Ten Tips To Establish Yourself As An Expert

With the internet at so many people’s fingertips it’s pretty common to see new businesses popping up every day. You’ll see new virtual assistants, life coaches, business coaches, freelance writers, etc.

The competition can be pretty stiff when it comes to your niche. That’s why it’s so important to establish yourself as an expert. It’s imperative that you stand out from the crowd and present yourself as the expert.

So exactly how do you make yourself stand out as the expert, as the go to person for your niche? It’s not going to happen overnight that’s for sure. It takes time and consistency. You can’t expect to submit two articles, or even 10, to a few directories and all of a sudden be known as the go to person for your niche.

You also need to look at different ways you can market your expertise other than just article marketing as mentioned above. Let’s take a look at some ways you can put yourself out there and get yourself known around the online world.

Here are ten ways to establish yourself as an expert:

1. Write about it.
Your topic that is. Write about it and do it often. Write frequently for your website, as a guest blogger or write articles for the article directories. If you have a blog (if you don’t shame on you – no just kidding but seriously you NEED one!) try getting in the habit of writing every single day if you can. If not every day then 3-5 times a week!

2. Social networking icons.
This goes along with number one above – write about it. Make it easy for others to share your content once you write it. Add Stumble Upon, Digg, Twitter, etc icons on your website. Produce great quality content that people want to share! You are probably familiar with what I’m talking about and you can see an example of this in at the end of this post. I use a WordPress plugin called Socialable. It’s super easy to use and with one click of their mouse your readers can share your content on whatever sites you chose – there are 99 sites you can choose from!

3. Newsletter.
Another great way to write about your topic frequently is to create a newsletter. With software like Aweber sending a newsletter out is pretty simple. Put a little blurb at the end of it that encourages your readers to pass it along to others they think would benefit from the content.

4. Ecourse.
Create an ecourse where you can teach others about your topic. There are many different options when it comes to an ecourse. You can create one and set it up to be delivered once a day for seven days or once a day for 14 days or once a week for seven weeks and so on. It’s entirely up to you. Just like mentioned above with software like Aweber setting up an delivering an ecourse is pretty simple.

5. Blogs.
This has nothing to do with you having a blog. I’m referring to following, reading, commenting and interacting on blogs in your niche. Create a relationship with other blog owners by interacting on their blogs. If you have something to say that relates to their posts then share with them and their readers. Use the URL field to enter your website link but other than that try not to put links in their comment area. It can look pretty ‘spammy’ if come along and start posting comments with a link to your product or website (there are times that providing a link to a helpful resource or product can be appropriate though).

6. Message Boards and Forums.
Just as you can create relationships with other bloggers you can do the same by interacting with others on forums. Find and become a part of message boards/forums that fit into your niche market. Offer advice and helpful information.

Again it’s all about building relationships and not going in there and throwing out a link here and there to your website. Most forums allow you to have a link or two in your signature so this is a great way to share a link to your website without being ‘pushy’.

7. Press releases.
There are many different reasons to write a press release – new service/product, start-up business, giveaway, etc. Be sure to include some background information about your experience and knowledge. Submit it to online press release submission sites, national media, local media, magazines, etc.

8. Squidoo lens.
I don’t hear these talked about very often anymore but they are a great way to showcase yourself as an expert in your niche. You can even create more than one lens about your topic. Don’t forget to include a link to your website in your bio! It doesn’t take long to create a Squidoo lens either. I just created a general transcription Squidoo lens and it took about 10 minutes.

9. Podcasts.
Hold on a second don’t go getting all paranoid that I’m going to tell you that you should start your own podcast (although that’s not a bad idea!) because I’m not. Instead I’m going to tell you that you should appear as a guest on other podcasts. Do a search for podcasts in your niche and then contact the owner about being a guest. Don’t just stop at podcasts, take this a step further and research radio shows locally and nationally that you could appear as a guest.

10.  One way links.
Get others to link to you by creating quality content, gaining readership and doing link exchanges. If you are going to approach someone about doing a link exchange make sure it’s a site that fits with your niche so your link is on a site that your target audience would hang out.

There you have it. Ten tips to help you establish yourself as an expert. Don’t forget it’s not going to happen overnight. It’s going to take time hard work, consistency, patience and perserverance. But keep in mind that it will pay off in the long run. People buy from those they like, know and trust so getting yourself out there as an expert in several different social networking aspects will earn you loyal customers. It’s just going to take time.

Until Next Time…
Tishia