What Is An Authority Blog And How Do You Create One?

There is a concept in business blogging that has become popular and it bears some explaining. The word “authority” gets used a lot, but it’s a loaded word. What does it mean?

To become authoritative in one’s niche means something different to just about everyone. From an SEO perspective, to be authoritative means that the search engines consider your website an authoritative source. That gives you some search enging clout, but it doesn’t guarantee you any business. In a word, to become authoritative from an SEO perspective, is to be at the top of the rankings for a specific key phrase. That key phrase may or may not be one that is competitive or that receives a lot of searches each month.

If you query the phrase “Article Content Provider” without the quotes you’ll see that ArticleContentProvider.com is listed in the No. 1 position. See those three links under the Google snippet? Those links are placed there by Google and they are not paid for. They are indication that Google considers ACP an authoritative site for the key search phrase “article content provider.” But there are only about 58 searches for that specific phrase each month. That isn’t a lot is it?

No, it’s not. But those 58 searchers are buyers. They may not buy today, but if someone is searching for an article content provider then they are in the market for an article writer. All it takes is about 10% traffic-to-conversion ratio to build a modest income from a search phrase like that. Do it a few times with different search phrases and you can build a good business. There is only one problem. You can’t make yourself an authority site. That’s a classification reserved by the search engines alone. It is their editorial judgment.

However, you can do some things on the technical side of building your site to move your reputation in that direction. Success is not guaranteed.

The Human Side Of Authority

Another way authority is judged is by human value. What do your readers think? It is very subjective.

You can build an authoritative site that attracts a lot of visitors who hang on your every word, but that is hard to do. Building authority online in this manner is no different than building authority off line. It is based on your own personality and character. You essentially become a cult of personality. Real world examples include Bill Gates, Donald Trump, and Oprah Winfrey. Online, you’ll find the same phenomena in personalities like Andy Beal, Darren Rowse, and Brian Clark. Each is considered an authority in their own right on a particular topic, both by the search engines and by a large number of admirers.

Do you have to have that kind of clout to succeed online? While it’s great if you do, it isn’t necessary. For every Brian Clark there are thousands of small business people churning out a living online. They may be authorities in their own small space, locally or globally, but their crowning achievement is not necessarily a label, but their influence within their small circle.

Let’s be careful how we use the word authority. It means different things to different people. The real goal – for all of us – is to connect with real people, build solid SEO strategies into our web businesses, and see an increase in the harvest.