Written by Jason Katzenback on July 25th, 2010Share
Gee, what do you think this post is going to be about?
Your content is what is going to truly make you a Trusted Expert – it is the single most important thing you can do.
If you’ve been following all the advice I’ve already given in the Trusted Expert series, you’ve already come up with something of value to provide your users with – that thing that helps cement you as a Trusted Expert in their minds, whether it be a tool, ebook, audio or video file or report, and that’s great, but you can’t stop there.
As I mentioned in the last trusted Expert post about site maintenance, it’s important to your reputation as a Trusted Expert that you continually update your site. Make sure that you add in new testimonials when you get them – you can keep the best ones from the past up, but also make sure that there are also new ones, so that people will know that you’re still doing a great job of helping your customers now, not just 3 or 4 years ago.
Also, be sure you keep up on what’s happening in your niche, and where applicable, comment on it. It will add to your Trusted Expert status if you can prove to your audience that you not only participate in the niche, but you’re also up on what’s the latest happening. Put your ideas and opinions out there enough, and soon people will start to look to you for their news and information about your topic – the very definition of a Trusted Expert. And if they go to you for information, where are they going to go when they need to buy something – that’s right – to you.
Always respond to customer inquiries, and if you think the information is useful enough, get the original person’s permission and add it to your site. Not only are you sharing valuable information with your audience, you’re also showing them that you care enough to respond to the people who contact you, making other people more likely to contact you (and possibly buy from you) in the future.
Most importantly, don’t rest on your laurels. You may have written the best ebook or come up with the best tool in the world to brand yourself as a Trusted Expert. And you may think that’s enough. The problem is, no matter how good the original was, everything on the internet has an expiry date on it. Eventually, you’ll need to either update what you have or come up with something new entirely. By being proactive about this, you’ll just further reinforce the idea that you’re an expert in your niche.
Your content is the way you communicate with your users. Everything you say, and how and when you say it contribute to the overall effect of you being seen as an expert. The cornerstone of being a Trusted Expert is to provide users with useful information – not to make a sale. The sale is the side affect of them trusting you because of your useful content. So make sure that you put at least as much effort, if not more, into the quality of your content as you do with your marketing tactics and you’ll be fine.
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