. This can lead to increased traffic to your hub, higher engagement rates, and ultimately more revenue.

Additionally, launching on Product Hunt can provide valuable feedback and insights from the community, helping you improve and optimize your content to meet the needs of your target audience. In summary, building a launch following for your Kahana hub on Product Hunt can help you gain exposure, drive traffic, and improve the quality of your content, ultimately leading to higher profitability.

When you launch on Product Hunt, you will receive a "Teaser" page that allows people to get notified when the hub is ready. On the launch date, people will also be able to upvote the page and allow it to gain visibility on Product Hunt's algorithm. This is a great tactic if you have an existing community of followers that are passionate about your hub or just helping you in general.

Josh Slavin's "Short-form Content Hub" is a good example of a hub that is currently growing a following on Product Hunt.

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Get traffic from the Kahana Weekly Newsletter. Getting your hub featured on Kahana's weekly newsletter on Substack can bring numerous benefits to your monetization efforts. First and foremost, being featured in the newsletter can drive significant traffic to your hub, exposing it to a wider audience and potentially attracting new customers. All hubs that get featured on the Featured page will also be added to the newsletter.

Additionally, being featured in the newsletter ensures that your hub will be listed in the publication forever, which can help increase your visibility and reputation as an expert in your field.

The newsletter can also provide valuable insights and tips on how to improve your monetization efforts, helping you optimize your content and maximize your earnings. Overall, being featured in Kahana's weekly newsletter on Substack can be a powerful tool to enhance your monetization efforts and build a thriving hub of knowledge on the platform.

To learn more about the Kahana Weekly newsletter, check it out below.

6. Join the community Discord & live office hours

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Join the Creators and Experts community. You don't have to go at it alone. Joining Kahana's Creator and Experts community can provide numerous benefits for creators and experts looking to grow their monetization efforts. The community offers access to live office hours, where members can ask questions, receive feedback, and gain valuable insights from industry experts.

Additionally, members gain access to a private Discord server, providing a live chat platform for creators and experts to connect, share ideas, and collaborate. The constant stream of opportunities within the community can also help members expand their network and grow their monetization efforts, including access to exclusive job postings and potential collaborations with other members. In summary, joining Kahana's Creator and Experts community offers a variety of resources and support to help creators and experts thrive on the platform, making it an essential component of a successful monetization strategy.

Summary

In conclusion, Kahana offers a free platform for creators and experts to turn their collective knowledge into profitable hubs. By following best practices such as curating high-quality content, building a launch following, and leveraging Kahana's various features, creators and experts can monetize their expertise and build a thriving hub on the platform.

How to get in touch & collaborate

If you have questions, feedback to improve the Kahana platform or this article, or if you run into any issues, please feel free to:

Let us know in the comments down below
Join the Discord server through the Creators and Experts Community - get access to live office hours to create hubs, live demos, and recorded webinars
Get in touch on Twitter.

Thanks for reading and we can't wait to see what you build! ✌️