Being a credible source online is no easy task, there is so much crap online that it truly is hard to accomplish....sadly many give up before they achieve this and what's worse is they more than likely pretty close to success. SO what are a few ways to build credibility?? You can do this by providing well written, informative guides or how - to articles for your readers and (future) customers. Over deliver at all times. If you are going to do any type of affiliate marketing make sure you purchase what you are going to sell, the reason behind this is simply this: If you think something is useless what do you think your customer's will think? The same thing most likely and you look like a bad person and they never return. I admit I am speaking from personal experience. When I first started out I had dreams of all the nice cars, the huge mansion etc, etc, I fell for it hook line and sinker and started throwing garbage all over my blog. Guess how many people were reading my blog? Yup, me and me alone.
Always offer what you yourself would want to purchase or learn.
Get into forums, talk with other members don't just sign up throw up a sig file and walk away. There is so much to be learned from successful marketer's in forums and for the most part a lot of them give little tricks and tips that will increase your visibility online. The added bonus is that if you have something excellent to offer (I know you do) it will impress other members and from there you can expect J.V offer's and a world of other great things to happen, like gaining excellent credibility.
Credibility equals traffic equals money in your pocket.
Many people think that there are not many possibilities for online success? Not true at all. Find something you love to do and do it. Stay away from the mainstream make money stuff. There is a grandmother pulling in thousands of dollars a year by offering home decorating tips, there are teenagers creating myspace layouts....think outside the box.
1. Always over deliver. Period.
Although the Internet is the "new economy", the old fashion business rule still applies: The most successful companies are those that are able to create value for their customers.
The success of your website depends on the value you offer. The more your site is able to make life easier for your customers or help them save money, your company is valuable to them. This means not only to an online brochure, but how your website visitors can help them. Your site must provide sufficient information. If you sell a product, a clear description of the product and its features and benefits must be clear and concise. Your potential customers should be able to cover most of your questions about your site. Collect the questions of customers and have a FAQ or frequently asked questions section. This allows the visitor answers to frequently asked questions about your services.
2. Focus on win-win situations
Search engines reward sites that are linked, and thus give more link juice. The success of online businesses may use other websites to promote their products through affiliate programs, again this establishes credibility.
3. Focus on Humans first, search engines later.
Having a great SEO website is obviously important for the search engines to find it and crawl it but if no one goes to it for more than 30 seconds then what's the point?
4. Unite with like minded businesses.
If you have a product and you know of a successful marketer or company then ask if you can link with them. Even if this costs a bit of money (and the right sites almost always do) it is well worth your site to be on a homepage of another site that brings in a lot of traffic as it guarantees traffic to your site.
5. Focus on Branding your name.
If you are a blogger on your own, or a small business on your own always, let me say that again ALWAYS use the same picture or logo everywhere you go. It is a great way to prove who you are when people search your name or company name and the same photo shows up. If it is your picture people are more inclined to visit as it shows you have nothing to hide, not even your face.:)
6. Don't focus on today, focus on tomorrow.
The internet changes daily, faster even. If you are struggling for a topic or for something hot for your site there are lots of ways to discover what people want. My personal two favorites are on site polls, ask your reader's get them involved. You will get feedback. Another great place to go is google, more specifically google hot trends.
Okay that is all for today...I now have carpel tunnel ;) but when my reader's ask they receive.
Best
Garret
