Everyone knows that writing for the reader is the most important aspect of good blogging. Without readers, your blog is practically useless. It’s the reader who makes the blogosphere go round. But who is your reader? Have you taken the time or the necessary steps to get to know who your readers are?
Here’s some quick tips and questions to help you find out who your readers are and how you can get to know them.
People come from different working backgrounds and different educational backgrounds. You may write for a well rounded audience but honing in on your primary readers will help your blog or business grow at a steadier and faster pace.
Identify which of your readers will make a decision and take action on the material you write. Do the readers with more education act and respond to your message? Do educated readers make more or less purchases than other readers?
Will most of your readers fit into a specific group or type of personality? Are most of your readers business minded or just looking for information in general? Are your readers web and computer savvy or do they need more detailed information from you?
Knowing your readers will help you write for more effectively and help you write useful information catered to them. By knowing them you can decide the depth and the scope of the information that you’re trying to share. If the majority of your readers are tech savvy, then you can use language that is more technical and not have to go into great details about all the ins and outs. If your readers are merely general computer users looking for some basic information or an in-depth how to, then you want to write material that explains things in more detail.
It doesn’t matter which type of website you run, this information can be used for all of them. If you run a website on writing and most of your readers are new writers, you will want to cater to their needs and be specific with information and give definitions of the words and phrases you’re referring to. If you run a legal website that’s geared towards individuals who are not legally minded, you will want your material to be more explanatory and in depth.
How can you get to know your readers?
One way is by asking questions that people will respond to. Ask what they already know or find out what they need to know. Give them a chance to speak up and be heard so your material can be useful to them–don’t’ just assume their knowledge of the subject is as technical as yours. If it were, they’d be writing a blog and not looking to you for the information. But even tech savvy readers often get stumped and need advice–so that into consideration too.
Follow links of the commenter to find out what their website is about. Read a few posts to find out more about them so you can cater your material to their needs.
Post survey’s on your website to get input from the readers.
Getting to know your readers doesn’t have to be difficult or boring. Come up with creative ways to engage them and glean knowledge from them.
Image courtesy: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/Elliott_Bay_Books_-_author_reading_01A.jpg
Yeah.. a nice method to know how readers see our writing is by imagining ourselves as the reader and then ask ourselves – how I feel when reading this?
It's true that get engaging with readers and knowing them is awesome, especially when you can understand them well.
You are so in my head. I am in the process of building my readers and audience minus comments at this time. Now, it's time to grow.
Hi guys,
Knowing your readers are very important and it's also time consuming. But it is so much worth your time.
Kind regards,
Sam
X
Hi guys,
Knowing your readers are very important and it's also time consuming. But it is so much worth your time.
Kind regards,
Sam
X
Yeah.. a nice method to know how readers see our writing is by imagining ourselves as the reader and then ask ourselves – how I feel when reading this?
It's true that get engaging with readers and knowing them is awesome, especially when you can understand them well.