Why You Need Street Cred + 23 Ways to Earn It

Too Legit to Quit - 11x14 Poster Etsy
11X14 Poster by OhDierLiving

Street Cred (n.) short for street credibility: a level of respect in an environment due to experience in or knowledge of issues affecting those environments

How do you establish yourself, your business, blog, and your brand? You need some street creds, yo! Both success and credibility take time and hard work. Once you earn it- others will associate value, quality, and trust with your content and products.

“To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; credible we must be truthful.”-Edward R. Murrow

Here’s how you’ll get it:

  1. Write a bad ass bio. ( 5 Cheat-o-licious Tricks from the vocabuarlian gangster herself, Alexandra Frazen)
  2. Great product photography.
  3. Bloggin’. Make genuine connections & share your genius with the world.
  4. Claim your domain!  YourName.com means you have a presence.  Presence=credibility.
  5. Post videos. No idea where to start? Vblogging 101 with Mayi Carles.
  6. Engaging Website + Interesting Content
  7. Write Guest Posts! Most if not all online publications are always itching for sparkly new content- How to Ethically + Successfully Pitch to Blogs via Miss Modish
  8. Start a podcast.
  9. Twitter – connect, discover, posse up (see #19)
  10. Use your Twitter favorites as your testimonials.  Someone say something nice about you on Twitter? Favorite it.
  11. Facebook Page, Tumblr, Pinterest… all that social media jazz.
  12. Improve your SEO
  13. Collaborate.
  14. Start a newsletter.
  15. Pitch local news.  Want to come on and talk about your expertise? Pick up the phone and talk to your local producer.  Once you say you’ve been on local news, you are much more likely to book bigger appearances. You’ll rock the interview.
  16. Testimonials. Testimonials. Testimonials and feedback. Share that shiz.
  17. Get a fancy signature… for your emails. Professional looking & personalized- be sure to include who you are, what you do, & where you can connect.  I use wisestamp (its Free!)
  18. Write an e-book.
  19. Get involved locally. Share your genius with your own community- host a workshop, DIY, volunteer.
  20. Posse up aka street cred by association. True influence + authority comes from relationships- who are you hangin’ with?
  21. Walkin the walk. Talking the talk – Bottom line, Do what you say your going to & don’t be a poser.
  22. Source it. 1/2 ethics 1/2 homework. Sharing statistics, information, photographs- add a footnote. Anyone can throw information onto the information highway but people can’t argue the facts.
  23. Contribute to About.com or publish a Squidoo lens. This proves you have expertise on a subject. Here’s mine.

Join Jenelle & editor Jessika tomorrow from 1-2EST for an #OMHG chat on how building your street cred/reputation can help build your community! 

What actions are you taking to get the street cred you and your business deserve?

15 comments

  1. Brooke (DesignedByBH) says:

    I absolutely love this post. The information is invaluable and I love fun delivery. I hope to meet all of you guys (TrasnN2Tees, OMHG, etc) somtime!

  2. Geri says:

    I just favorited a tweet cause someone said something great – FANTASTIC tip!

    And that was one of many in this great post – keep up your awesome, Jenelle 😉

  3. Jenelle says:

    Hey Brooke! Thank you so much for droppin by- if you’re twittering… we’ll be hanging out at #OMHG tomorrow from 1-2EST & we would love to see your badass self there too.

    Be sure to take some time to discover all the little gems I’ve tucked into the post too- awesome resources that will have you poppin’ your collar in no time! ((even if its only to yourself in the mirror))

  6. Clare says:

    Jenelle, I LOVE this! I have written loads of stuff in my notebook – stuff I know I’ll keep coming back to!
    I am too excited to get tweeting tomorrow. See you then!

Comments are closed.