Quick, what 3 things do your readers care about?
Sure you have blogging strategy, an elevator pitch on what you write about, and a blogging schedule to get you publishing. But can you describe who reads your blog the same way you can describe your friends?
Talking about your friends, in real life, is easy. These are the people you go through life with. In blogging, your readers and subscribers are your friends, but understanding them is often skipped in favor of just writing fresh posts.
Great friends help calm fears, address concerns, amuse or solve a problem for each other. Poor friends just ramble about things their lives, events, opinions, business, leaving the other friend unfulfilled or dissatisfied, or worse feeling like they just consumed a load of junk food.
As a writer the challenge is to write good healthy stuff, that your reader will enjoy, and cater to their sweet tooth every once in a while. That is the type of content that gets shared, because it speaks to what your reader is all about. It’s the good healthy writing that spreads.
First, understand your readers
(aka The Good Healthy Stuff)
Who are they? What do they like to read? What do they do in their spare time? What magazines, articles, blogs do they follow? What kind of work do they do?
It can be as simple as taking a closer look at who is following your blog, by looking at your subscribers, or going on Google, Quora or LinkedIn, and looking up group discussions that talk about topics or groups you write for. What do your readers care about?
The best thing you can do for your writing is to understand what motivates people to read your work, and what motivates them in general.
Blogging benefit: You’ll be able to sprout off more topics that your readers will care about or genuinely want to read because it is content that speaks to their needs, and it adds value to their lives.
Second, write for your reader’s ecosystem
(a.k.a. The Sweet Tooth)
OK, so you understand that your reader care about “a” that’s why they read about it on your blog. But what else do they care about?
In my case, I care about internet marketing, so naturally I read on topics like copywriting, blogging, social media. But the interesting part is figuring out what else I care about. Since I care about Internet Marketing, then I am slightly above the average internet user, in that I look for ways to help market stuff online, so naturally I would know about internet memes, trends, and tech gadgets. I would also, for example, have some curiosity about reading so I would enjoy new books fiction or non-fiction, and news related to the internet marketing industry, like Google’s latest search engine update.
ANother example, if you write about home decor services, then your audience would be people who want to make their homes better. My guess is the bulk of the audience would be homemakers or stay-at-home moms. These moms, might also have kids, so enjoy planning kids activities, favor a healthy active lifestyle, look for bargain travel options for the family, and also enjoy gardening and such. So writing about topics in this ecosystem would be enjoyed by your audience.
Marketing benefit: Breaking out of the rut. There is only so many things you can talk about when it comes to one topic, but finding ways to creatively tie it in to topics your audience already cares about changes it up a little every once in a while. This can be applied to blogs, Pinterest or even tweeting with your audience.
Do you know your audience? Do you write for your audience’s eco-system? Your writing can only improve if you know who you attract, and what that person cares about. So write the healthy stuff that leaves the reader feeling better for reading, and every once in a while spoil them with a treat for their sweet tooth.
Image credit: Flickr- LstCaress
This post is part of a series that will get published every Monday on Content Marketing or Blogging, follow me via Twitter or E-mail to receive your daily copy of helpful small business online marketing strategies.
Daisy Quaker is a freelance internet marketing consultant, specializing in social media strategy, content marketing, e-mail marketing and internet marketing strategy, find her on Twitter and tell her what strategies work for your business.
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