Solving Problems to Boost Your Authority

by Rico on November 18th, 2008

Here’s yet another reason why blogs are great for freelancers. As an authority-building exercise, you can answer questions and give advice on your blog. Dosh Dosh does a great job of listing some key benefits of setting up an advice column. Less clear is how to get a steady inflow of questions to answer in the first place.

It’s doubtful that anyone will send you questions to build your authority on right away, especially if you’re just starting your blog. Here’s were using your real-life experiences come in.

Formulate Your Own Questions and Answers

Just keep an open mind, and eventually you will witness someone—sometimes yourself—dealing with a problem. If it’s someone else, you don’t even have to approach them with an answer. Indeed, he or she may find your unsolicited advice insulting.

What you can do is, try to break down the problem yourself, and come up with an insightful solution. Take the time to list down the quick fixes and common answers, then try to come up with something new. It doesn’t have to be completely different. Sometimes all it takes is literally a new way of looking at things.

If you’re the one experiencing the problem, you’re in a better position to analyze the solution—after all, you came up with it—and see how effective it is. In the case of someone else, if you can, try to discuss the problem with him or her. Not only are you actually helping that person deal with their problem, you can use that discussion as fodder for your authority-establishing resolution.

Authority-Establishing Resolution

Armed with something to write about, you can concentrate now on presenting the question or problem, and answer it with your insightful solution. Here’s where you really have to take your time, concentrating on explaining the various aspects of the problem, and following it up with a concise, comprehensive, and effective resolution.

Then, after showing that you can deal with an everyday problem and resolve it with unusual or distinctive methodology, you can now start asking your blog readers to ask you their own questions, or share their own problems.

Granted, for this to work, your blog needs some significant exposure to get any appreciable amount of replies to sift through. Yet you only need one call for help to work on, and continue to build your reputation as an authority who can solve the problems of your readers.

You don’t even have to use the traditional question-and-answer format. If there’s anything I’ve learned from building up a significant blog readership, it’s that readers are always looking for answer and solutions to their own problems. That’s definitely a need I’ve always tried my best to fill. Sometimes all you need to do is write about a common problem, and come up with your own compelling solution. That definitely goes a long way in attracting new readers, and more importantly, people who believe that you have authority as a freelancer in your respective field.

Tags: advice columns, authority building, questions & answers

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