One of the most important things about blogging is your blog audience. Without your audience your blog won’t get to where you want it to go. You essentially rely on strangers to read and interact with your content in order for your blog to be grow and flourish. It’s a weird concept if you think about it too much. As a blogger you rely heavily on your blog audience to interact and share your content, but with that its up to us (as bloggers) to try to understand our audiences a little better.
Now by that I don’t mean what their favourite colour is or what they got for Christmas. By that I mean understanding their online habits, what they do and don’t enjoy reading. Have you ever posted something and found it didn’t get as many views or likes as you thought it would? Well maybe its because you’re posting about things your audience doesn’t like. There is a counter argument here though, that you shouldn’t just post what you think your readers will enjoy. And I agree, but there is an aspect of pleasing the people here too.
As I said, we rely on our audience to help our blog to grow. So there should be a balance between writing what you want to write about, and giving your readers what they want.
GET TO KNOW YOUR BLOG AUDIENCE
It’s essential in the blogging world to make connections and friendships with your audience. After all they are the ones who are showing your blog love and support. I can’t imagine a world where I didn’t interact and have meaningful and important conversations with my readers. In doing this you are enabling yourself to get a feel for what kind of content they like.
Getting to know your audience can look like many different things. Speak to them through social media and build those connections. Add polls and questionnaires to your posts to gather feedback. I’d rather know what my audience likes than just guess and get it wrong.
LOOK FOR TRENDS
As a blogger you are probably aware of what posts do better than others. For example, I know this post will be well received because its something we all want to learn to do. Which is why you frequently see blogging tips posts from me. I know those posts do well and that my readers enjoy them. I have also learnt that my readers like it when I speak about myself or something personal. Although I don’t tend to do this often, its always well received when I do.
Just being aware of what works and doesn’t work is a step in the right direction. But that doesn’t mean you have to just post about the things you know they will enjoy. I tend to test the waters sometimes with a different kind of content to see how it’s received. You don’t know if they will enjoy it unless you try.
READ THEIR COMMENTS
Something I have spoken about before is how important it is to interact with your blog audience. The comment section on your blog is one of the most important places to better understand your readers. Usually if your readers enjoy your content they’ll let you know, and similarly if they disagree or don’t like something they’ll let you know too.
The comment section is a hub for your audience to share their views and thoughts. So it’s always important to be checking there to see what they are saying. It’s also important to reply and respond when you can too. This will help build up that rapport with your readers and build those important connections.
LOOK AT YOUR BLOG PERFORMANCE
One of the great things about WordPress is the Insight and stats section. It shows you helpful graphs so you are able to monitor and see how your blog is performing over days, weeks, months and years. This tool allows you to monitor where and when you have a decline in stats and enables you to pin point why.
For example I noticed a decline in stats towards Christmas, and this makes sense. At Christmas less people are on their phones, so it wasn’t necessarily anything to do with the content I was posting. Now if I see a dip in stats randomly in a month, I can always go and check to see what I posted and figure out why the post didn’t perform as well as I thought it would. Whilst were on the topic of stats, just know it’s totally normal for stats to dip periodically throughout the year. It has no reflection on you or your work. It’s just one of those things. So please don’t worry or stress if you do see that dip. It happens to all of us.
How do you get to know your blog audience better?
Do you notice trends in your stats?
Do you know what type of content your readers love and don’t love?
Getting to know your blog audience is essential and something we should all strive to do. They are the ones we rely on to grow our blogs and platforms. We should be taking every step we can to better understand who they are and what they enjoy! I hope this post was helpful, and I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on this topic!
Olivia x
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Informative
So glad👏🏻
Great tips, I’m still pretty new so still learning about my statistics. It’s all a learning curb xxx
Thanks for reading! Xx
Agree with some of your points i think it depends on where one is in their blogging journey to make stats and analytics part of their focus. For myself to begin with it was about finding what works for me and writing and identifying a niche. I’d like to think now i have, so i tend to read comments more and get a feel of what my audience like. Just a thought
Yep agreed. If you’re just starting out then your stats are probably not a great reflection just yet
Nice post, really helpful. 💯
Thanks so much! 🙂
I’ve been blogging for about a year, so, don’t yet have a body of stats to pore over but I have sometimes noticed a massive difference between views and likes but I have no idea what the optimum ratio is. I think you are right about holiday traffic etc.
Sometimes I just take it as “it is what it is”. We can’t expect people to be sat on their phones or at their computers all day everyday reading our blogs. The time of year really does have an impact!
True. It would be interesting to see the insights drawn from the stats of well-established blogs rather than just the numbers. Then again, some blogs post twice daily and others monthly, so not sure how or if they can compare. Hmm
You’re very right. I don’t think we could ever compare because we all post such different content and different amounts. I’d love to see that one day too! It would be good to see how it differs from blog to blog!
Agreed. It’s a fascinating minefield but to get any worthwhile trends you’d have to get a decent sample of similarly themed blogs etc. I would assume that WP do this analysis but you know what they say about assuming things haha 🙂
This is a very infomative post, but wloves run in pacts and many times the audience only support their friends and no matter the content out side of that circle it isn’t well received, and I have been successful here with my posts and especially my comments, but I am here practicing and horning my writing skills and laying the foundation of selling my books.and not everybody will like one’s ‘whatever’ no matter what,who, or you. I write to the best of my ability and choose subjects that resonate with me first and let the chips fall where they may, but everyones goals aren’t the same here, but there are two emotions, love and hate, and the audience will act and react to both and the audience will either love one’s content ot hate it (mission accomplished)!
Great post!
I don’t necessarily agree with the first part of your comment. Of course friends will always support friends, but if I genuinely don’t like something that one of my friends posts on their blog I wont like it. I’d rather be genuine in my support for others than just supporting because I know them. Of course I cant comment for other people here but personally, I couldn’t do it.
You’re right in saying that we all have different goals, thats very true. Some want to grow their blogs and make money and some just use their site as an outlet. And I think both are great! But again, their goals are very different!
I don’t agree with the first part of my statement either, but in comparison and contrastion I’ve learnt to disagree with myself at times, but I know when I disagree with myself at times it actually mirror and reflect how other’s think and such disagreement is found in psychology 101, and your response demonstrates to me that you are not only brilliant but real as they come, and by the way correct the errors in my first response!
We can agrees to disagress, an unwritten law by fair minded people akin to the Imperative Sentence, the *You* is a part of the sentence but not physically in the Sentence, but the *You* is understood!!!
This is very good. And so true, to understand your audience and to make sure you are putting out relatable content. I want to keep a good eye on trends in 2021. I think when i am more consistent I can observe my stats more. From January I think, as i am really putting in the time now to catch up to get blogs ready for the new year. So in January I will be planning February posts. I am thinking about dreaded valentines day now 👀
Thanks alot! Theres nothing wrong with a-bit of forward planning! I love to do this, it really saves you rushing and time!
Exactly 😊😊
♡ Quality over Quantity EveryOne; quite often if the “audience” don’t like “the content” they reflect and THINK!!! Again
…♡♡♡…
Thanks for sharing!
This is good to think about. I’m taking the approach to figure out my “niche” or what I enjoy writing about. I’m not one into mainstream or trending stuff, so I don’t think I’d write about those types of things, but I also think I don’t want to attract people who are into that stuff either. As much as I would love to have thousands of followers and become “popular”, I need to stay grounded and remind myself it’s more important to me to produce something meaningful.
I think you are still able to stay grounded even if you are “popular”. I think thats more to do with the character of the person more than anything. And similarly, you can still stay grounded too even if you have a large following.
The point I was trying to get across is that, if you are trying to grow your blog then its important to have some knowledge of what your audience enjoys reading. If you aren’t wanting to do that then of course it doesn’t matter too much🤪
That makes total sense!
Such an informative post! 😊
Thanks alot!
I love talking to people on my blog. I think I use that more than anything else. Some posts draw a lot of engagement, and provoke thoughtful conversations 🙂
I love it too! Its one of my favourite things to do:)
Informative tips😊
Thanks alot!!:)
I definitely agree with the balance of writing what you want and what your readers want to hear. I’m still learning this myself!
Yes! A balance is needed I think to grow a successful blog!
You would know! Keep teaching us how to get it done!!!
ON FEELING INSULTED
♡ That’s Very Insulting when No Insult was INTENDED!!! or Meant; yet it is all a Matter of Perspective EveryOne…for example it’s The Question I Call ‘Dumb’ NOT!!! The Person who Poses The Question then has Taken Offence and is then Dumbleyung Supported by Many Gormless Friends; le sigh, I Guess Some of Us People Stick Their Oar in to InterActions They Have No Idea About, now that’s Really ‘Dumb’
nisi mortuus nec neque nolite vicit 🤭🤫🤐
…♡♡♡…
ON TAKING IT ON THE CHIN
♡ Ultimately EveryOne We Can Continue Discussion about “DisRespect”, “Insults”, “Judgement”, “Offensive” until “The Cows Come Home” after a “Hard Days Night” ~ The Beatles; ergo I Totally Agree with ALL of Us Turning InSide and Looking Deeper which is what I Do Moment By Many Moments while I AM Blaming NoOne, especially NOT!!! Me MySelf, I…yet So Many of Us CHOOSE!!! to Weep, Wail and Cover OurSelves in Ashes The Moment We FEEL!!! Aggrieved as Our Emotion Kicks In and We Take It ALL Out On Other Folk, BLAMING!!! Them for Our Woes with No Sense of Accountability and Responsibility for ALL of Our Emotions, THOUGHTS!!! Words and Deeds
nisi mortuus nec neque nolite vicit 🤭🤫🤐
…♡♡♡…
ON SUCCESSFUL TEAM BUILDING
◇ – Diamond Hard – ◇
◇ ALL True Teams Build ThemSelves and Have No Leader, unlike Tribal Chieftans of Any Gender, except in Specific Situations aka Being Equitable and an Absence of Dictating; it’s just a Question of remaining Awake, Aware and Alert and Avoiding the Asleep, Oblivious and Lackadaisical Folk
nisi mortuus nec neque nolite vicit 🤭🤫🤐
◇ – Diamond Hard – ◇
…◇◇◇…
ON SUCCESS CLASS 101
◇ – Diamond Hard – ◇
♡ Only YOU!!! Decide what Successful Means to YOU!!!
♤ How YOU!!! Succeed is Entirely Up to YOU!!!
♧ Clubbing – If Others Belittle YOUR!!! Successes YOU!!! ARE PERFECTLY ENTITLED!!! and Welcome to Tell THEM!!! to VERY KINDLY FUCK OFF!!! – Clubbing
nisi mortuus nec neque nolite vicit 🤭🤫🤐
◇ – Diamond Hard – ◇
…◇◇◇…
ON HAIKU
♡ Hurting and Healing
Pain is No Big Deal
Let Pain Rest
Let Pain Heal
nisi mortuus nec neque nolite vicit 🤭🤫🤐
…♡♡♡…
Super content as always Olivia, happy New Year to you!
Thanks alot! Happy New Year to you too!
I think it’s good to know about my blog performance. Thanks for this interesting post.
Happy New Year ! 🤗
Happy New year to you too! Thanks so much for reading!
Thanks a lot !
GREAT BLOG ADVICE! YOWZA!
Great post. This is definitely a major question of mine.
Thank you for these tips. They are very helpful.
Nice post
Can’t wait for 30 Day Blogging Strategies!
It’s interesting because there’s no rhyme or reason to how well posts perform sometimes! I posted a photo diary on Christmas Day as it was a Friday and that was in keeping with my usual schedule. I felt I wanted to stick with that but post something short and sweet. Christmas Day came and my stats were absolutely booming!
I find google analytics to be a huge help in pointing me in the right direction when it comes to what content my users are enjoying!
Very helpful. Thank and Happy New Year to You.