Koh Samui, Thailand
After seeing another reminder from a social media site to get verified I wanted to publish this page to my blog.
Why would I publish it as a page? I intuitively felt it was the path I should take. Why was I able to take this path? I own this blog by paying for my domain and hosting. Since I invested in my domain and hosting for the prior 16 years and built this blog over the last 10 years I am fully verified, credible, trustworthy and have pretty much built my name in the blogging tips niche.
I am vetted through my blog not because I pay someone who owns a social media site to give me a blue check. Bloggers should know that getting verified on social media sites may be helpful but typically has little to do with driving high quality traffic plus blogging income. Verification comes from your blogging work not the slanted opinions of people who run sites which have nothing to do with your blogging niche.
What do the people who run these sites know about your blogging niche?
Nothing.
If someone gives me a check mark on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn, what do the vetting parties know about:
- blogging tips?
- how to run a blog successfully?
- how to conquer blogging obstacles?
The vetting parties know nothing about the prior 3 bullet points. Why would I want the seal of approval from people who know nothing about a topic that I have covered inside-out over the prior decade of my life?
People who run social media sites know how to run social media sites. Getting a check mark from them may appear to make you official but it’s kind of an apples and oranges deal when you compare their vetting with what potentially interested readers, customers and clients think about you before they decide to follow your blog, hire you or buy your premium products.
Getting verified basically means being seen as credible only for that network in the eyes of other human beings. Feel free to get verified for social media but realize that getting a check mark according to their regulations has nothing to do with the qualifications readers, customers and clients look for via your blog.
Ultimately, nobody really cares about the opinions of people from social media who give you a check mark when they visit your blog. People want helpful content from your blog. Publish that type of content and they will trust you. Trusting readers become loyal readers. Customers and clients tend to come from this lot.
I certainly do not want to dissuade anybody from getting the check mark on social. Trust your intuition on this one. Go for it if it feels like a clarifying tactic. But in the same respect, think deliberately before you go for the check mark. Doing so may be an utter waste of time because your main goals are to drive quality traffic and blogging income.
Does just getting a check mark from someone who runs a social media site drive quality traffic from those social media sites and quality income from those social media sites?
No, not really.
Publishing highly targeted, thorough content to these websites in targeted spots draws users from social media to your blog. Whether you have a check mark or not makes little difference because people want help more than anything else.
Who cares if the help comes from someone who has a check mark or does not have a check mark? It really makes no sense if you think deeply about the process.
However, most bloggers really don’t think much about the process at all. A fair number charge forward to get verified instead of realizing that on-site and off-site content are the chief factors which gain you credibility in the eyes of people who fall within your targeted readership.
I don’t mean to rail against these social media guys. Everybody has a hustle. Everybody has the right to make money however they ethically choose to do so. People can even choose to do it without any morals or ethics if they so please. But that doesn’t mean bloggers should line up to get the check mark as if this is an important factor in gaining credibility in the eyes of potential blog readers.
I am all about efficiency. I am all about effectiveness. I am all for saving time and energy by doing what brings targeted traffic and blogging income.
Getting the check mark however the process goes does not directly bring targeted traffic and blogging income because it simply means that people who own social media sites deem you as being incredible *on their networks* according to their regulations.
Unless the people who run these sites are your ideal readers then it makes no sense to get their OK.
The ones who vet you are your ideal readers. Do what earns credibility in their eyes by creating detailed, targeted content for your blog and for social media sites to draw them to your blog.
Social media users attracted to your blog by your social media content like bees to honey will gradually perceive you as being credible based on the content you publish on site, too.
What does a check mark have to do with this process?
Nothing.