Everyone starts blogging and has a problem in building a blog that fuels their business.

It is hard — either you get no traffic and no one hears about you and your blog, or you get a lot of traffic but those visitors just bounce away and they don't stick to your site.

One of the reasons why these happen is that you don't know who you want to target. You’re not being specific enough about who your blog is for and why the person is visiting your blog.

Just because someone lands on your page and may potentially buy something from you doesn’t mean that they would spend their money. Think how much more likely they are going to if your blog fulfills their need, they like what you do, and they trust you.

So how do you put up a blog that someone is going to love?

Don't worry about how to sell. Worry about who you want to sell to.

How to Identify Your Ideal CustomersSelling your products is actually the best way to monetize your site. You get 100% of the earnings. You can earn far more money from selling your own work than from simply carrying Google Adwords on your site.

The problem isn't in creating the product, although that's an important part; nor is it on how to sell and deliver your product. With services like Selz, you could easily deliver your products and get paid. The problem is in how to get those who will buy your products.

Everyone thinks that his problem is unique. Yes, we all think so. We think that our problem is different from others.

That's why you need to talk to that person. Try to market your product like you're speaking directly to an individual customer. Eventually, they'll thank you for helping them and they'll most likely be happy to pay you the money.

Identifying your IDEAL customer

target_missedNow, the question is, “How do I identify my ideal customer?

Here is my 5 step-framework to help you do this. But before that, I'd like to answer a simple question that you may be asking now, “How detailed should I be?

Be as detailed and specific as much as you can. You can check Leslie's customer avatar to know what I mean. Check out Learning with Leslie's Episode #104, How to Set A Firm Foundation For Your Blog.

Let me show you this 5-step framework to help you make your job easier.

#1: Define their demographics and psychographic.

According to Wikipedia:

A demographic…is a term used in marketing and broadcasting, to describe a demographic grouping or a market segment.

demographicsAnd:

Psychographics is the study of personality, values, attitudes, interests, and lifestyles. Because this area of research focuses on interests, activities, and opinions, psychographic factors are also called IAO variables.

Simply put, demographics is describing your customer from outside and psychographic is all about what's in their minds, fears, motivations, and values.

Many people think that the second is enough, but you actually need both. If you just focus on psychographic, you'll end up with a great profile that fits your products, but you'll ignore a lot of other things that will help you in promoting your site.

Here are some information you need to help you define the demographic and psychographics of your ideal reader:

  • The gender of your ideal reader
  • Age
  • Income
  • Greatest fear
  • Favorite book
  • Your ideal reader's goal 5 years from now
  • Dreams and what prevents him/her from reaching their goals

Again, be as specific and as detailed as much as you could and you may get more data.

#2: Locate them

connecting -- social networkAfter you know your ideal reader, you need to identify where he/she hangs out online. Knowing this will help you make your blog compelling to your customer and your marketing resonate with them.

Here are some questions to ask yourself to find them:

  • What blogs do they follow?
  • What do they search for online?
  • What do they listen to online?

Knowing these info will help you differentiate your blog from others.

#3: Understand them more

Demographic and psychographics are not enough to help you identify your customer.

You need to know more.

  • HandshakeWhat makes you the best fit? What's happening in their life now that makes them want to enter your market, like marriage, leaving their job, and so on?
  • What motivates them to work with you? What is the end goal they want to reach by hiring you? For example, if you're a designer, the end goal is to get more money from the blog. You can reach that by increasing their subscription rates, so you need to work on increasing their subscription rates and so on.

After you answer the above questions, move on to the next step…

#4: Sketch your reader

No, I don't mean drawing them. What I mean is to create a persona that describes your ideal reader. You don't need to include all the above info. All you need is to provide enough info to evoke an image for your ideal reader.

Start creating a paragraph including the above info to help you build a customer persona for your reader.

Leslie did this step very well. If you want to see his reader profile, go and check it here How to Set A Firm Foundation For Your Blog.

#5: Modify as you go.

As you continue blogging, your customer picture changes in your mind, especially in the first year. That's normal for your business.

You'll find that your blog resonate to other group more than your original one. No problem with that. So keep returning back to your customer profile and change it to talk directly to the right people.

Just because you have a target customer in mind doesn’t mean that you won’t attract other people that like what you do.

Let's take Marie Forleo as an example, it's very clear that Marie tries to target women entrepreneurs to help them build a business and lead a life they love. But isn't there any man who follows it?

I'm actually here. I love Marie TV. I  wait for her email every Tuesday morning. I wait for each new Marie TV episode. And, there are many more who ask her questions and leave comments on her posts.

Do I fit to be one of her ideal readers? Actually no, but I got attracted to her tone and of course, her great personality.

Your worksheet:

I’ve given you the framework to identify your ideal customer.

Now, its your turn to turn this into actions that will turn your blog around. I've created this simple worksheet to help you with the above steps.

Go and get it now.

But keep in mind…

Knowing your ideal reader makes your job easier

Thumbs UpNot only will you get more readers to be directed to your site, you'll also know how to attract more of them and how to serve them best.

You'll know what to do, just keep doing it.

You'll know where they hang when you know them. Go and grab their attention and get them to your blog.

You'll know what type of content they want. Write content specifically for them and give it to them.

You'll know their problems, their pains, what they want to be better at. You could create a product that helps them solve their problems, relieve their pains and be better at what they want.

They'll be happy to pay you their money and thank you for helping them.

Know your ideal customer and just put him/her in front of you when you do anything online. This will make your job easier.

And don't forget to grab your ideal customer worksheet.

About the Author Ahmed


Ahmed Safwan is a blogger and marketer that teaches how you can get your posts shared, tweeted, and talked about. If you want more people to read and interact with your content, check out his free Blogger's Handbook for Writing Viral Posts!

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