I have been exploring the website a little bit, and I notice that most of the users vote for highly rated members (imagine that) when they pick their answer choice. Clearly, there is very good reason for this (in fact I notice a strong correlation between brilliant answers and member rating), yet I am wondering how to answer someone's question, and get chosen as an answer choice ; this poses a problem, considering a low rated member's opinion is more than likely to be eclipsed by a more notable user (clearly, there is good reason for this). I really like this website, and I would like to use it in order to educate myself, and help others educate themselves.
So, my question is: What do you find to be the most effective method to answer a person's question? What idiosyncrasies separate good answers from great ones?