Ever heard it said ... "to have a good friend, you've got to be a good friend"?
Image courtesy: Prosoundweb.com
Well its absolutely true! A group of friends with similar interests but complementary skills is beneficial for all involved, especially where each works to help the others in the group. If each member is an authority in their respective realms, and truly respects the work and skills of the others, the whole becomes greater than the sum of the members ... which tends to elevate the "authority" of each of the members.
Consider for a second if bands such as Led Zepplin, the Eagles, the Beach Boys never united. And there it is in a nutshell ... we're stronger together than apart, assuming you find other equally talented but complementary individuals.
The previous 2 posts in this series are:
1. Blogging - Step 1 of the Authority Building Process
2. Foundation Friending - Step 2 of the Authority Building Process
So now that you’ve forged your Foundation Friends, you need to support one another, and start to build the authority of each other. At this time, you're in the intermediate stage, where the goal(s) are to:
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a. associate yourself with your specialty
b. demonstrate your skills and abilities with respect to your specialty(ies)
c. develop a larger following than just your Foundation Friends
d. develop momentum, which means continuously reaching outside current friend networks to reach others
Here are some tactics:
1. vote and comment on the blog posts and social media submissions of your Foundation Friends.
2. submit friends blog postings to social media. Social media is not about the individual, but rather the community.
3. reference the ideas of the others in your group on your blog
There are many benefits associated with referencing and linking out to the related and supporting ideas of others.
4. interview others in your group for your blog to give them and their ideas and knowledge some attention.
5. guest post on each other’s blogs to highlight the knowledge of the others, while adding much needed quality content to your own site.
All of the above tactics help in a number of ways:
- the more well known and authoritative Foundation Friends become, the more exposure you'll receive as they will be helping promote you in turn.
- the more your profile is seen on related sites, the more interested people become in you and what you're ultimately about. This will result in gaining more fans.
- leaving intelligent comments can lead to others appreciating your intelligence and ideas
- more people will submit your blog postings to social media, leading to more fans, friends, and authority
- you personally develop an increased profile amongst industry peers
All in all, there is a whole lot to be gained, and with very little effort. Merely by forging a tight knit team, awareness of all members of the team grows beyond the level any could have achieved individually, as does the abilities of each member.
Obviously, the above list of tactics is not nearly comprehensive. What additional ideas have I missed that should be added?
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Refresher on Authority:
Just to give a quick refresher, being viewed as an authority in any given space leads to others appreciating your work, and linking to it. Accordingly, authority is beneficial in two ways:
a. it generate direct business
b. it generates links, which leads to improved search results, which leads to increased business
In fact it could be argued that a high ranking on Google is merely Google recognizing a site as an authority on a given subject. Then, when others see the omnipotent Google perceiving the site in that light, further credibility is then bestowed on the site. Transference of credibility! Interesting isn't it ... that's really how authority works.