Recently a post I wrote over a year ago, 7 Steps to Being Recognized as an Expert, was picked up on a popular list of “must read” posts. It didn’t surprise me that a some great traffic followed. The list was popular — not quite viral — but passed around a great deal.
I’d like to think the popularity of this post is because what I recommend is rock solid advice. I’d venture to say that no expert blogger has gotten to where he or she is by doing only six of the seven on this list. In my mind, no one could question that these seven steps work. I’ll set a short version here.
- Be the expert you are, not the expert someone else is.
- Be an expert in ONE thing.
- Write expert content.
- Be an expert at keeping track of your niche.
- Be an expert at specialized searches.
- Be an expert at getting the word out.
- Be an expert at going deeper into your niche.
- And the bonus one: Be an expert at having fun.
When I wrote the post that includes these, I thought of the time it takes to develop expertise — education and experience — and the time it takes to get that message out. That much time could be years.
Yet the post experts has brought a small segment of bloggers whose expectations aren’t quite in line with that. They come saying, “Tell me what you did — really. What’s the fastest way to where you are? I don’t have time to do all of the things on that list. I plan be where you are in a matter of weeks, if not days.”
Even if I could do their homework . . . how would that help them?
I wish them well, but expertise can’t be borrowed, bartered, or bought to claim.
For folks who want to be the next Darren Rowse, Lorelle VanFossen, or Brian Clark, look very closely. Every one of these heroes work every hard even today. If you look back through their archives you will see that got to be something special one well-written post at a time. Each of them knew that to do the work they were investing in their future and themselves. They’s how they got to be experts — they met everyone of the seven steps on their own.
Most anyone can do it, if we are willing to invest as much as Darren, Lorelle, and Brian did to keep learning about their field and the folks they serve.
One other thing that isn’t on the list . . . every expert has it and you’ll need it too.
Faith in yourself. If you want to be an expert . . . believe you’re worth the time it takes to prove your value one person at a time until you have an audience following you.
That’s the secret ingredient — belief in you.
