Establishing Online Authority

After presenting Selling at (and to) a Higher Level for the first time last week, many of the audience followup questions centered around establishing online authority. I’m going to run through the steps I have used to increase traffic on this site, over at ColorMetrix and on Qip.com, which we recently sold for tens of thousands of dollars.

My online authority toolbox

As this post goes on I am going to recommend three of the products I have affiliate relationships with. Because we just sold Qip.com for a significant sum, I can confidently tell you these tools all work and contributed to that success.

WordPress Premium Theme Framework – I suggest a premium theme for a couple of reasons. First, most of the theme frameworks I am familiar with build in significant search engine optimization(SEO) features. Second, while the default framework makes design easier even for a novice (like myself a year ago) the mature theme frameworks have hundreds of add-on skins you can utilize to achieve almost any design goal.

I’ve used the Thesis Theme(affiliate link) for over a year now and have been impressed with the theme and the improvements added over the past year as well. I had the opportunity to meet Chris Pearson (the man behind Thesis) at BlogWorld this year. After meeting and conversing with Chris I have even greater confidence in Thesis because, like I always say, people do business with people they like. I like Chris.

Search Engine Optimization Tools – A premium theme framework like Thesis will only get your SEO so far if you are new to writing for the internet. I’ve been using Scribe SEO(affiliate link) to improve the SEO of my sites for about ten months now. Following the SEO recommendations of Scribe we moved Qip.com from the bottom of Google page one search results all the way to the top. We did that in about six months. I’m convinced that move was crucial to the amount of money we were able to sell the domain for.

Online Marketing Ideation – I’m one guy. I work closely with a few more people. When I sign in to Third Tribe Marketing(affiliate link) I have access to about 2000 of the smartest marketeers on the internet. It’s really that simple. I read what they are talking about. I jump in the conversations. I ask questions and get amazing answers worth many multiples of my monthly subscription. If you are only able to act on one of these suggestions I’d start with Third Tribe. The ideas you get from the forums, seminars and Question and Answer phone calls will further convince you to move ahead with an online marketing idea that fits your knowledge, skills and abilities.

Success is not free

None of the tools listed above are overly expensive. Over the last year my total investment in the above is less than $1000. Less than $100/month to have the tools critical to establishing online authority. I subscribed to Third Tribe Marketing at a rate lower than you will pay, but I also subscribed when there was ONE seminar available. There are now a dozen or more you can listen to and download in your first month. If these dollars are daunting, that’s OK. Perhaps for now the internet is a hobby for you and not a business. For me it’s a business and these are the tools I use to make my business go.