You’ve spent your entire life building up a business persona, honing your expertise, and establishing yourself as an authority in your industry — now it’s time to let your work speak for itself.

Even the most successful entrepreneurs and business owners eventually hit the wall, or plateu, where they feel like their efforts aren’t paying off and they need a change. For some, that change comes in the form of an idea that completely overhauls their approach to business, for others it may mean getting out of the industry they’ve mastered, or for still others it may mean taking a more entrepreneurial approach.

If you’re at that point in your business journey where you feel like your hard work isn’t paying off and you need a change, consider what approach would suit you best, and then get to work.

Here are some of the best tips for promoting your expertise online.

Be The Go-To Person For Your Expertise

The best expert marketers become indispensable in their industry, and the same goes for you — so make sure you develop the skills to become the go-to person for your expertise. In doing so, you may find that your reputation as an expert grows faster than you can imagine, because people know where to come for advice on your specific subject matter.

To become the person who people turn to when they need help with your area of expertise, you need to establish yourself as an expert in the first place. That means you’ll have to do your research, and ensure that you possess the knowledge base to back up your opinion. If you’re still learning, then make sure that you continually research and educate yourself on new developments in your industry.

A key point to make here is that people aren’t just going to automatically assume that you’re an expert in your industry because you have the title — they’ll have to go through your public profile, website, and social media accounts to come to that conclusion. Therefore, make sure that you work hard to establish yourself as the authoritative voice in your industry, and do everything in your power to maintain that reputation.

Create A Blog

Blogs are incredibly popular today, and for good reason — they’re a great way to establish yourself as an expert in your industry. Blogging is also a fantastic way to create and maintain a public profile, and to add value to the Web content that people are consuming.

The best online marketers and business owners have entire blogs that they use to maintain a curated, comprehensive list of their work, and to share their expertise with the world. Keep in mind that, if you want to establish yourself as an expert, then your blog doesn’t have to be perfect — it just has to be better than the average blog.

The number of blogs that exist solely to promote a product or service is becoming less and less, as blogs have become so popular that marketers have had to find ways to add value to the content that they’re producing — make sure that you establish yourself as a source of quality information, and people will come back to you.

Host An Online Lecture

Having a lecture series about your expertise on YouTube or a Google Hangout is one of the simplest and most effective ways of promoting yourself online as an expert. People love to learn, and when you can establish yourself as a knowledgable source of information on a certain subject, you’re bound to grow your audience quickly.

To really stand out from the crowd, and establish yourself as an expert in your industry, give a lecture about something that you’re an expert in. Doing so will give you the opportunity to spread your knowledge and establish yourself as an authoritative voice in your industry — and who doesn’t want to be considered an expert in something, even if it’s something they’re not?

The key to making an online lecture work is to ensure that you’re educating and inspiring people, while also establishing yourself as the authority in your industry. The best online lectures are those that provide viewers with both value and understandability, and ensure that viewers come away with new knowledge, even if they understood everything going on before the lecture started.

Create YouTube Videos

YouTube is one of the largest platforms, if not the largest, for online video, and for good reason — it’s incredibly popular, with over 1.8 billion monthly active users. In 2020, 48.2 million Americans watched the platform’s videos, while another 59.5 million used it occasionally.

The best online marketers, entrepreneurs, and business owners use YouTube to establish their expertise, to provide tips and tricks, and to showcase how they’re solving problems in their industry. Create videos that are informative, and add value to your industry — if you can get a hold of a microphone, then make sure that you use it, regardless of whether you have any experience as a public speaker or not.

You don’t need to be an expert in video editing to produce a good video — quality software, like Vidyard, can be used to convert any image or video into a high-quality online video, which you can then upload to YouTube, or another video hosting website.

Use Analytics To Your Advantage

You’d think that getting a free analytics tool like Google Analytics would be enough, but even the most basic tools like this one can identify which of your videos are performing the best, and how you can improve them to maximize your viewership.

More and more people are watching videos on their smartphones, tablets, and computers — so it’s important that you have a clear view of how audiences are interacting with your content, and what can be improved upon. To get the most out of your analytics, make sure that you analyze each piece of content independently, and get a full picture of what’s performing well, and what needs to be changed to increase engagement.

Use Other Channels

While blogs, YouTube videos, and online lectures are all incredibly popular ways of promoting yourself as an expert in your industry, you can still use other platforms, like Twitter, to establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry as well.

One of the best ways of connecting with other people, and getting the word out about your expertise, is Twitter. With over 300 million monthly active users, it is one of the largest platforms, if not the largest, for online communication. Although, initially developed as a tool for athletes and celebs, today it’s used by everyone, from major brands to solo entrepreneurs, to create and sustain a following.

If you can get a large enough audience on Twitter, you can use the platform to further establish yourself as an expert in your industry, and even make money online.

Even if you don’t use social media to make money, you should still have a presence on Twitter, because it’s such a valuable tool for online marketing and business development. Make sure that you’re using this channel for quality content, and to establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry — if you can do that, then you can build a following and become even more valuable to business and industry.

In addition to blogs and social media, you should also look to establish yourself as an expert in other ways — like through books, articles, and speaking opportunities. When you’ve attained enough credibility, you’ll be able to command higher fees and have more opportunities to make a difference.