Defining your objective is important when building a website especially when you are building an authority website in order to promote an expertise, product or brand. An expert website is not like a business website though there are lots of simiarities. an expert website is built around a specific skill, personality or cause. Expert websites are suitable for politicians, consultants, trainers, authors, authority bloggers and celebrities.
What are the basic features every expert website should have
i. USP + Keyword
That is basic and the fundamental considering that is the focal point of being online is to promote a product or service. Once you have identified your USP, it’s important to ensures this is tunneled into your keyword reasearch.
Once the keywords have been established, you can then use them in building structure and content of your website.
ii. Highlight experiences ( endorsement, testimonials)
Especially when you are a consultant or politician, endorsements, testimonials and case studies are the currency of your business and you need to have them. Pictures of where you have been to speak, featured in the press, companies you’ve consulted for, awards and commendations, prizes… they go a long way in building your brand reputation.
iv. Langing page/Mailing/subscriber list
You can’t really succeed online if you don’t consider email marketing. You need to have a page of segment where people will opt-in to subscribe to your mailing list. With emails still have a wonderful open rates, this is an extremely powerful resource since these people willingly request that you send them updates, freebies and paid products… yes paid products!
Apart from the normal feedburner subscriptions, Several autoresponders can help you achieve this – Aweber, MailChimp, MadMimi,GetResponse,ConstantContact
v. Free report/Lead magnet
Giving freebies reamains a powerful online tactic and it is used a lot in building email lists. You can offer free resources including free reports, toolkits, ebooks, podcasts, videos of value in exchange for email subscription.
This serves as in incentive for your audience and gis them a sneak peak into what you have in stock for them.
vi. Blog: (text, podcast, youtube, blog)
You cant be serious about building an exepert or authority website if you lack a blog segment of your website. Apart from the Search Engine optimization benefits, it allows you to demonstrate your expertise to would-be voters, clients, customers and competitors.
vii. Social buttons
Having social media platforms integrated into your website is
a forgone conclusion in this age. Integration through plug-ins, comments, share buttons, content distribution is important when it comes to promotion of your expertise and business and it begine with starting with a Content Management System (CMS).
Finally, authority building for brands online begins with having a strong foundation which includes a fully featured website and these features ensure that business promotion, advertising and interaction through social media is meaningful and valuable.
