How does one become a count?

Answer 1

A "Count" is the equivalent of an English Earl in the ranks of nobility, two "steps" below that of a Duke (feminine: Duchess).

The title of Count was often conferred by a monarch as an honorific title for special services rendered, without an actual feudal estate (countship, county), just a title, with or without a domain name attached to it. In the UK, the equivalent Earl is often a courtesy title for the eldest son of a duke. In the United Kingdom stringent rules apply, often a future heir has a lower ranking courtesy title; in Italy, by contrast, all the sons of certain counts are counts (contini). In Sweden there is a distinction between counts (Swedish: greve) introduced before 1809 and after. All children in countship families introduced before 1809 are called count/countess. In families introduced after 1809 only the head of the family is called count, the rest had a status similar to barons and was called Mr. and Ms./Mrs. (before the use of titles was abolished).

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Count

So, I guess that the correct answer is that you are not a Count until you are publicly declared to be one, by the reigning monarch of the nation in which you reside, and you get that public proclamation by earning it, via the performance of some deed or favor that pleases the monarch, who then ceremoniously bestows that title upon you, as a reward for whatever was the duty the subject peformed.