Now You’re An Expert ~ and you didn’t even know it

As internet marketers one of the things we try to do is portray expert status so we can gain trust from our readers. Well I frequently don’t feel like an expert for many of the sites I build, in fact, I may just be providing information for others all in one place. I do this quite often with my squidoo lenses.

Whether you feel like an expert or not, having a website with a lot of information about one topic can make you appear that way.

Today I received this email from a reader of one of my squidoo lenses. I certainly do NOT feel like an expert in this subject, but it is something I enjoy and would like to spread the word to other moms because it helped me so much.

Here’s the email: (the emphasis is mine)

“the book “baby-gami” has a completely crap baby wearing section. it is a good book about swaddling. you may want to remove it from your “i’m a baby wearing expert and this is a good book” squidoo lens. just read the amazon reviews of that book. I’m just saying. This is a heads up.” –Nicole

Sure enough, I went back and looked at the reviews and they were crap. I try very hard when recommending products to make sure I have used them or to at least make sure they do have good ratings for this very reason. This was one of the first squidoo lenses I ever made, it’s an informative lens and I think provides a lot of good information for people learning about babywearing. I originally chose this book because it was about swaddling which can be seen as a precursor of babywearing, and would also be helpful information for moms to know, but I can see where she thought what she thought.

I did not build this baby wearing lens thinking I’m an “expert”, far from it. I was just a mom who wanted to get the word out, but because my site is there, and I built it, I am suddenly an “expert”.

This would make me feel really good had it not been such a negative comment ~ lol.

I bring this to you because I know when people, myself included are getting started they say to themselves, I can’t talk about that, I’m not an expert. This is proof, I am no expert, and certainly was NOT at an expert at the time I built this lens, but the perception, because I built it, is that I am. You too, can build a lens on a topic you love, and with good, quality information gain “expert” status.

Along with having expert status comes a lot of responsibility though. This is how you are building your reputation and credibility. If you build a bunch of sites, just to sell stuff, and it is junk, your name will be associated with that and it will not take long for people to stop trusting you or any information, or products you recommend.

Perceived expert status is a great thing, and a responsibility.

There are many ways to make sure the products you are recommending are worth your “expert status” recommendation.

• use the products and make sure they are really worth recommending
• do some research and check out the reviews others have done
• talk to other people who have used the product ~ either in person or on a forum or blog

I frequently hear people say, and I myself have said “I can’t buy that product/ebook it’s too expensive”. Here’s a quick trick around that. You can ask the seller for a “review copy”. Yes, you really can. I have never been denied a review copy of any product I’ve asked for.

I generally write them a quick email, and let them know that I stake my reputation on each and every product I recommend to my readers. Their product sounds like a great fit for my readers, but I would like to take a look at it before I recommend it.

Like I said, short and sweet. This way you get first hand information, and you can feel confident recommending the product to your readers.

To fix the issue the writer mentioned I went back and deleted the amazon product module I had ~ which had about 5 books in it about attachment parenting and baby wearing, and instead added the amazon spotlight module featuring one great baby wearing book.

This is actually a better internet marketing strategy anyway, when you offer too many choices it leads to indecision. If you just feature one great product people are more likely to say ~ “ok, this is what I need” and go ahead and buy it.

Just remember, when you are building websites, whether they are wordpress sites, squidoo lenses, hubpages or even free blogs online you are building your reputation and your expert status. People trust you.  Make sure you are providing correct and useful information and products to continue to build your reputation and your expert status. If people enjoy your sites, and find them useful they will begin to leave comments, and those comments will serve as social proof, that you are who you say you are and what you say is worth listening to. This will lead to more sales, and increased credibility as you go.

This really hit home with me the other day. I have been doing some research on food additives ~ as Miss Hanna has been experiencing some interesting behaviors lately. Anyway, not the point, I was doing some research, and being an internet marketer I started wondering how many of these sites are actually people who know nothing about this topic and are just building sites on good keywords??? I then started wondering who’s opinion I could really trust, who knew their stuff, and who was just talking out their . . . well I think you know where I’m going.

It gave me a great perspective. If I was a mom who was not an internet marketer, I would have known nothing about people doing that. I would not have known any of the tell tale signs of a “selling site”. I would not have known that so many of these sites were just put up to make money. I would have assumed because they are on the internet they must be correct information. (It’s hard to get information on the internet right??)

That leaves me with a great feeling of responsibility. If a new mom was having the life I was having when Hanna was born, crying, and all the high needs stuff, and she came across my site looking for a solution, so she could get 5 minutes of sleep a day, or maybe get her dishes done once a week, I would want to be VERY sure the information and products I lead her to don’t waste her money and give her exactly what she needs to solve the problem.

It’s a high standard, but it’s a standard I set for myself and would be wise for you to do the same. This situation has really driven  that point  home. It’s not nice to get “unfriendly” email, and I must admit my first reaction was to go defensive, but really Nicole, I have to thank you. You have really made me take a step back and look at my business model, my values and myself and make sure I am in integrity with every site I put up. Thank you.

[tags]expert status, building websites, building credibility, recommending products, review copy[/tags]