Is an expert an authority?

It is interesting how particular words suddenly are in fashion. And much more interesting is how people use them.

It makes sense to consult a dictionary to have an expert's opinion aboard.

Definition by FARLEX "The free dictionary."

Expert:

• A person with a high degree of skill in or knowledge of a certain subject
• Having, involving, or demonstrating skill in or knowledge of a certain subject
  

Authority:

• An accepted source of expert information or advice
• A conclusive statement or decision that may be taken as a guide or precedent
• Power to influence or persuade resulting from knowledge or experience
• Confidence derived from experience or practice; firm self-assurance

In marketing, the term "Authority" gained fundamental importance. And like with the illusion of earning a lot of money quickly without doing anything else than a few clicks online, people started to believe that by knowing a little bit about a topic they are already an authority in their niche.

Of course, many scams out there in the world wide web supported this illusion by giving the impression that everyone can be an authority by just clicking a little bit around in the web.

Through the time, the words "Expert" and "Authority" got mixed up and today you must only have a deeper knowledge in your niche and then many people call this already being an authority.

That's wrong! An Expert is not mandatory authority, but an authority is always an expert.

As we can see in the FARLEX definition, there is not a big difference between this two terms. And if you take a closer look you see that the last two bullet points in the description of an authority are making an essential difference.

An authority has influence and persuades people through its appearance. An authority lives its power naturally, and this refers to a stable personality, self-esteem, and confidence derived from experience and practice.

I guess it's immediately clear why being an authority is important in business and therefore in the online business. As an authority, you are a credible person and people will naturally follow you and this leads to conversions!

I can only recommend: Leave the level of being an expert and develop your authority in order to grow and to create your power to succeed.

Love, Martin