BUILDING AN AUTHORITY SITE

One thing to keep in mind as you build is that there is a difference between an authority site and just another big site with a lot of purchased links.

The big site becomes an authority site when others point to it as an authority, not because you say it is. So one of the best things you can do is to build relationships with influential people within the niche or market. Depending on the niche, influential people may include popular bloggers, forum posters who have earned the respect of their chosen forum community, reporters, and so on.

It may be as simple as a quid pro quo article syndication deal. 'I'll give you a quality article for your site, and you give me a link back to my site along with your endorsement if you think it's deserved.'

It could be engaging in meaningful exchanges via forum discussions or blog comments.

It could be posting honest reviews of their work on your site, with a link to them. One of the signs of an authority site is a propensity for linking out to quality content and resources. Too many SEOs are paranoid about leaking any little bit of juice by linking out. That may be important for a five page microsite, but it's not as big a concern for a true authority site, due the number of incoming links.

I wish you luck as well as success in your endeavor...

If you use all capital letters in your titles, then it's an authority site.

4. What are the possible challenges I might face?

I think the biggest challenge you face is getting into the "authority" mindset without being the authority yet. Visualizing yourself as the authority right off the bat will help you achieve that. Talk like the authority from day 1 and everyone else will assume your are already

I would say, you should focus on on-page optimization first.

You do know that people can put your articles in copyscape and check for plagarism?
It is just that I happened to read that article about Feguson on Tribalfootball

Sorry, long day and the sun is just coming up here!
Was that bad etiquette to point that out? Perhaps it sime sort of newsfeed he is using. Does an Authority website have to write it's own stuff?

Here are answers to your questions...

1. Do I need to pay for link building aside writing quality articles daily?

Yes, you should do that, it will increase the speed at which you will get backlinks and rankings. But keep in mind that once you do this you should make it look natural. You can subscribe to various blog networks and link networks out there, make sure you schedule your daily links. Don't get hundreds of links every day, rather get few dozen links from one source every day and spread it accross many networks and you should be fine.

2. Is/Are there any other things i need to have in mind concerning authority sites?

You should focus on building proper silo structure of your site. Also focus in using LSI keywords for your site. Have a theme based content sites with proper linking structure. If all this sounds something wierd read the ebook called 'The Master Plan' from SEO2020, it is a cool ebook that will show you how to setup all this step by step. Also consider setting up a forum or an article directory in your niche where people can post unique content, this will be helpful for traffic generation and creating a social network.

3. My competitors has good rankings; some as much as PR3

PR3 is easy to achieve with few weeks or one months efforts if you know what you're doing. PR5 to 7 takes time to beat. I would be happy seeing PR3 sites on page 1 for the keywords I am targeting as it gives me positive feeling as I can get there easily.

4. What are the possible challenges I might face?

Traffic and conversion. These are the only challenges. Content, product, affiliate products, adsense, blog... anyone can put all this in place. Traffic and converting this traffic to sales is the challenge. I highly recommend focusing exclusively on building list from your content site. Have your squeeze page everywhere, in your nav bar, below every article on every page you write, hover ads, headers, etc. Once you have your list, you have an asset that you can make money from probably forever.

5. Is there a simple/free way to generate traffic aside from article marketing?

Use video marketing, web 2.0, social bookmarking, press release submission, posting on forums, joint venture, ad swaps. Hope this helps...

@OP...

Some good advice in this thread, especially from John McCabe & FuriousStyles.

Pay particular attention to their answers to your first question. If you spam the web with junk backlinks from forums and slushpile article directories and other link farms, your "authority" site will be nothing of the sort.

Although, who knows... maybe it works. J C Penny seems to have bounced back.

Good luck with it, mate.

# 1 - A topic people are searching for -anything else is not worth it.
# 2 - A keyword .com domain
# 3 - Time. That "6 figure" site ( domain ) may have been 10 years old. That is an important athority factor in competitive markets.


Be interviewed by
- newspapers, local magazines in your area
- bloggers on the topic

But don't "promote your site" - simply go to them with information that will be useful to their readers ... and "just happen to be from" whatever site.

Thanks y'all for the great insight!
More information are welcome as well!

SHALOM

Excellent SEO, will be the most critical, which touches on most of your questions.
With 1-2 years out, you have time to plan this carefully, roll out a master plan, a road map, milestones, SEO. Lots of reading in a nutshell...!

Building authority sites are extremely easy if you can maintain consistency.

You have to create new content daily... You need to build backlinks daily. And the best kind of backlinks is through syndication of articles. Things like blog comments are effective.

I'd suggest that you do both if you have the time.

So here's how to build authority sites:

1. Create one article a day targeting one keyword in your particular niche and post on your site

2. Rewrite the article/Write another article and syndicate the article to article directories and other blogs with links back to original article on your site and your major keyword page

3. Make a few genuine blog comments and forum comments at sites in your niche daily

4. Social bookmark your content daily

5. Syndicate your content to social media sites and create a community over there.

Do it daily... Don't miss anything. You can't build an authority site in one day. It's going to take time.

But if you are in it for the long run, eventually you are the one who'll win.

I have 2 websites, well blogs actually, that i with them to be an authority blogs.
Obviously you will need some backlinking and that but the main thing that makes a website to be an authority website is a unique content.
You just have to sit down and write one - very good - article per day. IT has to be unique and also interesting. People will find it sooner or later and if it brings some value to the table they will be coming back to read some. In my personal opinion this is the only way to get there. You just have to offer something thast they wont find anywhere else.
I have recently bought a WSO on authority blogs and it just confirmed tha my thinking was right.
Content, Content, Content

CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT

To have any credibility as an authority you will need strong content and daily updates.

1. Develop new content
2. Your new users (traffic) will find you based on your content.
3. Your regular visitors will devour your content, to keep them happy you must provide something new.
4. See step 1

So if you want a authority site then provide unique articles and other useful stuffs to your targeted audience on a regular basis,present yourself as a brand and then everything will happen automatically for making your site an authority one.

Thanks y'all for the contribution.
The main thing I can see here is to write
good articles.... content matters alot.

Well, I have planned to start the site on Sept 1st
and i have ordered for 20 good KW reach articles
to start with... So before 20 days elapse i will have written
other articles myself as well.

Thanks y'all