Blog Tipz

Bloggers will often refer to other bloggers, and sometimes themselves, as the “authority” in their niche.  Often people, both offline and online, compete to become the most “powerful” and respected person/company in respect to the entire group.  In a sense, blogging is no different.  Once you have transformed your once worthless blog into something that others can link back to and claim that what you know must be right, it is definitely a great position that others want to be in.

photo credit: Matti Mattila

And no, I am not referring to Technorati Authority, or the number of links/backlinks/trackbacks your blog has received compared to other blogs.  This is a whole different spectrum – the ability to become an authoritarian in your blog niche.

By Definition, What Does “Authority” Mean?

Definition Sources

There are several different meanings, with the ones relative to this topic defined as:

• the power or right to give orders or make decisions
• persons/people who exercise control over others
• an expert whose views are taken as definitive
• belief in yourself and your abilities
• an authoritative written work

Clearly, I have eliminated a few of the results, using ones that relate more to the topic being mentioned.  Each of these terms can correlate with blog authority, while the third in the list most correctly relates to blogging, or being an “expert.”

For the sake of the argument and for the rest of the post, we’ll summarize the definitions and use “power” and “expert.”

Building An Accurate Definition Built on Accepted Knowledge

You’ve started a new blog, have no daily visitors, besides the ones received through spiders and web crawlers, and you have little new content.  No planning of any kind has been completed prior to paying for the domain and hosting.  

While this may not be the best place to start, it is where many begin their blogging “career” and the whole scenario can change in less than a year or two.  Not an entirely long period of time when you look at the whole realm of the scene, but hundreds of hours of work are ahead of the person/people who are in this particular scenario.  

The ideal predicament to be in at this point would be educated in either a single or multiple fields; the second option the more desirable situation.  Using this knowledge, preferably in both the web and separate online/offline field, you could quickly use your knowledge to leverage visitors to your site.  Otherwise, there will need to be a lot of learning to do in the field that you have interest in, so it’ll take the utmost time and devotion to achieve this.  

Building up your name, blog, or company to this level of success and attribution takes quite a bit of time, and by the time you feel you have reached this level, the other group of people already at this level are even stronger.

How to Become An Authority

If you want to become known as an authority, you can’t continue doing something that isn’t getting you ahead.  Try a few of these methods to launch your blog to success.

• Speak with Authority - People that want to be an authority on a subject must exhibit that they know what they are talking about.  The main reason for this?  Visitors to your blog must be drilled with the idea that you “know your stuff,” so they will subscribe and likely regard you as an authority until you prove otherwise.  Be sure that your content is top-notch without any errors or grammatical mistakes.
• Don’t Assimilate Your Readers - Readers absolutely despise people who run blogs and don’t answer their comments, emails, and simply disrespect them.  If you don’t have the time to manage your email and comments effectively, consider outsourcing support to another group of people that can do the job right.  In addition, don’t fill every part of your blog with advertisements – popups, keyword-stuffed text to the point that it is noticeable, and Google AdSense ads in the header, within posts, in the sidebar, footer, and in your feeds.
• Communicate with Everyone - Technical jargon for commonplace should be avoided at all cost.  Simplify your content so nearly everyone can read and understand it.  If that means adding a disambiguation of each word, or other meanings/terms for the word, do so.  It’ll allow readers of both a higher knowledge level of the subject and those of a lower level understand what you are trying to explain, without needing to divert from your content to look up the meaning of a particular word.
• Create a One-Stop Website for Research - Websites can generally be classified into two categories: those that provide something in high demand and those that provide timeless knowledge and research.  Become experienced in what you are writing about, and don’t limit the ideas and thoughts that you want to share with visitors.  Cover as wide a spectrum of your niche as possible, exploring into new areas for additional sources of post ideas.
• Defy Odds - Bloggers that have started out with nothing – no experience and no prior knowledge – and who then become world-renowned for what they have done, defying the perspective held by many people, can be one of the best accomplishments that many want to be attributed to.  Create something that no one else has ventured to do, and promote that differently than everyone else.  Success only comes when you experiment and think outside of the box that you have formed.  Break apart from what is accepted of you.
• Cut No Corners - Don’t follow the path of many other bloggers. Spend the five to ten dollars that it costs to register a domain, and the one hundred or so it costs to host your site on a quality hosting plan – many come with a free domain as long as you register it with them and continue using their service.  The best advice that many other bloggers and I now give is to begin in this way.  You can still use Blogger, TypePad, and Movable Type, or nearly any other service, then register a domain to redirect from your .blogservice.com sub-domain.  In the end, the cost of hosting and the domain will be minimal to the advertising opportunities and readership that is gained using your own domain.
• Timing, Timing, Timing - Launching a blog may not have been on your mind a few years ago, but now that many people can attribute blogging as a legitimate job, more people jump on the bandwagon each day.  There is no reason that you couldn’t have been there in the forefront, making dramatic changes to the way people think, you likely chose not to do so or didn’t perform the right steps to get yourself there.
• Inform Readers on News Affecting Them - Authority bloggers are often first to break news (relative to other blogs) on important issues that affect the targeted audience of their blog.  It isn’t simply the fact that they were able to spot and decipher the important news from the lackluster, but they are also able to eliminate the content that doesn’t concern their readers.  Many of the stories that they find are delivered straight to their inbox from networking contacts or directly to their feed reader, making it easier for them to get the word out on new startups, services, and events.
• Be a Networker and Someone that Puts Visitors First - Reader satisfaction is an important factor when expanding and building your blog.  If you don’t listen to readers and answer any questions that visitors have – through the comments area or through you email, these visitors will think that you have objectives other than developing a site built for your visitors.  Great networkers have thousands of contacts, which are useful for starting new sites, launching services, and sharing recently posted content.

Additional Tips to Follow

Building authority can be a daunting task for many people that are just starting out.  Here are a few additional, smaller tips to help you optimize your blog so visitors regard you as a leader in your niche.

• Add Images To Posts - When images are added to complement your content, it adds a visual appeal that can’t be beat when it comes to the level of visitors that convert into subscribers.  A higher subscriber count, as many have found, leads many others to follow suit, subscribing to your blog simply because others have.  Sex doesn’t sell when it comes to being a professional blogger and gaining respect in your niche.
• Empower Your Blog Design to Work for Your Content - A blog design says a lot about the type of blog you run.  Find a theme that works for both you, your personality, and your topic/niche.  Unless you have a real reason to use the default theme, find a unique layout, tweak another one, or hire someone to create one for you.
• Navigation - The Internet isn’t an easy place to navigate for some.  Simplify your menus, content structure, tags, and categories, so readers are offered a broad spectrum, instead of having to search (albeit not in alphabetical order) thousands of tags and categories.  The most organized sites limit the number of categories and tags they use to <20 categories and <80/100 tags.  On this blog, I have found it much easier to navigate and manage the tags, categories, and posts using a highly organized structure that allows any visitor to find exactly what they may be looking for.
• Write World-Class Copy - Take the time to experiment with several different post titles.  You can have great content, but if your headlines don’t grab their attention, visitors won’t read any more than your blog title.  In a sense, the way you write your post titles throughout your blog can either make or break your success.  
• Format Your Posts Appropriately - In the process of formatting your posts, add headings, blockquotes, use bold and italic text, and make it all easy to read for both visitors and subscribers.  Add ordered and unordered lists where appropriate.
• Advertising - It is only natural that most people want something in return for the work put into their blog, whether in the form of comments, traffic, or in most cases – money.  You have to be willing to accept that you will not make money from day one.  Judge your traffic levels, set goals, and add advertisements when you have reached a certain amount of daily visitors, and have a minimum of a hundred or more posts.
• Post Often and Consistently - It goes without saying blogs that don’t update often are generally regarded as owned by people that can’t manage their time effectively and make time to post a few short articles each week.  Unless you have multiple writers for your blog, you should aim for at least one post a week, if not more.  Daily posting is not always necessary to achieve the status of authority blogger.
• Don’t be Timid/Shy/Nervous - People that don’t take risks aren’t the ones that succeed at what they need to accomplish.  If you are afraid to connect with other people, you won’t be able to grow your network, ideas, and ultimately your gains will be limited.  Venture down avenues that you haven’t personally explored before, and you can find what works for you.
• Link, Direct, and Follow - With more than a trillion different individual web pages on the web, it can be impossible for others to find your tiny blog unless you link to larger, higher authority sites, write reviews of other sites/services (relative to your blog), and high quality, human-edited directories.  Eventually, these bloggers will visit your blog, link back to you, or even mention you in a post.
• Show Others What You Can Do - Guest post, comment, and simply share your knowledge through multiple forms of media – ebooks, resources, and newsletters to continue spreading word about the content that you are able to produce.  It wont’ take long before the people are using these resources to build their own blog.

Why Everyone Can’t Be an Authority

New opportunities and niches are created everyday.  While many of these aren’t quite as popular as the ones that have been developed over time, they are certainly there.  Discovering a category in one of these “sub-niches” can be quite a challenge, as they are often so specific that there isn’t an audience wide enough to target content for.  Whens the Internet was “new” according to most people ten to fifteen years ago, these niches were forming, being exploited, and now the remaining people that are often regarded as “authorities” in their niche are living successfully.

Even though many of the people that started these sites cashed out a long time ago, the remaining people are now persistent in trying to continue staying where they are and undermining the bloggers (or anyone, for that matter) who are trying to “compete” against them.  

A hundred percent of people aren’t able to get to the same level as someone else, unless they have the same level of knowledge, background, determination, mindset, and hundreds of other qualities that make these people what they are – authorities.

The Final Thoughts

It’s hard to judge your success when you have just recently launched a blog, but the best advice that anyone can give is to continuously experiment and adapt knowledge that has become standard from the “authorities.”  However, not everything these bloggers throw your way will help you grow your small blog.  You can’t simply expect to be regarded as an authority after writing a few great posts, but after at least a year of hard work and dedication.  At this point, you can relish in the success that you have attained to date, then continue optimizing your blog until you sit with the “big guys.”