5 Useful Tips To Create Unique & Authoritative Blog

After determining who the target audience for your blog is, you now need to think of how you can differentiate yourself from the competition and offer unique value. How will you grab the attention of readers who could eventually become your loyal clients or customers?

The following are steps you can take towards developing an authoritative and distinct voice in your field of expertise.

Image Credit : Kristina B [Flickr]

1. Assess your competition

When identifying your audience, you are very likely to come across your competition. With commercial blogging becoming increasingly popular, there could be a number of competitors with a presence in your niche. You need to look again to make sure you don’t miss other competitors, including blogs that are industry focused and complementary.

Once you exhaustively identify the players in your field, evaluate their methods. Can you identify the unique approach of each competitor?

2. Use lateral thinking

Many people think that unconventional creativity is the key to being unique. Though lateral thinking is important for helping you stand out, you need a logical justification for it. Lateral thinking does not mean thinking of an idea that has nothing to do with the needs of your prospective customer and audience. It is creative thinking that provides a logical link within the framework of your subject matter.

3. Identify the difference

What new perspective are your competitors not addressing? Usually, you will have a better picture of something other bloggers are touching, but not maximizing on. They are locked in a particular theme, or are too busy creating the blog to realize it. You have the advantage of having an outside view. What is not obvious to them could be your opportunity for a new approach.

Another technique is to ignore the way things are being done presently in your niche. Get ideas from the trends in other fields and come up with your own unique blogging approaches.

4. Uphold your credibility

Often, the great new approach we come up with pushes us out of our comfort zone. However, there are situations where our credibility can be compromised. When writing about a relatively new area in your field presents an opportunity, but you need to do your homework. Though blogging allows for ‘learning on the job’, make sure you don’t hide behind arrogance or false confidence.

5. Communicate the value

Many times, people fail to communicate their distinct benefits to readers. No matter how clear you think your values are, you need to directly communicate what makes you, your blog and your business unique. More specifically, you need to make it clear how the reader will benefit from that uniqueness.