Five Surefire Ways To Lose Readers
February 6, 2009 by Jason · 5 Comments
Most people blog because they want to share something–their opinion, their knowledge, or a bit about their daily life. Others do it for more cathartic reasons; after all I have found writing to be very therapeutic and it often helps relieve stress to “get stuff of my chest” through the keyboard. Regardless of your motivation, it is flattering when others read what you write and find inspiration in your words. I recently shared a few ways to attract an audience, so now I’ll share ways to lose one.
Read more
- Town In Tennessee Survives On Three Hours Of Water A Day.
- Top Stress Management Tips for Moms: Part One
- Save Time, Money and Space in Over 80 Ways
Three Strategies To Improve Reader Interaction
January 26, 2009 by Jason · 11 Comments
Ever visited a blog and noticed the author never responds to comments? Ever emailed a blogger and never received a reply? It’s frustrating, isn’t it? Well, in the defense of non-communicating bloggers everywhere I will tell you that blogging is a lot of work, particularly if you are doing it as a side hustle. But as a reader of several dozen other blogs, I am sensitive to how important it is to interact with readers.
Read more
- Secrets Of A Stingy Scoundrel Giveaway!!!
- Upgrade your Gmail looks today
- Getting a Better Corporate Blog Ranking pt 2
How To Grow Your Blog With A Zero-Dollar Marketing Budget
January 15, 2009 by Jason · 17 Comments
I am a big proponent of running a debt-free business. I haven’t always practiced what I preached though, and in the past started a couple home-based businesses with credit cards. Big mistake. The businesses eventually flopped while the credit card debt lingered. Nothing worse than continuing to pay for a dream that burned out a long time ago.
Read more
- Sunday Money Madness - Blog Action Day Edition
- TransUnion Reveals National Credit Card Debt on the Rise
- Credit Card Debt Full Of Forgotten Items
How To Get More Subscribers By Not Asking For Them
January 13, 2009 by Jason · 5 Comments
Seems counter-intuitive, doesn’t it? How do you get subscribers without asking for them? Well, that’s not exactly what I mean–I was just using an example of a catchy title (more on that later). What I was really referring to is the idea of avoiding use of the word “subscribe.”
Read more
- 3 Steps For Better Affiliate Income From Article Marketing
- Internet Marketing: The Central Component
- How To Make Money Online Writing Articles And Get 10 Free Web Traffic Tips
Identify Your Target Audience
January 1, 2009 by Jason · 2 Comments
Now that you have identified a subject you are passionate about it’s time to identify your target audience. This is an exercise familiar to any traditional author or marketing executive. The identification of a target audience helps you focus your topic on their interests, and generally helps your writing fit their personalities. It isn’t necessary to spend big bucks here on a full-blown demographic study. Here are some frugal ways to identify a target reader for your blog.
Who are you? Sorry, I know you probably now have the theme to CSI running through your head. If you are passionate about your subject chances are there are others out there like you. After all, great minds think alike. What you need to do is identify who you are in terms of demographics. How old are you? What’s your marital status? What’s your household income? What careers interest you? What hobbies would someone like you engage in?
When setting up “Frugal Dad” I knew there were frugal-minded people out there like me, but I had one distinct uniqueness – I was a man. There are many excellent frugal living websites out there run by women – I know because I subscribe to nearly all of them! What I was planning to offer was content on frugal topics from a man’s perspective. Actually, from a dad’s perspective.
Men are notoriously bad about succumbing to big screen televisions and sports cars, to the detriment of their family’s finances. I wanted to present an alternative view. I would set out to prove that stay home mothers weren’t the only ones good at being home economists; us dads could do it, too. So my narrowly-defined target audience became middle-aged husbands and fathers interested in living a frugal lifestyle.
Got your target audience? Good, now think bigger. There is some danger in becoming too targeted. No one will ever find you. In my case delivering targeted content to wannabe frugal fathers aged 25-40 may not yield a large readership. What about writing content geared towards men, but with a frugal slant? I could write about careers, fatherhood, kids and money, technology, etc. And while I’m at it, how about writing some content addressed to both men and women interested in frugal living? Frugal shopping tips, household energy saving ideas, finance book reviews, etc. Does this all sound familiar? It probably does if you have been reading Frugal Dad for any length of time.
I recommend you try to discover a peripheral topic to provide to your readers. It’s a great way to engage readers not in your targeted audience. This series of blogging posts is a good example. I know that most of my subscribers are fairly technically proficient. Many of them are blog owners themselves, or may be interested in starting up their own blog.
Those who discover Frugal Dad via search engines may also be interested in creating a blog, so there may be value in providing a “how to” series on blogging. I can still stay true to my frugal theme by providing low-cost ways to start up a blog, market your site, etc. Before moving on, brainstorm some ways for you to connect with your readers by providing a peripheral topic.
Photo courtesy of cogdogblog
Related Articles From Other Sites
