How to Become an Authority Online | EP 473

How to Become an Authority Online

1. Build a brand 01:46
2. Create valuable content. 02:16
3. Follow David’s new YouTube channel.03:31
4. Network and collaborate. 04:39
5. Be consistent and be omnipresent.05:41

Read the full episode transcript below:

00:21 David: Hey, everybody. Welcome to another episode of WP the Podcast brought to you by WP Gears. I’m David Blackmon.

00:36 Tim: And I’m Tim Strifler.

00:37 David: Today we’re going to give you a list of things you need to do to become an authority online. We’re not going to deep dive into each one of these, because we could probably talk about them for a month, but each one of these things are things that you need to do in order to just become an authority online. Before we dive into the list, Tim, why don’t you kind of explain to somebody why or what an authority is, and why they may want to consider being one?

01:06 Tim: Yeah. Every niche, every industry has people or companies that are known authorities. They are the most well known. They’re the ones invited to speak at the conferences. They’re the ones that people look to. They’re kind of like the … Yeah. They’re the authority. I don’t know how else to describe it. When you are an authority, people will buy your stuff because you’re an authority. People will look to you for the knowledge around the content. Yeah. Anything you want to add to that, David?

01:42 David: Not really, but I want you to get us kicked off today.

01:46 Tim: Sounds good. The first thing that can help you become an authority online is to build a brand. Now, that’s easier said than done, building a brand. It’s not a defined, step by step thing, but basically you want people to know who you are, know your brand, everything that you’re about. Know what your colors, your branding looks like, what your logo looks like. You want to build that over time. Basically the other things on this list is going to help you build a brand, which in turn helps you build an authority online.

02:16 David: Absolutely. And next on our list is you’re going to want to create valuable content. I’m going to give it a perfect example. Tim and I had some initiatives. We wanted to do some things in the greater WordPress space. Obviously we were pretty well known in the Divi world. We wanted to start creating content in the WordPress space as a whole. So what did we do? We created a podcast. We called it WP the Podcast, and we started producing valuable content to the WordPress community. We started to share our experience and stuff, and what has happened in essence because we did that, and it doesn’t matter if you do it in the form of blog posts, podcasts, or what, it’s kind of helped us become an authority in the WordPress space because we’re producing this content. People, when they view it, they’re like, “Oh, these guys, they must be the experts and stuff.” So even from episode one and two, Tim and I were all of a sudden instant authority. It was kind of interesting to kind of see how that happens, but it’s true. If you do a podcast, you write blog posts, you do anything, you end up becoming an authority online.

03:31 Tim: Yeah, definitely. The next one on the list is to become an authority online, you’re going to want to go and follow David’s new YouTube channel. Just type in “David Blackmon”. I wrote this as a joke, as we’re planning the episode, just to be funny. But in reality you should go follow David’s new YouTube channel. He’s created a blog. It’s just called “David Blackmon”, right?

03:53 David: It is. I’ve wanted to vlog for like five years and I just have never done it and never taken the time to do it. And when Tim and I spoke at WordCamp Phoenix, I took my phone out and I documented the entire journey from Louisiana, my home, all the way over to Phoenix and back, and little snippets of WordCamp Phoenix, and our talk, and different people and stuff. It was a lot of fun. Yeah. I mean, I definitely will be sharing WordPress stuff, personal stuff as well, so check it out. Thanks Tim.

04:36 Tim: You’re welcome. I’ll go ahead and say the next one, and … Actually, no. I’m gonna let you talk about this one because I think this one is definitely more up your alley.

04:39 David: Yeah. The next thing that you’re going to want to do to become an authority online is to network and collaborate. One of the ways that you become an authority is you build up your yourself and audience, and one of the ways that you can do that is through networking with people who already have audiences and stuff, using their audience to leverage your authority online and stuff. Some people won’t allow you to do this. Think about it. I get spammed all the time, and I’m sure Tim does as well, our email, about how people want to guest post on our website, and want us to add them to some of our blog posts that we’ve written and stuff, mainly because we are an authority in the WordPress space and we rank really well. Network it. Do it not from a total selfish … Bring value to those people that you’re networking with and stuff, and it’ll pay off for you.

05:41 Tim: Yeah, definitely. And the last two, they kind of go hand in hand, so I’m gonna go ahead and share them together. These last two things are very important for helping you become an authority online, and that’s be consistent and be omnipresent. You don’t want to just every couple months put out a blog post, or do a Facebook live, or do an email blast. You want to do it consistently, and then you want to be omnipresent, meaning you want people to subscribe to your email list, follow your YouTube channel, be putting out a podcast.

06:12 Tim: Now, obviously those things are a lot of work and you have to kind of build up and get processes in place and all of that, but when you’re omnipresent, that’s going to help you create an authority online in your industry. If you look at the big marketers out there, if you look at a Gary V, and Tai Lopez, and Russell Brunson, you see them on every platform. I open up my email, there is Russell Brunson. I open up my podcast app, I’m getting a notification of his new podcasts. I open up Instagram and I see a thing from Russell Brunson. You see those people that are authorities in their own space, you see them everywhere. Now, it doesn’t happen overnight. As I mentioned, you’ve got to build up to that, but those two things are very important, consistency and then omnipresence, being everywhere.

06:59 David: Dang. Now man, I just got my blog and YouTube channel going, Tim, and what you’re telling me is I got to go do Facebook, Instagram, and everything else. I’m not going to be sleeping tonight.

07:11 Tim: No. That’s the thing, is you’ll never sleep, but that’s what it takes to become an authority,

07:16 David: Yeah. I’ll tell you, it’s a lot of work. People don’t realize how much work it is to, in this day and age, with marketing and stuff, it’s just a ton of work.

07:27 Tim: Also, another thing that people don’t realize or maybe they don’t think about is the massive teams that these huge authorities have behind them. Russell Brunson isn’t a one-man show. He’s got a big team of people that help. Obviously he’s the front man. He’s the one that you’re seeing, and he’s obviously working very hard, but he has all the people that are doing the behind the scenes work to get that content out there and engaging on the social media platforms and stuff. Because yeah, you can’t work 24/7. You can’t literally be everywhere all the time personally. You need to have the right people on your team to help you do that.

08:06 David: Absolutely. All right, tomorrow we’ve got another great topic, our favorite WordPress backup solutions for 2019. This is an important one. You’re not going to want to miss it. Tim, until tomorrow. We’ll see you then.

08:20 Tim: Take care. Bye. Bye.