Even if you’re not an expert in a niche, it doesn’t mean you can’t become an authority in that niche. I consider myself to be somewhat of an authority on mountain biking. I’ve been riding mountain bikes for over 20 years, and have ridden many different bikes in some amazing locations around the world. A couple of years ago I rode my bike solo from John O’Groats (The most northern tip of the United Kingdom) to Land’s End (The most South-western tip), a ride of over 900 miles. Next year, I’m planning to ride the Great Divide route from Canada, down through the Rocky Mountains, to the Mexican border!

So I do consider myself an authority, and often friends will ask me for advice on what bike to buy, or how to set up their brakes, but I’m not an expert mountain biker – I know lots of people who are much better riders than me.

Similarly I don’t consider myself an expert web designer, and often I’ll see a site designed by a really talented designer and be blown away. However I am an authority on the subject since I’ve been building sites professionally since 1999 and I also teach web design, both through private consulting and my 1 Day Webmaster seminars.

So you see, you don’t have to be the expert in your field, but you do want to be an authority. And by creating content, and exposing people to that content, you are proving yourself as an authority.

Content is key

That’s why I consider content to be the number one starting point for an online business. Every article you write, every blog post you put up, every video you record, acts as an advert for you and helps to brand you as an authority. Create enough content of high enough quality and you’ll become known as the ‘go to guy’ in your niche… and once that happens you won’t have to fight for traffic, because people will be fighting to do joint ventures with you!

Content also has a wider meaning in this context. Ideally you want your name to become synonymous with your niche. You want every search for your primary keywords to return multiple pages with your name on. Whether those results are your own sites or blogs, articles you have written, profile pages for social networking sites, or discussion threads on forums, they are all content and all add towards your authority.

So keep that in mind whenever you are producing content of any type, be that blog posts, articles, forum posts or anything else. Remember that every word you write is an advert for you and for your business. Get out there and create content, become an authority, and reap the rewards!