Mighty Marketing Mojo

Tag: blogging

5 Evergreen Content Ideas for any Solopreneur Niche
If You’re Feeling Stuck for Content Ideas Pick One of These to Use for Any Small Business Type or Niche

Summer is in full swing and the heat could be zapping your energy, fogging your brain, or melting your mojo. Or maybe you’re stuck inside on another cold day and the icy temperatures have your good ideas frozen in your brain. While I can’t give you ice cream treats or a nice warm cup of cocoa, I can share 5 evergreen content ideas to get you unstuck in your business. These topics will work for blog posts (original or go curate some content), live videos on any platform (please, if you do an interpretive dance on TikTok, let me know – it would be reason enough for me to get the app!), as a series of images and short videos in stories on IG or FB, as FB posts, as emails …

OR HEY … mix it up – create a piece of content using one of the topics in one content format and then repurpose it to at least 2 others. Recycling is good for business AND the environment.

Content Suggestions Fit Every Type of Solopreneur Business

These 5 content ideas will work if you are …
- a parenting coach or someone helping mompreneurs
- teaching on mindset shifts for new business owners
- a writer or book coach
- in the health/wellness niches
- talking marketing to other businesses (like me!).
No matter your niche and audience of customers, you can add your own stories or examples and adapt each idea to suit your business and your audience. And you can do so over and over again.

Strategic Content Topics That Lead to Next Steps and Offers

Plus each of these content topics naturally leads to other topics and to opportunities to offer a next step of help as an email opt-in gift, or a low-cost product, or even as a way to lead to your courses or coaching. That makes for more harder-working, more strategic content and less fly-by-the-seat-of-the-pants efforts. Remember, content marketing is to educate and inform while inspiring your audience to take a specific action.

Use the given headlines as blog post titles, video titles, or email subject lines – and just tweak or fill-in-the-blanks with your audience where appropriate. Don’t overthink it, just take the ideas and run!

5 Boredom Busting Content Ideas

How to Stop Feeling Stuck and Move Forward

This topic could be adapted to talk about moving forward with your business structure (LLCs vs Sole Proprietor, etc) or how to move forward with creating and launching your next course.

If you’re in the moms or parents space, it could be on moving forward with getting kids ready for back to school (especially after some weird virtual/hybrid learning times) or moving forward with aiding elderly parents.

For fitness and wellness coaches, talk to your people about moving forward with an improved diet at the end of summer fun or how to stop feeling stuck with the same old at-home fitness routines.

Try these 5 points under the main topic:
- what’s the roadblock or crippling belief behind why your clients say they are stuck (with recipes, fitness, kids, course creation, etc)
- what’s one small step you can recommend to get out of comfort zone
- name one new piece of positive self-talk
- how to ask for outside help
- Then of course recommend they go ask for help – and get a trusted coach – AHEM THAT’S YOU!
See, ANY topic or niche can work here!

Easy ____ Essentials to Boost Your _____

Time to play content creation Mad Libs! Fill in the blanks with your favorite easy tips and ways to boost to get a particular result.
- ‘easy mindset essentials to boost your sales success’
- ‘easy 3-ingredient recipe essentials to boost your morning energy’
- ‘easy hip stretch essentials to boost your flexibility’ [wow, I really need those right now!]
- ‘easy social media essential tips to boost your post engagement’
You aren’t solving all their sales issues or fixing all flexibility – you’re giving them a few easy tips where they can see some fast “aha! moments” and come to see you as a trusted resource with valuable info.

Now also add in what you offer that can also help them Boost X …

Do you have a workbook on sales success tips for biz owners who hate sales?

Can you offer a VIP day – maybe a wellness coach could offer flexibility and core stretch days?

Maybe you have a self-study course on 90-days to greater mobility?

Share a free video about creating more engaging Facebook posts? Have you shared your podcast yet?

Tons of opportunities here to show and tell them where they can get more valuable tips just like the ones you shared in your blog post, video or email.

7 Questions Every _____ Should Ask Before Hiring a ______

Yes, more great fill-in-the-blanks! These are the questions a client or customer should ask before hiring someone like you! But they are often the questions our prospects are afraid to ask, forget to ask, or only think of later on. Be transparent and helpful by showing them how to make a more informed hiring decision.

Examples could be …
- the 7 things someone should ask before hiring a kitchen designers
- the 7 things to ask before hiring someone to design a logo
- the 7 things a new business owner should ask before hiring a lawyer (or a business mindset coach)
- the 7 things to know before hiring someone to help you with public speaking
- 7 things to know before you hire a VA (including what is a VA)
Ask yourself, what are the questions you wish your clients had asked or knew before you ever jumped on a first call? Or what are the common questions that come up in a first call?

If you don’t do 1:1 or group coaching – what about teaching? What things do you wish someone thought about before they jumped in and purchased a class? What are the most common questions that come up in your first lessons or about your core courses?

Another idea – Turn it around – tell them the 7 things you always ask in your first calls:
- what would reaching your goal look like?
- Where do you want to be in 5 years?
- How would 5 years in the future You describe X?
- What do you like most about where you are now in X situation?
- If you had a magic wand, what’s ONE thing you want to change this week?
I Practice What I Teach – Here’s a Video of Me Explaining the 5 Evergreen Content Ideas

5 _______ experts you shouldn’t ignore

This topic is for sharing the people and resources you turn to and introduce them to your audience. Think of this as a specific kind of round-up post. It’s both very valuable and a great place for affiliate links! Share the love time. Who do you follow on a topic in your niche that you think the rest of your people should know about?

Share 3-5 blogs you read all the time or 5 podcasts you always listen to – and most importantly share WHY. Why are these 5 experts in your overall niche that can help your community go further. Maybe they cover some aspect that you don’t. For example, I’m not an Instagram marketing expert – so tell my mighty pals to check out Jenn Herman at JennsTrends.com because she IS a bonafide IG expert and a voice I trust.

Pick one tidbit or best piece of advice you’ve gotten from each person you follow and share in the short paragraphs about each person.

You can repeat this type of content over and over by sharing different experts or different resources. One time it was bloggers, another time it was podcasts. One time you share your favorite recipe sources, another it’s quick videos for stretches. Easily repurpose into graphics for social media, or 5 social posts – one per person.

4 (or 5 or 7 or whatever number greater than 3 lol) ____ traps that could keep you stuck

Every niche has common pitfalls, mistakes, or possible traps that your audience could fall into – and you want to be the person to show them how to avoid those sneaky traps. You can also share how YOU hit a roadblock or trap and how YOU got out of it – be an example to follow.
- 4 common mindset/thinking traps that keep you stuck in a life rut
- 5 common exercise traps that keep you from making fitness progress (or get more specific – 5 common mistakes that keep your legs and hips weak; or 5 reasons you will never actually ‘blast your belly’)
- 6 common snacking traps that keep you low on energy
- 5 behavior traps that keep you and your kids in the fight zone
- 5 writing traps that are keeping you from getting the first draft of your book done
Reassure them that everyone in X Niche falls into one of these traps at times. Paint a picture of the story of how you failed and then how you got out of the trap. Give a tip on how to recognize the traps. Give a tip on getting out of one or two of the traps.

You do NOT have to go into detail on how to get out of every trap – you’re giving them a map of what to avoid and that in itself is very helpful. The logical next is showing in more depth HOW to get out of the traps and that comes in your course, your coaching, or even your email follow-up series after an opt-in.

Link to a freebie or a call where they can get more help getting past the other Z traps and the other hidden lurking traps of X Niche. Keep leading your people to more next steps to keep taking action and seeing even more results.

I love myth-busting and helping my biz pals to avoid tech and marketing mistakes so I’ve used variations on this topic multiple times. I advised on blogging mistakes to avoid; shared about the pros and cons and some mistakes made when I switched email marketing services; plus avoiding bad social media advice.

Pick One Evergreen Content Topic and Create Over the Next Month

These are all evergreen topics – you could come back, update them, or do them again later. They work in all content formats. Use a blog post, or an email – or BOTH! Make a good blog post on the topic, then share the highlights in an email.

Or go from blog post to video, or video then blog post (ahem, that’s what I did -the notes came then the video and both into a blog post). Start from your area of content creation strength.

AND all the topics can all lead to other content and offers. They help educate your audience – not just about X topics but about YOU and your expertise. They give some info on the WHAT and WHY ….

They start to hit on the HOW … but all need more … more HOW. More on HOW TO AVOID, HOW TO KEEP IMPROVING …. Hence, leading to OFFERS. An email opt-in, a webinar, a summit, a video, a course, your 1:1 offers, etc.

Get off the fly-by-seat-of-your-pants content creation treadmill or just throwing any old content up on your blog, start from solid topics that address key, ongoing concerns of your audience. This makes for mightier content. 😁
July 26, 2021
Solopreneurs Guest Posting Tips 2020
How Solopreneurs Can Be Good Guest Blog Posters Today in 2020

First up – submitting and writing guest blog posts is not dead nor banned by Google! But yes, the rules have changed somewhat and we need to know what it means to be a good guest poster in today’s environment. How can solopreneurs still take advantage of the opportunities for extended reach, visibility, traffic and list-building that creating guest posts offer?

Let’s see what experts have to say about guest posting!

If you want to keep up with what is legit in terms of SEO or anything else search, plus what Google smiles or frowns on, then Search Engine Watch has long been the go-to source. SEW did a roundup of 10 tips for improved guest posting in 2020 that takes in to account the current environment for guest posts.

Neil Patel has long advocated for guest posting as part of content marketing, or inbound marketing, and he’s known for deep dives of long form content on marketing topics. His post on why guest blogging is the best inbound strategy is no exception. [NOTE– I can’t confirm when this post was written or updated – so specific techniques or tools may need to be double-checked for 2020. In the comments Neil acknowledges the post is several years old but stands by the overall strategy].

I do love that right upfront Patel notes that guest posting is NOT “a shortcut to grow your blog” nor a “quick route to taking your search rankings to #1” Guest posting is one tool among several and it takes time. But it can pay off!

While Google is paying more attention to guest posting [it’s the mass-produced, low-quality crap they’ve cracked down on], the strategy is not dead. There’s still value in seeking out opportunities to create content for, or share content to, other blogs. There are opportunities to be guests on podcasts, videos, in social media groups, and via email. This round-up looks primarily at guest blogging and the most current advice on do’s, don’ts, and how to be a good guest poster. One of the biggest changes is there’s just more blogs, more content, and more quality for any top site to choose from among guest submissions. Starting out, you’re unlikely to get in the door to the top sites out there as easily as years ago. But it’s still worth seeking out guest post opportunities as part of smart solopreneur marketing.

So, what could a starting-out, growing solopreneur do? Do your homework!

Look for opportunities with quality sites, whose audience is your niche and your ideal audience, and who aren’t the biggest out there. It’s gonna take a little more research, looking for quality over quantity/size, writing quality material, promoting the guest posts you create, sending thoughtful outreach letters, and generally being a ‘good guest’ in someone else’s home.

First Step in Homework – Searching Potential Posting Opportunities

If you’re feeling stuck on finding guest opportunities – time to turn to Google.

“yourkeyword” + “guest post” [and yes – keep the quote marks so Google searches those words together]

“Yourkeyword” + “write for us” [for those sites that don’t mention ‘guest post’]

“your topic keyword phrase” + “become a contributor”

For example, if you’re a coach to busy moms and you want to write a post on “bedtime routines”, you might try:

“bedtime routines” + “guest post” and see results like these:

Need more basic search tips for finding guest opportunities? Check out the always comprehensive folks at QuickSprout and their 2020 Ultimate Guide to Guest Posting – search string ideas are near the top. [NOTE: even though this says it’s updated for 2020, QS still mentions Google+, which has been dead for nearly a year. BOO!]

HINT: also check out BlogSearchEngine and use your keyword terms.

Where Else Could A Solopreneur New to Guest Posts Look?
- Use the same search strings on Twitter
- Google search those authors or bloggers you frequently see popping up as guests “guest posts by [name]”
- Look for blogs on aggregators like AllTop, Flipboard, Feedly
- Look for sites or round-up posts that list blogs that accept guest posts, such as this list from the UK
CoSchedule advises that guest posters who have never published a guest post start with blogs near or below your own level of Domain Authority (see below for what that is).

I think that’s a great tip for solos who may feel overwhelmed at the idea of guest posting – start smaller, start with people and websites you know, start in the communities and circles you are already part of and ask who has your audience and needs some quality content. Be of service to other small businesses and growing organizations by providing them excellent content as a guest poster. Build your track record so you have something to show and say when you start reaching out to larger sites or content producers.

Second Step in Homework – Digging in to Potential Host Sites

One key tip from the SEW list – researching the website that you are approaching to do a guest post. Look at the authority levels of the sites where you’d like to have a guest post opportunity. When you move beyond your circle of friends, of other solopreneurs with the same audience as you, and you’re trying to get bigger for more reach – you’re looking for sites with greater reach and authority.

This article from MOZ explains what Domain Authority is (a search engine ranking score that predicts how well a site is likely to rank in search results) and how to check another site’s DA. Why would DA matter? You want to look for guest post opportunities on sites that help you be seen by your ideal target audience and to not end up on any sites that have negative attributes. Add a check of Domain Authority to your research for guest post opportunities if you don’t know anything else about a particular site.

Do Competitor Research – What Posts Do They Take, Where Are There Links To + From

SEW advises to check out the sites for your competitors and others in your same niche. Oooh, yeah, competitor content research is good stuff!

See what kinds of guests posts they allow, what their post submission form looks like, what that website’s traffic seems like, and do some backlink checks to see who/where point to them (those other sites could be guest posting opportunities in your niche!). Not all inbound links from other sites to your competitors’ blog will be guest posts, but the links can still give you good ideas. SEW recommends backlink tools like Moz, SEMRush and Ahrefs. You can run a few domain-based backlink searches for free at Ahrefs. [NOTE: all the backlink/SEO tools have primarily paid plans and you’ll find limits on free searches or trials]

I ran a search on a site I know accepts guest posts, has awesome quality content, and probably a ton of backlinks – LovePeopleMakeMoney.com from my coach Kelly McCausey! 😁 The pic below is a snapshot of the results from Ahrefs.

After doing homework on possible places with the same audience as your ideal target audience, if they take guest posts, what their site is like, who/where else is connected to them (more posting opportunities!) you may be thinking it’s time to send in some guest post pitches. Not so fast! You want to be a good guest poster and that means treating your potential host with respect and not just as one more place to send a blind pitch.

Before You Think of Pitching Build a Connection with the Content Host

Don’t blindly send out pitch emails – that’s spam! Establish some kind of a connection first with the site or host where you’d love to be a guest. Most times, those cold email pitches don’t work – whether to giant blog or to another solopreneur. [E.g.: I filter most of the emails like that which I get right to spam – for some of the reasons outlined below – and because they never bothered to see if I have ANY guest posts or what my audience is].

“unsuccessful prospective guest bloggers act like door-to-door salespeople. They knock on as many doors as possible, delivering the same pitch, and hoping at least a couple say yes.” ~ Content Marketing Institute

Ugh. Don’t do that solo pals!

The folks at OptinMonster agree and their tip #3 on their ultimate guide to guest blogging strategy is to ‘form a connection with the site owner’. I’ve expanded that to content host because the same rules apply if you want to be a guest on a podcast, guest on a video, guest in social media groups, etc. It ties in with the tips on research.

OptInMonster also recommends following or connecting with the content host on social media in addition to the rest of your research. Share their posts, give a thumb’s up, leave comments on why you love their comment, and sign up for their email lists. But above all, create a real, authentic connection. There’s another person on the end of that email or blog post! They started just like you.

Another article from the folks at SEW looked at research done with 500+ online writers, editors, publishers at major news sites and blogs to see how they want to be pitched for content ideas and how should a potential guest really shine and earn a spot.

Want to know the top 3 reasons that guest post/article pitches fail?
1. Irrelevant – the guest submission was unrelated to the audience and niche of the blog, or the beat of the journalist. People failed big time at doing basic research!
2. Boring – why is your submission newsworthy, of quality, attention-grabbing (without being click bait or misleading), or valuable to the site’s audience.
3. Too self-promotional – sites don’t want tired old news, or navel-gazing, or something that’s all about YOU when it’s going on THEIR site. They’re putting quality, helpful content up as news articles or blog posts – they aren’t ads.
It takes more than one outreach email to get the attention of a publisher. A lot of emails wind up in Promotions or Spam. Others don’t have a compelling enough subject line. Inboxes are busy. If it’s a big site you’re pitching your post to, they may only read 20% of the email submissions they get on any given day. Find new ways to write about your potential guest post and to send emails to your target sites.

And I couldn’t do a round-up of top tips on guest blog posting without checking in with another master of the deep dive, research-based, search-optimized content – Brian Dean of Backlinko. And his Definitive Guide to Guest Blogging has been updated as of winter 2019. Like the other top resources – his number one step is research. You have to find and know your guest targets.

After you’ve done research as mentioned above and in these awesome posts – go to Brian’s post and click to Step #3 – Send Your Pitch because he has an email template that works! One that’s respectful and shows you’ve done your homework.

ADDED: The very day I posted this, a super smart solo pal, Karon Thackston of MarketingWords.com, published a guest post … about guest posting! Her guest author is another solopreneur I know from overlapping online communities, Ellen Finkelstein. Ellen’s guest post echoes most of the advice given here and from the larger sites and blogs that I researched. She also includes a few points on how it’s key that both the host and the guest poster have a promotion plan to make sure that piece of content gets shared, seen, and read/watched/listened to.

Keep guest blog posts as part of your solopreneur marketing strategy in 2020

Be smart in looking for opportunities with sites that speak to the same audience you are trying to attract (not necessarily in your same niche), research those sites to learn about their topics, their visibility and authority, check out what your competitors are doing in sending or accepting guest posts, and create real, authentic connections with host blog owners well before you send them an idea for a guest post. If you follow those steps, you’ll build a reputation as a smart, savvy, good guest and be invited back and to more spaces.
February 19, 2020
Solopreneur Pals Don’t Make These Blogging Mistakes

It’s a Crowded Online World and We Can’t Afford to Make Mistakes With Our Websites and Blogs

We are long past the days when we could just add a blog to our website and post whatever we felt like, whenever we felt like, and just talk randomly to our potential audience and watch traffic and business roll in. If that ever even really worked! We are busy and our readers and potential customers are busy and have SOOOOOO many options out there to learn from, read, listen, or watch. We have to be strategic with our websites and our blogs. If you’re around me any length of time you’ll know that “research” is my middle name, but strategy is my game. 😉 I talk strategy ALL the time.

Let’s take a strategy refresher on making our blogs work for our businesses, eh?

We have to think through what’s our purpose in blogging, why are we going to talk about the things we’re talking about, what content resonates and is helpful, does it align with our overall business voice (part of our brand), and how does it help us to build our business – aka move readers to leads to customers. We’re in business after all, not just blogging for the hell of it!

So I really appreciated this post from master marketing expert, Jeff Bullas’s blog, and the savvy guest post by Mary Whitman, giving advice on blogging strategy and the 8 mistakes new bloggers must avoid making. Heck, these are mistakes I even see online veterans make, ones I’ve succumbed to at times in the last decade!

“There’s no magic pill that you can swallow to make your blog successful overnight.”

Tip #1 on setting goals – yeah, that’s in my sweet spot! I talk goal setting in all my workshops and I’ve even created a special Mighty Marketing Mojo KickStart 2019 coaching program around getting our goals together. So, I agree this has to be priority #1 if we’re using our blogs to bring business.

This guest post doesn’t hesitate to throw down the tough love – which I LOVE! I don’t do B.S. and neither does this list of mistakes to avoid – like mistake #4 -“your content is average.” Ouch. Zing!

BUT … spot on. We MUST take stands, share opinions, talk about our own ups/downs, successes/failures if we are going to have content that stands out from everyone else in our niche. Post quotes another marketing expert, Michelle Digweed, “if the topics you choose to cover have been discussed a million times before, don’t expect huge results.” Tough love, but true. Don’t be boring. DO be you!

Before you start posting on your blog, or return to it from a hiatus, or as you’re working on your fantastic 2019 goals and plans, I encourage you to read this article and think about how you’re going to avoid these mistakes in the new year. And if you want to work on that together – cool – that’s what Mighty Marketing Mojo is all about!

December 18, 2018
A key to great content – be an authority
The Key to Great Content:
Become an Authority in Your Niche

Know. Like. And Trust = the keys (to CM and your biz)

Those words and core concepts are the keys to avoiding those big, huge mistakes in marketing and to producing meaningful content that your audience, whomever they are, wants. Really, really wants. Eagerly awaits even.

To create that kind of content and build those 3 Magic Words you need to do 2 things:
1. listen to your audience …
And then listen some more.

Yes. That is exactly what you do.

You may have been marketing to a broad audience. For example, if you were a small business coach then your content may have been directed at all small business owners. But once you’ve been in business a while, talking to clients, helping them, and really listening – you’ve learned a lot I bet. Now you have an idea of who you prefer to work with and what types of customers are the best for your business. You are NOT a coach to all small businesses. You probably don’t have equal preferences for working with small clothing boutiques, cupcake makers, and personal trainers for women over 40. You know who you’ve had the most success with, who responds to your message – and who lights YOU up. Listen to more of THOSE clients.

But the 2nd item is:

Build yourself into an authority on your special topic.

You now have the opportunity to create an ideal customer profile using marketing segmentation tools, and you have the ability to take your marketing to the next level and create unique messages for various market segments. Are you marketing to your ideal customer? Are you making the most of your analytics to craft targeted messages to your audience? Marketing segmentation is an essential aspect of a content marketing strategy.

No matter how many skills you have and services you offer, you do have a core focus. You have particular skills and interests. You’ve seen success with more of one type of client vs. another. So, you have a niche. Right??!! [Ok, if you’re worried about this – we can get into Unique Value Propositions together – or see this resource on creating one from marketing expert Peter Sandeen]

Tell Your Story – yes, your audience DOES want to hear it

As your business has grown you may have strengthened your brand identity or you may have veered away from it. Revisit your business plan. Review your vision and mission. Are you on track? Has anything changed? One of the best ways to cultivate a following is to create a strong brand. Identify your brand promise. What do you stand for and why? Then make sure that promise is instilled in every piece of content you create.

The irony in marketing is that part of becoming, or being seen as, an ‘authority’ is getting known, liked and then trusted. <sigh> And how you do that, is create valuable content. It’s getting circular, I know.

But the point remains that in today’s world of overflowing information – those who make people’s lives easier, make them feel smarter, solve a problem for them, or show them a new path to try are the ones who will ‘win’. Actually, everyone wins in this new ‘game’.

Producing and sharing high value, educational, informative, WANTED content is a key way to gain those key factors and become an authority in your niche. If you have knowledge to share that can help a specific audience, you are, or can be, an expert. As an expert in your niche you will get a certain amount of respect, which leads to more traffic due to your perceived expertise.

But, in order to become an expert you must start at the beginning.

Starting at the beginning!

No, not all the way back THAT far.

Not really at the complete beginning of your business or organization’s life either.

It does help if you’ve earned your expertise through years of study, informally or formally. If you’ve read more, attended more classes, researched more and generally studied up more on a specific topic than any average person – chances are, you’re already and expert. It could be via grad school or a MOOC or books or endless webinars.

Or maybe it’s from the ‘school of hard knocks.’

Perhaps your expertise comes from lots of hard work and hard-earned real world experience – the positive and negative kinds. Maybe it comes from lots of listening, talking and even collaborating with other experts. Learning from the ‘feet of the masters’.

Or maybe you ‘know just enough to be dangerous.’ No matter …

One of the best ways to take all that stored up knowledge and really become an expert is to just start.

Start writing or talking or presenting at events. Start shooting videos or making screen captures. Start with only 7 seconds on Vine [RIP dear old Vine]. Or 15 on Instagram.

Just start creating. Start sharing.

But where specifically to start in building authority?

Start with a Blog – and Write Often

A quick way to make you really dig down deep on your niche topic is to write … A LOT.

What if you could put new blog posts on your own site twenty times per month. Wow. That’s a lot! A post per weekday.
[Full disclosure – I don’t do that. It’s not even a current goal. It’s HARD – especially since I have others aspects to my business besides writing + blogging! But it’s an admirable goal and # for some to shoot for – even if each post is only 250 words – you’re writing. And learning.]

You could use this blogging as a journey to showcase first a beginner’s perspective and your trek over the next year to a more advanced perspective. Keep it focused, on topic and short-n-sweet [only way to get out that many posts]! You’ll have to research and brainstorm to keep coming up with fresh content that stays on topic. Then you’ll have those skills in your toolkit now too! You’ll be learning more, digging deeper and expanding your opinion and views on your core topics as you go.

Also, guest blog strategically on websites that market to your audience. This helps you refine your writing and be more polished, as you’d be writing for a more public audience. It’s also still a legit way to earn traffic back to your site –if you only target and write for legit sites in your niche.

Blogging often is one of the top ways to get traffic to your website. It’s really a foundation of content marketing. And something we’ll cover in lots more depth here in coming weeks and months.

Write Meatier Articles

Take the research you’ve done for your blog posts and expand that into a full article. Keep in mind the golden rule of writing about what your audience is interested in. Then get that article in the places your audience reads. Find online and offline magazines in which to contribute as an expert in your niche. There are tons of specialized, niche magazines, e-zines, sites, local news places and publications that match up against almost any specialized topic out there.

If you submit a compelling, well-written, engaging article, there’s a good chance your submissions will be used (especially if you’re targeting smaller, niche publications). Whether online or offline, this type of content helps establish you as an expert to the public.

Become a Trusted Resource

Let the local and national press know that you’re a resource they can call on when they need a quote about your niche.

You can do this in a variety of ways, such as sending email to reporters when they write about your niche, making blog comments, connecting with journalists for niche topics via social media, and using a service like HARO (Help a Reporter Out). HARO is a way that you can sign up to be a source to qualified reporters on any topic you choose.

There are a number of other free and paid services to connect you with media pros who need a good source. SourceBottle is a searchable directory of media professionals. ProfNet is a paid, email-based service that connects business sources to major, mainstream publications and top bloggers and is well trusted. My LocalReporter is a reverse of HARO and ProfNet as business owners use it to target local media for coverage in specific niches.

Note – I’m NOT saying to start sending messages and requests for media attention to any journalist you come across in your niche. That’s just spam. This isn’t even about carefully targeted pitches. It’s about giving your expertise as a resource – and if you get a little extra media attention from a nice link or ‘shout out’ – great. Then you can post links to that article, interview, video or news nugget on your site.

Set Up Consistent Profiles

No matter whether it’s your Facebook Page, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram or your blog, your profiles should be consistent. You want to be very careful about contradicting who you are across accounts. Use the same, or similar, graphics, colors, logos, photos and style for your profiles and cover photo areas. Be sure to be professional and have good quality photos. If your brand image is fun and snarky – and that’s what your audience wants and expects – then by all means keep it up. And keep it consistent across the platforms –as suited to each one and your audience. [If you want to read more tips on social media make-overs check this new post]

Ensure that you’re consistent in what you say about your topic on each social media account, but in different ways based on the type of social media account. For instance, LinkedIn is business and buttoned up, while Facebook is more social – more like an after-hours business event. Twitter is fast, social and of course prone to snark. Just remember to be businesslike and professional on all accounts.

Don’t stop working on yourself and your knowledge

Learning never ends. Malcolm Gladwell, in his bestselling book, Outliers: The Story of Success, posited that it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert on any topic. There’s disagreement now as to whether that number is legit – but it IS true that continuous learning and self-improvement is just a generally good plan!

It probably won’t take 10,000 hours to know a topic well enough to start helping others on it; nor will it take that long before you can start presenting yourself as an expert.

But you do have to start!

If you follow these tips I’ve collected on building your authority, you CAN do it and it won’t take as long as you fear. Let me know how you’re going to get started on becoming an expert in your special area today.

[Ed: this post was originally shared in 2014 but has been updated Nov. 2017]
November 13, 2017