Simple Tips to Help Define Your Blog's Target Audience

Are you planning to run a successful blog and achieve sensational results?  Effective online marketing takes some research. Online Advertising can be a low-cost method to get your name out, failing to target people that are more likely to patronize your business will lead to poor results.

Knowing your target audience answers that problem and leads to higher sales. This guide to defining your blog’s target audience is sure to send you in the right direction.

What is your niche?

Having a focused niche for your blogging content is what will best define who your target audience is. Most readers who stumble onto your blog will find it either through SEO or word of mouth. In many cases, the search for a specific type of content is what may have attracted your readers in the first place

Who is your target audience?

The most critical question to ask yourself before beginning your blogging journey (or perhaps even well into it) is who exactly are you writing to? Be as specific as possible. Not only does it set the tone for how you approach our work, it also helps separate what is bloggable from what is not. In that sense, you are constantly evaluating your work to speak to the right readers.

Your Current Customers

A starting point for reaching your target audience is understanding the makeup of your current customer base. Knowing their demographics -- age, income, and location, for example -- and their interests and requirements will give you valuable insight into whom you should target online.

A survey of these customers is a place to start, and it will allow you to gather data on who’s frequenting your business. Sales data may also be helpful -- chances are if it is selling well at your shop, it will sell well elsewhere, too.

 

Who else your audience are reading.

Assuming your goal is to be the best blog out there, it’s important that you understand who else your audience might be reading. In the case of fashion blogging, for example, there are a few table names that most bloggers compare themselves against. The Sartorialist and Fashion Toast are two blogs that most in the same category tend to look up to when crafting their own personal fashion blogs.

Your Goals

Your current customer base is a great place to start to figure out your target audience, but expanding that customer base is also the goal. Take into account what you offer your customers: is there a customer base that is logically connected to what you already offer? Take a ski shop for example.

Skiing is only one part of a bigger winter sports market. Other consumer groups in winter sports -- such as cross country skiers or snowboarders -- may find your business useful. Make sure your products and services are relevant to these new groups, however.

Reach beyond your target audience.

We strive to cover the sort of content that our readers expect us to dish out. However, we also keep in mind that not everyone understands the sort of tech jargon that we might casually throw around by the water cooler, and in that sense, we like to keep things simple.

In this way, every reader who visits your blog should be able to feel like they “belong” to the writing. Instead of feeling left out to be a part of our readership, they will instead feel included in your very niche community because you have taken the time to include them as well.