Authority – what is it and how do I get some?

Authority: (meaning) A person (or group) may be considered an “authority” on a subject matter if their expertise is well established.

In the world of online marketing the word authority has more meanings than it has in the offline world, for example Authority Sites could be defined as as word:

1. used by search engine optimization people and search engines themselves to give gravity to very large and popular sites.
2. and measured by respect from thousands of people linking to you and referencing your material, and being the obvious expert in your niche.

however the intent behind these meaning is the same – having authority still means having the respect and trust of others around you for what you do, how you do it, your knowledge and experience and your ethics and values.

As a business, business person building authority is the ability to ‘prove’ you know what you are talking about in your chosen business niche. This is done through the use of the tools off and online available to us to showcase our experience, knowledge and expertise through the content we post online, and via our client or customer recommendations and testimonials, presentations and workshops and the trust and respect we earn via these methods.

How do you build authority for yourself as a business owner and for your business?

These are some of the methods I use to build my authority:

Online:

• Consistently posting tips, strategies and answers in my niche on my social media channels
• Proving that my methods work via the knowledge that this is how I earn most of my own business if not all
• Posting quality content including blogs, videos, interviews and graphics that are used as ‘social proof’ as they are shared and commented on by others
• Building a content of work on my own website via blog posts and videos that has become a resource for my audience online
• I openly collaborate with, edify and can be seen to be conversing with other influencers online

Offline:

• I consistently give presentations to networking, business and entrepreneurial groups
• I run my own workshops on subjects in my niche
• I advertise in a well respected business magazine in my area
• I collaborate with other businesses and influencers in my local and national areas

Site Authority

What exactly is an Authority Site?

A: An Authority Site can be defined as a website that provide an abundance of high quality, unique keyword related, niched content that is updated and added regularly and is linked to or referrenced by other websites in the same niche.

An Authority Site often has a list of resources including FAQ pages, a list of events, reviews or links to other sites – in short it is a resource rich site used by visitors to get their questions answered and their fresh news on a given topic or niche.

The Authority Site Formula:

Take one Niche site and add: Visitor Optimization + Content Optimization + Creative Marketing = Authority Site

This includes:

• Owning your niche you can only do this if you are passionate about your topic, more and more the people on the net are becoming savvy and do not believe everything they read online. You must really know your stuff and be an expert on your topic if you want to be branded as an authority.
• Create a great First Impression, by making sure you have a relevent and targeted domain name and your site design is aimed toward the people you have already defined as your market.
• Prove your authority, show your credentials, have a list of published articles or publications where your editorials, articles or interviews can be seen online. Use whatever you have to prove your expertise and/or your passion are worthy of being followed.
• Create an industry guide in the form of a downloadable white paper, eBook or list of links to articles that brand you as an expert on your topic or niche.
• Build or create a useful tool that will benefit your users, this can be a series of videos, plugin, a widget, calculator, a widgetized survey or even list of online resources in your niche that proves you know where to find even more resources than what you currently provide.
• Write posts that show your expertise, original content, opinions, answers to questions, the latest news and developments all prove you have your finger on the pulse.
• Use confident language and have an opinion, people take you seriously when you are confident enough about your knowledge to speak plainly and openly about your opinion. Even if they disagree with your stand, they will respect you for having an opinion.
• Make yourself visible on other authority sites and social media, comment on high ranking blogs, show your face on forums or in groups dedicated to your niche.
• Make friends with other top people in your industry and quote them onsite in your articles and blogs. Be seen to be talking to them on social sites, conduct interviews with them (most people love to be interviewed no matter who they are so just ask).
• Making sure your on and offsite SEO is working and done well.

Your site needs to be one that attracts thousands of visitors a day through the major search engines.

Three characteristics of this kind of site are:

1. Your site is dynamic: Use RSS feeds for your most information rich pages such as your blog and or news and your archive so that visitors can tap into your updates, news and information through their subscriptions to your site. This is one way to keep them coming back for more.
2. Your site is interactive: Engage your visitors through effective use of surveys, comments, feedback and questions. Make sure these features are easy for your visitors to use. This creates a feeling of relationship with your visitors which is invaluable. Use of social media sites is also recommended for this purpose, create real relationships on social media sites and bring people back to your authority site to continue the conversation. Another way to be interactive is to have video of you onsite talking about your passion for your niche, strategic use of video in this way can create a sense of knowing you personally.
3. Be consistant: Post to your onsite blog often with quality, newsworthy or educational content. Blog posts can be small as long as they are also informative, controversial, humorous or educational. Become a news master to become an authority on what is happening in your niche.

Are you ready to be THE Authority?