 |
Using the right voice to speak to your audience is crucial. However, before you can find the right voice, you must first be able to answer this question: Who is the audience for your blog?
People visit blogs for many reasons. Sometimes they are looking for specific information other times they want to learn something new. Whatever their motivation, if your blog doesn’t provide what they want they will leave faster than you can say “goodbye.”
Therefore, you need to understand two key factors about your blog audience: what they want and what they need. If you understand these two key factors, you can tailor the content of your blog to appeal to your reader’s point of view.
You may think you know the answers to these questions but keep in mind what people want and what they need is constantly changing. With this in mind, every few months you should take time to re-access the needs of your readers to ensure that you are always addressing their ever-changing wants and needs.
To learn who is the audience for your blog, you must do three things: Conduct research, create a reader profile and check out your competition.
Recently, I purchased a new car. Before I went to the dealership, I had already identified every detail of the car I wanted. I knew the make, model, year, color and features that I wanted the car to have.
Just as I had a clear picture in mind of the car I wanted to buy, you should also have a clear picture of who your prospective and current audience is for your blog in your mind.
How did I select my new car?
The same way you will create a reader profile for your blog – by doing research. Here are some of the things you should know about your blog audience:
- What is their age?
- Are they male or female?
- Are they employed or unemployed?
- What are their goals, dreams and desires?
- What is their main reason for reading your blog?
After conducting research, you will use the information you obtained to create a reader profile for your blog.
Creating a reader profile will help you to focus. When you write a blog post, it is much easier to focus on what will appeal to a specific group of people than it is to try to appeal to everyone! Keep in mind that your reader profile will include majority of your audience.
For example, your blog may appeal mainly to working moms between the ages of 25 to 40 who want to start a business so they can spend more time with their family. However, just because the majority of your audience is female doesn’t mean that men won’t read your blog and can’t benefit from your content.
Your reader profile should be used as a guideline when crafting your blog content. Each time you write a blog post, you should refer back to your reader profile and ask yourself: How can I write my message for my audience?
The best resource for understanding the audience of your blog is the audience itself.
But it doesn’t hurt to check out your competition. Nowadays, everyone has a blog and you should have no trouble finding other blogs that cater to the same audience. Analyzing other blogs can be very helpful, when you’re first starting a blog and don’t have an audience to evaluate.
Checking out your competition can be as simple as reading a few blog posts, reviewing comments left by readers and spending time on the static pages. Use this information to decide how your blog can stand out!
Here are two questions you should ask yourself after visiting other blogs: What will make my blog stand out and keep people coming back? Can I offer something that no other blog does?
Lastly, keep in mind that researching other blogs should be done consistently. You should always want to know what others in your niche are doing. But researching your competition is only for discovery and comparison.
The decisions you make for your blog should not be based entirely on what others are doing. Base your decisions on information that indicates what is right for your blog audience and where your interest and expertise lies.
If you’re wondering what resources are available to assist you in gathering the information needed to create a reader profile for your blog and to spy on your competitors, come back on Thursday and read my blog post.
One of the easiest ways to learn the needs and wants of your audience is to ask them! Which is why I would like for you to leave a comment and let me know if you found this blog post helpful. If you didn’t please share that too! 
Your Success Partner,
Yaisa Hagood
P.S. Want to see my new car? Then follow me on instagram, my username is yaisahagood
