The fastest way to the blog cemetery is to write a nondescript, vague blog that has no focus, no central theme, and no specific audience.
Once you have your main concept in place, the next most important step is to determine for whom you’re writing your content.
Before you answer, know that your answer can’t be “everybody.”
This is when you have to put on your marketing hat and think like a professional.
“Everybody” doesn’t love the television show Everybody Loves Raymond. Everybody doesn’t like Matt Lauer or enjoy Lancome cosmetics.
So everybody won’t enjoy your blog.
You need to figure how who will.
Isn’t My Audience Going to Be Obvious?
Before you go trying to figure out whom your audience is, you have to first accept that your audience may not be whom you want them to be.
Confused? Don’t be.
Many celebrities and musicians have fan bases they didn’t necessarily cultivate on purpose.
If you visit online fan websites or watch red carpet affairs on entertainment television, you’ll notice that the online posters or screaming fans are not always who you might expect.
And those celebrities and movie stars might have been surprised in the beginning to find out which demographics appreciate their work, but they are happy to take the fans they get. You should be, too.
For example, you might start a cooking blog intended for women.
You might post lots of pictures of appetizing entries and colorful desserts, alongside you as you pose with your creations.
It’s conceivable that more men, who may have absolutely zero interest in cooking, visit your website than women.
They might just enjoy looking at the delicious-looking food, or the attractive woman who is creating the awesome blog.
It’s your job to determine who your readers are, and then to write for them.
How Do I Figure Out Who My Audience Is?
There are several ways to figure out who your audience is.
One example is to create an online forum on your site where members can talk to one another and share comments about your site.
Since most commenters choose usernames that don’t necessarily reveal their gender or age, enable avatars on your site.
This will let you determine at a glance if your readers are male or female, as well as their general age bracket.
Once you find out who your audience is, the next step is to write content directed to them. Following are five tips to get you started.
Really try to tailor fit your content to your audience
Tweet: Really try to tailor fit your content to your audience. via @smartmarketerz
1. Get into their heads
If you find, for example, that a new blogger really loves your blog and is tweeting about it, go back in time to when you were a new blogger.
Try to recall what issues were on your mind when you were starting a website, and how you saw the blogosphere.
You don’t have to dumb down your content or use words you wouldn’t normally; this will likely appear disingenuous and backfire.
Instead, simply address subjects new bloggers would be interested in. This could include guides, how to, and mentioning useful resources.
Go with the flow and keep your finger on the pulse of your audience by being empathetic.
2. Follow their lead
If your readers are blogging, tweeting, or posting comments on your Facebook wall, give it right back.
Do as they do: Tweet and use Instagram, and post comments on their walls, or blog posts.
This will make your audience feel like there’s a real connection between you and them.
They will see that you are “in their club,” so to speak.
This is called, power of reciprocity.
3. Practice a little give and take
If you can arrange some reciprocal guest blogging with another site your readers frequent, that will increase your own credibility in the eyes of your target audience.
In addition, it will improve your page ranking (if done well).
Lastly, you might just gain more readers from the other site where your content appears.
Don’t be shy about promoting your own site in your brief bio.
Include a link to your URL and an email address where readers can contact you.
Sharing common goals with others is a great way to make new friends, too!
4. Stay involved
Allowing your readers to post comments on your blog posts is great, but your job doesn’t end there.
You should reciprocate and comment on their posts too, to let them know you’re paying attention.
5. Keep your content fresh
Include a mix of media.
These days, it’s simple to embed short videos or podcasts into your blog.
Make it interesting so your readers want to keep coming back.
The best blogs are image-rich and are frequently updated.
But even if these two qualities are in place, if the blogger seems aloof or absent, readers will dwindle.
Stay focused on your blog and keep connected with your readers, whomever they may be.
What do you think?
Do you have something to add?
Please share your views in the comments below, thanks!
Hey!
AWESOME write and thanks for sharing!
Love the part about getting into their heads 🙂 Basically, you need to understand your readers before you can ‘feed’ them with the right information.
Well said and thanks for sharing!
~Reginald
Hello Erik,
This is very useful and informative.post for me .
This article gave me insight and useful ideas. I’m in the stage of working out who my target audience is.
But I personally believe if you keep asking for comments on what you write. from your readers, you will learn how to engage your reader by getting feedback from readers.
Thanks for sharing this wonderful article with us.
Regards,
Minakshi Srivastava
Hi,
Target audience changes when one has enough content. One needs to then tailor the further content and dedication to fans who are eager for the new content.
Nice approach. I will try the forum one, if possible.
Have a great day buddy.
Hi Erik,
Great tips I must remark! Understanding who your audience is and marketing to them is the path way to online success! Anyone that wants to succeed online must know this.
The target audience readily defines the vision and mission of a blog. It is like seeing the end from the beginning!
Yes, the five tips shared are in order. I will like to add and emphasize that writing for specific target audience should begin with creating ‘real value’ and promoting ‘trust’ for the blog/ website!
I shared this comment also in kingged.com
It is probably a new concept for most people to follow the lead of the audience. My definition of “leadership” is to take people where they want to go but are not yet ready to go by themselves or do not yet realize that they want to go. So a good leader must follow the lead of the audience, but with some forward-looking anticipation – “What is my audience wanting to do?”
Hey Erik
Wonderful post with a lot of thought-provoking ideas.
Talking to your audience without knowing it, is just like you are talking in an empty hall. Being a blogger we sell the ways to enable our visitors make their dreams come true. So if we don’t know their dreams how can we sell the methods to turn them into reality.
Putting into the shoes of your readers, thinking with their mind etc are bookish approaches to understand what our readers want. In blogging we need to follow where they say what and then devise our strategy to directly hit their intense needs and desires.
Thanks a lot for sharing this awesome post that helps solve the problem of missing the right target.
Hey Erik,
I love your tips! I’m with reginald on this one about getting in their heads! Once you get to know your audience and what they’re interested in, then that’s a big indicator of what to keep writing about.
As you mentioned, the most simplest way to figure who your audience is is by taking notice who comments and who shares your content. Once you do this, you want to reply and as you mentioned follow their lead. This is a slow process but it definitely works quite well!
Thanks for sharing Erik and I hope you have a great weekend!
I found your blog post on Kingged.com under the category Blogging
Hi Erik,
Great Post and indeed it is very important to find who your audience is and speak to them directly to solve their problems.
I totally agree with you that one cannot market to everyone!! If you market to everyone, you are marketing to no one. Instead you have to look for the big fish in the small pond.
I love the concept of reciprocity and indeed it is the key ingredient to blogging. I read Adrienne’s post and she explained it very well.
Thanks Erik for a great share!! Have a great weekend Ahead.
Be Blessed,
Neamat
Hey Erik,
This is really a great post and I’m going to have to bookmark this one because I think it will be great for those new bloggers who are always so confused about how to get started and they are all over the place.
I have a friend that currently has three different blogs in three different niches yet she wants to combine them all into one. I personally think she’s making a big mistake because they are all so very different. Others have given her advice that a multi niche blog is just fine but I personally don’t care for them so I don’t know if I’m leaning in that direction because of my views or not. Any thoughts on that I can share with her?
I appreciate you sharing my post here because you are right, they need to connect with their readers and doing that any way they can will definitely help them get in front of them more. We all like to be noticed and think that people care about us.
I’ll be sharing this one with my friends too and speaking of that, your Twitter ID isn’t in your social sharing button so you might want to fix that real quick. I think it would really help.
Thanks again and enjoy your week.
~Adrienne