How to Create a Blog Target Audience Profile
The best way to create content people love to read and find engaging and useful is to know your readers. Learn how to create your blog target audience profile here.
Let me ask you this. How well do you know your blog readers?
If want to have a successful blog and you’re going to create content that interests, entertains, inspires, and engages your readers, you need a clear understanding of who they are, what they like, and what inspires them.
As a blogger, when you know how to find your target audience first and create a target audience profile, you won’t waste your time pouring your heart and soul writing blog posts that nobody wants to read (and is not even searching for it on the web), and you’ll learn what topics are likely to become more relevant, helpful and popular over time.
While you’re getting started with your blog (or have been blogging for a while), take some time to identify your target audience so you can deliver the types of content they love.
You might also want to check out these other blogging related blog posts: How to Choose a Blog Name: A Guide for Beginners, How to start a Blog from Scratch and SEO Friendly Content: A Comprehensive Guide plus SEO Checklist (Free Printable)
What is a blog target audience?
First, let’s go over the basics. In simpler words, your blog’s target audience is the group of people with common characteristics to who your blog speaks to and will benefit the most from your blog content.
Your target readers are the ones who are most likely to find your articles valuable and to love your content coming back for more every time you post something new.
Because of this, no matter what you do with your blog, you should always keep your audience in mind.
What is a Target Audience Profile?
In order to get to know your reader, you need to create a target reader profile.
A target audience profile is a very specific description that defines your audience as a single individual (focusing on age, gender, behaviors, interests, demographics, etc). This person isn’t the only individual who will read your blog, but the one who is most your ideal reader.
Let’s be very honest here, you will never be able to please everyone. You’ll have a wide variety of readers, but you need to appeal to the individuals who will most enjoy and benefit from your content. Keep it focused on them for best results.
The first step to creating your target audience profile is doing a target audience research and creating your ideal reader persona. This requires you to describe every bit of her/his life, from demographic to psychographic. More on this in a sec.
Why creating your target audience profile is so important?
Because everything you do on your blog should always be done with your target audience in mind. Everything from the branding of your blog to the type of content you publish, the way you write it, when you post new content to how and where you promote.
Furthermore, it’s a crucial step you should do before branding your blog.
But let’s list some of the most important benefits you get when not only you create your target audience profile, but also develop a deep understanding of how you can best help them with your blog.
It will help you:
- Identify your reader’s pain points and desires so you can deliver solutions and ideas.
- Create relevant and better content. Content that they are really searching for and love to read.
- Create the perfect products.
- Reach new potential readers and potential customers.
- Have more loyal readers as they will likely be coming back for more and share your content with others.
- Differentiate yourself from your competitors.
- Know where to promote your blog content.
- Increase your blog’s conversion rates.
- Decrease your bounce rate.
- Aadjust the branding of your blog so it speaks directly to them.
- You will be able to make more money because you will be driving more traffic and they will be more likely to buy from you.
The point is, you need to truly understand your target audience, accurately pin-pointing their pain points in order to constantly create content that will resonate with them and products they desperately want to buy.
It’s essential that you get into the minds of your readers and answer all the questions they have about your blogging niche.
You will have more success with your blog if you do this.
How to Create your Blog Target Audience Profile
By filling in the details and answering the following questions, you will be able to craft your blog’s ideal reader profile.
In general, the more specific you can go with the profile, the better. Having said that, you don’t need to get too detailed in some of those areas. As an example, you don’t have to specify that your ideal reader is 35 years old. Let’s just say they’re in their 30s.
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Some questions that will help you find and create your ideal target audience profile
- Who is she/he.
- What are her/his personality traits?
- What’s the gender?
- Where does she/he live?
- What’s her/his age range?
- What’s her/his level of education?
- What does she/he do?
- What’s her/his occupation?
- What is she/he interested in?
- How and where does she/he spend her/his time?
- What inspires her/him?
- What’s her/his marital status?
- Does she/he have kids?
Just to name a few.
Your Reader’s Demographic
The first question to answer is: Who is your reader? Identify their demographics. Demographic information includes things such as gender, age, education level, geographic location, profession, income level, and so on.
If you’re writing for a younger audience, you’ll write differently than you would for an older audience. The same goes for gender, location, and other demographics. Think about the topic you’re writing about and who it appeals most to. Do some research online, on social media pages, and in groups in your topic to see who is most engaged.
Your Reader’s Interests and Preferences
Learn about your ideal reader’s tastes and preferences. What websites do they visit? In what social media groups do they spend time on? What blogs do they read?
Try to identify their hobbies and interests. For example, if you blog about wine, your readers might also be foodies or have other lifestyle interests. If you’re writing about home improvement, your audience may also love sports, cars, or electronic gear.
Your Audience’s Desires and Aspirations
This information is harder to grasp but extremely important. You need an understanding of your audience’s desires, aspirations, frustrations, values, and challenges. Although you might be blogging about natural health or DIY crafts, there are always some underlying psychological factors behind it.
For example, a reader of an internet security blog is highly concerned with safety. Pet care blog readers might be especially concerned with caring for others and family. A person who’s into reading about gardening or interior decorating probably values creativity in their life.
While addressing topics in your niche, your blog also needs to speak to these emotional undercurrents. In particular, you should focus on their fears, pain, and problems, and if possible, offer solutions.
Focus on Data, Not Assumptions
If you sit down and brainstorm, you can make a fairly detailed reader profile. However, it’s much better to use objective data from the market when you do a target audience analysis. Use your research online and your past experience with customers to create a profile that really clicks, resonates, and connects.
From the moment you start blogging, you should keep gathering feedback and collect data, and refine your reader profile as your blog grows.
Over time, you’ll understand your readers inside and out and be able to write content that speaks directly to them.
Places to find your target audience
- Google using niche related keywords.
- Google analytics
- Social media channels
- Facebook groups. pages, and Facebook insights.
- Statistics (how people are getting to your blog, what type of people, demographics, interests)
- Instagram: Insights, Influencers, Popular Accounts and Hashtags
- Pinterest Insights.
- Look at the completion in your own niche: who follows them? Most popular posts. Read comments.
- Your own comment sections. Common questions, suggestions, etc.
- Create Surveys and share them on your newsletter, social media channels and profiles.
- Go to Quora, Reddit, Forums. These are great places to find out what questions people are asking your blog niche.
Although there are many ways to find your target audience, these are the most effective ways to grow your blog efficiently and start earning money.
Ryan from Ryan Robinson also shares a thorough and extensive list of places to find your ideal reader.
Now that you know who your ideal reader is, what do you do?
Once you have identified your target audience and where they can be found, it is important to drive them to your blog.
1. Write content they will die to read and come back for more
Create content that addresses their pain points, problems, or questions they are asking.
2. Promote your content so your audience will see it.
Although your goal here is to attract your target audience, they need to know you have a blog or new blog post first.
Target the places you found most of your target readers when you were searching.
Promote your blog on the social media channels where your target audience spends the most time on.
3 . Consider branding your blog (or rebranding)
Now that you have collected a lot of data, you can write your mission statement. This is a short sentence that explains what the main purpose of your blog is.
Consider the colors and fonts your target audience would find appealing. If your target audience is predominantly men, you wouldn’t use pink and teal, would you?
The same goes for your writing style. The demographics of your audience determine the vocabulary and voice you will use.
Write as if you are speaking directly to your ideal reader. The more specific your profile, the better your ability to get inside the reader’s head, and the more effective your help will be.
If you need help with your branding and blog design, I can help you, check out our services here.
4. Create a product or service that will be a solution for their problems
Think about products or services that will help your target audience solve a problem they struggle with. It should be something they really want or need.
5. Keep track of your progress through your analytics
Keeping track of your analytics will help you see if your efforts are paying off if you are actually attracting your ideal reader.
You might find that you need to tweak a bit your reader’s profile. And that’s okay, that’s good because you can tweak and adjust your content to the needs of your audience.
Also, don’t forget to not just check your Analytics but the analytics of your social media channels too.
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