Authority: The One Crucial Element Of Internet Marketing

11 Aug, 2013

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It’s a noun with the power to influence thought, opinion and behavior. It can be misused. But it can also build trust and respect.

When it comes to online marketing, it’s the crucial element that Google and other search engines give importance to. It’s the element that draws visitors to your site.

What are we talking about?

au·thor·i·ty

Everything in our lives revolves around authority. People trust you when they know you’re an authority in your field.

According to research, brain scans show that the decision-making parts in our brain shut off when faced with an advice of authority. That’s probably the reason authority influences people.

When you’re looking to build a business online, the only way you can make an impact on others is to show your authority. Authority comes with expertise and credentials.

Authority In Terms Of Marketing

What’s authority online? How do marketers show their authority?

Your website is the address for your business and every marketer creates a website. While most marketers just slap on a couple of pages and call it a marketing website, it takes a lot more to establish yourself as an authority in your field. You differ by providing IMMENSE value.

An “expert” in a specific niche is “authority.” It is analogous to being an authority in the real world.

For example, if you have a health problem. Your mother, your sister and your friends give you advice about what medications to take and what not to do. You visit your doctor, and he prescribes some medicines. You or even your mom will go with the doctor’s advice. This is because the doctor has established himself as an authority in his field.

It’s the same online. Websites establish themselves as an authority by providing value and authentic information.

“WebMD” is an authority website and has a page rank of 8. It’s more like a super authority site that shows up across Google’s search results pages. They have been around for many years, and have experts giving advice on a whole lot of medical issues. They not only talk about medical topics but also advice on a healthy diet and everything else related to your health.

When people find useful and in-depth information on your website, it reeks of authority.

Google Favors Authority Sites

“To rank well, build a site so fantastic that it makes you an authority in your niche.” ~ Matt Cutts, Head of Google Web Spam Team

Google ranks authority pages and sites higher than others. Many authority sites have a ranking of PR3 or higher. The higher the PR, the more visits from Google bots and deeper site indexing.

When people think you’re important, Google thinks so too. This means, Google keeps a track on what people like with the help of tools like Analytics, Google Reader, Feedburner, Gmail and others that keep you logged-in to your Google account, Google has all sorts of data on its fingertips and knows exactly what people are doing online.

If users show interest in your content, spend time on your site, share it and keep coming back, Google notices that. Authority sites help Google achieve their main purpose – that of providing useful and up-to-date information for search engine users. As you gradually develop your website with useful content, Google recognizes you and increases your page rank, placing you higher in the search results for your primary keywords.

The Elements Of An Authority Site

If you intend to create an authority site, you should be prepared to do what it takes to reach there. There is nothing complicated about it, but it takes consistent effort and your ability to treat it like a growing baby makes a difference.

An authority sites is one that:

Covers a wide range of topics.
Offers quality information about the niche as well as related products.
Is run by people who are experts.
Has lots of incoming links from other top websites.
Contains current and frequently updated information.
Includes references, so people can go and check up on or read more on the topics covered.
Has hundreds of pages of valuable content.
Has been around for sometime.

See that last point? Yes, it takes time to establish as an authority. This is one of the reasons many people avoid creating authority sites. They want results within a few days or months.

While every single point mentioned above is necessary to create an authority website, here are some “measurable” factors as far as Google is concerned.

Domain age – This shows Google the number of years you’ve been in the field.

Number of links – Links pointing to your domain from other authority websites and other related websites. Google looks at the raw link count coming from other domains.

Size of the website – The number of pages filled with quality information. Start with 100 if you’re really serious, and make sure it’s information people will love.

Benefits Of An Authority Site

The Internet would perhaps not exist if people did not create authority sites that attracted users to the Internet. It’s the valuable information available online that draws people to it. Initially, people offered information because they were experts and were passionate about their topics, it was later that monetization came into the picture.

What remains constant is people searching for useful information and you’re rewarded in many ways for offering them what they seek:

People start sharing information about your site through social book marking, blogging and social networking sites.

You establish the trust factor and your recommendations are considered genuine, leading to increased conversions.
People want to be associated with you and you will receive lots of friend/fan requests, and even requests for links.
You will receive requests for interviews, so they can offer some valuable information to their readers. In turn, you will benefit from increased traffic and conversions. Other marketers would like to enter into joint ventures with you. Guest blogging opportunities abound.
Your product launches become a cake-walk. Coming from you, your product will be much sought after. Experts who first establish their expertise make millions of dollars in product launches. You can be one of them.

Here Are The Important Points Again..

The reason I’m talking about authority today is to enable you to start building a real business online. If you’re a new online marketer, there can be no better time.

Share great content, network with related sites and do everything possible to earn a good reputation.

Your clients, followers, leads, readers – all are important and can help you increase the incoming links to your website.

Google will start indexing more pages and you will find your website’s level of authority increasing in a few months, as long as you continue adding pages and updating the old information.

Never resort to any artificial methods of inflating your authority level, like buying links, paying for Facebook likes etc. When Google finds you, all your effort would have gone waste.

Authority: A Conclusion

There are no shortcuts to authority. Make it a part of your long-term planning while pursuing some short-term ventures to sustain. The rewards are well worth the wait when you see what happens when you become an authority.