In order to be a true authority online, you need a killer content-centric search campaign that combines the kinds of quality content marketing that show searchers you’re an authority, and the technical optimization elements that help search engines see it too.
1. Find Your Niche and Market To It
Knowing your strengths—and playing to them—is key.
In Joe Pulizzi’s book ‘Epic Content Marketing’ he suggests that finding a niche that you can own is necessary to becoming an authority. He gives an example of a pet store owner that decided that it’d be almost impossible to become an authority in the Pet Supplies marketplace—too broad and too competitive a category—but that if they honed their focus and played to their strengths, they could become an experts in another niche: “Pet Travel Advice Business”.
Irrespective of your industry there is always some way for you to find something unique about your business that you can own. To become an authority today, you need to target a niche you know you can add value to—weather large or small—and own it.
2. Create Sharable, Purposeful Content
Content marketing has given businesses the perfect platform to create and share their content and showcase their brand, and become that authority.
You can’t sneakily out-smart search algorithms, and you certainly aren’t going to fool your audience. To come across as great you have to be great—or in this case, create great content.
But what’s quality content and how do you go about making it?
Be relevant, timely, helpful, knowledgeable, and sharable. If you’re new to content marketing, ease in with some of the smaller stuff—blog posts, a quick video how-to, social engagement and interaction.
But to really build authority you’ll need to start investing in a comprehensive content marketing strategy that will grow your reach, engage your audience, and establish your brand as one of the most influential in your industry.
If you’re the authority on a subject, write a book on it. Or at least some other kind of long form content—like an eBook, webinar, or guide. Then repurpose parts of that content pillar to create content derivatives like blog posts, videos, whitepapers, podcasts, social updates and more. This will help your content go further, give you more versatility, and establish your authority with a wider audience on a whole array of platforms.
3. Create Real Relationships
When it comes to friendships, it’s often said that you’re only as good as the company you keep. When it comes to online authority, much the same sentiment applies.
Being a true authority in your industry means being an influencer, associating with influencers, and contributing to whatever the greater community you find yourself in is. Invest the time and the energy into connecting with influencers, consistently contributing to guest publications, and actively engaging in your social communities. This will help you grow your audience, drive powerful backlinks, bolster confidence, and expand your brand’s influence.
Co-host a webinar, collaborate on an eBook or video series, write guest posts and host guest publishers on your own site–creating meaningful content and genuine relationships with powerful influencers is the most essential foundation of being a real online authority.
4. Don’t Build Your Links, Earn Them
The best way of generating links to your site is to develop great content (text, a graphic or a video) that influencers will want to post and your visitors will love enough to want to share. This is where being an authority in your niche on the web truly comes into play. Don’t approach guest posting or other relationships with influencers by asking “What can I get out of this?”–if your brand is really adding value to your market, the back links will come naturally.
Who is Visitivity Inc.?
What sets us apart is our unique ability to help our clients clearly visualize and articulate the communications they need to get out to their audience and customers. As a business owner you know it is easy to work in your business and not always on your business. Ensuring your branding, your positioning, and your communications impacts your audience and is effective takes a team. We have developed great trust with our clients in being able to help them address their overall marketing and thus create effective and purposeful content that makes a difference for their business and is a true representation of their commitment to what they provide their clients or customers.
We created Visitivity to take care of customers and communicate with them in a no nonsense, straightforward language that they can easily understand. We take this level of trust with our clients very seriously. It pains us when we hear people say, “I wasted time and money and didn’t get what I wanted from this other company”. Educating our customers is paramount to their success and our success.
Contact us at 239-878-4641 today for a free consultation or quote. We look forward to working with you.
— Donna and Jeff Clapp
Your Visionary Partners
Visitivity Inc.
