How to Become an Authority in Your Niche

Socials are both over-estimated and under-estimated. A lot depends on what type of business it is, what creative/labour/financial capacity it has, and what the marketing strategy should be. Most small businesses should probably invest in 2 large channels, max.

Make sure positive feedback on social media makes it on the walls, not hidden in some star rating nobody can share.

Spending money on #PPC ads shows the world that your business is investing in marketing. Would you want to work with a company that spends nothing on marketing? These days, how much you spend on ads is not private. Who is and isn't spending tells you a lot.

The top one is the business goal of targeting the right customer through the right medium of content providing. Next via Authority, Relevancy, and keyword selections. Creating more intent. Brand visibility.

How do I determine how many of these signals are needed? It depends, but a typical landing page can generally get away with just having a small section for social proof, and whatever web elements the niche and region/branche regulations require, and then whatever else you can think of that's not just going to force people to scroll.

In my experience, you can often get the info on what's needed to succeed with any given channel, from whoever you're buying the ad space from. Google of course has the various guideline docs that'll give you clues. Competitors will tell you as well. And hey, testing always works.

Hot tip: If you have a highly competitive product and want to position it in the market(s), a good influencer can work wonders. BUT they can consistently net you a lot of reviews on the cheap, as well!

Not defending and protecting your online reputation can be catastrophic for your business. That is why the combination of SEO, social media, and PPC ads is so important. You need to use those avenues to grow a positive reputation online.

1. Significant issues with the service/product that can't be resolved quickly.
2. Using Black Hat marketing techniques.

Obviously, all of these can hurt your authority and trust.

Here's an easy thing you can do: go grab a webshop certificate TOS PDF, and just do what it says. And then also do what the law requires you to do in your region. Typically, the legal rules are pretty specific about what, specifically, should be on your webshop.

You have to follow all the rules of the regions you're trading in! Not only the regulations in the country you're based in!

Then, you also want to make sure your site doesn't error 500 on your customers! Limit your crawls :)
Please note: there are new regulations on privacy, but also: consumer protection, online reviews, what influencers you can legally use and how you may use them, etc. Google is changing rules again, but the laws in your region are changing too.

Just to add: a branche organization will usually have instructions on what should be on your site, what language you should be using (what words and guarantees to avoid and such), where you should be registered, and all that jazz.

Only put people on your communication channels that:

• have some level of decision-making power: nothing worse than getting no help on a fast-help platform;
• aren't temps;
• signed a communication protocol.

If employees fight people in public: throw them OUT!

Doing black hat SEO, buying links, using AI-based content, not specific to the brand or product positioning, target the wrong customers to your website all can lead you to hurt your authority and trust from Google and even from your actual target audiences.

Nobody wants to do business with a company that has no authority or trust. Especially, for high ticket offers. Give your potential customers a reason to trust you. Then remind them time after time.

Customers find your business credible when they trust you. The result is increased advocacy, loyalty, and engagement from customers. By gaining customers' advocacy, businesses will be able to attract more customers who are ready to invest in their services.

Trust is important for all businesses. Authority for many. Most people don't give a rats arse who sells them their Nikes; they just want the best deal. The question should be: what can you do to increase these, and how much of it should you be doing to compete?

Aside from what Google thinks of you: you shouldn't just judge authority relative to your niche requirement, but also, relative to your brand identity and competitor brand levels. A big brand will be compared to other big brands, this will impact expectations.

So the higher you shoot, the more you'll be required to do at the competitor brand level. Smaller brands, with less "luxury" identities, may not have to do as much — compared to yours. Who you're aiming to be a part of — their level — should be a consideration.