Gregory Smith Online

You can become an expert in your area-and it’s not as hard as you think! It’s easy to identify your areas of expertise and get your expert status in writing where people will refer to it and recognize you as the “go to” person for your topic.

You can earn money online by focusing on your area of expertise. Even if you aren’t totally up to speed on everything, you can put your knowledge to good use.

Instead of bouncing around looking for new opportunities when an internet business opportunity falls short of expectations, you need to look closer to see if there might be another way to approach it.

All of us have knowledge and expertise we don’t often think about. Everyone has a pastime, hobby, or skill they enjoy and do well at-and this knowledge could be tapped to create an income stream. You just need to focus on how you can capitalize on that knowledge.

To focus on and develop an area of expertise, start with these guidelines.

1. Select a topic or subject you find enjoyable or that you are passionate about.

1. Consider what kind of questions you might receive from someone else who is just beginning to learn about this topic or subject area. For instance, if your area is scrapbooking, newcomers to the hobby might ask the following questions:

“What is the best tool to use for cutting out perfect pictures every time?”

“How can I add embellishments to scrapbooking pages on a budget?”

“Is there an adhesive that is safe for use with photographs and won’t dry out over time?”

1. Go to a search engine page-like Google-and type “how to” plus a couple of key words from some of those questions into the query bar. Then hit enter and watch to see all of the different links that come up. Right there you’ll easily be able to identify dozens of ideas you could use to create an e-course, email series, or even a how to book about your chosen topic area.

Another great resource is ehow. If you type in a relevant word about your topic, you’ll get tons more ideas to last you a long, long time.

1. Narrow your focus to one aspect of your topic for the time being. Don’t try to cover everything, because it’s simply not possible. Specialize in one tiny niche of your chosen topic. Don’t generalize. Learn everything you can about that niche and then choose a new niche area and do the same thing.

1. Take all of the information you learned about that one aspect of your topic and create some information products based on that information. This could be a free report you will distribute on the web-with a link taking readers back to your website. Or it could be an entire ebook. OR

1. Seek out experts on this topic in your local area. Call them up, set up a time to meet with them, and ask them all the questions you can think of about this niche area. You can do this individually or in a round table session. Record the sessions so you can capture every little detail. You can utilize this information in your written materials, as well.

Regardless of how you gain your expertise-from firsthand experience or learning from others who have firsthand experience-you will soon become a recognized expert in your area. That builds trust and a following with the people who read your materials and visit your website.

Utilizing imagined questions, doing research on the search engines, and logging the information and ideas you discover, you will soon have a large volume of ideas and information you can use to produce informational materials that will portray you as an expert. You can create special reports, email classes, and ebooks, among other materials.

1. Then go to one of the great freelancing websites on the internet-such as findafreelancer, scriplance, or guru.com and post a job looking for a ghostwriter who can compile all of your data into the appropriate ebook or reports.

Freelancers love projects like this where you’ve done the research and they just need to do the organizing and writing. And you won’t have to do a lot of labor-intensive writing to create the materials you need.

If you think you’re cheating by hiring a ghostwriter, think again. Most millionaires and well-to-do celebrities put their names on projects they didn’t write. It’s called a work-for-hire, and this is how ghostwriters make their living-by writing materials someone else can take credit for.

Each of us is an expert at something-and probably many things. But to be perceived as an expert and benefit from that distinction, you need to get materials in print that document you as that expert.

So don’t generalize, specialize! Instead of being a “Jack of all trades, master of none,” become a recognized expert!

What are you waiting for? Get going! You can do this!