I Built A Large Wrestling Media Platform And Need Advice On How to Monetize It

[rico]

So I'm desperately seeking advice on this and have several questions at the end of this post in which if you have any advice, by all means, fill me in!

A few years ago, my CP usage slowed down a bit, and the reason for this was because I’ve had quite a few life events and changes that have kept me extremely busy and unable to find the time to do certain things I used to… like post on CP. One of the main changes in my life that has made me the most busy took place 2.5 years ago. 2.5 years ago, on a whim, I decided to start my own wrestling media outlet that I named “The Pin Doctors” abbreviated “PinDox.” This started out with most of the material being posted primarily to the website (http://thepindoctors.com), but has since morphed to something in which the social media platform that I prioritize the most is The Pin Doctors Facebook page… I noticed that when I posted links to my site on Facebook, the posts would only reach a fraction of the amount it’d reach if I posted the content directly to Facebook opposed to link-dropping. So that’s how most of the content has been posted for a while now… directly to the Facebook page… And the Facebook following has flourished as a result.

BTW, be sure to “follow” The Pin Doctors on Facebook yourselves if you want… http://Facebook.com/thepindoctors

So I created this platform with full intentions of grinding tons of content and promoting it relentlessly to where it would become one of the biggest and best wrestling media platforms around. People called me crazy for actually thinking I could pull this off. Well, 30 months later and here I am… For the past 6 months, The Pin Doctors content reaches an average of anywhere between 2-3 million people per week, has 22.5K followers on Facebook (where I post most of my content), has 2700 followers on Twitter and has a couple thousand email subscribers. It’s a hit! And it’s still growing at a very quick rate! And I have done 99% of it all by myself while holding a job at a factory that pays more than my field of study (Psychology) where I am “written up” whenever someone catches me on my phone working on the page, which is frustrating as hell.

And that’s the situation that has led me to reaching out to you guys about this… I can’t do what I have been doing much longer (working at a factory while maintaining this busy site/page)… I can’t go the rest of my life losing sleep and being sneaky with my phone at work the way I have been. It’s unhealthy and it sucks. So I have decided to finally make the transition from the platform being a “free, but welcome to donations” page to having some full-fledged monetization components along with some free content. I am also going to welcome advertising and pull the trigger on apparel. I have to start making money with this thing. I think I can. People tell me that I should be able to quit my job at the factory if I go about it the right way since I’ve got such a large Facebook following already firmly established and continuously growing. Problem is, I don’t know how to do it and it’s a total headache. I am seeking any kind of advice or insight that any of you may have regarding this endeavor because I want to make sure that I make the correct decisions in my approach to this. I have worked too hard at this to mess it up.

I have a ton of questions and will appreciate the hell out of it if any of you could give me some insight regarding my inquiries… Here they are:

Do any of you have any experience with monetizing a media platform that you owned or own? What are some “do’s and don’ts?” What are some of the most successful and efficient ways to monetize content on Facebook? Do any of you have any familiarity with Facebook premium content? Should I make it all premium content for a monthly fee or should I continue to make some content free? Would I be better off going through an outside platform like Rokfin or Patreon instead of the Facebook premium content route? Would any of you be able to help me code/design my website to where I can more easily monetize on there via advertising? I will pay for that service. When I start posting advertisements and sponsors, how should I determine how to price it? I have had thousands of apparel inquiries since I launched the site… Do any of you have any recommendations for apparel companies I can work with? What are some copyright and legality issues that I need to be aware of to avoid being sued right after I start making money?

Also, should I consider accepting a sales job of some sort (like insurance) with intentions of advertising whatever they sale on my own platform?

Do any of you know how I could get hooked up with a remote job? If so, I doubt you’d be disappointed…I think what I’ve put together all by myself in 2.5 short years should be somewhat of an indicator of my ability to crank out a ton of work at home. Seriously! If any of you know of a remote job, you’d be doing me the biggest solid anyone's ever done for me. Because having to dodge managers while writing articles in a factory on a daily basis is stressful!

Thanks a ton in advance, guys… I have researched the hell out of this and have reached out to several individuals with these questions, but nothing compares to the input of Chiefs freaking Planet. You guys rock and collaboratively are such a valuable resource for situations like these!