This is a guest post from Matt Wilson co-founder of Under30CEO.com. His workshops and keynote speeches have taught young people how to build huge brands online through the Rock Star Business Series. Get backstage access to his Online DVD for free and learn how to attract a celebrity following for your business with little to no budget.
Earning credibility is a tough hill to climb for any young entrepreneur. You want people to notice you. You want to be remarkable and have people talking about you. Because if people ain’t talking about you…you ain’t doing it right! So, how do you build some serious cred in an online world? My friend Matt Wilson has put together 7 steps to create a name for yourself that will allow you to start turning your passion into profits.
Step 1: What Do You Stand For?
First things first, what do you want to be known for? What could you be best in the world at? What business would make you the happiest person alive? Not quite sure? That’s okay, you have your whole life to figure that out, but start with what you are passionate about. Start exploring the things that you could spend hours upon hours reading about or doing and create your brand around that. No matter what you are into–barbecue, baseball or Barbie dolls, you can make yourself an expert in your field, becoming an absolute authority on a subject. Now that you’ve found your niche, it’s time to start writing about it…
Step 2: Start A Blog
Solidifying yourself as an expert means taking what you know and sharing it with the world. The most effective way to do this is through a blog. Text, videos and pictures all work as solid means of communication of your ideas. Start saying isn’t being said out there. Look at someone like Perez Hilton–he took his own angle on celebrity gossip and now makes millions off it.
Blogging can take a lot of time, so you need to learn how to do it effectively. You want 75% of your time to be spent on writing and being creative and thinking about your blog, while as little time as possible is spent on the technical side of things–promoting the post, formatting it, etc. Learn to automate this early and your life as a blogger will be much more enjoyable. Blogging isn’t a sprint–it’s a marathon so pay attention to what works and what doesn’t, continually improve your style and find out the best ways to bring people to your site.
Step 3: Meet Your Audience
The simplest way to meet your audience is through social media. Regardless of your geographic location you can connect with millions of like-minded people all from your computer. Start with Twitter. Set up a real-time search for your niche and watch it like a hawk. Every time someone talks about Barbie dolls you need to get in the conversation–answer questions, join the debate and engage with who will become your readership. It’s networking at it’s finest–you are already going into the conversation having something to talk about and value to offer the people you meet.
Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter are all fantastic ways to promote your blog. This is your way to stay in touch with the people you’ve networked with–giving them good content that will interest them. You want to convert every person you meet into someone who loves your brand. Share your links on these social networking platforms automatically each time you post.
Step 4: Show Up On Search Engines
If someone Google’s you or your niche–you better show up. Prospective clients, customers, fans or stalkers all need to be able to find you online. If you Google “Barbie expert” the person that comes up first is instantly the most credible source in the world in their niche. Wouldn’t it be nice if that was you? All your social media profiles should explain clearly who you are and what you do because these pop up on search engines first.
Want people to hear what you are saying? Your blog better be optimized for search engines. Learn to title and tag your blog posts to drive massive traffic to your site. Learn to write your blog with search engine heavy keywords that you have a chance of getting ranked.
Step 5: Monetize Your Niche
This is what separates the winners and losers of the internet–the real experts have learned a way to make money from what they are passionate about; the rest of the talking heads are still just pursuing a hobby. Everyone who comes through your blog or who follows you in social media is part of your sales funnel. These are the people who share the same passion as you and would most likely spend their money on that passion. If they look to you as an authoritative voice chances are they will buy whatever you are selling. Start collecting email addresses so when you have a product or service to announce you can contact your audience.
Even if you don’t have a product or service to start selling to your audience yet–that’s okay. There are plenty of other people out there with something to sell to your targeted audience. Look for affiliate products to sell on your site through Clickbank or start with your basic Google AdWords or look to become part of a more targeted ad network that pays better per impression or per click.
Step 6: Grow Your Credibility
Just because you write or make videos about your niche doesn’t mean you are an expert. You need an About page that screams “I dominate this industry and this is why you should listen to me”. A few quick things to consider in building your reputation:
- Guest Blogging–if someone else thinks you are smart enough to let you write on their blog that gives you instant credibility
- Speaking–sure, sitting behind a computer providing content is good, but your information becomes even more valid when you do it in person
- Associations–holding positions in industry associations says you are a leader of an élite group of people in your niche.
- Appearances–getting your name mentioned in publications, being on TV, radio or other websites can be the ultimate in validity
It’s not good enough just to do these things, you’ll need to leverage your press and present it in a way so everyone knows about it. Make this appear front and center on your website, work it into your bio and in conversation when applicable.
Step 7: Driving Traffic
So you’ve established a niche, created a credible brand around what you love and have a drummed up some attention around the web for what you are doing. Now it’s time to form a network of people in your industry with similar audiences who you can rely on for help promoting your work. If you create an alliance of peers who you can trust there are several things you can do to drive traffic to each others sites:
- Guest posts and backlinks–Tap into their audience and get links back to your site.
- Social Media Promotion– Share links with your audience and have them reciprocate. This helps generate great buzz around your articles and will spread quickly.
- Social Bookmarking–Find friends who will submit your articles to popular sites like Digg and StumbleUpon. This can drive massive traffic and even crash your server, but first learn what does well on these sites.
- Driving traffic is a team effort–the more you can do for your friends the more they will do for you. Your ultimate goal is to create a group of evangelists who love your work so much that they tell everyone about it, generating viral word of mouth marketing for your brand.
Learn How to Attract a Celebrity Following for your Business with Little to No Budget with this free Online DVD to Unstrapp’d readers.
