A simple change of metaphorical hats can take you from outsider to gatekeeper.
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I touched on authority in my last 'how to boost readership' article. Here, I'll dive into authority.
To start, I'm going to make up two media entities:
Show Jumping Blog
Show Jumping Magazine
Okay, right out of the gate you probably perceive a difference in authority:
"Hi, I'm Eathan. I blog at ShowJumpingBlog.com."
"Hi, I'm Eathan. I publish Show Jumping Magazine."
Okay, Show Jumping Magazine may not be Time, Newsweek, or National Geographic, but it could easily occupy the same bookstore or newsstand, and that's the better mental image.
I am not trying to denigrate blogs or blogging in any way, but there is a difference in perception. I remember telling someone I had just met that I had an ecommerce business, and they asked me, "Oh, like selling on eBay?"
"No, I have a warehouse and a forklift. It's a real business," said three-inch-tall me. There was a perception that if I wasn't Jeff Bezos, I must've been small potatoes.
Tell someone you publish a magazine and they will never say, "Oh like Geocities?"
And that's a challenge with almost any Internet business.
Your website shares the same Internet as Time.com, Newsweek.com, and NationalGeographic.com, but like it or not, it also shares the same Internet as:
sexy_mugshots_of_mississippi.blogspot.com
and
picturesofthingsmycatleftonmyporch.wordpress.com
On the flip side, magazine publishers are often looked at as subject matter experts, as real players in their industries, as power brokers.
That's the kind of authority I'm talking about - because authority is important in opening doors, making deals, appealing to advertisers.
With Show Jumping Blog, I'd have to hustle to put up content, muck up my pages with ad networks, apply to affiliate programs, and hope they said yes.
With Show Jumping Magazine, media buyers would take my calls directly. Writers would submit stories. Brands would want to appear on my pages. No amount of duck face selfies is going to achieve the same.
This takes readership, of course, but being an authoritative voice in my industry is a potent first step.
Again, I am not denigrating blogs, Instagram, Tik Tok, or YouTube. With hard work, and a dedication to content creation, they can all be great businesses, but a magazine is a step up in authority and that can make a huge difference.
Magazines have influence.
Best of all, with a magazine the model can easily rely 100% on currating other people's content.
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