How to Establish Your Authority – and Why You Have To

Content is the cornerstone of any online branding effort; you are your content. This is how people – potential customers – will come to know you. It will, or it will not, create trust in those relationships. Establishing your authority, and that of your brand, is essential: you want people to know that you are the go-to for information in your field. You are the authority; you know what you are talking about, and you want to help them. Your content is the key; how can you use it to establish yourself as a leading expert?

• Set up your Google Author tags.  Author Rank is a factor in overall Page Rank, and an increasingly important one. Not only will Google see you (algorithmically) as a trusted source, so will searchers. Your content will appear with an image and byline, so this is a great PR and branding tool.
• Get social. You’re sick of hearing it…but you have to in some form or another. It doesn’t have to be Facebook, and in fact, Facebook may not be suitable for you at all. Two biggies for professionals and especially B2Bs are LinkedIn and Google+. Get active in these spaces: joining, starting, and managing groups here will help boost your authority as you ask and answer relevant questions and guide discussions.
• Blog. Thought blogging’s heyday was over? Sort of. But a business blog is still a powerful tool. This is your space to generate and guide discussions, talk about relevant and interesting industry news, and engage potential customers. It is also a great way to get people to dig deeper and deeper into your site as they find more of use to them.
• Get a YouTube channel. You can find cameras inexpensively; take advantage and create “how to” videos pertaining to your field. These sell like hotcakes, as they say. They may not actually “sell” but they will help boost your authority and draw traffic.
• Create informational products. Whether a newsletter or a video series that goes into more detail about issues you’ve blogged or written about, informational products can be offered to subscribers for free or for a fee. These products offer real value to consumers in terms of advice, tips, next steps, and more.
• Take it offline. Attend industry events, give speeches and presentations, write a book, teach a class…and then connect it online by providing your email and web addresses. Write about “real life” events online and connect to social platforms. The possibilities are endless.

You are an authority. But anyone can say that. Following through with these tips will establish that expertise and you won’t be a self-proclaimed authority; you’ll be a recognised one.