How to become an online authority starting from scratch!

Starting a business from scratch may seem like a very big step to first-time entrepreneurs. And there are many who, when faced with the first difficulties, simply give up. We won’t deny there will be struggles, but the good news is that, most of the time, you can get over them and take more steps towards becoming successful. One of them is to be recognized as an online authority, an essential strategy to stand out in the market and attract many clients.

And let’s be sincere: the recipe is easy, but the path is long and arduous. That’s why we wrote a whole post on building your image in the digital market, which will help you become an online authority! Stay with us until the end and learn how to strengthen your name in a solid way.

Start a blog

And keep it active. If you want to be seen and remembered, you must create content that is relevant, and adds real value for your audience. Creating content is one of the best strategies to improve the reputation of a person or a brand. Find out what the best frequency to post something new is, and follow it to the letter. Little by little, your blog will become a reference in a certain subject and you will attract more recurrent visitors.

Make videos

It is excellent (and ideal) to have your audience recognize you from the materials you have written. But it is even better when they are presented with the opportunity to see and hear you in a video. With videos, you can build more empathy, besides having the chance to use a variety of resources to make it rich and attractive.

When recording a video, pay attention to image quality, position of the camera, and, most importantly, with the audio, which should always be clear and free of noise. At first, it isn’t necessary to invest in professional material for the recordings. Today, most smartphones record in high definition and can do the job well. If the audio is not as good as it should be, buy a lavalier microphone so your voice will be heard more clearly.

Provide free content

Create content that is related to your main product and make it available for free. This content may be in the form of ebooks, infographics, checklists or any other kind of rich material that adds value to your audience. This action will provide with a great number of benefits, because:

• You will test a product in your market and will be able to measure the results with the first material. Even if it is free, you can ask for people’s opinions about it, and use them to improve the product you are selling;
• You will build a closer relationship with your audience, and therefore increase your online presence;
• You will get more leads (business opportunities) with the capture of emails to deliver the free material;
• You can offer your main product in a later contact with the people who downloaded your material.

But, beware: even though the material is free, it should have quality and be really useful for people who download it.

Have an active presence on social media

Social networks can be seen as informative channels that you can use to add value to your brand in a lighter, more fun tone. Do some research on what social media is used by your persona. Then, make a strategy for these specific channels. Don’t waste time creating profiles in many social networks if you can’t feed them all frequently, and with quality. Keep your channels updated and always communicate with your followers.

The golden rule here is: avoid talking about your product/company all the time. Just like other content marketing strategies, it is more interesting for your followers to get to your product in a natural way, not because they were bombarded with invasive ads. And, believe us: the conversion average in organic strategies reaches 14.6%, whereas in paid strategies, 1.7%. So, make sure 80% of your content is interesting to your followers, and only use 20% to talk about your brand.

Go to events

If you are in the market for digital Producers and Affiliates, keep up with the latest trends by participating in events that take place throughout the year, such as Fire, from Hotmart. In these events, you will have the opportunity to talk to people who share the same interests as you. You will be able to establish relationships, gain valuable insights and talk to people who are experiences. Then, you will have a lot of new knowledge of practices and techniques when you get back home. This will surely make a big difference to your business.

Build partnerships with other websites

Find websites who share the same theme as yours, and make partnerships. Offer some of your articles to partner blogs, the so-called guest posts, and make some room available on your blog so that other specialists can do the same. This way, you strengthen your name in other channels and encourage the unity of the professionals in your niche.

Make webinars

Webinars are an excellent strategy to interact and strengthen the relationship with your future clients. In the streaming, you can make yourself available to talk about the topic and have a live Q&A, which enhances your authority online even more. You can use tools such as Google Hangouts, Facebook Live or a paid one, WebinarJam.

Invest in email marketing

No, email isn’t dead. And once you start building a solid foundation with emails, you create the opportunity to talk directly to each and every one of your contacts, in a personalized manner. From then on, you can nurture your leads in a sales funnel focused on conversion.

Price your product adequately

Many digital entrepreneurs who are starting their business think that the cheaper the product, the more sales they will make. However, a low price, besides not giving your brand a lot of credibility, undervalues your product. And this is exactly the opposite of what we want, right?

We have shown you how to price your digital product, but more than all the technical tips, also take into consideration the value your material offers to your consumer. In what circumstances does your audience look for your product? How can your material help your student? What are the results they can achieve by buying your product instead of buying the competitor’s? These questions have to be answered before you have a final price for your product.

Bring something new to your market

Even if you have absolutely mastered a content niche, there’s always something new to learn that can make you even more of a specialist. If you work as a coach, for example, carry out some research on new coaching trends and techniques, not only from your country but from different places as well. Study the successful techniques from different professionals and apply them to your business.

A practical tip is to use your key terms on Google Alerts to get a notification whenever news from your subjects come up. This tool allows you to set up how many times you want to receive an alert on your email, and the languages and regions where the pieces of news came from. The more you know and inform your audience, the more you are recognized as a specialist in the area.

Always be honest

Never make up data or achievements. A business based on lies is not sustainable and you may get the opposite result you were aiming for. If you haven’t had a relevant achievement yet, try to get some small results, and only then show them to your audience. Remember that an authority should not only possess theoretical knowledge, but also show significant results.

As you have noticed, we mentioned different ways of building your online presence and be seen for as many people in your market as possible. It is important to remember that you will not be recognized as a leader or authority overnight, but all the work done in the medium and long term will be rewarding once you see significant results for your business.

An interesting tip is to make a checklist with the information provided in this post and follow a schedule to put all these tips into practice with the necessary consistency for your business.

If you liked this post, also read about Inbound Marketing, a strategy that will generate a lot of leads for your business. And if you have any doubts or insights about becoming an online authority, leave your comment in the section below!