Credible?

In a recent post I talked about, your Credibility Starts With Your Name.

And you have to have credibility in your expertise.

Having professional credibility is the one concept that most Internet marketers know about and take to heart. They understand that in order to be able to sell your own eBook on a topic you have to have some credibility as an expert in this field.

There are a fair number of Internet marketers who know this, but who think because it is the Internet they can get away with pretending to be an expert. And many do get away with it and manage to sell bogus products to many people.

In general though they cannot build a sustainable business this way. The Internet marketers who really make a solid living and build a good business are the ones that can show expertise and who build credibility in this way.

This doesn’t mean that you need to be an expert to start an online business. But if you want to become somebody who is respected and whose products are bought then you need to acquire this expertise.

Somehow some Internet marketers seem to think that they can acquire instant wealth by jumping on the bandwagon of money making opportunities. There are many of these instant wealth promises. They generally start with the words: I used to be poor like you.

Regrettably, as is the case in the real world, there are few opportunities online where one can become wealthy overnight. As an Internet Marketer anticipate you will have to work hard for your income.

One of the areas you will need to work hard on is your professional credibility. You will need to determine what you would like to become expert in and work truly hard at showing that you have the expertise in the field of your choice and that the online public is justified in trusting you.

Once you can show you have expertise and the credibility in your field then you are able to sell your own products. You can endorse other people’s products in your field, you can joint venture with other experts and sell a product showing your combined skills. You can invite subscribers to your information.

In each instance the public who believe in your expertise, in other words with whom you have established a credibility, will buy your products or service. You are credible therefore you may be believed.

This applies to every field imaginable. Social media gurus will be believed and their books bought if they have established themselves as credible experts. A top marketer such as Seth Godin has established himself as a marketing guru. Any book he now publishes will be bought by a fair number of people, even before any critical acclaim has been noted.

This does not mean that Seth Godin was born as a world renowned marketer. He has spent many years speaking and writing books on his favourite topic. He has had to work at creating his credibility, just as you will need to do as well.

Your professional credibility is the sum of what and how you write. It is composed of the knowledge you bring with you and have acquired, the way you present your knowledge and how willing you are to interact with people in sharing your knowledge.