I’m starting a new blogging series on how to become the go-expert in whatever field you choose to blog about. I’m not sure how many parts there will be, but I do know the series will help you greatly in presenting yourself as the go-to expert to your readers.
Why You Need To Become The Go-To Expert
When people are searching for information online, they want to learn from the experts in the field. I have over 250,000 daily readers and followers because I am viewed as the go-to expert in the field of Internet marketing and blogging. This expert status separates me from all the other make money online blogs, and allows me to continually attract more readers, which increase the go-to status. Being the go-to expert means people trust you, and you will need that trust in order to make money.
Here is the good news. You don’t need to be an expert to become an expert. Let me explain.
An Expert Is Someone Who Knows One More Thing Than You
When you break it down, an expert is just someone who knows one more thing than you. When you have a dire problem and I know how to fix it, you would view me as expert on that one thing. And this is how it is when you’re blogging. You are providing information that your readers don’t know about.
This is one of the main reasons I tell new bloggers to blog about a topic that they are passionate about. If you’re passionate about something, then chances are, you are already an expert on the topic. It’s very hard to be an expert on something you’re not passionate about.
When you’re passionate about a topic, you get to really know it and study it to the point where you know more about it than everyone else. That’s when you become an expert. However, being an expert is not enough. There are tons of experts that no one knows about. You need to become the go-to expert. Theses are the experts that people talk about. Their names come up with the topic. The odds are high that my name will come up in a discussion about blog monetization because I have established myself as a go-to expert. Here’s how you can do the same.
Assumptions and Perceptions
Expert status is not something you give yourself. Instead, the status is given to you by others. If enough people give you this status, you become the go-to expert.
Getting people to see you as the go-to expert is done through a series of assumptions and perceptions. Most people will assume someone is an expert just by the way that person presents himself. I was once asked to be on a panel about real estate investing. Other than owing a few houses, I’m not an active real estate investor and don’t consider myself an expert in the field. However, because I was on this panel, I was viewed as an expert by the attendees in the session. If I let the assumption stand, then the assumption become real.
About a year ago, I met a person who presented himself as a YouTube expert. He spoke at various meetups (that’s how I met him) and even has a course on YouTube marketing. He sounded professional and presented himself quite well. However, when I went to check his YouTube channel, I found that he had less than 50,000 total video views and less than 400 subscribers. I’m coming up on 3 million video views on my YouTube channel and I don’t considered myself a YouTube expert.
While I would not call this person a YouTube expert, the other people in the room did because he knew one more thing than them, and he was put in an environment where he could present himself as the go-to expert. Here’s how to create the same type of environment for your blog.
Presenting Yourself As The Go-Go Expert
Your blog is the first point of contact between you and your readers, therefore it needs to stand out against the other 100 million blogs out there. You achieve this by creating your own custom look and feel.
My blog stands out because it has its own unique look and feel. The theme was custom made by Unique Blog Designs. My blog is the only blog that uses this theme. If you were to take my content and put it on a blog with the default WordPress theme, it would lose its impact. The content is the same, but a new visitor will not think of me as the go-to expert because of the perception created by running a blog that looks the same as 100 million other blogs.
If you want become the go-to expert, you have to look like the go-to expert. Look at all the big blogs out there. Look at all the blogs that you consider an authority. Chances are, every single one them will have a custom made theme that is unique to them. You need to do the same.
Creating a custom look doesn’t have to cost you an arm and a leg. WordPress Frameworks like Thesis and Genesis allows you to customize the look and feel of your blog without any coding knowledge. You can use crowd sourcing services like 99 Designs or Logo My Way to create a custom logo for as little as $100. By using a framework and crowd sourced logo, it’s possible to create a complete custom look and feel for just a few hundred dollars. Going the traditional route will be considerably more expensive. Custom theme packages by Unique Blog Designs starts at $7,500.
End of Part One – Your Homework Asignment
Your assignment this week is to create a custom look for your blog to present you as the go-to expert. If you’re still running the default WordPress theme, or even if you’re running a paid premium theme, it’s time to change it to something that is truly unique, and shows off your expert status.
Look for part two of this series soon. Your feedback on part one is welcome. Please leave it in the comments.