I'm The Best Internet Marketer in the World!

Yup, it's cool.

Also, You're one of the coolest dudes here Ron... even if you weren't jokin'.. I'd still respect you

Peace

Jay

Hi Ron,

Thanks for the reply.

So how would one become such? Or alternatively, how could one get to that point in the most efficient manner? Perhaps they could set out in the same way that they intend to continue? Why the rush?

Personally, I have taken note of many warriors here purely on the basis of one well thought out contribution. I've sometimes then looked at some of their previous posts. Many times, after realising how I am impressed with their posts/outlook/contribution, I have also noticed that they have very few posts - but this changes nothing. I still class them as extremely knowledgeable/someone with an interesting/helpful perspective. My point - surely if I do this, there are others that do this too?

In other words it only takes one (or two) posts to win me over. The one thing that puts me off more than anything is if they seem far too keen to try and convince the reader of their credentials in any other way than demonstrating their knowledge in the context of the thread it is placed in.

With respect, that sounds like an easy excuse for anyone to not bother to try and to then take the 'easy option' of bragging (for want of a better word.) If they are working online in any form, then there's a good chance that they have initiative and at least a sprinkling of entrepreneurial ability - and therefore it's likely that they also have knowledge derived from their own experiences plus the ability to use this to 'impress' (IE establish credibility) in the right way (by sharing this knowledge in an educated/professional manner) - hence, (again), no bragging required.

Contribute, without bragging, ideally in a way that is somehow unique.

And how much more difficult is it to implant that impression in the mind of the reader indirectly? To encourage them to feel that they have decided for themselves that your product is the best thing for them?

This is the simply the difference between professional selling vs order-taking, or persuasion vs brute-force coercion, or surreptitious suggestion vs mindless in-yer-face repetition.

I don't think it's that difficult myself, and I have faith that anyone who is profitable and survives for more than a fleeting internet moment is likely to have understood the difference and implemented it throughout their actions in order to seperate themselves from the throng and stand out as better than average - (disclaimer) - unless of course, they take the alternative route (as mentioned earlier) of using others to bolster their rep via manufactured social proof.

I agree wholeheartedly which is why I am labouring the point. Blowing one's own trumpet (or bragging or whatever) is simply the lowest common denominator in terms of doing this - even manufactured social proof through others, stands above blowing your own trumpet, regardless of whether one follows the advice given above of twisting it into something else -
At risk of repeating myself -

And I am suggesting that it is way better to encourage the prospect to make up their own mind about your credibility (in the manner that you desire), without them realising that you are doing it. Bragging simply puts them on the defensive, regardless of any follow ups designed to lessen this.

By communicating your expertise in the manner you suggest, the prospect is pushed to immediately ask themselves - 'why is this person feeling the need to brag?'

Isn't it better to avoid that issue entirely?

By 'second rate IM guru' I mean the typical IM guru who is currently the topic of many threads here in which the prospects (responders) all mention that they are less than impressed.

Take any list building thread that talks about people who simply send pitches to their churn 'n burn lists - those are the ones I am talking about - the ones who feel that they are above connecting with their prospects in any way except to send them copy/paste emails with extremely tenuous links to the flavour of the month product.

Example - seller wants to push an affiliate promotion on a list building product.

So they launch into a brief story about how they struggled for many years (just like you), until they discovered the 'key' to success - the money is in the list (yawn). And then they explain how it didn't all come together until they found the *one* product which encapsulated everything they needed to know.

It was a product by Joe Bloggs {link here} which he has now updated and is currently offering a special...blah blah...

And the next day, they use the same story (I was lost until....) to sell an entirely different product (...I found the 'key' to success which was content is king) and I found the best way to create content fit for a king was with Joe Blogg's product {link here} which he has just updated and is currently offering....blah blah....

Those are the second rate IM gurus I am referring to. And what I am saying is that in order to establish credibility (IMO), the first thing one should do is make sure to differentiate oneself from those people.

Easy way to do this? Avoid bragging and trying to sell yourself (and your products) with every paragraph you write. Allow your demonstrable expertise to do the work and the selling for you.

Sorry to use such a long, drawn out explanation, but I'm simply emphasizing the main point - I feel that the method that you have suggested is one of the least effective, and that there are many more subtle, but simple and better ways to become perceived as an expert. And that this -
...is not a good reason for others to use this method, because with the people that use this ('successful marketers') we are observing the wrong people, who are only perceived as successful in this marketplace because they continually brag, and have also skillfully manipulated others into 'blowing their trumpet' for them by affiliate promotions, JVs and other methods so that they appear to be a lot more successful than they actually are.

We have others around us who are not making as much noise, but are way more successful in the 'long' term (in internet years) and are able to continually demonstrate their ability whenever called upon. I pointed one of those out in my previous post. Most of the people who are perceived as successful in this marketplace currently have achieved success by proxy (or blatant deception and manipulation of facts) and their sand castle empires are currently crumbling.

Many of the people who are catching attention currently are relatively unknown, and if others were to suddenly start trying to reinforce their superiority with recommendation (in the typical 'I'm not really a JV partner, but we just happen to have reciprocal testimonials all over each other's sites') then it is likely to actually diminish their authority - because the market has learnt to get wise and see through these tactics. Likewise for anyone who brags - the market asks themselves what weaknesses have driven them to use such an ineffective approach.

The marketplace (in general) now values truly unsolicited testimonials like gold, and solicited ones and self-promotion as signs of desperation and failure - because the marketplace has become overwhelmed with fakers and manufacturers of false and exaggerated social proof.