5 Tips to Identify The Right Target Audience for Your Blog
Your success as a blogger heavily depends on your ability to identify the best target audience for your blog. Skipping this process or waiting for the right audience to show up “eventually” will only delay the achievement of your goals.
But how do you find the right audience for your blogging business?
If you want to start a blog that makes money in 2024, but you have no previous experience blogging and no coding skills, check out this step-by-step guide to easily get started today!
What Is A Target Audience?
A target audience is a certain group of people with specific tastes, hobbies, interests, and problems to which a particular product or service is directed.
As a blogger, you need to identify your blog’s target audience as quickly as possible, so that you can focus on creating the type of content most likely to convert.
Is Audience The Same As Demographic?
No, audience and demographic are not the same, although both always go hand in hand. Focusing on a particular audience means focusing on that group’s personal interests and struggles. For example, this can be what movies they like to watch, what online content they consume, what their hobbies are, whether they are interested in starting a business or not, etc.
A particular demographic, on the other hand, is a certain segment of the population grouped by impersonal criteria such as age, gender, nationality, educational level, region of residence, etc.
That is, a target demographic could only focus on “30-year-old females living in the US”, regardless of what personal interests those women may have.
How Do You Identify The Best Target Audience For Your Blog?
The process of identifying the best target audience for your blog not only involves studying the individuals who will be your readers, supporters, and customers. It also involves how you will feel about dealing with that audience every day for many years to come.
So, as you don’t want to waste your time targetting an audience who won’t ever live up to your needs and expectations, you must be honest with yourself: are you able to commit to a group of people you might even hate as long as you can profit from it?
Or do you prefer a balance between writing for an audience you appreciate and making enough money, even if you’re in a niche that isn’t the most profitable?
In this article, you will find 5 smart tips to identify if a potential blog target audience is, in fact, the best option for you and the goals you intend to achieve.
5 Smart Tips To Help You Identify & Choose The Best Target Audience For Your Blogging Business
1. Identify The Likes and Dislikes Of Your Blog’s Potential Target Audience To See If It Relates To Your Content
If you identify your future readers’ likes and dislikes and so on beforehand, you will have better chances to make the best choice for you and your blog.
But you have to identify their interests rather than expecting them to identify with your interests.
I mean, you know that your target audience probably doesn’t care if you love Baby Yoda, right?
Or perhaps they think it’s cute that you like him, great, but does it put money in your pocket? Does the majority of your audience even care about Star Wars?! If so, then you’ll be fine. But what if they don’t like it? What if Star Wars is something very important to you, but you can’t talk about it on your blog? Instead, you have to talk about what your audience finds interesting, even if you hate it. Can you handle it in the long haul?
What I’m trying to say is that you need to ask yourself:
“How do I find a middle-ground between writing about things I know/appreciate and convincing my readers to open their wallets at the same time?”
You’ll find the answer by diving deeper into your potential target audience. That is, go check what they consume online and what they say about it. In other words, you must check:
- People’s social media accounts (and who they follow)
- Other blogs
- Forums & online communities
- Video comment sections
- Podcasts
- Etc.
Just do your homework!
That’s how you will identify what the potential target audience for your blog is interested in. And also the profit potential within that community.
After that it’s up to you: Are you okay with their interests or would you have to step out of your comfort zone to please them? And are you okay with doing whatever it takes to get the money into your account on payday?
I mean, I know this is going to sound crazy, but do you like rock music? If so, then you already know what I’m about to say. But if you don’t, then let me tell you about marketing strategies often implemented by Heavy Metal bands.
Once band members start forming their specific audience, they realize that they won’t make as much money as they want by making music that only fits their specific genre, considering the fans they’re attracting.
What do they do then?
They make changes, like cutting their hair shorter, wearing fashionable clothes, and making music that appeals to wider audiences. Next thing — boom!— they’re traveling the world, headlining festivals and all — rich and famous!
Is this something to be proud of?
Well, it’s not up to me to answer. What I want you to know is that if you give people what they want, things will work out for you.
Still, I suggest you define a target audience for your blog you can at least tolerate.
After all, you’ll be working on it every single day! Therefore, doing something that works, yet makes you feel uncomfortable and miserable, seems to be far from a perfect fit.
At the end of the day, it’s your decision though.
2. Trust Your Gut Instincts — But Compare Data To Be Assured If That’s The Right Target Audience For Blog
I know it sounds contradictory, but come to think of it. What if you are very good at something? Perhaps you’re better at this than most people. Even better than your competitors! And there is a very specific target audience to whom you could promote your skills as a blogger.
So why should you give up on doing what you actually want, especially if you think you’re capable of making it work? I mean, who am I to tell you that you can’t follow your dreams?
Just make sure you’ll get paid well to do whatever you want, okay? Or you’ll regret it, trust me. You will resent both your audience and blogging itself. You may even doubt your own abilities.
After all, although it’s important to trust your gut, it can also be dangerous, especially if you’re dealing with people’s unstable behavior.
Do you want to act impulsively by proceeding without a plan? That’s not a good idea, and you know it.
Although sometimes we need to be immediately decisive, in the early stages of developing your blog plan, you need to be more patient.
Remember: even though following your instincts feels good, having cold hard facts to back up your assumptions increases your chances of succeeding.
Not that some bloggers and entrepreneurs don’t make it by learning through trial and error.
Actually, there are things about your blog, and the social bubble you’ll insert yourself into during your blogging journey, that only time and experience will be able to teach you.
However, you should at least know where you’re heading before booking your flight, don’t you think?
Unless you want to:
- Get really mad at an audience that’s ignoring you
- Lose money already invested
- Feel tempted to give up (yes, unfortunately, it happens a lot because you’ll get so frustrated, that you may start feeling like blogging doesn’t suit you)
So, the bottom line here is, trust your gut instincts and make good use of your strengths and passions, but make sure you have data to strengthen your intuition.
Remember that no matter what your blog’s target audience is — you are dealing with people. And people are unstable.
So if you feel the audience is going to love what you have to offer because you believe people are like that, well, you better be assured of that. Make sure you know what people want — and that you can deal with their demands, as already said before.
But how do you make sure you really know what your potential target audience wants?
Although it’s really a shame that you don’t have a crystal ball (neither do I, unfortunately), you can get really close to predicting the future by using a keyword research tool such as KWFinder by Mangools, which has the most accurate SEO difficulty and exact search volumes for your target keywords.
KWFinder lets you know what monthly search volume there is for the topics you intend to address on your blog. This tool even allows you to filter these searches by country and shows you which are the keywords with low SEO difficulty and high search volume!
Check KWFinder prices here (which are over 75% cheaper than their competitors!) and stop taking risks by relying only on your feelings. After all, with an amazing tool like this, getting your hands on the data you need is not that difficult!
3. Research The Purchasing Habits Of Your Potential Target Audience
There are many ways to research a target audience, and it often depends on your budget.
Also, it’s not always the easiest thing to do, not going to lie. And you’ll need to take some time to do it, so be a bit more patient. If you do so in the early stages, you’ll get where you want faster than you think.
Take a look at these 2 methods often used by some bloggers and many entrepreneurs to research an audience’s buying habits:
Buy consumer data (but be aware of the downsides of doing it)
Buying consumer data is an option to get the information you need about the potential target audience of your blog.
The problem with buying consumer data, however, is that this type of data is usually collected via surveys. However, conducting surveys can be tricky and complicated.
The thing is, some people lie when they’re filling out surveys because they want to be perceived in a certain way, while many others don’t even know what they want!
See what I mean?
People can be very untrustworthy unless you’re very skilled at reading between the lines — or reading minds.
Also, there are those people who would love to be surprised by something they have never seen or heard of before. Even if they don’t know it.
How can you expect coherent responses from them, then?
So, if you have the budget to buy consumer data, this can provide you with some valuable insights, but you shouldn’t blindly rely on such information.
You need some kind of guarantee. Otherwise, you’d be better alone doing your research by yourself. But then you ask, “Is there a way to do so — without anyone’s help?”
Yes, there is, and it’s in the section below.
Hang out with your target audience online
So if there’s a place where people feel like they can say whatever they want, it’s on the internet.
That’s why you need to read the comments sections on social media posts, videos, and other communities related to the content you intend to share on your blog.
The thing is, while people don’t always share the truth, they do so a lot when they’re feeling safe, which happens when they’re surrounded by like-minded people (meaning they know they won’t be criticized for their behavior). Which is enough to answer many of your questions.
Furthermore, it’s a good way to get a better idea of whom you’ll be dealing with.
The information you have to identify to define the best target audience for your blog is:
- Do they buy from the businesses, companies, or artists they talk about?
- How much are they likely to pay for the type of product or service you have to offer?
- Do they leave reviews on products and services? If so, what do they praise and what do they dislike? Can you do better with your content/products/services, correcting the flaws of your competitors?
- In social media, what is the type of marketing done by the companies they follow?
Just hang out with your blog’s audience, even if you don’t exactly interact with them. After all, if your budget is low, you need to work with what you have.
By making time to spend with them, you’ll find out if they’re the right ones for your blogging business.
4. Run Several Tests To Avoid Targeting The Wrong Audience
I won’t lie: this can be very stressful. And it takes a lot of nerve to do it. I mean, let’s pretend you’re an artist.
If you just want to start a business, then it’ll be easier to handle this, because that will be less personal. But if you’re an artist, what if your target audience seems not to care about your art at all, and they just ignore it? Not just once, nor twice, but time and time again every day.
What can you do about it?
How can you make people stop ignoring your content?
It turns out that you can’t (not without selling your soul). And it’s not your fault, come to think of it.
The thing is, you’re exposing your content, products, or services to the wrong audience! They are NOT your target audience.
And that’s what happens and what you learn when you run tests: you expose your content to a cold audience of potential clients or fans, so you can realize which niche is more likely to appreciate what you have to offer.
When you run tests you need to try different approaches to the same content, promoting it to different audiences, till you find the audience that is more likely to convert.
Also, you need to be very strong to not end up giving up, because being ignored time and time again is cruel.
But trust me, if you’ve been following these steps and are convinced that what you do is amazing, no rejection will ever stop you.
How to run tests
One of the main ways to conduct tests is to simply post your content on the internet for people to see. You will need to:
- Be aware of which demographics each type of social media and forum attracts
- Determine the type of person who is paying attention to your work
- Identify the sort of person who is NOT paying attention to your work
- Be patient, as you’ll need to take at least a few months to gather enough information
Your other alternative is to pay to run ads, but that’s going to be pricey because you’ll inevitably have to waste money to identify the right target audience for your blog. So, if you’re on a tight budget, you’d better skip this step.
The bottom line here: although running tests is stressful, you’ll learn a lot from them — and it will pay off when you see the money in your bank account.
5. Don’t Get Stuck With A Blogging Target Audience That Isn’t Converting Well
If you have been trying to reach a certain blog audience for a while now, but you realized that it’s not working at all, well, say goodbye to everyone. Hasta la vista, baby! Even if a few people are supporting you.
I know it sounds harsh but, after all, they can’t help you to pay your bills. And you created a blog to make money, right?
And let’s face it, perhaps you like the way they’ve been showering you with compliments and stuff (some worshipers go so far as to hit on you!), especially if you’re used to getting in touch with them through social media.
But is this situation profitable? Will it help you buy something you need or want? Think about it.
If the answer is no, then you should delete your accounts. Or try to attract more people like the ones who are paying attention to whatever you’re exposing, by changing your content strategy.
Anyway, whatever you do, do not waste your time with prospects who don’t convert into customers, period.
Blogging is not just a hobby for you — you’ve got bills to pay, too.
Realize that if you can’t profit from that connection, then those people are not your clients: they’re just followers, friends, or something. And your blog is a business, so treat it as such.
And remember that the knowledge you acquired during the time you’ve spent with the wrong audience will be useful in one way or another.
Therefore, keep in mind that you did not fail. Instead, you took a wrong step that ended up being important for your growth, because it turned you into a smarter and stronger person.
How Do You Write A Blog For A Specific Audience?
Find out what are the interests, hobbies, and, especially, the struggles of your target audience. From there, dedicate yourself to writing the most information-rich content to help your target audience solve their problems.
Is It OK To Target Only A Particular Country’s Audience On A Blog?
Yes, it’s possible to target an audience from a specific country on a blog. However, it is necessary to evaluate if this is the best option for your business.
Narrowing too much your audience can make you miss good growth opportunities. On the other hand, for those who want to be accepted by a Premium Ad Network, a common requirement is that the majority of pageviews are from the United States.
In these cases, targeting your blogging content to an American audience and demographic is essential.
Identify The Best Target Audience For Your Blog — Conclusion
Identifying and defining the right target audience for you and your blog is not the easiest task.
But, well, in case you haven’t heard it before, let me tell you that if things were easy, then everyone would be rich.
Instead of focusing on the difficulties of your task, you should do your best to take a step towards your goal every day — even if it’s just a single one.
The sooner you start researching which audience suits your blogging goals, the sooner you’ll see tangible results. And by results, I mean whatever currency you get paid in.
Not that it’ll happen overnight, no!
You will have to control your anxiety to start your blog as soon as possible to do your field research. This is how you ensure as much as possible that you will have a successful blog. Follow the steps above and always persevere to get what you want.
Good luck!
If you want to start a blog that makes money in 2024, but you have no previous experience blogging and no coding skills, check out this step-by-step guide to easily get started today!
Related Topics:
- How To Pick A Blog Niche You Won’t Regret Later (5 Tips)
- Blogging Without Social Media: 23 Steps to Grow A Blog Successfully
- Quit Freelance Writing and Start A Profitable Blog Instead
- How Long Does It Take to Make Money Blogging ($500-$1000 Monthly Blogging)
- Blogging or YouTube, Which One is More Profitable?
Sharing is caring! Share on Pinterest!
If this article was helpful to you, would you consider sharing it on Pinterest? This helps others who may also benefit from this information, as well as helping us to spread the word about the quality content we always strive to create for you. Thank you!
Originally posted on November 16, 2021. Last updated on December 7, 2023.
One Comment
Pingback: