Knowing your blog readers is crucial. You might think they want to hear about certain topics, but you could be completely wrong.
You might even think all your blog readers are 45 year old males when in fact they are 20-30 year old females. This post will explain how you can get to know your readers better so you can supply them with mind-blowing content that they actual want to read.
Ever feel like you are talking a a brick wall when you send out your blog posts? I have felt like that many times even when writing on this blog. I love getting comments whether positive or negative, so when I see that there are no comments it can be a little discouraging. But that does not mean people are not reading your content.
Here are 5 steps to giving your blog readers what they want
1. Figure out who your visitors are. Know your demographic. By using free online tools like, Quantcast, Alexa, and Google Ad planner you can find out exactly what demographic is frequenting your site. My personal favorite site for checking demographics is Alexa. Mainly because it’s super easy and fast to use.
Here is a screen shot of what the demographics look like for CashCoach.net:
You can tell from this infographic that my blog is underrepresented in the 25-44 age group which is a key thing to realize because I am 30 and I always thought people just like me were reading this site. Most of my readers are male with some college, have kids, and are reading my blog from home. By the way, I just checked my demographics a few months ago and it looks like I have a lot more readers in their 50′s than I had before. So welcome if you are in the age group. It’s great to have you.
From this chart I can get an idea of what kin of people are already reading my blog and I can write posts that cater to them. You might have to brainstorm a little to think how you can reach your own demographic but it’s at least interesting to check out once in a while. And DO check once in a while because it will change over time.
2. Talk to your audience and understand what they are looking for. If you want to give your readers what they want you have to talk to them. How do you do this? Well for starters you can start a forum. This is a pretty big undertaking if you have not started a forum before, but once you get some regulars you can see what the topic of conversation seems to be about on a regular basis. This helps you to keep a pulse on what people are struggling with or what they are excited about.
You can also encourage readers to post comments so you can talk with them that way. You can hold a webinar and ask for feedback. You can run a Twitter contest to start the communication gears turning there. There are a number of ways you can go about dialoging with your readers. The important thing is that you try. if they have blog as well, comment on them and develop relationships. This networking goes a long way in getting natural links to your site as well.
3. Put yourself in your reader’s shoes. Yes this is figurative. You may know all there is to know about plumbing and you talk about it on your plumbing blog. But what about your readers? Do they even understand what you ware saying? Or are they left scratching their heads all the time? After you have gotten to know your readers a little better it’s time to put yourself in their shoes. And then you can generate posts that make sense to them. Making something complicated sound simple is MUCH more work than making something simple complicated. So it is a great gift from God if you know how to simplify things for people. But if you CAN simplify complex problems, I guarantee you will have a blog people want to read.
4. Write about what you wish you knew 1 year ago. We all learn things as we blog. If you are an internet marketer who works hard than you probably know 10 times more about this business than you did a year ago, but maybe your readers are still struggling with those same issues you used to have. People love to read posts about “some things you’ve learned” along the way. This can be in the form of a case study (which are hugely popular right now) or you can simply give a few tips that helped you get to where you are. If you can motivate your readers by explaining how you got to where you are you will have some loyal visitors to your site.
5. Visit 10 blogs in your niche and get a general idea of what people are talking about. It’s easy to get stuck in your own little bubble, but it’s great to see what other people are talking about on their blogs as well. This is not for the sake of copying what they are saying but to get a finger on the pulse of your niche and understand what topics are trending. You can use Google trends or Google insights for search on this, but I like to simply read 10 popular blogs that are on the same topic as mine. If you are an internet marketer one great place to get out is Sphinn.com that has the latest internet marketing news in the form of a social bookmarking site.
Recent Comments