There are basically two types of bloggers in the world – reporters and experts – and some people perform both roles (usually the experts, it’s hard for reporters to become experts, but it’s easy for experts to report). Becoming an expert is crucial to make money blogging.
If you have ever taken an Internet marketing training or participated in a webinar specifically for beginners, you have probably heard about the two different beliefs. Whenever the business model is based on content, and if you make money online then the model is based on content, people are shown to either start as reporters, or if possible step up as experts.
I’ll be frank, you want to be the expert.
Reporters leverage the content of the experts and in most instances people begin off as reporters because they haven’t established expertise. Experts enjoy the perks of preeminence, increased income because of perceived value, it’s easier to get publicity, people are more likely to find you rather than you having to seek others out, joint ventures come easier, etc. experts in most cases simply have higher incomes and attract more publicity.
Too Many Bloggers Are Content to be Reporters
The thing with expertise is that it requires something – experience. No person becomes an expert without doing things and learning. Bloggers routinely start out with little expertise and as a result begin their blogging journey by talking about everything going on in their niche (reporting) and by reporting on and speaking with other successful bloggers (reporting again).
There’s nothing wrong with reporting of course and for many people it’s a necessity in the beginning until you build some expertise. Unfortunately the ratios are pretty skewed when it pertains to experts and reporters – there are more more reporters than experts, hence reporters often struggle to gain fame and when they do, they often just help the reputation of the expert they are reporting about.
Don’t Replicate Your Teacher
If you have ever spent some time surfing products about the Blogging for Dollars niche you will notice a pattern. Many people first study affiliate marketing from a mentor (for lack of a better term). The guru teaches how he or she is able to make money online, and very often the view that the student gleams is that in order to mmake money online you have to teach others how to make money online.
The end result of this process is a huge army of amateur writers attempting to duplicate what their mentor does in the same industry – the affiliate marketing niche – not realizing that without expert status based on proven record and all the benefits that come with it, it’s next to an uphill battle to succeed.
Even people, who enjoy some success, say for example growing an contact list of 1,000 people, then go out and launch a product about how to grow an contact list of 1,000 people. Now I have no issues with this idea, I think it’s fine to teach novices and leverage whatever achievements you have, the difficulty is that people gravitate to the same niche – affiliate marketing – and rarely can be differentiated.
How many experts out there do you know of that all say they teach the same things – email marketing, SEO, pay per click, affiliate marketing, and all the related niches that fall under the category of affiliate marketing. It’s a competitive industry, yet when you listen to your friends and other gurus making money teaching others how to make money online (and let’s face it – making money as a subject is one of the most compelling) – your natural inclination is to follow in their footsteps.
If the key is to identify yourself as a mentor and you haven’t spent the last 5-10 years making money, I suggest you look for another niche to establish expertise in.
Give it time and stick with what you do to increase your knowledge and then translate that knowledge into lessons for others, and remember, it’s okay to be a big fish in a small pond, that’s all most experts really are.
Tired of being a reporter? Build your expert reputation and begin earning money through article marketing at Bruce’s Making Money Online Resources Blog. You can get a unique content version of this article from the Uber Article Directory.
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