If it makes you feel uncomfortable calling yourself “the expert” in your particular field or industry, try writing it down, reading it a few times over and then possibly even saying it out loud.

With internet marketing, it’s crucial to be an expert and equally as crucial to let people know that you are an expert.

The truth is that the day you began charging for your work is the day you considered yourself an expert. In my opinion, there are novices and experts. Novices don’t usually charge for what they do, so if you’re charging, you are an expert by default.

Experts haven’t necessarily “arrived.” There’s no solemn law that says that if you’re an expert, you have learned all there is to know about your work. You are continually growing, learning, and improving so don’t let the feeling that you don’t know all there is to know hold you back from calling yourself the expert.

Once you’ve gotten comfortable with the fact that you’re an expert, do what experts do:

• Submit articles – free and paid. Seek out those who will pay you for your writing but don’t limit yourself only to those experiences.
• Participate in forums by offering your advice. No one likes it when they ask a question in a forum and an “expert” replies saying only, “I have the answer you need. Contact me.” That’s not active participation! Be proactive and involved and offer your advice.
• Put a LOT of good content on your website that you can link to later. Be thinking ahead. I’ve posted all sorts of WordPress-related content on my website that I can now refer to in forums, blogs and articles. Instead of just linking to random, “salesy” pages on my website, I can now link to good, solid, informative content that helps people. This is a great way to increase the quality links coming into your website.

© 2008 – 2009, Tia Peterson. All rights reserved. This text may be reproduced with permission. Please contact tia@tiadpeterson.com to request permission to reuse this content. Thank you!