:how to effectively target your blog
How to
EFFECTIVELY TARGET
ot woH
Audience
there are approximately 42,000,000 blogs in existEnce (according to wordpress, 2012)
and with more being created each day it is important that yourS
doesn't get lost in the great infinIty that is the world wide web
WHO IS YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE?
It's not only important to write in the proper tone to
address your target audience, but also to understand
the specifics of who exactly your audience is. That is:
• How old are they?
• Where do they live?
• Are they primarily male or female?
• How educated is your audience?
• What does your audience do for a living?
Knowing these important facts will allow you to better
write and provide content that is of interest and will
therefore, be more popular in the blog world.
WHO ELSE IS YOUR AUDIENCE READING?
Assuming your goal is to be the best blog in your market, it's
important that you understand who else your audience might
be reading. Establishing this information will aid you in several
areas:
• You will be able to see what others are doing and avoid doing
the same. Fresh, new content and ideas are far better than
regurgitated material.
• You can gauge the popularity of posts relating to topics/
interests by the amount of feedback and comments that another
blogger gets.
• And later this may help with promotion and aligning your blog
with others similar to your audience's interest.
promotion
REACH BEYOND YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE
5 Ways to Make Your Blog Posts
More Shareable
1. Work on your timing
When possible, your blog posts should be published
between 10am Tuesday and mid-day Wednesday to get
optimum readability.
2. Invest time in your headlines
Often, your headline is the only part of your post that is
seen or read so make it good and the readers will respond.
3. Provide social sharing buttons
Every blog must have social media buttons in a
prominent location so that visitors can easily share.
4. Ask readers to share
Statistics have shown that adding 'Please RT' to your
tweets will increase the number of retweets you receive.
5. Share first
It's very important that you reciprocate likes and shares,
as your readers and other bloggers will appreciate it and
be more motivated to continue to support you.
36 | www.h e rma gaz i n e . c o. n z
HOW MANY PEOPLE ACTUALLY MAKE MONEY
FROM BLOGGING?
• Upwards of 81% never make $100 from blogging.
• Only 8% earn enough money to be able to support a family.
• 9% make enough money to sustain their lifestyle spending 4-6
hours a day blogging.
• The other 2% spend 1-2 hours a day blogging and make
$150,000 blogging from exotic locations.
WHAT BLOGGING PLATFORM SHOULD I USE?
There are several blogging platforms available and each has
different strengths and weaknesses. According to blogging.org, in
2012 the below organisations managed these percentages of total
blogs on the internet...
WORDPRESS
43%
BLOGGER
35%
TUMBLR,
TYPEPAD,
POSTEROUS
16%
OTHER
6%
