Are You Leaving Your Readers Out of the Conversation?

Are You Leaving Your Readers Out of the Conversation?

Reader Comments (23)

  1. It all comes down to making a mission and statement for your site/blog.

    An online business uses the same management and marketing tools as an offline business.

  2. One of the things I find interesting about many of the blogs I read is how the target audience has changed over the life of the blog. Or for as long as I’ve been reading, anyway. You can see where a blogger may be “feeling out” their audience and eventually land on one different from the original. I think this may be part of the evolution of a blog. I’ve changed my content slightly on my own blog as I’ve gotten to know my readers better. I think this actually can benefit readers by focusing in tighter.

    Then there are those that go from talking to their *customers* to talking to their *peers*, like the examples you mention. That’s what can alienate readers. I think it’s more common than we might expect.

    I like that you mentioned Jerry Weissman’s book (one of my favorites). It is one of the best resources for designing your story around your audience. Something a lot of bloggers seem to miss.

  3. This is particularly difficult for a person like me who has the laser-focus of an eight-year-old left alone in a toy store while they’re restocking the free candy tasting booth.

    I wrote up something this morning, and forgot to add “what’s in it for you.” A couple of paragraphs of “put this thing on your site to keep ’em coming back” later, and the article made sense to to show it added value for the reader. Until then, I was just describing a new widget I stuck on the front page.

  4. >>You can see where a blogger may be “feeling out” their audience and eventually land on one different from the original.

    Yep. No matter how much you plan beforehand, you need to constantly pay attention to the feedback you are getting to tweak your focus. I’ve done it constantly with Copyblogger over the last year.

    We’ll talk abour re-positioning a bit later in this series.

  5. Thanks for making me think Brian.

    My blog started by purely talking to potential clients. The problem was that local business owners don’t want to participate in online conversation, so I had to then tailor the posts towards peers and prospects.

  6. Brian;

    Well said.

    I have been preaching about the importance of speaking to an “ideal reader” for some time.

    You must first know the reader in order to converse with them.

    It seems a lot of folks overlook the fact that they may NOT know who their readers actually are.

    Mike

  7. It goes back to why you blog and what is the outcome you are seeking. Re-calibrating your brand promise on a regular basis keeps you from becoming unfocused as you evolve — growth is a worthy outcome, whether that be purely in terms of your own self, your business, and the business of your customers and prospects.

  8. Brian-
    You hit the nail on the head with the Realtors talking shop instead of speaking with their target audience.

    The lure comes from the fact the large majority of the real estate blog readers are actually other Realtors. A stat watcher (we’re all guilty) will see jumps in readership when they discuss Zillow, disintermediation, or the Bubble.
    The traffic becomes exciting to them and they lose sight of the ‘business intent’ of the business blog.

    It must be kept in mind who you are trying to attract, and this target is not just traffic. If it were, we should just start writing headlines like:
    “The 5 Reasons Britney Shaved Her Head”

  9. Context, context, context. Great post, Brian. So easy to forget this – a lot of us talk sideways to other bloggers even while attempting to talk out to our first-time visitors, and this can make relationships difficult to form or foment.

  10. Post on demand can be a very useful point.Sometimes you should get to ask your readers what they want.I had this situation few days back and When i asked for feedback I had few readers mailing me for some topics.It was really great

  11. Thanks for this one on conversation. What you said can’t be said enough. So many bloggers write for other bloggers, which is fine if that’s who is their target audience. We have know who we are talking to if we ant them to listen. No one could have said it better.

  12. I totally agree — there’s an incestuous slant in so many internet marketing professionals blogs, webcopy, and (don’t get me started) testimonials, as if blogs & sites exist only to promote the industry of blogs & sites!

    It’s refreshing to see a marketer who realizes that there are businesses that exist to serve other industries than marketing…

  13. Thanks for this. The thing I struggle with today is writing for existing vs. new readers, when all are within the *intended* audience. I try to provide enough context in posts to help bootstrap the new folks while not completely boring existing (and especially long-time) readers. But wow — this is tough to do. There’s a lot of backstory in my posts, and I’ve realized that even people who really love your blog can’t/won’t take the time to go back through your archives.

    I have not figured out how to do this well.

  14. It goes back to why you blog and what is the outcome you are seeking. Re-calibrating your brand promise on a regular basis keeps you from becoming unfocused as you evolve — growth is a worthy outcome, whether that be purely in terms of your own self, your business, and the business of your customers and prospects.

  15. I have not figured out how to do this well.

    Kathy, atlhough I personally think you’re doing a damn fine job, this is a challenge, isn’t it? I often cringe at how often I feel I’m repeating myself when it comes to core concepts on this blog, but no one complains (and I keep expecting the complaints to come). The reality is, I’m probably not doing enough for new readers all the same.

    All I can come up with is to relentless cross-reference earlier posts in a way that doesn’t bog down the flow for long-time readers. Can you imagine life without hyperlinks? 😉

  16. This is such a useful post b/c all writers want an audience, and all audiences want to be catered to in some fashion.

    While it is hard for me to gauge what exactly my readers want, if readership continues to grow, and I see a trend, let’s say in a certain topic in graphic design, then I will continue that trend.

    Is that good?

    I mean, I noticed that plp where searching for Photoshop Brushes and they liked the Logo and Vector posts, so I am writing more about that and doing a whole PDF on Photoshop brushes and creating abstract art.

  17. Hi, Just reading through the top blogs of 2007 and really enjoyed this article.

    It was a timely reminder for me to keep one-three people in mind as I write my articles. This way I keep their (meaning my readers) needs at the front of mind and write like I’m talking to them.

This article's comments are closed.