The Growing Importance of Authority Sites In Social Marketing

The Growing Importance Of Authority Sites In Social Marketing


The following is an article from Jack Humphrey.
It is from the backroom of his Authority Site
Center, and is intended as an ad for said program
but frankly what he says is pure gold, so will just
post it as is.

Floyd
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As Web 2.0 becomes less of just a buzzword and
more of a reality, the types of sites webmasters need
to publish will increasingly become more important.
In other words, mini-sites are slowly dying and cookie-
cutter article sites are on the way out as well. Web
surfers will become more value-focused and web
companies will become larger.

Over the next few years expect larger conglomerates
to be buying up profitable websites in their chosen
markets. Expect smaller sites to either be bought or
driven out of business. My intention is not to scare
you, but this outcome is inevitable.

Large businesses have always taken two approaches to
their desired markets. They either buy their competition
or they push them out of business. You want to be
prepared when this trend begins on the Internet.

Being a webmaster and online marketer, you should be
preparing for one of two scenarios. To position yourself
for a buyout to a larger company or to become the larger
company that dominates your chosen market.

Whichever route you choose is entirely up to you, but I
would suggest that it would be in your best interest to
begin focusing on authority sites. You can either start
building them or turning your current sites into them.
Whatever your approach may be, I assure you it will
help you sleep better at night.

What Is the Definition of an Authority Site?

A fairly comprehensible authority site definition was
put forward by Jason Dowdell of Global Promoter.
Jason defined it this way:

"Authority sites are sites that have
been linked to and referenced on other web sites
covering the same subject matter and they also will
have hundreds if not thousands of pages covering
that subject matter and nearly every facet of it".

That definition is one man’s opinion, albeit a good
one, but let us go directly to the source. Many search
engine optimization and search engine marketing
experts believe Google has derived their primary
algorithm from a document titled, "Hilltop: A Search
Engine based on Expert Documents."

The PageRank formula as we know it today was
derived from this paper, and the authors, Bharat and
Mihaila, define an authority site in the text below:

"We believe a page is an authority on the query topic
if and only if some of the best experts on the query
topic point to it. Of course in practice some expert
pages may be experts on a broader or related topic.
If so, only a subset of the hyperlinks on the expert
page may be relevant."

"In such cases the links being considered have to be
carefully chosen to ensure that their qualifying text
matches the query. By combining relevant out-links
from many experts on the query topic we can find
the pages that are most highly regarded by the
community of pages related to the query topic. This
is the basis of the high relevance that our algorithm
delivers."

What we have reprinted above is the foundation of the
PageRank system and the determination for deciding
which sites will be authorities. I highly recommend you
read and re-read the full document until you understand
every aspect of it.

What Are the Components of an Authority Site?

Allow me to present you with a diagram at:
http://www.contentdesk.com/authoritymap that
dissects your typical authority site. As you can tell
from the diagram, a considerable number of components
and systems must be in place for the authority site to
function profitably and reap the benefits of the
"Authority Site Formula."

The Authority Site Formula = Visitor Optimization (VO) +
Content Optimization (CO) * Creative Marketing (CM)

A simple question must be asked. What do 99.9% of
authority sites provide? In a sentence, an incredible
amount of original content and a superb visitor
experience. The search engines want you to succeed
and they want you to make money, but you have to play
by their rules. In the future, focus your efforts on visitor
optimization and content optimization instead of search
engine optimization.

What Is the Anatomy of an Authority Site?

About.com is the definition and was the original
authority site. Their site has a generic domain name
and hundreds of subdomains on different topics.

Your authority site should take the same approach,
but not on such a general level. If you launch an
authority site, it should be geared towards a well
defined and large market. After you launch the site
and generate some traffic, you should create sub-
domains that cover specific areas inside that larger
market.

For example, Diabetic-Resources.Com is not an active
site; but if it were, then a typical authority site setup
would be something like:

* http://supplies.diabetic-resoures.com *
http://diet.diabetic-resources.com *
http://insurance.diabetic-resources.com *
http://symptoms.diabetic-resources.com *
http://treatment.diabetic-resources.com

Using this approach, you are able to target your
general market while generating more targeted
traffic pertaining to related sub-markets.

As a rule of thumb, the index pages on your domains
and subdomains should be more focused on content,
but the article and commentary pages should be more
focused on advertising. Just do not ever lose sight of
the most important aspect of your site, which is visitor
experience otherwise known as visitor optimization.

What Does It Take to Create an Authority Site?

You want to create a site that generates thousands of
visitors a day mainly through the major search engines,
and would ultimately be the one-stop source for
information in that particular market.

Your site must employ three traits to become an
authority site. Let’s discuss all three necessary aspects:

Dynamic: You should have as many RSS feeds as you
can muster to incorporate throughout your site. Your
visitors need to be able to receive RSS feeds for any
keyword, category or archive as well as create their
own. One feed is no longer enough to satisfy your
visitors.

Interactive: You should be engaging the minds of your
visitors at all times using surveys, commenting and
feedback. Make these features easy for your visitors
and your site will grow exponentially. Why? Because
they feel like you actually care about them. Interaction
is a powerful tool and creates a sense of community on
your site.

Consistent: You should post to your blog often, and
you should always provide quality and original content.
That doesn't mean you need to produce 800-word
articles three times a week. Your goal should be to
become a news master. You need to be an "authority"
on the news happening in your niche.

If you follow the steps and guidelines listed above,
then you will be on your way to being the owner of
an authority site.
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See what I mean?

This is why I have become a customer of Jack's,
and am working to put together my first "Authority
Site". Don't worry, I'm not going to abandon this
blog. Just planning on it being a stepping stone
to bigger things in other niches as well.

Check out this program HERE
(yes, this is an affiliate link)

Or just grab the Authority BlackBook
at absolutely zero cost.

That's it for today.

Eat a peach!

Floyd Bogart

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