How to Build Authority and Become an Authority Blogger

Think of online authority as your online reputation; the higher your authority, the more people will pay attention to you as a bloggers, and to your content.

Authority also comes with its set of advantages: higher authority blogs tend to rank better on the SERP, have better index-times, have better traffic, better revenues, get more direct traffic, and generally tend to do better, all things considered.

So the question then is, how do you go about building an authority blog?

1. By using content to build online authority: in a post-Panda and a post-Penguin world – I am of course referring to Google’s Panda and Penguin algorithms – quality content has become the cornerstone of success online. The more quality content that goes on your website, the more regular you are with posting quality content, the quicker you’ll build your authority.

2. Keyword optimization: choosing and ranking for the right keywords is essential. Ranking for keywords which have less competition, or long-tail keywords or phrases can help building and solidify your authority on the internet. This is actually an integral part of your content-creation strategy.

3. Choosing the right niche: One of the best ways to build authority is to strategize and focus all your efforts on a specific niche. What this means is to choose and focus a particular niche, a very specific niche that interests you (and one which you have ample knowledge about), and one that you will want to write on, because all your content-creation efforts will be focused on this particular niche.

4. Getting hard-earned backlinks: Getting backlinks is the cornerstone of any good SEO strategy. It is essential to get backlinks from high-PR and authority sources; if a more well-established blog links to you, it means that you’re doing something right! Before Google Panda and Penguin ever saw the light of day, it used to be easier to get backlinks, but it isn’t anymore. Now, getting quality backlinks involves producing great content that it worth linking back to!

5. Be the first to provide news and updates: One of the most effective ways of building authority is to be the first one who provides readers with breaking news and important industry-related updates in your niche. This will allow you to get a lot of exposure – especially for hot/trending keywords – and natural backlinks. Sources that usually break news first in their niche are also regarded to be authority sources.

6. Be a guest blogger: This, for me, is one of the best, most-effective ways of establishing and solidifying authority AND getting the word out about yourself (plus the backlinks aren’t bad either!). Look for other authority, established and high-PR blogs in your niche, and approach them for guest-posting opportunities. Write a great piece on any topic, which helps put you across as someone who knows what he’s talking about.

7. Build your authority on social media: Building authority on social media is an essential and integral part of building your online authority. Think of social media as one of the numerous ways that people can find your content. If you have a strong presence on the likes of Facebook, Twitter, and G+, you will (a) be able to bring traffic to your blog and get exposure, and (b) it will be a good representative of your overall authority as well. Social media authority is usually determined by numbers, such as the number of people subscribed to/following you, or the ‘likes’ on your Facebook page.

8. Credibility and reliability: If you want to be seen as an authority figure in your niche, you need to be seen as someone who is reliable, credible and trustworthy. This should reflect in any content that you create. Provide your readership with content that is highly-relevant to them, and which helps put you forth as a credible and reliable source of information.

9. Post comments on other blogs regularly: This work in a way that is similar to guest blogs – with a few differences, such as the fact that guest-posts are much more detailed and are much more effective in building authority. However posting valuable, insightful and thought-provoking comments on other blogs, comments which help take the conversation ahead or provide a unique perspective for instance, on authority and well-established blogs, should also help build your own authority. Plus it also gives you the chance to be noticed by the big boys in your niche.