Establishing the Power of Authority in Your Niche Market
Have you ever dreamed about becoming an authority in your niche?
Well, you’re not alone! This is something many online marketers would like to happen, but few ever get a chance to realize that dream.
As you are probably aware already, becoming an authority is no easy feat, especially if you’re starting from scratch.
However after reading and putting into action the tips offered in this article, you’ll most likely be ahead of the majority of your competitors.
You’ll discover what being an authority really means, and have a pretty good idea about the steps needed to take you there.
While everyone’s path is different, there are still many practical tips you can follow to maximize your chances of becoming an established authority in your niche.
Let’s get started, shall we?
Develop the Power of Authority in your niche
People always look up to experts and authorities when seeking help, and they always will.
Since it’s impossible for one person to know everything, so when we need to consult the advice of others, we look to authorities on that topic to help us out.
We don’t normally just listen to anyone – and that’s a good thing.
In a nutshell, an authority is someone who is well-known and recognized as an expert in a given field. Since expert knowledge is often required, it follows that becoming an authority isn’t easy, involving many years of study and building up a reputation.
For someone who’s actively involved in a niche, it is definitely possible to develop that knowledge when given enough time and put in the hard work.
It’s a worthwhile goal to strive for, as there are many perks and benefits of being an authority.
First of all, it opens the door to a whole range of opportunities that would otherwise be out of reach.
As an authority means having people come to you with interesting, and often profitable, ideas and projects.
It also means your opinion will hold more weigh and given more respect, whether they agree with it or not.
Another definite upside is money will be easier to make than ever before, either by recommending other’s products as an affiliate or selling your own products and services.
Example: think about what happens when a TV doctor recommends a specific product – it flies off the shelves. You can do the same thing, and people will trust your recommendation and take action.
There are downsides to it, but they are few.
For one, it won’t just be opportunity that comes knocking on your door every day. It will also be people looking for handouts and free help, and this problem only gets worse as you gain more fame and recognition.
Just ask some established authorities in large niches, they get hundreds of emails like this every single day!
It can be a good problem to have though, as it means people are looking up to you and coming to you for help.
Carrying yourself like an authority
Being an authority means living up to certain ideals and expectations.
Carrying yourself like an authority is important even in the beginning stages, as it helps shape how people view you and what they think about you.
One of the most important things you can do is take every chance that comes your way to help people with their problems. People remember it and are grateful for it.
If it’s something that requires a lot of time or money to solve, just by pointing them in the right direction can be very helpful. The point is you addressed their problem and didn’t ignore them.
The more people you help, the more you’ll be recognized as a knowledgeable authority in your field.
Take every chance you get to network and make new connections, in and out of your niche.
You’ll never know when one of those connections can help you reach the next level on your journey, so don’t be too quick to rule anyone or anything out.
It’s a given that you should be modest, even when you know more about a topic than most people.
Being polite and respecting others are also good ideas – even if you can become an authority without anyone liking you, you’ll find that everything is so much easier and smoother if you avoid being rude or condescending towards others.
It doesn’t necessarily mean that you should shy away from a bit of controversy, as that can be very helpful for your reputation.
Purposely stirring things up just for the effect isn’t recommended, but don’t be afraid to go against the grain and voice an unpopular opinion if that’s really how you feel.
It will only help establish you as someone who’s honest and free thinking.
Actionable steps to become an authority
As we’ve already established, becoming an authority is rarely quick or easy.
It requires investing enough time and effort learning the ins-and-outs of the niche, and also working hard with marketing and personal branding.
>>> One thing that helps anyone who’s interested in becoming an authority is consider writing and publishing a real hard copy book.
While Kindle and ebooks remain popular today, anyone can write and publish them. They don’t scream authority like a hard copy book does, especially one that’s well received.
Now this is important, you can actually publish a book without writing a single word! You can do this by simply hiring a ghostwriter (this is actually more common than you might think).
>>> Starting a blog is practically a must, to use both for marketing and networking as well as an outlet where you can share your knowledge, inspire and build a relationship with others.
One way you can start building traffic and establishing a reputation is by guest blogging on other websites in your niche – most guest blogging arrangements allow you to place a short author bio in the post and a link pointing back to your blog.
You don’t have to be a professional writer to blog either, just know your limitations and adjust your writing style accordingly.
>>> Of course trying to become an authority while ignoring social networks is not a good idea these days.
You don’t have to be active everywhere, but you should focus on at least one popular platform where you can interact with others in your niche market directly yourself.
Whether it’s Twitter, Facebook or Google plus is up to you, but a good strategy is looking at what’s most popular in your particular niche and then focus on that one.
>>> Also, don’t forget that while social media is new and exciting, standard forums still work well to network and discuss with other people in that niche.
>>> Make an effort to teach others and help them learn more about your niche is also a great idea. That could mean anything from writing helpful tutorials to hosting webinars or even launching complete courses on the subject.
As long as you are truly helping people learn, this will give a huge boost to your authority status.
I’m an authority – now what?
When all the hard work actually starts to pay off and show results, it’s time to begin thinking about what you will do next – to ensure you keep your authority status permanently.
The one thing you don’t want to do when reaching this point is become completely passive thinking everything will last forever without having to put in any additional effort at all.
Unfortunately, that’s not how it works.
Even though you can shift into a lower gear, going into maintenance mode at this point if you want, you still need to be active.
As long as you take every opportunity you can get to further cement your authority you’re not risking as much by not working as hard as before.
You can now focus on high impact activities that make a big impression on people for best results.
However if you want to remain very active, there are a couple of options available.
There are always new areas you can try to conquer, even when you’re an established authority at this point.
For example, maybe you’ve been blogging successfully but still haven’t written a book, or you’ve built up a massive Twitter following but you’re still somewhat unknown on the large industry forums. Now’s the time to tackle those challenges!
Another option is branching out to a related niche, where you can use your existing audience to kick start this new venture.
You can help ensure that your new niche will have a good chance of being successful almost instantly is to pick one that your current following you’ve built up already has an interested in.
Final Thoughts…
Hopefully you now have a pretty good idea on what being an authority is all about, why it’s something you should strive to do and how you can potentially go about getting there.
Just remember that it isn’t something you can achieve in a month (or maybe even in a year), it requires quite a bit of dedication, focus, and hard work.
Think of it as more of a marathon than a sprint, so don’t burn yourself out too quickly trying to do everything at once.
Once you start seeing the first results from your efforts you’ll realize just how great being an authority can be. Best of luck!
