Susan Suarez

Claiming expert status seems to be the popular thing to do nowadays. It looks like that line is starting to get a bit fuzzy for a handful of bloggers.

Usually when one is associated as an expert, it’s because they have specialized insight and great skill within a certain subject. Experts attract followers to absorb their knowledge and they continue to do well because their support to a product increases attractiveness to just about any product they sell.

Disadvantages of Gloating

Calling yourself an expert can do some great harm to your reputation, instead of having the public label you as one. There have been quite a few bloggers brand themselves as expert online/SEO marketers with years of experience, claiming to be making lots of money online…

Initiating themselves on the net as an expert usually gives them a disadvantage if the public hasn’t labeled them as so, because they may appear arrogant or self-centered. If they don’t have a following to the site already, it may also make them look either like a fraud or fake if they claim a list of accomplishments on their About Page, but without real backup.

Not much weight is carried on those claims as the opinion of many diverse mindsets carries much further.

Sooner or Later, The Cat Is Out Of The Bag

It doesn’t take much time before people realize that the number of subscribers doesn’t match up to the 6 figure monthly earnings. Many use earnings to prove the support of their expert status but can’t be verified.

Also, readers after awhile will notice that the content doesn’t really focus on how to achieve goals but is littered with solicitation after solicitation of how goals were reached because of a product. Once readers see the site for what it is, traffic is lost and so is reputation and loyalty.

“Followers” are lost and no success is realized.

Overall, It’s Not A Good Thing

Talking about affiliate, online, or internet marketing is one thing but claiming to be an expert and over-promising benefits can have harmful effects. Seasoned players will see right through those who pretend to be a mastered expert and spot flaws in their knowledge base.

Personally, I don’t like to call myself an “expert”. I do what I do. I hardly think of myself as one. There is so much to learn and really I’m a newbie to blogging. I’ve had 5 years of online media marketing experience managing affiliate campaigns for large mortgage companies, but I have never created my own blogs till now. Neither did I learn till several months ago about all the possible avenues of monetizing or driving traffic to a blog site that have increasingly been offered these past couple years, such as using social bookmarking sites, web communities, forums and such. Doing something on my own is quite a bit different than working for a large corporation.

Choosing the alternative route of working with humble people who are honest, helpful and genuine will get you much further with blogging. Instead of faking it, try just being you and by being true, readers may hold you up and give you a worthy and supportive title which will have much more meaning. Plus, the web is like a big database, don’t you want your legacy to leave behind a good trace?