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How to Identify Your Target Audience Online And Dominate Your Industry in 2018

Identify Your Target AudiencePeople work so hard to drive traffic to their blogs.

But they often are driving the wrong kind of traffic.

That is, they are not really getting the target audience they want.

Special: FREE Guide… 4 Things I Did To Build My Blog Using Only Free Traffic

I think one of the most common questions students ask me is just HOW do they identify a target audience in the first place.

So, I’ve asked top blogger, Theodore Nwangene, to shed some light on this topic.

I think you’ll agree that he has really done a great job with this.

Make sure to check out author bio at the end of this article, and connect with him on his blog.

But right now… let’s get his pro advice on how you can identify your target audience.

How to Identify Your Target Audience Online And Dominate Your Industry in 2018

by Theodore Nwangene

 

Although your products and services might appeal to a large number of people, it’s unreasonable to market to everyone.

Let me start by asking you:

What’s more important to you in business: conversions or traffic?

As someone who’s in the marketing niche, if you generate 50k visitors from a classic auto repair website and 1k from a prominent marketing site, which one do you think will be better for your business?

I’ll leave you to answer that.

Here’s the bitter truth!

Strive For Conversions, Not Pageviews

Despite what you might have been told, you are not in the “pageview” business.

What you should be more concerned about is conversions.

Conversions happen when targeted traffic comes in contact with a relevant offer.

It all starts with identifying your target audience and what they want or need.

According to Peter Drucker, one of the most influential business thinker of the 20th century:

The main purpose of marketing is to completely understand the customer to the extent that the product or service fits him/her and sells itself.

Identify Your Target AudienceThe above excerpt is from the article, Peter Drucker on Sales and Marketing (published on PEX)

From the way things are going today, having a well-defined target audience is more critical than ever.

You can’t afford to target everyone.

The only way small businesses can increase conversion, and actively compete with large companies, is by figuring out exactly who their primary target audience is…

  • know what they want,
  • identify what matters most to them, and
  • focus on what triggers them to take action.

Why Knowing Your Target Audience is Important

Identify Your Target Audience

If you’re aware of…

  • What people need your products and services… you’ll know how to get to them (the sites they visit – the blogs they read – what they search for in Google, etc.).
  • The way in which they select and compare products in your category… you’ll have an idea of how to prioritize and structure content on your site.
  • How they describe the services they need… you can word the copy on your website to appeal to the conversation in their head.
  • What they want… your customer value proposition can explicitly mention that, and the whole site can be 98 percent relevant to them.
  • How your products and services improve their lives… you’ll understand which end-benefits to communicate to them.
  • What they don’t want… you can entirely eliminate it from the site.
  • Etc.

This is all about relevancy – if your offer and the way you present it matches their state of mind, you’ve gained a loyal customer.

On the contrary, if your customer is “everybody,” you’ll be making things extremely tedious for yourself; this is because nobody will identify with “everybody.”

It’s just not possible.

6 Steps to Identifying Your Target Audience

Here’s the problem: If you’re just starting your business, it means you don’t have paying customers yet, or hard data that can help with your audience research.

However, there’s a way out of it, and that is by relying on assumptions and educated guesses based on your anecdotal evidence and first-hand experience.

By tradition, defining a target audience consists of knowing their sex, age, geographic locations, and identifying their various needs.

The data you need to gather, typically depends on your products and services; and whether you operate a B2C (business-to-customer) or B2B(business-to-business) type of business.

However, this strategy is not very helpful.

When it comes to defining your target audience online, their location rarely matters (if at all).

Also, age is not what it used to be because, today, someone in his fifties gets just as thrilled about new tech gadgets as 25-year-olds.

And someone in his thirties and below may still be living with his parents.

Special: FREE Guide… 4 Things I Did To Build My Blog Using Only Free Traffic

Therefore, more than demographic and age data, you want to pay more attention to the lifestyle.

You basically want to provide good answers to the following questions:

  • Who are your target customers? Paint a picture of their life (or business) situation
  • What is their pain?
  • What do they really want?
  • and… What are their various needs that are not being met?

For you to have a thriving business, you definitely need to think about market size and disposable income, too.

That being said, here are the ways you can quickly identify your target audience:

1. Survey Your Existing Followers

If you already have a customer or reader base, the first step will be to survey them.

You want to get inside the heads of your customers, if you’re a blogger, and learn why and how they buy or consume your content.

You don’t have to survey all of your customers.

Just reach out to the last few people who still remember their purchase experience.

This is because.. if you ask somebody who made a purchase, or last visited your website like six months ago or more… they must have long forgotten and might feed you with wrong information.

Here are the questions you could ask them (adjust the wording as required):

  • Who are you? Get their demographical data and check if there are any trends (generational). If they operate a B2B business, find out about their industry and position in the company (and who’s the decision maker!)
  • What problem does our product solve for you? Here you want to ensure you understand their problem. You might also discover some unintended uses.
  • Which noticeable improvements in your business or life have you experienced since you started using our product? This will unveil to you the end-benefit of your product in the words of your customers. If some say really positive things, reach out to them for case studies or testimonials.
  • What’s the most thing you like about our product? This will give you a clue about what your customers think is the best part of your product. You should prominently mention this in your sales copy.
  • Did you contemplate any alternatives to our product before signing up? If yes, which ones? You want to find out who people compare you to. With this information, you can build a “compare page” on your website where you compare yourself to your competitors and make a case for your advantages.
  • What made you register for our product? Why did you choose us over all the other alternatives? You want to figure out what’s working for you on your website, so you’ll know where to channel more of your time.
  • Did you have any hesitations or doubts before joining? With this information, you can identify significant sources of friction, and quickly address them.
  • Is there any other thing you would like to tell us? Leaving room for feedback might also reveal a lot of useful information.

NOTE: If you’re not currently selling any product on your blog, you can just replace where I mentioned “our products” with “our content.”

Here’s An Example:

Perhaps, you’re just currently marketing yourself via your content.

So, you should just focus on finding out how you can help your readers overcome their problems through your content.

For example, you could ask them:

  • What problems does my content solve for you?
  • Which noticeable improvements in your business or life have you seen since you started consuming my content?
  • Is there any topic I’ve not covered on the blog yet, which you’d like me to write about?
  • Do you like mt current content type, or is there any other way you prefer to consume content that you’d love to have me implement (like video, audio, graphic content, etc.)?

Like I stated before, the benefit of carrying out this survey is to

  • get inside the mind of your readers and customers, and
  • to figure out what you’ve been missing, and
  • what to permanently get rid of on your website.

Furthermore, while sending out the survey questions, try to keep it short if you can.

This is because the more questions you ask people, the fewer responders and poorer quality responses you’ll receive.

Special: FREE Guide… 4 Things I Did To Build My Blog Using Only Free Traffic

Similarly, you want to ensure the information you collect is very actionable – don’t ask questions simply because you’re curious.

Before sending out your questions, go through them properly and ask yourself: “Of what use will this information be to me once I have it?”

Make sure that each question contributes something meaningful, unique and is necessary.

You can use Google forms to conduct the survey.

Identify Your Target Audience

Read the full article… Use Google Forms to create a survey (by Andy Wolber on TechRepublic)

 

2. Find Your Target Audience on Facebook via Facebook Insights

Facebook gives every page owner a robust set of insights that are totally free to use.

From here, you can quickly find out the demographics of your most active users and see the topics that they share in common.

To do this, you have to first go to your Facebook page and click the Insights tab.

Here’s where you’ll find your Facebook Insights tab:

Identify Your Target Audience

The next thing is to click on the People tab:

Identify Your Target Audience

Here, you’ll find all you need to understand your audience on Facebook, including your most engaged gender (men/women), target country, cities, etc.

This alone will give you lots of insight into who your target audiences are.

3. Monitor Your Social Media Activity

Here, you want to determine which social media networks your readers use most to share your content on.

This little piece of information can tell you so much about what they like the most, and want to hear more about.

These simple hints will give you some clues about who you are writing for, and will help you identify your target audience.

This approach can be as simple as monitoring your social media accounts on a daily basis and taking note of who’s interacting with your content the most.

You want to pay more attention to their profiles and bios.

Because this can tell you a lot about the people you’re currently reaching, and whether they are the right audience to reach.

4. Join Active Facebook Groups That Are Relevant to Your Niche

For bloggers and content marketers, joining some relevant Facebook groups is one of the best ways to find out what problems your target audiences are facing.

It also gives you an opportunity to help them find solutions to those problems.

When you’re in most of these groups, you’ll often come across many questions its members are asking.

Now, some of these questions will give you a lot of insights into what your target audience really wants from you.

To do this, just visit Facebook and search for groups that are related to your niche.

For instance, if you’re in the “Dog training” niche, you can enter “Dog training.”

Facebook will initially show you every result on Facebook related to “Dog training,”

But that’s not what you want.

You’re looking for relevant groups to join.

In that case, click on the “GROUPS” tab and identify the groups you are searching for.

You’ll come up with some results like this:

Identify Your Target Audience

As you can see, you have some cool groups to check out here.

What you want to do next is to check out all the groups and join the ones you think make sense to you.

Special: FREE Guide… 4 Things I Did To Build My Blog Using Only Free Traffic

However, you want to join active groups that also have a good number of members.

For me, anything from 3k members is ok.

After that…

  • start contributing very well to the groups,
  • offer your own professional tips, and also
  • answer other peoples’ questions.

For example, I saw the question below while going through one of the groups:

Identify Your Target Audience

This issue is apparently disturbing this lady, and if you can offer her a useful solution, you’ll gain her loyalty.

It will make her to further open up to you.

If you focus on giving value, members of the group will see you as an authority in the industry.

They will soon start asking you to help them solve various problems they’re facing.

This will help you to define your audience.

5. Question & Answer Sites

Are you still looking for more information about your target audience?

Internet question and answer sites are an excellent place for you to learn about what they’re asking and inquiring about.

Scour through some of these sites across the internet, that might help you determine what your ideal audience wants to know and what they’re more interested in.

There are a ton of these types of sites out there.

They can give you the information that will enable you to gain a better understanding of your target audience.

All that is required of you is to find the right ones.

By these, I mean prominent and active Q&A sites.

Not all of them will be beneficial.

Therefore, you want to look for sites that have a section geared towards your service or industry.

The two famous Q&A sites I’ll recommend for you are Quora and Yahoo Answers.

I’ve really gotten a lot of information about my prospects on these sites, especially Quora.

Special: FREE Guide… 4 Things I Did To Build My Blog Using Only Free Traffic

Just log in to your Quora account and start looking around for questions that are related to your niche.

I bet you’ll find people asking various questions on different niches on the platform.

An excellent example of this approach comes from Brian Dean.

He came up with a TrustRank article headline based on a question people asked on Quora.

Here’s what the question looked like on Quora:

Identify Your Target Audience

And here’s the content he wrote on the topic that immediately dominated the search engine result pages.

Identify Your Target Audience

This is a straightforward approach.

If you see any question on Quora that’s relevant to your industry, you can just write a post on that topic for your blog.

Then paste the link to your blog post on the Quora platform, while answering the question.

6. Monitor Your Best Performing Content

What are your best performing

  • offers?
  • pages?
  • calls-to-action?
  • blog content?

Having an explicit knowledge of all these will tell you which pages on your website are generating the most pages views, comments, social shares, and inbound links.

This indicates what content is bringing your target audience to your site.

That can provide you with a lot of information about your target audience.

Fortunately, there’s an easy way to gather all this data, and that is by visiting Google Analytics.

Identify Your Target Audience

Above screen shot is from the CoSchedule article…
How To Find Your Target Audience And Create The Best Content That Connects

For example, the guys at CoSchedule compile a traffic report at the end of each month that does just this.

As Ben Sailer explains in their “Find Your Target Audience…” article:

We use both total shares and pageviews as a way to determine a blog post’s overall popularity. By comparing the content that did well versus the content that performed poorly, we can get better insight into what our readers really want to be hearing about.

This is yet another fantastic tactic that can give you lots of insights into what your audience really expects from you.

This Google Analytics custom report is easy enough to find, right from the Google Analytics dashboard.

 

Identify Your Target Audience

So you can analyze custom data for your blog, too.

Just run your own Google Analytics custom report.

It might look something like this…

Identify Your Target Audience

 

Find Your Right Audience

In business, conversions happen when targeted traffic meets a relevant offer.

Therefore, as a marketer, your job is to find the right traffic sources and ensure your blog is suitable to them.

This is because “relevancy leads to sales.”

And using all these tactics, you’ll be able to make money like other bloggers.

Use the strategies outlined in this post to discover

  • who your target audiences are,
  • what they want, and
  • how they want it.

When they visit your site, read your content and go “Hey, this is just what I’m looking for,” … you’ve killed it!

Learn More About Donna’s Popular Top Tier Coaching Program for Bloggers

top tier coaching

Over To You

So, what is your target audience?

How do you identify it?

Do you do everything you can to solve their problems?

Please leave me a comment below.

I look forward to hearing from you.

-Theodore

About The Author

Theodore Nwangene is a marketer, Freelance Writer, and a publisher.

He has created lots of successful blogs over the past 8 years.

His newest one is IM Views. On this blog, he shares all the things he has learned about making money from the internet in the past 8 years.

He says… “It’s going to be like something you’ve never seen before. So, please stop by and say HI to me.”

Donna Merrill
Donna is a well known blogger and creator of "Blogging Magic" - an intensive guide to blogging. "Blogging Magic" is for beginners who are trying to figure out how to bring their blogs to life with tons of visits, comments and social media interaction. It's even for advanced bloggers looking to reach new levels of authority and engagement with their audience.

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51 Responses to How to Identify Your Target Audience Online And Dominate Your Industry in 2018

  1. Arfa Nazeer
    Twitter:
    February 26, 2018 at 7:30 am #

    Excellent! This was such a comprehensive and detailed post on finding the right audience. The steps mentioned to search the audience are truly well-explained. Too often, we know certain ways to identify the audience but we really sit back and wait for the perfect time to do the audience search. I guess these ways are so helpful to find the right prospects for any business and then utilizing their pain points to get leads. I have personally not used all the steps above but Facebook Insights and Quora are wonderful resources to find new audiences.

    Thanks so much Theodore and Donna for covering the topic in detail.

    – Arfa

  2. Anand R February 2, 2018 at 6:40 am #

    Hi Theodore and Donna. Always good to see a post that focuses on the customer more than your product and business. If you know your customer and know where to reach them, the rest is just a matter of time. Good post.
    Anand R recently posted..Multichannel vs Omnichannel Marketing – Actionable Tips For Branch TransformationMy Profile

  3. Theodore Nwangene January 20, 2018 at 11:41 am #

    Thanks a lot for the compliment Manish.
    Theodore Nwangene recently posted..Why You Must Always Put User Experience First In Your BusinessMy Profile

  4. Theodore Nwangene January 20, 2018 at 11:27 am #

    Happy new year Darleen. Well, I was going to type Darling :), sounds alike.

    You know, most marketers makes the mistake of thinking that having too many traffic to their site is a definition of success, and that is where they got it all wrong. You can have all the traffic in the world, but if they don’t take your desired action, it’s as good as nothing.

    It is, therefore, important to ignore such vanity metrics and instead, pay more attention to important metrics like conversion.

    Thanks for stopping by.

  5. Praveen Rajarao
    Twitter:
    January 12, 2018 at 12:31 pm #

    Wow this was an extensive article and there are lots of resources here. Had to bookmark for a later read.

    Thanks Donna and Theodore, I am sure a lot of time and effort went into this article and I am sure it helps us all to realize what type of “traffic” really matters.
    Praveen Rajarao recently posted..Hot Baby ItemsMy Profile

  6. Manish January 8, 2018 at 6:17 am #

    Hi Donna, I must say that you have really described very beautifully to target the specific audience. These techniques will surely help to lot of people who are in this field. Such a nice and informative article you have prepared. Thanks for sharing it here with us.

    Thanks!

  7. Eric Ben January 4, 2018 at 4:16 am #

    Thanks for sharing this wonderful and informative piece.

    A lot of tips and valuable connected links shared in this post.
    Indeed a bookmark page!
    Yes, Patient is the KEY here!
    Yes, if we carefully and patiently analyse the things around
    we can easily identify the proper audience and can move
    accordingly to get the maximum benefits.
    Thanks again for all the test worthy tips you shared.
    Keep sharing
    Best Regards

  8. Darleen Prangue
    Twitter:
    December 30, 2017 at 2:32 am #

    Hello there Theodore and Donna,

    I must say that in the blogging industry these kind of posts add so much value and are not the usual ones (which every blog shares like how to get more traffic).

    Theodore has done a really great job explaining to us how much important part of every business is to identify your target audience. The point that really added value to me was this “Strive For Conversions, Not Pageviews” which simply means don’t just aim for traffic if they do not convert it’s pointless.

    Thanks again and Happy New Year to both of you.

    Cheers,

    Darleen Prangue

  9. Paul December 29, 2017 at 7:47 am #

    Finding your target audience is the first step before you decide which topic you will publish a blog post and growing your audience is one of the biggest challenge in blogging.

    Thanks Theodore for writing this, i will keep this tips in mind.
    Paul recently posted..3 Great Tips To Make a Good Conversation Last LongMy Profile

  10. Maria Tayler
    Twitter:
    December 28, 2017 at 7:36 am #

    Hi Theodore & Donna.

    The overwhelming article indeed. The fifth step i liked the most, where you talk about question answer sites, I love the Brian’s strategies, It’s really seems very effective, such an sincere approach. I think i should try this. Thank you so much for share this.

    I must say, These kinda things we can’t find on internet by searching. I understand the one thing that the more you read other bloggers post the better you adapt things.

    Thanks Donna for sharing.
    Maria.

  11. Gaurav Kumar
    Twitter:
    December 27, 2017 at 5:14 am #

    Hi Donna,

    The survey is actually a great way to find out what your readers are looking on your blog. To find the target audience Facebook Insight is also a great way. I have used surveys to even find out in which giveaway product people find attractive.

    Twitter hashtags are also a good way to find more about the target audience.

    Thanks for sharing.
    Gaurav Kumar recently posted..Make Money by Blogger Outreach Program for Bloggers and Marketers (Join Now)My Profile

  12. Shadab Alam
    Twitter:
    December 26, 2017 at 12:02 pm #

    Amazing article. Thank you, Theodore and Donna for curating this for us.

    We all should agree on your term that we should be focusing more on conversion rather than on pageview.

    And I always check Facebook insights as it gives major analytics on our audience and performance. Apart from that twitter analytics are also the best way to check whats performing good and whats not. Even trending, events option are like goldmine if we can create content according to that.

    Survey is something I will be using soon. Glad to find some tips here.

    Cheers!!!!

  13. Lesly Federici
    Twitter:
    December 26, 2017 at 9:16 am #

    Very informative post .. it’s all in the conversations. Surveys are one of the best ways to get clues. I use them and they not only help to gain insights about your visitors, but also yield ideas to write about to help them in some way. Great tips and appreciate it.. thanks Donna and theodore

    • Theodore Nwangene January 20, 2018 at 11:10 am #

      Glad you found the post helpful Lesly,

      Having an idea of what type of post to write is absolutely part of the reasons for knowing your audience.

      Thanks

  14. Janice Wald
    Twitter:
    December 24, 2017 at 12:51 pm #

    Hi Theodore,
    Great to see you here on Donna’s blog! My understanding of Google Analytics grows daily. Where would I go at Google Analytics to see my best performing content? Thanks for the added information and the other tips.
    Janice

    • Theodore Nwangene January 15, 2018 at 11:52 am #

      I’m glad to see you here as well Janice,

      And happy new year :).

      Coming to your question, to see your best performing content in Google Analytics, simply login and scroll to the Behavior Section. Then click on Site Content. Finally click on All Pages, and you should see all your content with their individual page views.

      Hope that helped?

      Thanks for stopping by Janice, and this is to an amazing 2018 to all of us.
      Theodore Nwangene recently posted..DMT FSKF Diafold Serrated Knife Sharpener ReviewMy Profile

  15. Dr. Erica Goodstone
    Twitter:
    December 22, 2017 at 7:48 pm #

    Hi Donna and Theodore,

    What a rich content-filled post with so much to consider and implement.
    I have not spent much time evaluating my Google Analytics. Really important.
    And I have never used Quora but I will now.

    So much to think about in building a real viable business.

    Warmly,

    Dr. Erica
    Dr. Erica Goodstone recently posted..Pickleball Anyone? 6 Lessons Learned About Business and LifeMy Profile

    • Theodore Nwangene January 15, 2018 at 11:40 am #

      Hi Dr. Erica,
      Glad you like the content. You really need to check out Quora and also get used to Google Analytics if you want to master your audience.

      It’s not really hard to do these things, just start small.

      Thanks for commenting.
      Theodore Nwangene recently posted..Best Vacuum Cleaners For Hardwood And CarpetMy Profile

  16. Edward Thorpe
    Twitter:
    December 22, 2017 at 11:58 am #

    Hi Donna & Theodore,

    Sliding into the shoes of your target audience isn’t easy when you’re a new business owner. However, it’s essential for consistent sales and even more crucial for repeat sales. And, repeat sales is really the whole point, isn’t it?

    Good read. Good tips and useful resources. Thank you,
    Edward

  17. Freddy G. Cabrera
    Twitter:
    December 21, 2017 at 11:11 pm #

    Hey Donna and Theodore!

    Finding your target audience should be one of the first steps when building your niche blog.

    I like your tips. They are very helpful and definitely the steps to find your target audience.

    What I like to do is Survey the people in the broad niche. You need to narrow your target audience very well.

    There is one super important thing I heard and learned from the most successful bloggers online; “When you try to help everyone you help no one. When you try to help someone you can help thousands”. This is because you focus on just one individual’s problems, you help solve his/her problems, right – and chances are that there a thousands or even millions of other individuals just like that one person you are helping.

    Understanding this very well is what has helped me take my blog to a higher level of success.

    Another great tips is to create an Avatar. Think of the best type of person you want to help in your niche. Narrow down their problems and how you can help. Don’t go furhter than that. Master your knowledge on one problem at a time.

    For instance, when I started blogging online I wanted to help anyone and everyone who wanted to make money online blogging as well. My content was very broad and it was not talking to a specific person. My blog did not see any success until I started to narrow down to exactly WHO I want to help and with WHAT. Now, I only focus on the new blogger. That person who has been reading about making money from a blog, has been trying to build a new blog or already started but is now clueless. That is my target audience. And I offer them the best tips and solutions to the roadblocks they come accross in the blogging for profits journey.

    Just my 2cents here!

    Thanks for sharing this!

    Best regards! 😀
    Freddy G. Cabrera recently posted..37 Free Stock Photos Sites Where You Can Find Beautiful Images for Your Blog!My Profile

    • Theodore Nwangene January 15, 2018 at 9:29 am #

      Hey Freddy,

      This comment of yours is really another blog post :). I seriously agreed with your points. When you try to help everyone at the same time, you’ll only be wasting your time because you’ll definitely end up not helping anyone. It’s just like trying to be everywhere at the same time.

      Thanks for this wonderful comment.
      Theodore Nwangene recently posted..Best Gas Pressure Washers Of 2018 (You Should Definitely Check Them Out)My Profile

  18. Hassaan Khan
    Twitter:
    December 21, 2017 at 4:38 pm #

    Hi Theodore,

    Great post, my friend. You nailed it. I loved every point you shared, but the best one was #6. The reason for this is that I have done it myself. It works like magic.

    I once found a question that I could answer through a blog post; I went back to my blog and wrote a blog that answers that burning question on Quora, and then I came back to Quora after some time and explained what I think about that. In the end, I shared my blog post link as an additional resource. It drove hundreds of visitors for a couple of months, and my email list went up.

    In short, it is one of the best strategies to meet the right and relevant audience.

    Great work.
    Hassaan Khan recently posted..How I Get Long-term Clients as a FreelancerMy Profile

    • Theodore Nwangene January 15, 2018 at 9:23 am #

      Hi Hassaan,
      Quora is indeed a goldmine once you know how to harness it’s power.

      Honestly, every tips I shared here on discovering your audience really works, but if you choose to use Quora alone, It’ll give you more informations than you need about your target audience.

      I’m glad you’re already making use of it mate.

      Thanks for such a wonderful comment.
      Theodore Nwangene recently posted..DMT FSKF Diafold Serrated Knife Sharpener ReviewMy Profile

  19. Joy Healey
    Twitter:
    December 21, 2017 at 3:35 pm #

    Hi Theodore and Donna,

    Thanks for a really thorough post about finding your target audience. It’s something I know I need to work on – but I have moved on somewhat from the “everyone” stage!

    Special thanks for telling me about Facebook Insights, I had no idea there was so much information available there!

    Joy Healey – Blogging After Dark
    Joy Healey recently posted..Smartphone Listening In?My Profile

  20. Moss
    Twitter:
    December 21, 2017 at 2:38 pm #

    Hi Theodore & Donna,

    It’s great to be here. Your article is incredible and insightful. The tips are stunning. Finding your audience online is a phenomenal topic that has gained momentum.

    However, for some it’s not easy to identify their target audience online. It doesn’t have to be difficult. The use of Facebook Insight is great. In fact, it works with all social media Insights including Twitter.

    But, another great tool that works wonders is Google analytics. This free tool helps you figure out your audience demographics and all other necessary information.

    Thank you for sharing.

    • Theodore Nwangene January 15, 2018 at 9:19 am #

      Facebook Insights is super incredible Moses, and I’ve used it to discover a lot about my audience.

      Yea, Google Analytics is also another very useful tool that you can use to identify your audience and I’m also a fan of it.

      Thanks for coming man.

  21. Susan Velez
    Twitter:
    December 21, 2017 at 7:59 am #

    Hi Theodore,

    Great tips and I actually sat down to create an avatar for my blog last week. When you start a blog, it’s really hard to know what type of content to create. You have an idea, but it’s not until you actually start getting readers and followers then you can start tweaking your content.

    Like Ryan, my last blog, I was all over the place so it was really hard to build a following. My new blog, I am staying on topic and it’s much easier to not only write content but when someone comes to my blog, they can see what it’s about.

    I always use Google Analytics to help me see what people are loving on my blog. I’ll then use that information to help me write more content based on what has already been proven to be popular.

    Thanks for sharing these tips and they will definitely help us improve our blog so we can attract the right people to it.

    Have a great day 🙂

    Susan
    Susan Velez recently posted..5 Best Blogging Courses That Will Help You Overcome Writers BlockMy Profile

    • Theodore Nwangene December 21, 2017 at 3:31 pm #

      Hey Susan,

      It’s been awhile, good to see you here too 😀

      I still remember our blogging struggle 3-4years ago. Are you still into website flipping?

      Yea, like Ryan rightly said, staying on topic will really do you a lot of good than being generic, and that’s a mistake most people often make.

  22. Marquita Herald
    Twitter:
    December 21, 2017 at 5:50 am #

    Tons of great information here! I have to admit I learned a lot more about identifying my target audience from my “author” work than from blogging. It takes time and patience to build an author platform and a lot of writers lose precious time and get discouraged because they refuse to accept there is no such audience as “everybody”. As someone who works in personal growth, this is something I need to keep in mind every day because so many people are looking for quick fixes in life, and I do n-o-t do short-cuts, so I only want to work with people who are serious about being the driver in their life journey! Thanks for the tips, I’ve taken lots of notes. 🙂
    Marquita Herald recently posted..Most Valuable Lessons From 2017My Profile

    • Theodore Nwangene December 21, 2017 at 3:27 pm #

      Thanks Marquita,

      Yes, being an author will also unveil a lot information to you about your audience. Thanks for this wonderful contribution.

    • Donna Merrill
      Twitter:
      December 22, 2017 at 11:49 am #

      Hi Marquita,

      When you write a book, you’re forced to choose a single, specific topic.

      That means you have to Market it to a very specific audience.

      Blogging allows you to meander all over the place.

      One topic 1 week… a different topic the next.

      So writing a book, like creating an info-product or training… kind of forces you to hone in on a specific target audience.

      And like you said there are no shortcuts. PS … but… if you find one, please send it along 🙂

      -Donna
      Donna Merrill recently posted..How to Find Your Most Popular Pins On PinterestMy Profile

  23. Shantanu Sinha
    Twitter:
    December 21, 2017 at 12:38 am #

    Hey Donna and Theodore,

    Very well said Theodore, traffic is great but conversion is the key. If your blog’s traffic isn’t relevant to your targeted audience, it is not going to help you anymore.

    The steps featured in this post about identifying the target audience will help many bloggers in targeting their right audience. You have highlighted the importance of the question and answer sites especially Quora. I think almost every top blogger spend a lot of time in answering questions through Quora and this surely helps them in increasing the conversion rate as well as getting more attention online.

    This post about the ways and benefits of targeting the right audience is going to help many. Thanks for sharing a very informative post and have a great day ahead.

    Regards,
    -Shantanu
    Shantanu Sinha recently posted..Deep Dark Web and its Effects on Your Privacy, Business and MoneyMy Profile

    • Theodore Nwangene December 21, 2017 at 3:22 pm #

      Hey Shantanu,

      Thanks for stopping by again man. Glad you like the post 🙂

    • Donna Merrill
      Twitter:
      December 22, 2017 at 6:27 am #

      Hi Shantanu,

      Amazes me how many people struggle to get traffic to their blogs – but just have no way of converting it into anything meaningful.

      I mean, no email list, no offers … really, just nothing.

      So why do you need traffic? For pageviews? So what!

      Or if they do have something… it’s so well hidden that you can hardly find it.

      I always tell people to blog backwards.

      By that, I mean… developing a means for getting conversions first… and then drive traffic to it.

      I think Theodore’s article here is just golden to helping you do that.

      -Donna
      Donna Merrill recently posted..How To Connect With Your Blog AudienceMy Profile

  24. Ryan Biddulph
    Twitter:
    December 20, 2017 at 7:37 pm #

    Hi Theodore,

    Great to see you on Donna’s blog.

    Checking what seemed to gain pop on social media helped me heaps. Instead of tossing darts at a board I saw questions which got a rise out of my friends on Facebook and followers on Twitter. You may find helpful feedback through questions asked on your profile page or through specific groups. Either way, the key is to ask questions and see what piques your follower’s and friend’s interests.

    Staying on topic is so critically huge. I strayed off topic on my old blog. I suffered. Big time. But with Blogging From Paradise I diligently stayed on topic so readers knew what to expect each time I published a post. This is huge. No better way to target readers because staying on topic ensures they are there for one reason; to follow your specific area of expertise. No lack of clarity, no confusion; you know these folks are qualified, targeted readers, who readily share your posts with like-minded friends of theirs, expanding your targeted reach.

    Ryan
    Ryan Biddulph recently posted..Alonzo Pichardo and Ryan Biddulph Talk Online Success (Video Plus 600 Posts for Your Pleasure)My Profile

    • Theodore Nwangene December 21, 2017 at 3:20 pm #

      Hey Ryan,

      You’ve always been a great supporter, thanks a bunch man.

      You’ve actually said it all. Deviating from your main topic will only drive people away from you, but sticking to that particular topic your blog is known for is the right way to go.

      And I agree with you, asking questions both on your fan page and your personal profile will also give you lots of insights about your audience.

      Thanks once again Ryan….. Compliment of the season 😀

    • Donna Merrill
      Twitter:
      December 22, 2017 at 6:22 am #

      Hi Ryan,

      Staying involved.

      Staying focused.

      Not deviating.

      Yeah – these are the keys for sure.

      These are the things I’ve seen you do for a long time, and things that Theodore has done a great job of developing, too.

      Always got to keep your eye on social media to see where the trends and interests are going.

      And again… keep involved.

      -Donna
      Donna Merrill recently posted..How To Be A Genuine Blogger Who People LoveMy Profile

  25. Lisa Sicard
    Twitter:
    December 20, 2017 at 5:44 pm #

    Hi Theodore and Donna, love this one! I need to ask more questions of my audience. I wonder about services. You mention mostly products here but is services the same?
    Quora has been wonderful for me after answering over 200 questions this year. It took a long time but it has become a traffic driver for me and I believe more targeted traffic. I used to use Yahoo years ago but haven’t since. I also use Inbound.org for same reason along with finding great content.
    I’ve looked at Google analytics and could not quite get all the info I need. I need to set up more goals and such.
    I haven’t joined any FB groups with that many members, I’ll have to look for one that’s relevant. Thank you so much for this one! I’ve got my work cut out for me in the new year.

    • Theodore Nwangene December 21, 2017 at 3:15 pm #

      Hi Lisa,

      So good to see you here :).

      Yea, the strategies mentioned here will also work pretty well for services. It’s just the same thing, you just have to make changes where necessary.

      I was really never used to Yahoo Answers, but like you, I’ve really benefited a lot from Quora recently. You just have to be active on the platform to make it work. And yes, It’ll sure take sometime before you notice any significant result, but the effort is totally worth it.

      As for Facebook groups, why not check out these two I’m into:

      Persuasion Nation Mastermind for Entrepreneurs
      DNW – Making Money From Blogging

      Just search for them on Facebook. Don’t know if you’re already a member though.

      • Lisa Sicard
        Twitter:
        December 23, 2017 at 3:03 pm #

        Thanks Theodore for those Facebook groups, I will surely check them out 🙂 I really appreciate that.

    • Donna Merrill
      Twitter:
      December 22, 2017 at 6:12 am #

      Hi Lisa,

      I think asking questions of your readers in your audience is so key to your business.

      You just have to find different ways to do that.

      There’s always questionnaires and quizzes to do things like that.

      But you can also just do it on your blog or in an email.

      Simply ask people what it is that they’re struggling with and start building a dialogue.

      -Donna
      Donna Merrill recently posted..Welcome – How Is This Blog Different?My Profile

  26. Johanna Galyen
    Twitter:
    December 20, 2017 at 11:18 am #

    Thank you, Donna and Theodore, for this article. As I read it, it was like a light came on inside of me as I read it. As I began my blog, I “sort of” answered some of these questions in my mind, but in a general way. The way this article presented it was not general fluffy content. But real concrete questions that must be answered, tweaked, designed, and put onto paper for my blog to succeed. I felt like I was given a manual of step-by-step actions that I must do in order to succeed.

    So, I will be saving this article. Answering the questions. Using Google analytics with its concrete data and changing as I go forward.

    Thank you seems like too simple of a word, but I send it with a deep sincerity of heart. I am truly grateful
    Johanna Galyen recently posted..An Exquisite Fondue #9 – 12 days of Unexpected IntimacyMy Profile

    • Theodore Nwangene December 21, 2017 at 3:52 am #

      Hi Johanna,

      Thanks a lot for the kind words, I’m super glad that you like the article. Do let us know of the result you get after implementing the tips.

      Compliment of the season.

    • Donna Merrill
      Twitter:
      December 22, 2017 at 6:04 am #

      Hi Johanna,

      Add this is giving you some kind of a “manual” for going “forward” in your business.

      Theodore did a great job with us and certainly this, and it fits in perfectly with what I always try to give people on my blog… actionable advice for moving forward.

      -Donna
      Donna Merrill recently posted..How To Start Making Money With Your BlogMy Profile

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