How to Become a Trusted Go-To Source for Content in Your Market

As you likely already know, creating content is one of the keys to building a thriving online business (especially an infoproduct business). You need content to:

• Generate traffic.
  
  
• Convert this traffic into subscribers.
  
  
• Build relationships with your prospects.
  
  
• Convert prospects into buyers.

And of course if you’re selling infoproducts, then you also need plenty of content in the form of lead magnets,  ebooks, videos, and more to sell to your customers.

Now here’s the thing…

None of this content is going to be all that effective if you’re not considered an expert/authority or the “go to” source for a specific topic in your market.

Makes sense, right? If no one has ever really heard of you, then they’re not going to beat down your virtual door to get their hands on your content.

So, the question is, how do you become the “go to” source for trusted content in your niche?

Hint: it’s not a “one and done” sort of thing. Instead, you need to take multiple steps on a consistent basis to build and protect your brand reputation as a trusted source.

Here’s how to do it…

Specialize in One Topic

Don’t try to be a Jack of all trades in your niche. Instead, find one topic and specialize in it. Ideally, this should be a topic that others aren’t specializing in too, or one that you can compete in because you have some special qualifications.

This doesn’t mean you can’t create content around other related topics. It just means you want to develop a reputation as the “go to” source for one specialized topic.

For example, maybe you’re selling bodybuilding information. You can write about all sorts of bodybuilding topics, but perhaps you specialize in narrow topic, such symmetry, or the best leg exercises, or “peaking” at the right time for competitions.

To really make this effective, you may want to introduce some branding that emphasizes your specialization. Let’s go back to the bodybuilding example, and let’s suppose you’re the expert at helping people build symmetry with their physique before a competition. Whenever you sign your name, it might look something like this: “John Doe, Symmetry Specialist.”

Another example: “Jane Doe, the Tomato-Growing Girl.”

Next…

Offer Breaking News And Solutions

Part of becoming a “go to” source is being the first to share news in your niche, especially with regards to how the news impacts your audience and any related advice you can give to them. In particular, focus on sharing news related to your specialty topic.

Example: sticking to our fitness theme, lots of gyms temporarily closed of late, with A LOT of people finding themselves stuck at home with no clue how to maintain the fitness. This means as the news brakes that the gyms would be closing you could be Jonny on the spot and offer home-based workout training. 

This is where specialization really helps. 

Take Crossfit for example. That type of training requires some pretty specific equipment that very few people have at the house. Crossfitters are also crazy fanatical, so if you create a home workout specifically for Crossfit enthusiast you instantly become the "go to" resource. All you have to do is tailor your advice to solve a problem created by a current event.

Next...

Make a Great Impression

The key here is to make sure every piece of content you publish is high-quality and looks great. This means doing the following:

• Creating well-written, engaging, educating content.
• Designing the interior of the product so that it looks polished and professional.
• Getting professional Graphics done.

If you can’t do any of these things yourself, then the good news is it's easy and inexpensive to outsource these tasks to professionals. You can post projects on sites like Upwork.com, Guru.com and Fiverr.com.

Share Good Content for Free

The idea behind this strategy is to share the high-caliber content for free that others charge for. Not only does this help establish you as the “go to” source in your market, but it also makes people figure your paid content must be REALLY good since your free content provides more value than most.

Provide Something Fresh

Part of becoming the go-to source of content means that you can’t just share the same type of content that everyone else is sharing. In order to develop a reputation as an expert/authority in your niche, you need to share content that others aren’t sharing.

If you can pioneer a strategy, that’s awesome. If you can share a tip that you’ve never seen anyone else share, that’s good too. 

Now, I know this can seem easier said than done but here are ways to share unique content:

Create a case study or experiment. While others may also do case studies or experiments, no two are the same.

Tell a personal story. For example, did you have to overcome some sort of obstacle before getting results in the niche? Do you have an embarrassing story to share? While others may share stories, your story is unique to you. Not only do stories make your content more memorable, it also helps you engage readers on an emotional level.

Share information in a unique way. For example, if everyone shares information in text-format in your niche, then you can stand out by sharing short videos. (This also helps humanize you and builds trust in your audience.)