It’s frustrating, isn’t it?
You’ve spent dozens of hours to bring people back to your website… just to see them go away. And never come back.
The number of comments, social shares and returning visitors? Embarrassing.
How many subscribers? Too little.
How about sales and fans? It’s just disappointing.
It feels like people don’t care about your message and the value you bring to them.
How is this even possible?
And more important…
Can you change all of that?
Maybe if people start seeing you as an authority, you can change that. If you become an authority, people will listen to you.
And with people listening to you… subscribers, sales and fans will be just a part of your daily routine.
So…
How do you become an authority?
Let me show you a few tricks…
1. Upload the right photos
I see too many website owners who underestimate the power of a picture. Someone said that “a picture is worth a thousand words”.
Just a single picture can have a huge impact on the way people perceive you.
The idea here is to use your pictures to boost your authority.
How?
You have many ways to do that…
The specifics depend on your niche, the pictures you have and the ones you can make.
Here’s an interesting example by Kulwant Nagi from Blogging Cage.
You can see him with Neil Patel in the picture… and if you’re interested in internet marketing, the chances are that you already know who Neil Patel is.
By showing a picture with a big authority in the field, Kulwant is basically communicating that he is an authority too.
But that is not the only way to harness the power of pictures. Here’s another example by Donna Moritz:
You can see that she is speaking in front of an audience. That is conveying authority.
If people gather to a place and pay to listen to you, it means you have something valuable to share.
Don’t limit yourself, you have so many options when it comes to using pictures to increase your authority:
- Do you teach dance on your blog? Post a picture where you are at the center of the stage for an exhibition.
- Are you a nutritionist? Upload a picture of you in a coat.
- Are you a life coach? Show a glimpse of your cool lifestyle.
2. Write a case study
Case studies are very powerful: you basically show people that you know how to get results – either for yourself or for someone else.
And a person who can get results is considered an authority.
Now, there’s a good and wrong way to write a case study.
The wrong way is to have just a mass of text with no proof.
The right way is to insert visual proof of anything that you can think about.
For example, you can take a look at my blog post “1700% Traffic Increase with a Simple Digital Marketing Strategy“.
You’ll notice lots of screenshots. Not only did I insert screenshots that prove my results, but I also placed a ton of images to show the process that I am teaching: this shows that I really know the topic.
Other than showing your own results, you can write about your clients’ ones.
A perfect example comes from this LeadQuizzes’s case studies.
I love what they did there.
They created a page with all their case studies and made it super-prominent – it’s in the menu near their logo, you just can’t miss it.
3. Get some testimonials
Testimonials work perfectly but are hard to get…
… unless you use a simple Jedi trick.
If your website provides value to people, you’ll get an email from a person who wants to thank you – at least once in a while.
That’s the perfect moment to collect your testimonial: just ask the person if you can show his/her message on your website. The chances are that he/she is going to say yes.
By the way, this works also if you get a tweet, a message on Facebook or a comment on Instagram.
Notice that you can do this even without clients. A reader who thanks you is good enough.
And let me tell you that this is also retroactive: as long as you don’t delete your emails or messages, you can still capture your screenshot.
Once you have your testimonials, use them wildly.
Do you know how many testimonials Ramit Sethi has on one of his sales pages?
25!
That’s a ton of testimonials.
Your home page, sidebar, about page, emails, and sales pages are all perfect places for your testimonials.
4. Get associated with other authorities
The human mind, unconsciously, judges a person based on who he or she surrounds himself/herself with.
So, if you have interactions with other experts in your field, you’ll be associated with them – thus people will perceive you as an authority too.
Now, hanging out with authorities in your niche may be quite hard…
… but you don’t need to!
You just have to show that you can interact with them.
The simplest way is to interview some authorities.
The interview route has been taken by some very famous bloggers. For example Pat Flynn.
Most of the time experts will say yes to an interview – it’s free publicity for them.
And it will take you just a few hours between contacting, recording and editing!
And if you are shy or don’t like to talk in front of a recorder, you can always make a written interview.
The result is the same though – people will associate you with the authority you interview.
Another chance is to publish a round-up post.
You’ll have to work harder, but you’ll be associated with more experts in one shot.
5. Show your certifications
There’s a strange phenomenon that I still can’t explain.
When people apply for a job, they craft a marvelous curriculum full of all kinds of certifications, accomplishments, titles, etc…
… but when they craft a website, they forget altogether about these!
It is not like a degree doesn’t count on the web.
You probably spent dozens/hundreds of hours to get a certification – of any kind. Use it!
Do you have a relevant degree?
Take a picture of it and slam it on your about page.
Are you a certified yoga teacher?
Don’t limit yourself to writing about it, show it!
Here’s an example by Lindsay Kirsch:
Even if you don’t know anything about DigitalMarketer, ActiveCampaign and Lean Six Sigma, you’ll have a better first impression of Lindsay thanks to these logos.
Certifications will simply increase your authority. The more you have, the better.
6. Share interesting stories
I am flabbergasted by the number of people who don’t leverage stories in their online business.
An interesting story is a very powerful tool to convey authority and bond with readers at the same time.
Stories are so effective, that I am using one in the first couple of emails of my autoresponder sequence.
Of course, not every story is good.
First things first: your story has to convey your expertise.
Then, it’s better to show some kind of transformation – so that readers can identify themselves with you.
And finally, be sure that everyone reads your story.
Once I believed that everyone would read my about page… so I put my story only there. Then I discovered that almost no one was reading it!
Now I take any chance to share my story – including my sales page:
One of the best decisions of my life!
It increased my sales by a lot.
7. Talk about a weakness
Everyone has weaknesses.
But few people talk about them.
Why?
It requires confidence to do it.
By sharing a weakness you have, you show confidence and you can bond with your readers.
Take for example this amazing post by Jon Morrow:
It’s one of his most popular blog posts – it counts 261 comments at the moment.
Nice!
So… can you talk about any weakness?
No, some of them are better than others.
First of all, you want to share a weakness that has been an obstacle in your field. Among them, you want to pick a weakness that you have overcome.
In this way, you’ll show that you both are human and have experience in your field.
Think about it…
Let’s suppose that you want to lose weight. There are two personal trainers close to you: one has always been in great shape, the other was previously overweight and then lost a ton of fat.
Which one would you prefer hiring?
I’m pretty sure that the second one will resonate more with you and will seem more experienced than the first one.
Conclusion
Now it’s your time.
You can decide to be ignored or you can get to work and be the authority you want to be.
Imagine how it will feel when loads of people will come to you for your advice…
… how will it feel when you have lots of clients and raving fans?
Does it feel good?
Well, then it’s time to accomplish all of that.
Guest author: Andrew Morrison is a digital marketing strategist who helps bloggers, marketers, and entrepreneurs turn their websites into fine-tuned businesses. He has been an online business owner since 2011, but he didn’t get to work on a tropical beach yet because his girlfriend loves winter! Follow his blog for practical digital marketing tips.