I had a client who loved Speed Racer. He knew everything there was to know about Speed Racer and could tell you about it the way others might tell you the chapter and verse of the Bible. This person was an undisputable Speed Racer expert, but how does he let people know that? The Internet gives this person as well as others an opportunity to share their expertise with tools like blogs, social networking sites, email newsletters, Wikipedia, and the rapid creation of new websites.
A more clear-cut example may be a consultant that wants to show why her business consulting skills are beyond her competitors. This consultant has a proven track record of helping businesses grow because of the advice she can share. If you search “Denver Business Consulting” on Google, you get 533,000 results. This is low odds, even if this consultant is the best. This person needs to establish himself or herself as an expert.
Here are five tools you can use to help define yourself as being an expert. In the next 5 weeks I will expand each of these techniques in a blog post on the Denver DataMan blog.
- Your own website
- Blogging
- Email Newsletters
- Social Networking
- Using local sites
Your website is the center of your internet marketing because it is your place. It is your digital storefront even if the final sale will never take place online. Your website is the location you want to drive people to in order to show them that you have a place that is yours. You should view the first follow up blog post on this topic
Email newsletters like this one give you an opportunity to share information with your readers about topics in your industry without directly selling anything. The goal is to remind and inspire.
Social Networking sites help you build your business network but also help you define yourself as an expert but using systems like LinkedIn answers. People ask questions, you give the answers, and people see that others like your answers. By merit, the community sees you as an expert.
Local sites like Your Hub Denver give you an opportunity to use some of these same tools form Social Networking to expand your presence on the Internet.
Over the next 5 weeks, I hope you will see the great value that can be gained by using the Internet to define yourself as an expert. -- Go to the Denver DataMan Blog
Social Networking
Websites that connect people online based on existing friendships/relationships, similar interests, creative communities or for businesses networking. Examples include Facebook, LinkedIn, You Tube, and countless others. Social networks encourage open interaction about any topic including reviews of companies, sharing pictures and videos, answering questions (on any topic) and keeping lines of communication. Social networks expose the connections that others have to the people they are connected to. This You Tube video explains much of social networking very well.
Network
A sphere of influence in Facebook. There are networks for cities, countries, schools and large companies. Networks are one layer in determining if you can see information on a users profile without being their friend.
Blog
A web site designed to share information that is updated often. A blog is often used like a journal to share thoughts and feelings on issues or on happenings in a company or organization. Blogs can be silly and not have much value but they can also be a key advertising and marketing technique.
