Show off your knowledge and expertise

People want authenticity online.

That means social media being used by people and informational content created by those who actually know it.

Not bots.

Not AI slop.

Actual humans giving advice, opinions, or talking about their experiences.

Authority has been faked for so long online that people and search engines are skeptical by default. You might be able to call yourself an expert online but no-one will believe you unless you prove it. Can't prove it? People will ignore you.

The classic and most powerful way to prove it is to create and share so much that your authority is shown. These are the people who have published books, research papers, 100s of well-written articles, or a long-running show about their expertise. This will take time and won't happen overnight but it's a well-established path that every authority figure eventually walks down.

First off, you have to actually be an authority. You can't fake this and you never should fake this, you'll get caught (and it's unethical as hell).

It's common to be an authority offline or with a small group of people but have little presence online. I've seen this where a person has a doctorate, has written papers on their topic, given talks, but have no online presence beyond a single page online. They needed to get online and go beyond their close circle of colleagues.

Next you want to create an About page that goes into depth on your authority. If your store is more of an extension of yourself as the founder, you can talk about your history. It also works especially well to interweave details about the founding of your store. If your store is more of a brand where you work, then start by talking about the brand. Then segue into details about the employees (you) and their credentials and history. In other words, you'll need a face (or two) of the company.

In either case you want to list a variety of relevant details. The "relevant" part is important, if you're selling cosmetics then it doesn't make sense to mention a dog-grooming award (unless you sell dog cosmetics).

Things to add:

• degrees and professional certifications
• industry experience
• work experience with well-known brands
• press and 3rd party publications (e.g. guests speaker, videos, etc)
• 1st party publications like a book you wrote or your podcast
• speeches or presentations

Don't feel you have to list everything either, pick out the more important and recognizable ones. On the other hand, especially when you're new, don't fudge things to fill out the list. List the experience and authority you have. Then seek out opportunities to show of your skill set and add to this list as you go.

You'll also want to schedule time to come back and update this list every few months. As you work in an area it's natural to grow your expertise so make sure it's written down.

Like any page, you want a few paragraphs of content. Don't worry about making it too long, some people will want to see a lot of content.