25 replies
Hey guys, what is the difference between saying you are an expert and guru?

Is one title supposedly better than the other to have?
#expert #guru
  • Profile picture of the author Matt Bard
    You can be a guru without being an expert.

    A guru is one who has a following regardless of knowledge.

    Since this business relies on traffic it would appear that being a guru with followers would be better for business.

    But what do you do when the followers quit following?

    I'd rather be an expert.

    Matt
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    • Profile picture of the author Ralf Skirr
      Originally Posted by Matt M View Post

      You can be a guru without being an expert.

      A guru is one who has a following regardless of knowledge.

      Since this business relies on traffic it would appear that being a guru with followers would be better for business.

      But what do you do when the followers quit following?

      I'd rather be an expert.

      Matt
      Hm, why not being guru and expert at the same time?

      An expert with guru status will have it much easier to earn money than an expert who is completely unknown.

      Also once someone is considered guru it is highly unlikely that all the followers would quit following. Any guru would have to screw up very badly - and that probably means he wasn't an expert after all.

      Ralf
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      • Profile picture of the author Matt Bard
        Originally Posted by Ralf Skirr View Post

        Hm, why not being guru and expert at the same time?
        Agree and it would be the optimal solution but I thought the OP wanted to know the difference and if there is a difference which would be better.

        In my mind, it would be better to know how to get followers whenever you needed as opposed to relying on your charisma.

        Knowing how to do something stays with you and charisma is fleeting.

        Matt
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        • Profile picture of the author tryinhere
          Originally Posted by Matt M View Post

          In my mind, it would be better to know how to get followers whenever you needed as opposed to relying on your charisma.
          A true leader only needs to look behind to see who is following.
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      • Profile picture of the author cdhartpence
        Originally Posted by Ralf Skirr View Post

        Hm, why not being guru and expert at the same time?

        An expert with guru status will have it much easier to earn money than an expert who is completely unknown.

        Also once someone is considered guru it is highly unlikely that all the followers would quit following. Any guru would have to screw up very badly - and that probably means he wasn't an expert after all.

        Ralf
        So...sort of an "Exru" or "Guspert"

        I like it.

        -=Vel=-
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        • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
          Banned
          Originally Posted by cdhartpence View Post

          So...sort of an "Exru" or "Guspert"

          I like it.

          -=Vel=-
          or how about ExGoo? I like it.
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          • Profile picture of the author Tina Golden
            If you choose to call yourself a guru, you are not one. Others decide whether you are a guru or not.

            A guru can be an expert but not necessarily so.

            Tina
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            • Profile picture of the author dljmktg1
              Originally Posted by TMG Enterprises View Post

              If you choose to call yourself a guru, you are not one. Others decide whether you are a guru or not.

              A guru can be an expert but not necessarily so.

              Tina

              Exactly what I was going to say. Besides, with all the bashing going on lately, why would you want to call yourself one?

              Dan
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        • Profile picture of the author CDarklock
          Originally Posted by cdhartpence View Post

          So...sort of an "Exru" or "Guspert"
          Spurting goo isn't the image I want my customers to have of me.
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          "The Golden Town is the Golden Town no longer. They have sold their pillars for brass and their temples for money, they have made coins out of their golden doors. It is become a dark town full of trouble, there is no ease in its streets, beauty has left it and the old songs are gone." - Lord Dunsany, The Messengers
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          • Profile picture of the author trilogy09
            I don't recommend ever referring to yourself as a "guru" simply bc/ at this day and age most people who have basic knowledge in internet marketing see these individuals as bad. Guru's are typically the people that scam others in to following their programs and it is rarely true to find a guru who is also an expert. Stay away from using this word to describe yourself if you want respect for your knowledge in internet marketing.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jason H
    Right now, I'm thinking being an expert is better for the customer in terms of content wise, but a guru is just a celebrity, who may or may not be useful for learning from who is just purely for entertainment, contrasted to an expert who provides expertise.
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  • Profile picture of the author Patricia1
    My husband refers to me as a Gnu, not the same as Guru is it?

    Anyway, expert or guru I'd prefer one or the other.

    Patricia
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  • Profile picture of the author tknoppe
    My thoughts are, you can call yourself an expert, based on your experience level and knowledge.

    'Guru' status is a title given to you by someone else or a group of people and may or may not have much to do with your actual experience. I agree, the guru title has more to do with celebrity. A charismatic personalty can attract a lot of followers, but that does not always equate to experience on their part.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mukul Verma
    Experts based on experienced.
    Guru based on following and training skills more soo..

    I am a expert at Video Marketing (1.3 million views on You Tube), I am not a Guru by far at it.

    I think Guru start as experts in one area, then get more focused on the teaching, training and getting followers business, that the knowledge is a smaller part of the formula.

    I like learning from experts!!!1
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  • Profile picture of the author Andyhenry
    Being an expert and being a guru are both subjective things that other people attribute to you. Although it's possible to prove you're an expert- but not sure about Guru.
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    nothing to see here.

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  • Profile picture of the author Amitywill
    A Guru is a teacher. And you know what they say about teachers...

    "Those that can't do teach".

    That's why most of these 'Gurus' only make their money by doing
    product launches i.e. teaching.

    I'm an expert at SEO and converting traffic that's how I make my money
    and I don't have any followers but I probably make more money than
    quite a few of these 'Gurus' without all the hassle of doing customer
    service and running a stressful product launch.

    Plus if I ever got called a Guru I'd probably want to shoot myself in the
    head because then it would put me in the same category as all those
    sleazy marketers that only make money by releasing crap to the newbies.

    So I'd go with Expert over Guru.

    Will
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    • Profile picture of the author Jason H
      Originally Posted by Amitywill View Post

      A Guru is a teacher. And you know what they say about teachers...

      "Those that can't do teach".

      That's why most of these 'Gurus' only make their money by doing
      product launches i.e. teaching.

      I'm an expert at SEO and converting traffic that's how I make my money
      and I don't have any followers but I probably make more money than
      quite a few of these 'Gurus' without all the hassle of doing customer
      service and running a stressful product launch.

      Plus if I ever got called a Guru I'd probably want to shoot myself in the
      head because then it would put me in the same category as all those
      sleazy marketers that only make money by releasing crap to the newbies.

      So I'd go with Expert over Guru.

      Will

      Interesting, "guru" does sound like it has a snake-oil salesman connotation to it, while an "expert" has their own specialty into helping other people with their own expertise and is more qualified.
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  • Profile picture of the author ibok10
    You can be a guru without being an expert. A guru is one who has a following regardless of knowledge.
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    • Profile picture of the author Jason H
      Originally Posted by ibok10 View Post

      You can be a guru without being an expert. A guru is one who has a following regardless of knowledge.
      If that is the case, then what is the point of learning from a guru? Gurus are then just celebrity with a strong cult follower and has extreme social proof, only there for entertainment.
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    • Profile picture of the author WD Mino
      Hi,

      guru is often associated with indian (india hinduism)teachers prophets and or gods.
      however there is other definitions for the word which means a leader in their field. a leader in their field? wouldn't an expert be a leader in their field?
      Seems to me the word though corny means the same thing. a guru that has a following only would pertain to the teachers in the hindu religion otherwise if one is called a guru it is trying to relate they are leaders the president of the US is a guru. the prime minister of my country Canada is a guru they are leaders in their field.
      So to bash someone because they are called a guru doesn't make any sense.

      I must say i chuckled over this it really does only take a couple seconds to look the word up ;=)

      -WD
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      "As a man thinks in his heart so is he-Proverbs 23:7"

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  • Profile picture of the author Erik Ortega
    From my experience, I think an expert can show you exactly how to make money and teach you how to make it work for you where as a guru talks about what worked for them and leaves it at that. Not very personalized.

    A lot more entails each side but i think i'd rather have an expert then a guru on my site.
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    Be extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious, even to the point of soundlessness. Thereby you can be the director of the opponent's fate.- Sun Tzu

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    • Profile picture of the author Lance K
      Guru is to Expert as Square is to Rectangle.
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      "You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want."
      ~ Zig Ziglar
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  • Profile picture of the author sdentrepreneur
    Good point Erik, you become an Expert by putting in the time training yourself to become one. I laugh at some of these affiliate links, people calling them self an Expert pitching a landing/squeeze page someone else built. Sad....
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  • Profile picture of the author dsmpublishing
    Hi guys

    i would prefer to be an expert any day after all we all spend a lot of our time slating a guru for one reason or another. I mean how many times have you read on the warrior that a certain guru posts to their mailing list everyday when we are told that we must do the complete opposite?

    With a guru you are also expected to have a knowledge of a number of things and to break into internet marketing as a newbie you need to only be experienced in one small subject.

    This could be for example someone that is really good with CPA could be a CPA expert even though they dont even know how to build a mailing list.

    If you are to use the wf as an example you could say that it is a forum with many experts in totally different fields that are here to help people.

    kind regards


    sam
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