target audience
We all know that the first step to a great blog is defining the target audience. But why is that such a steadfast rule? While it’s great advice for any blogger, it’s especially important for business blogs, or blogs with marketable content.
Your Target Audience Defines Your Content
Do you struggle with blog titles and new post ideas? This may be a sign that your target audience is too vague. When you try to appeal to everyone, you can’t focus. When you can’t focus, you will create a random collection of loosely related titles that may or may not spark further interest from readers. If you want to write better and faster, you should know exactly who your article is for.
A Business Blog Should Appeal to a Business’s Customers
Many people write blogs for fun, but if you’re writing to boost your business’s internet presence, your content needs to accomplish a specific goal. Blogs linked to a specific business ought to draw attention to the business itself. Every business caters to a specific clientele. If your blog doesn’t attract readers who match the customers, there will be a disconnect between your business and your blog. Readers who don’t go on to learn more about your business aren’t particularly useful.
A Broad Audience Means You’re Giving Free Work
If you don’t narrow your audience down enough, you’re essentially doing free work. Blogging time is an investment, and seeing returns on that investment is critical. Every time you consider a new article, debate whether or not it would appeal to the people who actually buy your products and services. Are your customers interested in do-it-yourself projects, or are they looking for pre-made solutions? Are you targeting other businesses, or private consumers?
A Narrow Audience Means a Better Relationship
If nearly every article and post you make resonates with your readership, then you are doing great work. However, it’s impossible to meet that kind of goal when you’re trying to write a general blog about plumbing. Writing about plumbing issues that middle class families in the southern part of Alabama often face, always draws attention from that group, though. The relationship between a blog and its readers goes beyond a single post. Readers should come to trust and refer to your web content more than once. That returning readership offers you the best chance to wield your blog as a sales tool.
Demonstrating Your Expertise Drives Conversions
The best blogs have regular content that addresses real concerns and provides actionable information. If you can tell your readers something new, they’ll view your business as an authority on the subjects you write about. Once you have consumers’ trust, they will be far more likely to use your services in person. If your plant nursery’s article about preparing potting soil drew a local reader’s attention, they’ll assume you have lots of healthy plants. You must narrow your target audience in order to demonstrate this expertise, though. Helping someone with tree roots when you only provide flowers and vegetable plants won’t help you make a sale.
A well-defined audience is a key factor in the success or failure of any marketing scheme. A business blog, or any blog you intend to use as a source of direct or indirect revenue, absolutely has to narrow its audience. By targeting the right audience, you’ll create stronger content, develop a better relationship with readers, and lead more of those readers to a sale.