In the December 2010 Webinar over at The Keyword Accademy, Mark talked about experts. He went with the very basic definition that, if you know more than somebody else does about a topic, then compared to that person, you are an expert. This is what the internet if full of … IM’ers who have written 100K words about a particular topic for backlinks, who now think they are experts. Maybe they are, maybe they are not. Does being able to write a 300 word article on a topic in 10 minutes make you an expert on that topic … or does that simply make you an expert on writing a crappy 300 word fluff article on the topic? This is what I’m getting at – the IM world is full of people who can write fluff articles and who appear to know so much about a topic, but who have no vested interest in that topic. They have no real-life, where the rubber meets the road experience about the topic. I mean, how many of us can say we are an expert about ‘purple bathroom throw rugs?’ After writing your 80th article about ‘purple bathroom throw rugs‘ you might think you are an expert … and compared to me, you are – but in real life, you are still just a spammy IM’er.

How to become an expert on any given topic in 3 words: Just Do It. (Thanks Nike)

I don’t want to give away my niche too much, but in my world, I am an expert about where I live. I have chosen a life style that is different than 99% (or more) than the rest of the population of the world. I’ve lived in my unique place and circumstance for going on 5 yrs now. As such, I am a functioning expert in my niche … I do it everyday.

Let me give you a couple of real life examples: would you like to learn about breast cancer from a breast cancer survivor or from an IM’er who has written 100K words about breast cancer? Even if they both wrote the exact same thing, would you not give more weight and value to the real cancer survivor? How about your car – you’ve got a weird ping coming from the motor area of your 2002 Chev Impala – do you want ‘expert’ advice from an IM’er who is a prolific writer – or from a garage owner who have been fixing Chevy’s  since the age of 10? … IM expert vs real-life expert.

The difference between a theoretical expert and a real expert is experience. Most people want advice from the real expert. If you can show your readers (and have them believe you) that you are an expert because you have experience, then you will be able to send them whatever direction you want. Whether that is to funnel them into a product of some sort (a legit product – remember you are a trust agent now …. lol) or just to provide them with quality information and offer them Adsense or some other advertising, as a real life (just do it) expert, you will be way ahead of the typical IM’er and their MFA site.

… and apparently this is what Google is looking for.

So, what are you an expert at? What experience do you have that others do not? For some people this is an easy question – with several easy answers. For others, this is the million dollar question. I’m gonna go out on a limb here as say that everyone online has something that they’ve experienced that others want to know about. Here are some basic questions that you can ask yourself to try to discovour something that others might want to know about.

Where do you live? Do you live in Hawaii … or Orlando … or Venice Beach? Hey, people from around the world vacation there. If they are looking for information, do you think they want to get it from an IM’er, or from someone who lives there?

What do you do for a living? Sales? Can you tell me about reading people? Customer service? How do you diffuse an angry customer? Firefighter? How would YOU set up a personal fire escape plan for my house? See … you are an expert because you have experience.

Where have you been?
Where did you grow up?
What traumatic experience did you go through last year?
What car do you drive?
What did you fix/renovate last winter?
How did you lose weight?
When you were 16, what boy band did you obsess about?

You are an expert at something – I guarantee it.

Position yourself as an expert now, and you will be way ahead of the curve when the Google algo is actually able to weed out the IM experts from the real experts. It’s the way things are pointing now … are you ready?

Liz is known for her blogging product and ‘make money online’ site ‘reviews.’ Actually, she kinda regularly outs the a-listers and the crap they are foisting off on unsuspecting super noobs. (How much can a noob be milked for anyway? lol) Her lastest review is a quality read and she really shows exactly where the product fails in what it is advertised to do. Read her Scribe SEO Review here. Don’t forget to read the comments….

So lets say that you are convinced (sucked in) by some bright, glamorous sales page for some wonderful, take over the blogging world product that promises you the moon (and more if you work hard) for only $97 a month (the price is going up in 2 days, so you better act now.) Lets say that you follow all the advice from this god-like guru – your new hero.

However (dark clouds on the horizon) … lets, just for arguments sake, say that you don’t end up ruling the internets … and let’s just pretend for a second that your bank account is actually slowly emptying (by $97 per month) rather than filling ‘faster than you thought possible.’ Would you begin to ask yourself, ‘what is my god Guru really saying to me?’ or would you continue to feed his bank account? The funny thing is, most super noobs won’t stop flushing money down the drain until they actually have no money left. Further they will defend their god Guru as if he were the 2nd coming of The One! This blind allegiance is a peculiarity found in chronic gamblers and internet marketing Noobs. Does any of this sound familiar to you? Are you a internet marketing super noob? If so, read on….

You need a dose of reality …

Read Liz’s review of the Scribe SEO Scam product. See how she actually tests it to see how it works – how easy or hard it is to use – to see if it really works at all? She then posts the results of her tests, with screenshots to support what she has discovered. So the product sucks – that’s reality man! But then you come to the comments … and there you find the ‘head noob milker‘ (Brian Clark) trying to defend his crappy product. He does not practice good customer service by saying, ‘wow, thanks for pointing that out to me. Let me fix those problems and then ask you to test it again …. ‘ No, he (Brian Clark) jumps into the comments trying to throw his weight around spouting all kinds of crap … even threatening to sue Liz for posting her thoughts of the crappy product he produces. This is your Guru – naked and exposed before you.

Now that you see your emperor without his clothes – are you still going to keep feeding his bank account with your money? Are you going to continue feeding his massive ego with your fawning adoration? Break free! Throw away your super noob blankie. Read real reviews. Read the comments from real internet marketers – Allyn, Griz, Liz, etc. Learn and understand what your Guru is really up to.