I do not like to consider myself an expert. Being an expert means that you know everything that there is to know about a given topic, subject or whatever. The dictionary defines an expert as “a person who has a comprehensive and authoritative knowledge of or skill in a particular area.” That definition doesn’t bother me. The problem lies in people’s expectations of what that means. We are becoming an all or nothing, with me or against me society. We’re all trying to cut in front of each other in line to get to the head of it, to land that new client. Positioning yourself as the expert on a topic is now seen as being the #1 authority on the topic. Frankly, I find that to be a big arrogant, and misleading. There seem to be a lot of experts out there. Sorry, I don’t buy it.
Why it matters:
I am NEVER going to stop trying to learn more and get better at what I do. I am NEVER going to think that I know everything about SEO, and that I am the best out there. Because that would be a lie. Rather, I would prefer that you call me an SEO Maven. A maven knows a lot about a subject, but is constantly trying to improve and get better at something. That’s more like it. I like the sound of that better. Don’t you?
Does that mean I’m not that good at SEO?
No. It doesn’t mean that at all. As a matter of fact, I get really good results for my clients. They are some of the people referring to me as an SEO Expert. Feel free to ask them, I can put you in touch with a few. And come to think of it, I get a lot of my new SEO clients from those SEO Experts out there that fail to deliver results.
So, in closing, my clients are happy and call me their “SEO Guy” or “SEO Expert”. But, you’ll never hear me say it.
This is a picture of the plant in my office. I like it.
