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There are basically two types of bloggers in the world - reporters and experts - and some people perform both roles (usually the experts, it’s hard for reporters to become experts, but it’s easy for experts to report). Becoming an expert is crucial to make money online.

If you have ever taken an Internet marketing course or participated in a seminar specifically for beginners, you have probably heard about the two different methodologies. Whenever the business model is based on content, and if you earn an online income then the model is based on content, people are taught to either begin as reporters, or if possible step up as experts.

I’ll be frank, you want to be the expert.

Reporters write about the content of the experts and in most cases bloggers start off as reporters because they haven’t established expertise. Experts enjoy the perks of preeminence, higher income because of perceived value, it’s easier to get noticed, people are more likely to find you rather than you having to seek others out, partnerships come easier, etc. experts in most cases simply have higher incomes and attract more accolades.

Many Bloggers Simply Report

The thing with expertise is that it requires - training. No person becomes an expert without doing things and learning. Aspiring bloggers usually start out without expertise and as a result begin their blogging journey by writing about everything going on in their topic (reporting) and by interviewing and talking about other experts (reporting again).

There’s nothing wrong with reporting of course and for many bloggers it’s a necessity in the beginning until you build some expertise. Unfortunately the ratios are pretty skewed when it pertains to experts and reporters - there are far more reporters than there are experts, hence reporters tend to struggle to gain publicity and when they do, they often just enhance the reputation of the expert they are reporting about.

Don’t Copy Your Teacher

If you have ever spent some time browsing products pertaining to the Blogging for Dollars niche you will notice a pattern. Many people first study affiliate marketing from a guru (for lack of a better term). The mentor teaches how he or she is able to make money blogging, and very often the view that the student gleams is that in order to make money blogging you have to teach others how to make money blogging.

The end result of this process is a huge army of aspiring bloggers attempting to duplicate what their teacher does in the same industry - the Internet marketing industry - not realizing that without expert status based on proven experience and all the perks that come with it, it’s next to impossible to succeed.

Even people, who enjoy marginal success, say for example growing an contact list of 1,000 people, then go out and release a product about how to build an email list of 1,000 people. Now I have no issues with that, I think it’s fine to teach aspiring bloggers and leverage whatever achievements you have, the difficulty is that people gravitate to the same industry - Internet marketing - and rarely differentiate themselves.

How many bloggers out there do you know of that all say they teach the same things - email marketing, SEO, pay per click, Internet marketing, and all the sub-niches that fall under the heading of Internet marketing. It’s a competitive industry, yet when you see your mentors and other mentors making money teaching others how to work from home (and let’s face it - making money from home as a subject is one of the most compelling) - your first inclination is to follow in their footsteps.

If the goal is to identify yourself as an expert and you have not spent the past 5-10 years making money online, I suggest you look for another subject to establish expertise in.

Have patience and stick with what you do to learn and then translate that knowledge into ideas for others, and remember, it’s okay to be a big fish in a small pond, that’s all most experts really are.

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