Chapter 8
Attracting an Audience
Once you have your site active there are a few things I want you to do to prepare for reaching your audience.
Project number 1:
Remember when you tested your topic’s marketability by searching for blogs in your category? Well, you are going to do the same thing again but only for a different purpose.
Once again, open up Google and type in the search bar “your topic”/blog (don’t forget the parenthesis) and then click the search button. This will bring up all the blogs in your topic.
I want you to click on 10 blogs (one at a time, of course). Take a close look at how they are set up; what their focus is; and what they offer. Take a look at their previous blogs and most importantly; take a look at the HEADLINES they used for their previous blogs. Creating compelling headlines will be important because when you send out your emails, you want someone to think to themselves; “That’s a great headline. I just have to open this email and read it”.
Reading established blogs is a great learning experience for you. Make sure you ‘bookmark’ their site so you can go back to them easily.
Next I want you to see what ‘free offer’ they have in exchange for your email address. This is known as a “lead magnet”. Pay close attention to their lead magnets because you are going to be creating one in the next lesson.
Collecting email addresses from people who visit your site will be crucial to your success. You will need an audience to market your products to.
I want you to sign up for the ‘free offers’ from each of the 10 blogs you visit. (If you’d like, you can set up a second free email address just for this purpose). See what their offer looks like and the process they use. If need be you can always opt-out from their email list so you don’t keep getting a lot of emails.
But don’t opt-out too quickly, because if it looks like a site that resonates with you, it might be a site you can partner with in the future. However, if what they offer might be in direct competition with you, then it may not be possible. More on that later.
Project number 2:
Next we are going to try and locate your future audience by trying to figure out where they hang out on-line. (Other than at the sites of your competitors. Because they might not let you guest post). In other words, try and think of the different topic areas your target audience may also be looking at. Here is an example:
Let’s say that your target market is “diet and exercise plans for new Moms”. (Notice that this topic is a niche within the larger “Diet and Exercise” topic, which is huge. By picking a niche like ‘new moms’ you are able to target your market better.)
Your job is to figure out what else new moms may be interested in and search those sites. For example: Baby Clothes; Advice about Crying Babies; Time Management for New Moms; How to Decorate a Nursery.
You get the idea? With some creative thought you should be able to find many areas of interest for your target market. And the best part is; these sites will probably NOT be in competition with what you offer.
What I want you to do is search for blogs in these complimentary categories. Such as, “How to decorate a nursery”/blog. If you want, choose a few blogs from each complimentary topic.
Next, I want you to do the same thing as before; sign up for their free offers. Here is why this strategy is going to be extremely important in the future. Eventually you are going to want to do guest blogs as a vital way to grow your list and these sites could be potential guest blog opportunities.
I will teach you how to approach these sites for guest posts in the future but by opting in to their free offers now; when the time comes; you will be able to say honestly that, “you have been following their blog for a couple of months.”
This will also give you a chance to get to know the bloggers and see whose material resonates with you. Then when you contact them you will be able to mention sincerely what you like about what they do. Or maybe post favorable comments on their blogs or Facebook page.
You can sign up for as many of these as you are comfortable doing. You can always opt-out of the ones that you don’t care for. Plus in the future you can always add more to your list. But the more you have knowledge of the better.
Project number 3:
It’s time to start writing.
Before you even begin to try and attract an audience I want you to write 3 different posts (articles) about you topic. Pick subjects within your topic that you are very interested in. You want these to offer outstanding content for your readers. You want them to read these posts and be hungry for more information from you.
Remember, you are writing to inform, inspire, entertain or educate your readers. What valuable information can you give to them? What tips, suggestions or insights will improve their lives? What valuable experience or knowledge can you pass along to them? What will compel them to come back for more? That’s your assignment.
The reason that I want you to write 3 different posts is because those are the posts you are going to begin with and have listed on your website under ‘blogs’. That way when someone does visit your website they will have something to read and it will look like you have been doing this for at least a little while.
As you continue to write blogs in the future you will ‘archive’ them on your site.
For each article you write I want you to come up with a creative, compelling headline. Something that will make readers want to open your email to read.
Go to the blog sites that you have bookmarked and take a look at their archived posts and study the headlines. It will give you some ideas on how to compose your own.
What if you don’t like to write?
People tell me all the time that they can’t write or they don’t like to write. Usually what this means is that they have had very little experience doing so.
Very often this is just a mindset; a limiting belief. I am going to ask that you to do your best to push forward and at least give it your best effort, knowing that this will affect your online business.
You will improve greatly and quickly; especially if you are writing about a topic that is meaningful to you.
However; if, after giving it a fair chance, you decide that there is no way you can write articles on a regular basis (2 to 4 times per month), then here is an alternative:
You can be a compiler; researcher; or editor.
There is so much information on the internet that it is overwhelming. Most people do not want to spend all their time doing the research and looking for answers that they want.
You can do that for them. And if you are passionate about your topic this should be something that you enjoy.
Publish a regular stream of: The Top 10 Best Ways to XXX, The 3 Best Tools to XXX, Which Way is Better; XXX or YYY? How To Do XXX, Best Recipes, Secrets of XXX. (You get the idea)
Publish articles of interest to your readers written by others. And of course, give them full credit and a link to their website. You might even ask others to write guest articles for you. There are a lot of sites that are nothing but daily guest articles.
It doesn’t matter whether you are creating the material or if someone else is. The KEY is whether or not you are offering VALUE to your audience. Are you giving them what they want? Are you answering their questions? Are you entertaining them? And…. Will they want to come back for more?