Why You Aren’t Writing to Your Audience

If you were serving up content that people really wanted to read, you’d know it. You’d have comments after each post, you’d be getting emails from your readers, and they’d be sharing your links all over the web. If you’re not seeing any activity then something’s not right. You might think you’re writing to your audience, but here’s why you’re not.

You Heard It Was Best To “Just Be Yourself”

There’s a big difference between “just being yourself” and writing for your audience. The first thing you need to do is decide what audience you’re going to be addressing. If you’re going after the online gaming crowd and every word you type sounds like it was put on the page by Shakespeare you won’t make much of a connection because you’re not writing to your audience – you’re writing for yourself.
“Just be yourself” means you don’t pretend to be someone you’re not and you don’t pretend to have more knowledge than you really have. You don’t make up “facts” and try to blind your audience with B.S. And when it comes to blogging, you shouldn’t even pretend to have an interest in a subject if you really don’t. You’re going to be blogging about that topic for a very long time. But before you even reach the burn-out stage your readers are going to see through your disguise.

You Heard You Should Schedule Your Posts

I once followed a blogging guru who suggested you fill up your blog with at least 60 to 75 posts, scheduled out over the next 3 to 4 months, before you even launch. Most of those posts are going to be written for you, not your readers, because you haven’t even met your readers yet. Other than performing the basic keyword research, how can you tell what your readers really want before you even launch your blog?

You Heard You Should Make A List Of Keywords And Start Writing

I’ve met a few bloggers who do extremely in-depth keyword research before they start a new blog. I’m talking about thousands of keywords, answering every possible question. The set up their blog and just start writing. In a way, they’re covering all the bases because they’ve done such extensive research. However, they’re not paying attention to their audience – they’re just writing a new blog post every day.
Each and every post sounds like it was written by an encyclopedia salesman and the calls to action – when they appear – are weak and half-hearted. These bloggers are so engrossed in production that they forget they have an audience to impress.
Take the time to read the comments you do get and not only reply, but use them for content on your blog. Address those commentors by name, inside your posts, and show them how important they are to you. It doesn’t matter if you like your content, you won’t be clicking the links on your own blog. What matters most is what your readers think. So start writing for your audience.
What do you think? Let me know in the comments below!