Don’t tell me because you’re a blogger that your target blog market is ‘everyone who blogs online’. Really? (nods head) So, you’re telling me that you cater to new and experienced probloggers alike? I think not. Well, if you want to succeed in your business, you will need to identify a blog market.
Figure out who you are selling your product to. Having a large target audience is not always better than having a smaller niche or group of people to sell to. By identifying your blog target audience, you can create or sell more tailored products of increased value.
To Start Identifying Your Blog Market
So, get out a piece of paper and pencil. It’s time to start making a solid foundation for your business (yes, you need to think of your blog as a business).Take time with this step, too.
To start identifying your blog market, ask yourself the following questions:
- Do you work better with men or women?
- What is the target age of your customers?
- What type of business does your customer run – is it the solo entrepreneur, a group of bloggers, a corporate executive, or a stay-at-home mom?
- What is the net worth of your potential customer? Are you catering to high rollers or people just starting out?
- Are your customers social media experts or just learning how to use social media?
- How does your potential customer find your products and services?
The idea is to really hone in and target your blog market or audience. By answering these questions, you will gain a valuable good idea about how and where to market your company.
How to Identify Your Blog Market with Alexa
If you already blog for your business, you can get help identifying your target market with Alexa.com.
To find your site’s stats, go to Alexa.com, type in your website. Then, click on Get Details and hit the Audience tab. If your account is not ranked, register for an account and add your site. Overtime, you will be able to gain details about your audience.
Example: Identify Your Blog Market and Look at Products to Sell
As an example we will look at MoneyFunk.net – a personal finance blog catering to those trying to get out of debt and living frugal. That’s a hard audience to sell to, right? These are people looking to get out of debt and live minimally. How do you sell to them?
My target audience for MoneyFunk.net, as defined by Alexa, are mainly women, 25-34 years of age, with a college education, and no children.
These results tell me a few things:
- These women want to become financially educated and/or financially independent
- My targeted audience can possibly work a 2nd job to pay down debt, because they don’t have children
- Might be ready to start a family
- And do not want to spend a lot of money on products (if they do, a lot of research is behind buying the product)
By identifying these key points, I can consider the type of products or services that would be good for my customers.
- Stocks Trading Account
- Online and Savings Account
- Retirement Accounts
- Financial Books
- Life Insurance Policies
- Premium Excel Spreadsheet to Track your Net Worth and/or Debt Snowball
Identifying your blog market can require some time. Don’t rush this step because it is an important step to build a solid foundation for your business. Once you know who you are targeting, it is much easier to figure out who you are going to reach and what marketing methods will resonate to them. Honing in on your market, will also save you money potentially wasted in the wrong marketing efforts.
So… what is your target blog market?
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About Christine McCarthy
Did you know there is an RSS member's only category? Its only visible to those who subscribe. Have you 
Good summary. The other significant factor is will they buy. To me that is a little harder to identify.
Thank you. That is a good point. Right now, I am analyzing that sort of thing with my current Twitter campaign. I am comparing: the methods in my Twitter Marketing Guide, had my Twitter account blasted in a lead banner for a major website, and am thinking of hosting a giveaway in exchange for Twitter followers.
So you could essentially run a campaign for each affiliate market and see what works best with your site and the methods of Social Media you are using to bring in the masses.
Great post. It still is amazing that people don’t want to narrow down their audience. Like Dr Dean asks will they buy? This comes to the point of what is your purpose in having a blog in the 1st place.
Thank you, Mari-lyn. But I think what happens – is that many blogs start out as hobby first. So for many, they are doing things in reverse. And you start realizing that you need to narrow down your target. Where as, if you are a small business, you have a better notion of what your target market maybe. Although, we want to please the whole world, identifying a targeted market is much more profitable.