Blogging as Expertise

This is the last of my posts on blogging (for now). Scroll down to see the others, and stay here if you want to be an expert on whatever it is you do.

What I mean is that blogs can be a place for you to position yourself as an expert in a certain field, or on a certain subject. It’s what paper-published authors and writers have been doing for decades - write enough good stuff, and people will start to look to you for your knowledge and opinions. Think Peter Gammons on baseball or David Broder on politics. Trusted names.

On paper though, it takes awhile to get there, and not just anybody can do it. Even if I were able, I couldn’t walk into the Washington Post and start writing their political commentary column. That’s why blogs are so cool. They allow qualified and talented people to establish themselves as experts, without having to convince anyone else they can do it. No newspaper editors, no climbing your way up the magazine staff… just content consumers. If you write a good blog, and if you give out good information, people will notice, and people will start to regard you as an expert.

Look at StartupWriting.com as an example. I probably can’t write a piece for The New Yorker, and I probably can’t teach a college writing course, but I can publish here. I try to publish good stuff, and try to publish helpful stuff. Hopefully people are starting to notice, and hopefully I’m on my way to establishing myself as an expert (or at least a knowledgeable person) when it comes to writing startup copy.

Why is this good (for me or for you)? Well, being an online expert will help nearly any business. A successful expertise blog not only brings visitors in, but it brings quality visitors in. The type that already regard you as knowing your stuff, and already regard you as someone producing a good product. It’s like the best referral and the best About Us section rolled up in one, and it’s what makes sales (which is the point, right?).

Now go find something to be an expert on (hopefully your company already has its’ niche), and go write one. Or, of course, you can pay an expert to do it.