Last Updated on by Michael Brockbank
It’s not enough to simply write articles for your blog and expect an influx of visitors. To be successful, you need to find your target audience and give them what they want. Today, I’ll share some of the best methods to do just that.
Just keep in mind that every audience is different for every niche. Some methods may work better than others. It’s up to you to discover the best one for your situation.
How to Find Your Target Audience
There is a massive difference between visitors and a target audience. Your target audience is the people who are more likely to read and engage in your work. They are also more likely to make purchases, click affiliate links, or otherwise help your blog succeed.
And once you find the target audience and get some insight, they can take your blog to heights you’ve never imagined.
As long as you give them what they want, that is.
1. Dive Into Google Analytics
There’s a reason why millions of website owners use Google Analytics. Sure, it’s free. It can also be one of the most prominent tools for your website.
By diving into the data, you can see the most popular articles, what content is read the longest, and if a piece you create meets visitor expectations.
In fact, there are a few tools in Google Analytics that are prominent to help you find the target audience of your site.
2. Use Website or Video Surveys
You can never go wrong with a good survey. Whether you’re blogging or creating YouTube videos, regular surveys can tell you a lot about who consumes your content.
If you use WordPress, setting up a survey is quite simple with the right plugin. But if you don’t, there are plenty of survey platforms out there you can use.
Using a survey, you can gauge everything from the age group of your visitors to their favorite type of content. I ran one earlier asking what I should do with Friday videos on the YouTube channel.
3. Directly Interact with the Audience
Directly engaging followers, subscribers, and fans works much like a survey. Only, you’re doing this in person…which boosts personal interaction and reputation.
People like to be engaged on a personal level. Chatting on social media, in live streams, or personalized emails can work wonders for gaining insights.
In fact, I have quite a few blog posts coming out this month inspired by what my audience suggested in a past live stream.
4. Add a Feedback Form
A feedback form lets visitors tell you what’s missing, what they love, and a slew of other information. It works similarly to a site survey, only they can use the form to directly email you.
Again, this is another quick add-on for WordPress users. And it’s worth the 20 minutes to set one up. Recently, I relied on my contact form. However, I do plan on adding a feedback page in the very near future.
If you’re open to constructive criticism and letting others help guide your site to success, adding a feedback form is greatly beneficial.
5. Find Your Target Audience on Social Media
Social media can be a treasure trove of information. Then again, it can also be a smattering of disinformation. Regardless of how you view sites like Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, the fact of the matter is many good people still use those platforms.
By keeping track of how your posts perform when using tools like Twitter Analytics, you can get a feel for what people want out of your feed.
This is how I know that more people see and engage responses I make rather than my own media uploads. And, I’ve gained quite a few followers from commenting on other people’s feeds.
You can also use the Page Insights ability of your Facebook page. By clicking on the “People” tab, you can a quick breakdown of things like country, the number of fans, gender, city, and primary language.
Apparently, I’m far more popular among men, 18-24, living in India. Odd…
6. Keep an Eye on Your Competition
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with keeping an eye on the competition. Even if you’re a small blogger, there are always competing sites. Anyone who is not reading your blog is reading someone else’s.
Take a look at what they’re creating, sharing, or uploading. Now, you don’t want to copy them directly. But, the competition can easily help you find your target audience through what they produce.
One tool I like to use when “spying” on the competition is Ahrefs. It is kind of on the expensive side of things. But, it’s a great platform for finding your target market.
7. Look at Google Trends
And lastly, keep an eye on Google Trends. This is especially helpful if your website targets a specific location. In fact, you can drill all the way down to your specific city.
At any rate, start with your search term and see what people are looking for that is relevant.
You can search through specific categories, time frames, website content, or even YouTube searches. It’s quite a handy tool for seeing what your audience is paying attention to at this point in time.
8. Create Visitor Personas to Find a Target Audience
A visitor persona is essentially a breakdown of your perfect blog reader. It should highlight things like interest, demographics, and the kind of issues he or she is having.
I actually create a sheet of my ideal reader highlighting a variety of elements that pertain to my blogs.
For example, the perfect reader for CrossingColorado is a male over 40 who doesn’t get a lot of physical activity, doesn’t have the money for gym memberships, and looking for easy and cheap ways to lose weight at home.
9. Understand the Purpose of Your Website
Did you create the blog for yourself, or to engage others? If you’re trying to attract an audience, you need to fully understand the actual purpose of your website.
To actually find your target audience, you need to keep in mind:
- Most visitors won’t know as much as you do about the topic.
- That your readers may not know technical terms that are second nature to you.
- What you want to write isn’t always what they want to read.
- People are coming to you for answers and/or entertainment.
In short, your content needs to focus on the wants and wishes of your audience, not what you think they want.
One of the biggest mistakes I’ve seen from a client is how he didn’t want content to target his market. Instead, he assumed people would come because he wrote one article flooded with keywords and didn’t add more to the website.
Needless to say, the site failed…miserably.
After You Find the Target Audience, Then What?
Finding your target market is only the beginning. Now, you have to engage them. Whether it’s writing a blog post or uploading a YouTube video, you need to make the content they want to consume.
This means developing a style or showing off certain mannerisms that will further connect with the audience.
Create Content they Want to Read or Watch
You can have the best keywords, top-notch consumer research, and perfect topic to create content. But if you can’t share that material in a comprehensive way, you’ll lose the attention of the consumer.
In fact, when you find your target audience, part of it is knowing what kind of style is going to work best.
For example, I know a lot of people who enjoy the hyperactive, ego-maniacal, narcissistic comments of a certain Twitch celebrity. On the other hand, I know more people in my age group who think he’s…well…not very entertaining, to put it nicely.
But, we are not his specific audience.
This part is going to take a bit of trial and error. And you’ll probably lose a few audience members while you’re testing the waters. However, you’ll gain more engaged traffic because of the personality you put into the piece.
Keep Track of Anything New
There will come a time when you’ll want to try new things to see how well they stick. After all, you always want to evolve as a creator. The same antics and layout will only take you so far.
When you do try a new format, keep track of how the audience responds. If there is too much of a discrepancy between what is currently consumed and the new layout, you’ll either have to find a target audience for the new topics or try something else.
Case in point, my YouTube channel is well-known for its Textbroker content. However, I try to go a bit further with freelance writing in general, blogging, and WordPress.
All of these topics are connected as a part of “writing.” So, I can kind of make it work. But, most of my ardent fans still love the Textbroker and writing from home to make money platform.
How Do You Find Your Target Audience?
It can take a bit of work to find a target audience to consume your content. You can start by writing what you want, but visitors will start to show you exactly where to focus your efforts.
Give the masses content they want to consume in the way you develop it, and you can be set for life.
Well, as long as you’re in a niche that has an audience to begin with.
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