How Becoming an Author Can Increase Your Expert Status

How Becoming an Author Can Increase Your Expert Status

A great way to become an expert in your niche is to become an author. Writing a book requires that you know something about your topic, and are able to communicate it in a cohesive way that makes sense to your audience. It’s one of the most tried and true ways of building up expertise status. It was an effective way to do it even before the internet, and the ease of publishing eBooks on Kindle and your website.

You Can Prove What You Know
Writing a book is a great little selling tool that consist of an easy to give away (or sell) package of information that you know. It’s just all there; you put your knowledge in the book, and then you can prove that you have that knowledge because you were able to put that together for your audience.

You Have Something to Show for Your Efforts
Nothing is more satisfying than having that book with the cover showing your name bold on the front. It’s one reason people who are involved a great deal in education are encouraged and in some cases required to become published to prove what they know. Nothing works better than the process of writing a book to clarify what you know and believe.

Builds Your Credibility
You can shout from the rooftops that you’re an expert, and you may very well be. But, the book is proof that you have that knowledge. People respect it, and when they see that you’re published they will believe that you have credibility, even if you self-publish. This is because you are willing to put that book out there, and take the criticism that goes with putting your ideas out into the public for comment.

You Can’t Hide behind a Curtain as an Author
So many people want to hide behind their computers when working online or owning a digital business. But, as an author you need to come out of the closet and show who you really are. That’s the real key to becoming an expert: being who you are, owning what you know, and showing the world.

A Book Will Increase Your Value
If you provide services, want to speak in public, or have great products, a book will increase your value exponentially. When people see you as an expert – and a book will help you accomplish that – they are willing to pay more money for your products, services and information. As your value increases you’ll work less, and have more time to study more, write more and boost your expertise even more.

You’ll Learn More Than You Know Now
As you write a book, you will collect a lot of information from other experts and from your own studies, and that will help you learn even more. You might even change your mind about something as you write your book. That’s okay because that’s what experts do. As they learn more, you know more, and you increase your expertise even more.

A Book Teaches You Communication
When you write a book, you have to put your audience first in your mind as you disseminate the information to them. This will give you a lot of practice thinking in terms of how your audience perceives what you write. You always have to write with your audience in mind so that they get what you’re saying. It’s always about them and how they communicate best.

A Book Gives You a Platform for All Your Other Offers
If you want a great platform in which to offer your services, expertise and ideas to others, then a book is the best way to do it. The book gives you an actual thing – whether it’s digital or physical – to point your audience to when questions arise that are answered in the book.

Writing a book takes a lot of thought and planning. And if you put your best foot forward with writing it, direct it to your audience, and write what they need to know, you will advance yourself to expert status with every word.

Writing to Sell versus Writing to Communicate

Writing to Sell versus Writing to Communicate

If you need to hire a writer, first you have to determine what type of writing you want. There are several types of writing that you will need to promote your business.

Often it can be difficult to know what type of writing you need, though. It’s easy to think that all writing is the same, but it’s not. There is writing to communicate and writing to sell.

Writing to Communicate
This type of writing is what you need to communicate information to potential and future customers. It might be blog posts, white papers, advertorials, eBooks, eReports, and other informational type content. This is what you need a content writer for. This type of writing is intended to teach, inform, engage and inspire.

Writing to Sell
This type of writing is usually called copywriting. It is a special type of writing using specialized skills. Writing to sell is all about your sales pages, sales emails, direct mail, websites and brochures. This is a completely different type of writing and is exclusively focused on making sales. It uses tools of the trade like emotional trigger words that help a reader choose to make a purchase.

Content Marketing
Writing to communicate is used in content marketing. When you place your content on other websites as with guest blog posts, or articles in online and offline magazines, it’s important to know how to write for information, entertainment and engagement in such a way that isn’t overtly selling – like a sales page, for instance. This isn’t to say that good content marketing doesn’t include some light forms of copywriting.

Sales Page Writing
On a sales page you will need to inform, but more importantly you’ll need to compel the reader to take action. This is probably some of the strongest types of copywriting that you will do outside of display advertising, banner ads, and email that is designed to push sales. This type of writing is completely different from content writing, even when content writing is spruced up with some good copywriting.

They’re Different But Can Be Combined
It’s important to understand the difference between writing to sell and writing to communicate. Just for reference’s sake, what you are reading right now is an example of writing to communicate. You are given a lot of information, being taught something, and there are no emotional trigger words being used to get you to make a purchase. However, it can change. If, at the end of this information the point is for you to purchase or sign up for something, it will soon become clear by the types of words used.

Copywriting helps with every type of writing for business. It’s in the headlines of a blog post. It’s in the headline of the next email marketing message you send your audience. Copywriting is what makes you want to read the next word written and drives you to want to learn more. Copywriting brings life to the words on the page or the screen.

Without copywriting, no one will read what you have to say. If you want results from the content that you put out to the world, learn as much as you can about copywriting or hire an expert.