One of the best things that you can do for your business whether it’s online or offline is to make yourself be seen as an expert in the field. Having that sort of weight behind you draws potential customers because they can sense that you know what you’re talking about when it comes to your line of work. It keeps current customers coming back because they can be confident in your products and services. This is why having a reliable blog on your site can be such a huge gain in drawing in new customers. Another great way to build this kind of credibility is through joining forums that are related to your area of trade. If you join and start dispensing helpful advice and recommendations, you’d be surprised how much credibility this can get you and how it turns directly into gains for your business.
The issue, though, is to become narrowed in focus without becoming too narrow. You need to be able to appeal to a broad swath of people in order to get maximum interest in your business. If you own a car parts dealership and your area of expertise is in auto body repair, you’ll do much better if you can also help the person who wants to know how to do an oil change. Keeping your focus narrow enough to be able to give off an aura of expertise about the subject at hand without becoming too esoteric or getting pegged as “the brakes guy” is the key. If you get too specific, you’ll lose a great deal of potential clients.
Joining several different forum groups is a great way to spread your expertise across many lines. If you focus in German cars, be sure to work with the Volkswagen fan group as well as the BMWs. If you like to do paint jobs on cars, you’ll better your business if you can also speak about changing the rims on tires. There are many ways to vary your expertise.
Also, be sure that all of your blog entries aren’t about the same sort of thing. Being able to write well about many different aspects of your business makes you seem more knowledgeable and you will get many more people coming to your website and asking you for advice. Ultimately, this level of trust will get you business.
Essentially, you want to go for the “jack of all trades, master of all trades” persona. This can be rather difficult to pull off, no doubt about it. But the fact of the matter is that when you get down to the business of spreading your expertise across many areas, the business will come back to you. Guaranteed.
