How To Build Your Own Authority Website
If you’ve done any kind of research into SEO then you’ll have undoubtedly seen mention of much lauded authority websites. Such sites are lauded for the provision of high quality content and, if the stories are to believed, they effectively suck in visitors from search engines, blogs, and other industry related websites.
With such incredible benefits the question, then, is how do you become an authority website yourself? The truth is it takes time and effort as well as a raft of useful and accurate information and resources.
Content
Google, and other search engines want to see websites that are heavily laden with quality information. They want to provide their users with access to a list of authority websites so that they find the information they desire. Doing so means promoting those websites that they believe to be authorities on a particular subject area.
Lots of content is essential and fresh content added on a regular basis should be the starting point for your soon-to-be authority site. Add a blog, an article directory, forum, wiki, or any other type of online real estate that enables you to quickly and easily include fresh content. And, if you don’t have the time or the expertise, then consider using a professional content writing service. Your content will not only provide great value to visitors and readers but it will also become a target for other websites and bloggers to link to.
Links
Links are a critical part of any search optimization strategy. To become an authority website, you will need to acquire links from other authority websites that operate within the same industry as your site or sites that offer content that is relevant to your own.
You need to implement an effective and ongoing link building strategy. Certain websites, such as government and education websites naturally carry gravitas in the eyes of the search engines and ethically building links from such sites can prove highly advantageous to your efforts.
Guest blogging, news writing, and press release submissions, if used properly, can help to build a lot of authority for your site. You will need to build links on a regular basis and it can take time to develop a good number of links. Implement your own strategy and consider using an effective link building service to further improve your link profile.
Community
The aim of building an authority website is to develop a responsive community of targeted visitors; readers that will become brand ambassadors rather than just leads or visitors. In doing so, you will encourage those visitors to come back to your site, to click more links, to recommend your website to others, and even to provide links of their own to your website. You do need the assistance of other websites in your industry to reach the goals you’re looking for but once you have an authoritative website it will be easier to develop the kind of leads and revenues that your business or your website demands.
Guest Post By: Matt Jackson is lead copywriter for EthicalLinkBuilding.co.uk and provides a range of premium link building services including guest blogging. Ethical Link Building strategies were developed to assist any website become an authority in their industry.
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About The Blog Author
Alex Sysoef is an IT Consultant, Internet Marketer and ProBlogger who shares his passion and knowledge of WordPress, SEO, Social Media and traffic strategies on his blog WordPress Howto Spotter. Connect on Twitter or Facebook
Twitter: SahilKotak
says:
Nice guest Matt, content is still the king and it holds most importance. After that comes an important point that is getting links and if you have both of them then your blog/site will be a successful authority in Google.
Sahil Kotak recently posted..South Africa vs Samoa Rugby World Cup 2011 Highlights – 30th September
Content will always be important to search engines and to the more ethical website owners of the world.
Not sure how I missed the responses to my post, but my apologies for not getting more involved. I am now subscribed.
I think your section on “community” is the most valuable part of this article – IMO that’s 90% to creating an authority site. You can’t be an authority without ‘followers’ – so, I think it’s smart to try to set up some sort of community feature on an authority site. A forum works magic if you know how to market it.
Johnny Optimo recently posted..what are backlinks?
They can be difficult to market well but forums are especially good because you can benefit from crowd-sourcing too.
There are many benefits to that (enough to write a guest post on, in fact).
The part about building a community is spot-on. I notice most of the top blogs have lots of good feedback from repeat visitors.
Mira recently posted..Best Free MMORPG – 2011 Games List
And the more you get people to come back to your pages, the more likely they are to make purchases etc…
I wanna build my own authority on my blog today..thanks
Best of luck – I hope it works out for you.
The point is if you want to be an authority in your field, you first of all have to come up with high quality and accurate content instead of just copying content from other websites. Once you can provide your audience with unique information, they will automatically subscribe to your website and refer it to other people.
Gerard York recently posted..State Benefits and your Tax Credits
And if you keep them engaged then they won’t unsubscribe either.
Twitter: sfbayseo
says:
I think some bloggers get dollar signs in their eyes and decide to embark on building an “authority” blog, but fail because of one simple thing… they don’t care enough about the subject! Targeting a niche because it could potentially make you money doesn’t make sense if you have less than a passing interest in the subject.
Any content you create is going to become a chore, and your readers, some of whom will be real authorities on the subject, will see through you a mile away.
Ross Taylor recently posted..Blogs Can Give a Boost to Your Onsite SEO
Absolutely – you’re always going to have more commitment to a cause or topic you care about than one you don’t.
Twitter: TheProfitShare
says:
Activity, backlinks and the content itself are definitely all important SEO factors.
In my experience, people are more interested in creating new and interesting content for their blog than they are in creating a link building campaign around the content that they’ve already got.
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It’s all important and it all combines to help give you the best results. If you’re missing any of it out, then there’s a good chance you’re missing out on all of the benefits that are on offer.
Twitter: Jason_Matthews
says:
I agree that the blog will only be successful over time if the information (content) is something people want. This can be entertaining or informative. If people keep coming back, Google will notice.
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“Google will notice” – very Orwellian and also, very true.
Authority sites are those that have existed for quite a time in the web – which make them more search engine friendly. In other words, if there are related topics that are searched in the World Wide Web, authority sites will come up first.
Have the right domain name. This is very essential in deciding as to where your authority site is heading. Avoid using domain name that is not related to your site. Instead, get a domain name that describes the website.
Others would use their personal name or nickname that they feel would sound interesting to attract visitors. However, this usually goes the other way around.
If you can think of an effective domain name, and it is already being used, you can still use the name by trying to put a letter or a word before or after the name of the existing domain name, this usually does the job.
For example, if you’re in the laundry business, then you need to consider buying a domain with the term laundry business in there. This gives the visitor a direct idea of what your website is all about.
Find the right keywords. After picking your domain name – the next thing to do is to find the right keywords for your website. You will need to choose the keywords that basically describe your website content.
Avoid using big keywords like instant money, free cars or making money at home, because you will most probably be competing against a fierce and stable authority site for this. Remember that an existing authority site has already done the same for quite a while already and is most probably, more search-engine-friendly than your site . So, to be in the safe side, choose one with low competition and start from the bottom and work yourself up.
Creating a long tail keyword gets the attention of search engines. Long tail keyword refers to a phrase where the primary keyword is found. For example, if you are in the business of care rental. Instead of just using car rental as your keyword, make a long tail like, “how to get the right car from car rental”.
You also need to avoid buying keywords from websites that offer you the best working keywords on the net. Choose your own and make your own keywords. If you want to save money, you can make use of Google tools.
Twitter: AnishG6
says:
Excellent tips, Matt. You’ve boiled it all down to just three main aspects, which is awesome because I love to KISS (Keep It Simple, Silly!)
But yeah, I’m just in the process of starting 2 authority blogs. I’ll definitely come back to your guidelines to ensure I don’t forget.
Oh and I agree with you on the SEO point. Mini-sites with 3 pages built solely for the purpose of affiliate monetization just can’t work well enough anymore now. Even if we forget the SEO factor for a bit, the fact that we’re disregarding leads generation, repeat business by establishing a loyal following and establishing reputation of self as a genuine authority in the niche means we’re losing a heck lot of money. Authority blogging is definitely the way to go.
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