Successful Blog

7 Steps to Being Recognized as an Expert

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The Catch 22 of Being an Expert

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One of the hardest parts of business blogging is finding a niche where you know you can write successfully. Once you find that niche, naturally you’ll looking to find readers. Those readers that you’re looking for are looking too. They’re looking for a writer they have time for — someone they can trust and rely on — an expert.

Becoming an expert seems to be a Catch 22.
You have to know your stuff to be an expert. But . . .
It seems that “expertness” starts out as not what you know, but what you’re known as.

You have be an expert, before folks will see you as one.
A Ph.D. helps, but it doesn’t automatically translate to expert. Testimonials from other experts help too, but they aren’t a magic entry to the world of experts either.

The problem for the most of us is . . . if no one will look at what I know, how will I ever be recognized as an expert?

7 Steps to Being Recognized as an Expert

There’s no question that to be an expert, you have to be knowledgeable, authentic, and hardworking at what you do. Everyone pays dues to get to the top, but knowing what to work at helps a lot too.

To be recognized as a expert, someone has to see your work and know its quality, see its value, find it relevant and worth coming back to.

These are the 7 Steps to being recognized as an expert when someone comes to look.

  • Be the expert you are, not the expert someone else is. You are the only you the world has. That differentiates what you offer from the start. Know your strengths and play to them.
  • Be an expert in ONE thing. Find ONE niche that fits your strenghs. People like a “go to” person for a specific need. Once they come they can find out about the other wonderful things you know about.
  • Write expert content. Readers want top-notch, quality, relevant content — information, answers, AND analysis. They can get news anywhere. Add your expert opinion, analysis, evaluation, synthesis, or predictions.
  • Be an expert at keeping track of your niche. Don’t overwhelm yourself with feeds, but have an aggregator. Follow popurls to get the latest on the social bookmarking services. Read the magazines and the blogs that talk about the topics you cover.
  • Be an expert at specialized searches. Make finding interesting content tidbits your expert quest. Get to be friends with Google Alerts and similar services. Follow terms around the Internet.
  • Be an expert at getting the word out. Get to know the other experts in your niche. Talk with them. Visit and comment on their blogs. Ask them for an interview. Volunteer to guest post now and then.
  • Be an expert at going deeper into your niche. Saturate yourself in the trends, but go deep too. Find out what researchers are thinking so that you can offer your readers the highest quality and most relevant information and analysis.
  • Plus one: Be an expert at having fun. Nothing is more appealing than an expert who loves what he or she is doing. Share the joy of your niche with the folks who come to see you. They’ll want to know more about what it is that you do.

Striving to be an expert in your niche lets your readers know who you are and why they should keep coming back to see you. It’s a key centerpiece of your brand — quality, knowledge, and credibility as promotion. If you’re ready when that person comes to look, the rest will happen. Just keep counting to seven — seven key steps to being an expert that is.

What better way to promote your brand and your business than to have everyone see you as the expert? How can I help you do that?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

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This Just in: Sabine Wins!

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Scavenger Hunt Was On

As you might recall the Scavenger Hunt is on at this post about the Link Leak Virus at New York City Open Comments Night.

AND THEN I POSED ANOTHER CHALLENGE:

Question 7 was called by Shirley Buxton, but I wondered, because when I went to her blog, I couldn’t find an answer to the question. That Shirley, she’s a fun one. I found it today. Can you find it? I’ll give a link to the first person who writes in my comments here where her answer is. Here’s the question.

7. What word made Liz color on her flat screen with crayons?

Here’s the post link.

Finch on Feeding Sock

Sabine at CTBizBlogs answered correctly first.

Congratulations, Sabine!

There are still seven more questions, if you’d like to play for a link. I’ll be continuing to update as winners come in. After all as Rumpelstiltskin said, “A Deal is a Deal.”

–ME “Liz” Strauss
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Filed Under: Blog Comments, Community, SOB Business, Successful Blog Tagged With: , , , ,

Net Neutrality 6-20-2006

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Net Neutrality Links

I’ve added these links to the Net Neutrality Page today.

I don’t usually comment on this page, but then what’s said here is usually thoughts passed on that are either rants or one sided solutions to a complicated situation. Today, however, Scot Karp has changed that pattern for me. His piece,
Eminent Domain: A Modest Solution to Net Neutrality? jarred me out of my “watch the debate,” position into finally seeing Scot’s radical suggestion as one that would hurt, but would work.

So how do we fix this? Are we stuck in telco hell? Silicon Valley can ignite a political arms race and spend more on lobbyists, but why play an old man’s game? Instead, these webbies should get creative, change the rules. Bam-Bam, not Barney Rubble is the future. Take the telcos and cable companies out at the knees.

Here’s an idea: Start screaming like a madman and using four letter words–like K-E-L-O. And fancier words like “eminent domain.” I know, I know. This sounds wrong. These are privately owned wires hanging on poles. But so what? The government-mandated owners have been neglecting them for years–we are left with slums in need of redevelopment. Horse-drawn trolleys ruled cities, too, but had to be destroyed to make way for progress. How do we rip the telco’s trolley tracks out and enable something modern and real competition?

SPEED BUMPS ON THE INFORMATION HIGHWAY [via deal architect]

Check out this graphic:

How the Internet works. Chronicle graphic by John Blanchard

Ethical fog by Stirling Newberry

Chicago Dyke at corrente joins the long list of people commenting on the question of “should blogs take ads from telecos on net neutrality”. Bopnews.com has turned down these ads in the past, but there is no reason to believe that we will turn them down in the future.

Having used blogads at various times, generally with success, I think the paradigm that Skippy has gotten into – that ads are push that people are overly influenced by – simply isn’t backed by my experience. [Blogads] are essentially very gaudy links. Should we turn down Google ads because we can’t control the content? Several sites – like Brad Delong’s – have been very anti-Bush and his executive, and then had google ads that touted Bush gear.

Trying to draw lines that don’t exist – we should not sequester the blogsphere – doesn’t make any sense to me at all. “If you can’t take their money, drink their liquor, smoke their cigars, fuck their women and still vote against them in the morning, you shouldn’t be in this business.” No one has been farther out front against the telecos in the blogspace than Matt Stoller. Prudery when it comes to money is not reasonable, and this is prudery. . .

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related
NET NEUTRALITY PAGE

b5media Announces Co-Branded Blogs

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24 Is My Favorite TV Show

Jeremy Wright announced today that b5media joined in partnership with VIP Fan Clubs to produce four co-branded blogs for Fox Media TV shows. The first four blogs will be for 24, Prison Break, Stewie’s Playground and Searching Bones. Click the logos to see the blogs and what they’re about.

24 headquarters logo

prisonbreak logo

stewieslogo

searchingbones logo

Congratulations, b5media, VIP Fan Clubs, and Fox Media!

–ME “Liz” Strauss

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A Deal Is a Deal — Shirley Buxton Wins!

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Scavenger Hunt Was On

As you might recall the Scavenger Hunt is on at this post about the Link Leak Virus at New York City Open Comments Night.

Question 2 was answered by Jason Boog.
Question 4 was answered by Tom Vander Well.
They got their awards with great fanfare.

Question 7 was called by Shirley Buxton, but I wondered because when I went to her blog I couldn’t find an answer to the question. That Shirley, she’s a fun one. I found it today. Can you find it? I’ll give a link to the first person who writes in my comments here where her answer is. Here’s the question.

7. What word made Liz color on her flat screen with crayons?

Here’s the post link.

Finch on Feeding Sock

There are still seven more questions, if you’d like to play for a link. I’ll be continuing to update as winners come in. After all as Rumpelstiltskin said, “A Deal is a Deal.”

–ME “Liz” Strauss
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6+1: Writing Voice the Sound of Your Brand

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Yeah, I Hear You

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Ever notice when you read some writers’ work, that you can almost hear them? I don’t just mean that they write conversationally. I mean that, well, you can almost hear the pitch of a voice, a twinkle in an eye.

How do some writers do that? How do they become real in your mind while you read? [Read more…]