Credibility is something most blogs lack. This is especially true in the make money online niche. There are thousands of blogs that talk about making money online yet the author has never actually made any money online. There are a couple of reasons for this. The first is they see blogs like Shoemoney, Probloggers and this one make a lot of money by blogging about making money and figure they can do the same thing.
The other reason comes from real life. Our schools are filled with teachers and professors who don’t practice what they teach. However, the school setting gives teachers the credibility they need to look like an authority on the subject. Add in the fact that they teach from a text book and not from experience. Here are a few things you can do to increase your credibility.
Credibility Starts with the About Page
Generally speaking, the more transparent you are, the more credible you are. Your about page is the foundation on which your credibility hangs. The more information you disclose, the more your readers will trust you. Trust is the biggest part of credibility. I’ve read about pages where the author used his nickname or his first name only. Would you trust someone like that?
At the very least, your about page should have your full name, a photo and where you’re from. Information about your background and why you are an authority on the topic you’re writing about would be even better.
Blog About Something You Know
It’s really hard to fake it til you make it so it’s best to blog on a topic that you have some knowledge on or have access to. If you have never made any money online but still want to do a make money online blog, then it’s best to make that blog a journal of your online adventure and blog about the trials and pains of trying to escape that 9 to 5 jail.
Guilty By Association
During the 2007 BlogWorld Expo, I lost count on the number of times I was asked to take a picture with somebody. While I’m sure most just wanted a picture with someone who is well know in the blog world, some will use the photo to boost their credibility.
This comes back to my Power of Association post. Birds of a feather flock together and if you can post a picture of you flocking with a successful bird, you are seen as a successful bird. When the Ming Pao did their story on me, they also included this picture of me and Michael Dell, founder of Dell Computers.
Join a Related Trade Organization
Being able to list in your about page that you’re part of some related trade organization with some fancy sounding name can help to built credibility. Often time, that is the only reason people join these organizations.
Write a Guest Post for a Big Blog
Getting your post onto a big blog can not only give you a lot of credibility, it can also send you a lot of traffic. The bigger blogs generally are quite fussy about the type of guest posts they will accept. They’re looking for quality that is on the same level as their posts. You should only send your best work.
I get bloggers emailing me about guest posting all the time. The best way to get a post onto John Chow dot Com is to email me the full post. Don’t send me an email asking me to reply if I want to read the post. I won’t. Just send the full post and I’ll read it and decide if it should be posted.
Give a Speech at a University
Being able to say you’ve spoken at the University of [insert state] can greatly add to your credibility. Don’t let the fact that the university will never invite you to speak stop you. Just rent one of their classrooms for a few hours, plaster posters all over the school about your seminar and hope one or two people show up. Now you can say you were the keynote speaker on [insert topic] at [insert university] in your about page. 
Did you enjoy this post? Get John Chow Dot Com updates via email...
Stay up to date with all of John Chow’s tips for making money online and blog posts by subscribing via email. Your email will be kept private and never shared with anyone.
One of the most common complaint (or excuse) I hear from potential new bloggers is they don’t know how to install WordPress. Terms like FTP and CPanel are like a foreign language and setting up a database might as well be setting up the space shuttle for a launch. Because of the technology barrier, many would-be bloggers never start their blogs...