When developing a Bog, a microsite or a website, follow these 10 key rules and you shall go forth and conquer!
1: The Winning Difference
The winning difference has been a critical concept way before the web came along. And it’s been called a lot of different things over time in various contexts: a unique selling proposition; your position in people’s minds; your purple cow… and on and on.
Essentially, it’s what makes your story stick.
There are a lot of ways to differentiate yourself, but no matter how you do it, it’s absolutely essential to building an authority website. In many ways, it’s how unique your content is that sets you apart, and that’s why the winning difference is rule number one… and why all of the following rules support it one way or another.
2: Don’t Sell… Teach
Many people think the main barrier to online marketing success is a lack of traffic. But it’s really a lack of trust. People love to buy stuff, but they hate to feel sold. So despite the fact that you’re building a website that will build your business, you need to concentrate on delivering value that builds authority.
Educational, tutorial-style content works online. It attracts links, it brings traffic, it builds trust, and it causes you to rank for relevant keyword-phrases in search engines. And all the while, you’re decreasing sales resistance, because after all… what is effective selling?
Selling is simply educating people about the benefits of doing business with you.
3: Cornerstone Content
A cornerstone is something that is basic, essential, indispensable, and the chief foundation upon which something is constructed or developed. Cornerstone content reveals what people need to know to make use of your site and do business with you.
Beyond that, your cornerstone content should naturally rank for your most important keyword phrase (it’s what your site is about, right?). But to attract the links you need, your cornerstone content must not only be strategic—it must provide off-the-hook value.
Think about it this way: Imagine your ideal customer or client calls you on the phone. She’s got money and a problem, and you’ve got the solution. What would you tell her?
4: Headlines and Hooks
The process of building authority involves a constant battle for attention. When you’re an unknown just starting out, it can be tough. But when you’re well established, you’re often competing even for the attention of the faithful. Let’s face it… it’s noisy out there.
Your headline (or the title of your content) is what determines whether or not your effort even gets a chance. Think about this: On average, 8 out of 10 people will read the headline, but only 2 out of 10 will read the rest. Improve the odds with a killer headline.
A hook is the angle or the attractor that gets people interested in your content, no matter how dry the subject matter. It could be a great analogy, a pop culture reference, a historical intersection… whatever. It’s just got to be intriguing. Your hook not only helps you write a killer headline, it also keeps people glued to your content and more inclined to spread the word.
5: Win Friends to Influence People
Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People is one of the bestselling self-help books ever published, and for good reason. But as the web gets more social, winning friends alone can make you immensely influential.
It all goes back to that basic truth about building authority: What others say about you is more important than what you say about yourself.
So, make friends with influential people in your niche or industry who can vouch for you and your content. Make friends with social media power users who can promote your content on Digg, Reddit, and Delicious. Make friends with people on Twitter who can retweet your content to their followers. Once that happens, your own readers and followers will start doing the same, and the benefits of authority get truly sweet.
6: The Money’s in the List
“The money’s in the list” is an old saying from the direct mail industry. If the mailing list is dead on target, even uninspired copy sells. If you send a brilliant promotion to a bad list, it still bombs.
Online, buying a “list” of subscribers and followers is stupid… it simply has no value. But putting out great content for “hits” and page views alone may be even sillier.
The point is to get relevant visitors to your site to request updates every time you publish… whether by email, RSS, or carrier pigeon (okay, maybe not the pigeon). Getting people to opt-in and pay attention to you over time is the key to building authority… and to selling them something in the future.
7: SEO Matters
Pssst… here’s a secret. Search engine optimization is not that hard (at least in this context). In fact, I’m going to point you to free resources below that basically give away the farm when it comes to SEO for building an authority site.
The only mystery is why some online marketers neglect SEO. Some seem to think it’s somehow bad because it’s “gaming Google,” which is obviously in violation of local statutes, common decency, and the Geneva Convention.
It’s not. In fact, everything in this report is exactly what Google wants you to do. And if you’re doing the stuff revealed in this report, Google wants you to rank well. But you won’t rank well if you ignore SEO, and some jerk with shoddy content and a basic understanding of SEO will. And we can’t have that, can we?
Go to the following link to learn about SEO..you will not regret it.
http://www.seobook.com/bloggers
8: Code Google Loves
One thing some people who get basic SEO miss is the quality of website code. You can do everything else right, and still lose to other sites because of jumbled, poorly constructed HTML.
You’ll hear time and again that WordPress is the best way to build a site (whether you call it a blog or not), and that it’s extremely SEO friendly. And that’s true (with a few tweaks). But many of the free themes (designs) for WordPress destroy that search-friendly start with sloppy code.
Try the Thesis framework for WordPress. Lots of professional bloggers around use Thesis for their own sites.
9: Design Makes the Site
They say “clothes make the man,” and that’s because human psychology favors and trusts pleasing packaging. The same applies to the way you dress up your content with site design. Don’t be sloppy.
10: Tend Your Tribe
When you become an authority figure online, what you really become is a leader. And leadership involves great responsibility, because it involves great power.
Seth Godin has set the buzzword for online authority with his new book Tribes, and it’s because he smartly taps into that primal psychological need for people to belong and to follow the leader. The question is… what kind of leader will you be?
Remember: Authority is powerful stuff. Authority can be abused and it can definitely corrupt… but it can also build trust, admiration, and respect.
Treat your tribe well, and authority will serve you well.
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