Day 17 — How to become a world authority in less than 3 years.
Before we start let me defend the theory of why I’m “a world authority” … because claiming that I am a world authority sounds really pedantic.
But the funny thing is that I am… and that showcases how stupid is the concept of Authority.
So to prove my point let’s complete the World Authority checklist — shall we?…
Most respected educator? Let’s presume… Yes
More students ever ? Yes (by far baby!)
More Courses? Yes (I had a lot!)
Most conferences? No really, but I’m the coolest one ever (EGO IS IMPORTANT HERE FOLKS!)…
Most videos published? Yes
More books? Yes
More blog posts? Yes
Considered an Authority by top publications ? Yes
Most controversial Speaker? Yes (I told Google that they had no idea about what they where doing in the App Summit in London while Google speaker was in front at me)
Considered an Authority by main competitors? Yes
Most hated? For sure in the top 3. mmm make it top 2
Top Podcast in the Niche? Yes (For a while at least)
Trained more consultants in the same niche? Yes
Okay. Done.
So assuming that I am an Authority in my niche [App store Optimization — App marketing] — and that I’m not 100% full of shit — let’s try reverse engineer how I did it and what you can apply from my story in your own path to become an authority.
I will start with a random collection of actions I took .
Sorry If I don’t go fully indepth… I will try to expand this post in the future.
Feel free to let your BS radar go on or off at any stage ~~ is good to doubt and take things with a grain of salt
STEPS TO BECOME AN AUTHORITY (or something like that)
Launch a Blog → easiest thing ever.
If you want to become an authority and you are not willing to write … stop reading this and change plans. Don’t be a lazy bastard. WRITE!!! trust me it pays off.
Yes blogging, content is your best weapon to create a reputation.
My poor blog by then, when I started, included articles, (REAL content) with analysis, predictions, tutorials and an insane amount of spelling mistakes.
I didn’t post daily, but each post was really packed with info. I provided value!!!!
I wrote more than the other did, and I tried to include VIDEO in as many posts I could.
Although my content wasn’t perfect , I posted so many theories about App marketing and ASO, that many of those theories became “facts”.
In plain English people read my theories, blog posts and experiments and they spread this theories as the gospel.
Lesson: sometimes you become an authority just by posting … “I wonder if this is real”
Social Media
I joined every single Google +, Linkedin and Facebook group in this industry.
I not only became a contributor, but I got involved, I became their friend, their enemy. I let them know I was there. I shared, I discussed… I was angry. I wanted them to know me!
I created friends , I lost some and it helped me to understand the market and the industry.
Note: I went too aggressive in Social media and in many cases I was an asshole with other people. My need to bring attention to myself in many cases made me the Enfant Terrible of the app industry.
I Published a Book (not a great one)
I wrote a book with no idea of what I was doing.
The book had horrible grammar and had some serious technical errors in it’s content… but… well, it worked!
It worked because “I had the insanity” to published it and people wanted to read it.
The book made me an authority when in reality I still didn’t have a clue what I was doing.
Years later I took the book down to replace for a better one.
How did I write a book without any clue?
I interview the people that had some sort of clue…. EASY
I published a Better Book
Yes. Once I realised books work as a way to create an audience, I wrote a less crappy book .. and this one really took off.
I Gave the bloody book for free
Why try to make money vs giving a book for free, specially when a book can help you reach everyone.
This bloody book… became my best card of presentation. It was simply the easiest proposition ever.
You are an expert? Show me…
Gab: Read my book!
Ah okay. Deal.
I took advantage of the Trends
I published videos and I launched a book just 5 days after Apple launched Search Ads. Nobody had a clue about it and I had a bit more clue than the rest of the world. So I wrote a book and I launched in the right moment.
Launching something so far and being the 1st one to talk about it put me in the sport light. I was the first one to talk about this and it really paid off.
I Talked about things nobody wanted to talk about
I discovered my industry was crowded by Black HAT ASO provider… and I took advantage, I research, I read all the content that was out there, I even contacted some of those providers and I decided to become an EXPERT in a sub-niche of my niche.
Double Expert baby.
Lesson: Keep digging deeper in your niche.
NOTE: I made a killing with this topic and I got invited to London where I humiliated the next speaker. The next Speaker after me was Google.
I hammered QUORA
Quora barely had a subtopic about my niche, so I invaded, and conquered. Each of my posts gave away my book and linked to my Videos. I drove traffic. I made money. I trolled people. I got haters.
It was beautiful.
I became infamous
The Unofficial Apple Blog learned that I had taken advantage of the weak App store algorithm @ Apple, by publishing an insane amount of apps in a record time . So they made me infamous in an article that announced that I had been “spamming the app store”
The article created an army of “I hate Gabriel developers’ but in an ironic way… it put me spot line.
Although my plan wasn’t to appear as an evil marketer… the bad press pushed me faster to become an authority .
Lesson: Don’t do it. It hunts you back.
Video Marketing.
Initially I created a series of Mini Videos providing updates of what was going on in the App Store Optimization world.
I stole the idea from SEroundTable with Barry Schwartz — a weekly report of a boring industry…. (although Barry is in fact an authority in his field)
The videos were very low key and not very professional, but they did the job .
Then I paid a Videographer and they became better. I recorded a lot… how many?In one case I recorded 30 per day …
Why so many? I was paying per day so I wanted to get the maximum ROI
Here is an example
Although my videos had (and still) very little views, the people watching this boring type of topic are precisely my audience. In other words, if you are watching these videos and you are not in the App industry you are nuts.
Lesson: Don’t do a little of everything, do one thing properly done.
Podcast!
I launched my 1st podcast, the podcast has brought me around 2000 visitors just in 1 month and after 30 episodes everyone knew me. the strategy was easy: if you didn’t know me I was going to interview you and let you know me.
I interview all the “experts” in the industry. I stole their knowledge like a Marvel Superhero and eventually became one of them.
Did I crush it?
No, not by far. During my process I realised how serious the craft of ASO is and how others did a better job than me.
Step P young from Appmasters.co , still podcasts and he has managed to craft podcasting into an art. I still have a lot to learn but as a growth hacking strategy , it’s a brilliant way to build your audience.
I Build my email list.
I gave away products, resources and build a list. I didn’t email all the time and I bet I could have done a better job but for the size of my industry at the time, my list became a great way to engage, sell and grow.
I Build My OWN Facebook group.
If you want to reach out to your fans, friends and followers, put them all under the same roof. Facebook Fan Pages is for amateurs, the real game it’s played in FB groups.
I started to sell small products
Side products are a great way to get more traction and funny wise people like to buy 1 time products (Think of AppSumo)
I sold a small guide about “how to get reviews for you App” the guide sold for $47. → I sold around 300 copies in the first 3 months.
Small products meant that I started to build a list of future clients and buyers.
I spoke on Events FOR FREE
I decided to move out of my comfort zone…. I left Australia, went to meet real people, became speakers in conferences in Singapore, Thailand, London, and China… went to masterminds, workshops…. (this made a huge difference)
Lesson: Nothing it’s better than face to face and a couple of beers to build biz relationships
I Interview awesome people in this industry.
I interviewed the top app store optimization companies, software creators, entrepreneurs. Many of them then appeared in my book, podcast or even blog.
The more I networked, the more I got from them (followers, visitors, links, you name it) They were like cows of influence…. and I milked them to get the Milk, the Cheese, the meat… moooooo moooooo
SEO.
I crushed it in the rankings just with content and a lot of long tail keyword love.
I did my homework properly and it paid off.
.
Meetups.
I realised I couldn’t go to Meetups in New York or SF, but I can get invited via Skype. Weird right? Well, yes.. but I know speak as guest in developers Meetups. Pretty strange but it brings tons of referrals and good karma.
Offered myself to be interviewed
Funny right?
I offered to help other entrepreneurs and I directly contacted them… an in many cases great interviews came from those direct emails.
I received over 2000 visits in 1 day just from this interview with John Lee Dumas
http://www.entrepreneuronfire.com/p...eur-gabriel-machuret-of-internetninja-com-au/
Udemy as a Launch Platform
I became best seller in Udemy and I used Udemy to promote my brand, build a list and eventually once Udemy became a ripoff towards educators, I moved away trying to bring some of my students with me.
I launched 8 courses with Udemy and I achieved over 15000 students. My income as around $40.000 form Udemy directly. (Not huge compared to the traffic)
Lesson: Udemy is a huge source of traffic… if you want to be an authority is a nice way to get your name out there.
Launched my own Courses = my own platform.
I launched my own courses without depending on the pricing monopoly from Udemy . My own platform gave me the option to control the courses even more and make a lot more profit.
It also gave me a centralised placed to promote all my training materials.
I Launched FREE COURSES
Yes, I also launched free courses , that was a great way to give back, build my authority and increase my reach.
My FREE course had over 6000 students in the first month and currently I have a course that receives 20 to 30 new students daily.
I Aimed Higher
Climbed Mount Kilimanjaro for Charity and got the app industry involved. I Raised enough to buy 15 cows…. and donate them to Kilimanjaro Orphanage Center. Each Cow had the name of an App Company. It was fun.
Lesson: Amazing how much you can build your brand by doing simple and nice stuff for humanity
I Increased my price.
After a mastermind with Chris Ducker and Patt Flyn, in the Philippines. I decided to increase my prices by 300%
Crazy wise, by doing so I started to receive more leads, more work, more revenue.
Lesson :Don’t be shy to charge more. Stand up for what you believe.
Its your time, you can charge what you think you are worth ~~~> but provide value and be sure to do the job.
I burned the vessels.
I stop working in SEO for those years, while I was only working on Apps tApps and ASO. I became obsessed.
I learned that If you have your feet in many industries you will end up doing nothing in the long run.
Lesson: You can’t really go all in, if you realised there is option B. Burn option B
I Offered Free help.
In the first years, I offered free help and advice to everyone, I did so many calls and interviews it was crazy, I even ended up doing a I even did a Premium course for Andrew Warner at Mixergy ~~ all my crazy need to reach out as many people as possible.
Lesson: Contact people you admire . Be brave, offer your help… provide value first. Then you may get the help and exposure you need.
I offered coaching
Started to Coach and train companies and other entrepreneurs about the app industry. The more I charge, the more serious people take the training and the more I learned about what I was doing.
Outsourced, outsourced, outsource.
Outsourcing allowed me to build a team and provide more services. I did it well, I outsourced and I worked hard to keep my team with me.
Lesson: If you want to compete with the big boys you need a team. Learn to delegate
Partnered with my competitors.
Any of competitor (at the same level) became Facebook friends, Skype and I try to know them as well as possible.
Lesson: We usually think anyone/everyone is a competitor, deep inside we all work for the same market. Partnering can bring epic results
Google vs Branding
I stop worrying about SEO — once I knew my site as optimized i moved to work on my brand.
I don’t want to sound cocky … when you do epic stuff, people tend to find you, even if your position in Google is irrelevant. Once my content became my currency… I stopped building links and started to work more in my brand.
What Didn’t work for me
Infographics.
Launched 3 infographics and submitted to niche sites and infographic related sites. I found the process boring and I never really managed to find the ROI of Infographics I didn’t continue after a few months.
PR release.
Did some paid releases, they never really worked extremely well.
Paid Traffic
I didn’t embrace Paid traffic earlier. Boring but predictable. If you want leads fast, get better and improving your sales funnel.
I had a big mouth (I still do!)
And sometimes a big mouth online, can get you in legal trouble with corporate bullies… be careful what you say if you don’t have a lawyer.
I was a Jack Ass with some people
I could have been kinder, I let my ego build my name and although it work, you don’t want to be consider the guy that is an authority but 1/2 the time is also a jerk. I was that guy and I’m sorry to those that I didn’t help in the right moment
I didn’t manage stress properly
Stressed killed me slowly but sure . And the more authority I was building the more stressed I was becoming. Although I was making money. I quickly realised I was building authority for the wrong reasons. I was following the ego and not the legacy. That was a crucial part for me… the moment I realised Legacy is more important than income
I wasn’t doing it for the right reasons:
I could have done ASO or started in the app industry because I was in love with apps, but mainly I found a gap and I took advantage. Although that worked , in the long term it backfired. I lost interest, energy and hunger. If you are going to go out there and build authority , be sure you love the topic.
So that’s it folks…. I hope this “mini” post helps you out… ;)
I may try to expand it even further in the next weeks… I still have a lot of content I can add about it.
I think my overall experience trying to become an authority was fun, profitable and at the same time a lovely waste of time.
I could go all deep and hippie about it but I think it’s enough for today.
My journey continues and so far I’m pleased of not being an authority… just one guy, blogging his path to building an Agency in 90 days.
Day #17 Stats Goanna Social
Day #17 Hours worked: 2
Overal Hours worked: 106
Funds: $19055.25 AUD
Spent : —
Overall Income : $7500
Invoiced
$10.000 AUD
$2300 USD
Phone calls: 0
Emails sent: 0
FB / Lead generation interaction: 1
Active Leads: 4
Proposals sent: -
Feeling: Good
75 days to go
