Identify Your Target Audience

You could have a beautifully designed website and quality content optimized for your keywords. But are you reaching your target audience? And if you are reaching your target audience, does your website and business appeal to this group of people?

Website traffic numbers are only part of the story. Ideally, your target audience is coming to your site in good numbers, and you know enough about your target audience to tailor your site to their needs and interests. When you have specific information about your target audience, you can reach this audience more effectively through other means as well. This article is provided by your web hosting company and will address these issues.

What you should know about your target audience

Do you cater to a wide range of people or to a niche group? If you cater to a niche group, it's easier to define and aim to meet their needs. But even if your audience comes from a broad range of backgrounds, they all have an interest in your site in common. What creates that interest? Something about what you offer is (or should be) different from the competition. Learn what makes some people choose you over them.

What types of people use the products, services, or information at your site? Do they have the same or related occupations, hobbies, or concerns? What countries or regions are many of them from? Are the majority of them in the same age group? What does their age group have in common? Do they share common values? Are an equal number of males and females interested in your site, or does it appeal more to one gender? If so, why?

What does your target audience want and need, and how much do they expect to pay for it? Whether you offer products, services, or just information, specific wants or needs created the interest in what you offer. When you know what those wants and needs are, you can meet them better. You also need to know if your target audience is budget-minded, looking for high-end products or services, or somewhere in between.

How to learn about your target audience

Talk to your clients, customers, and website visitors. You can connect with them via discussions during the ordering process, feedback forms, newsletters, blogs, and tutorials. Don't just put information out there — invite responses.

Talk to people you know. Among your friends, relatives, and neighbors are probably some people who are part of your target audience. Ask them what they like and don't like about what you offer, what changes and additions they'd like to see and why, and what makes them look for your type of site online. Ask them about other sites they visit for the same reason they visit yours, related sources of information they use, and how they found these other sites and information sources.

Talk to people in person. If you have a bricks-and-mortar business, get to know your customers in person. If you have opportunities to attend or exhibit at conferences or trade shows related to your field, go and talk to your target audience there.

Read what people say online. An easy way to find out what people are thinking is to read forums and blogs. Search for your product or service names and for those of your competitors, and find out what people are saying about them. Look for discussions about your content area to get a more general feel for what people think. You'll see questions, answers, opinions, experiences, and more. When you identify certain forum members as fitting the profile of your target audience, observe what else they talk about.

Read industry and related publications. What does your target audience read? If your target audience works in a particular industry, you benefit from knowing about the directions and developments in that industry. If your target audience shares a common hobby or other interest, you'll find out what they're interested in by reading what they read. The publishers have already done some of the research for you.

Study your website traffic statistics. How are your site visitors arriving at your site? What is the conversion rate based on the keywords or links that brought them there? If some keywords or links bring visitors who rarely or never become customers, either there's a problem with your site or they aren't your target audience. Note which keywords and links lead to conversions. Those keywords are the right words for your target audience, and you can learn more about this audience by studying the sites that they came from.

Study the competition. If your competition appears to be targeting a similar demographic, what do they offer that you don't? You don't necessarily need to offer the same, but what they offer can give you more clues about your target audience.

Conduct a survey. Ask your audience what features they like and don't like about your products and services and what they'd like to see. Invite suggestions. Find out about other sites they visit and spend money at online, what their budgets are for what you offer, and what their anticipated needs are. A prize draw for participants can help increase the number of responses.

Hire a market research agency. If you have more money than time, you may want to leave the research to professionals. Market researchers can conduct surveys and use other research methods to find information about your target audience for you.

Related blog articles from your web hosting provider

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• Website Traffic and Conversion Rates
• Motivate Website Visitors to Buy
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