Readers are the heart of a blog, and it’s not a blog until it has a target audience. Most successful bloggers have developed their loyal blog persona following through their writing style, content, and personality.
It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of creating a new blog and sharing your thoughts and opinions with the world. You want to get to know other like-minded people. You are happy that you can express your voice and share your vision. But, if you do not know who your ideal reader is, you will be writing for the wrong audience. You will be sharing content that doesn’t fit in with your ideal blog persona.
First of all…
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YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THE WORKSHEET BELOW.
What is a blog persona?
A blog persona is your target audience. You might call it a customer, audience, avatar, or marketing persona.
It’s the person who fits your target market (your buyer persona if you’re selling on your blog) and the type of content you want to pen. It’s the patron you want to reach, and it’s also the visitor who will read your blog content and respond positively to your calls to action.
In simple words, it is the audience you use to create content for your website.
The blog avatar is like your personal branding assistant that helps you understand and relate to others. It is the cohesive identity for your brand.
A Persona personifies your brand, representing who you are, what you do, and what you stand for. They give your target audience a sense of identity.
If you want your visitors to trust you, they must feel like they know you.
Why use blog personas?
Blog personas prevent you from getting stuck and say, “What am I going to write today?”
When you have a clear picture of who your readers are, you have a strong understanding with your targeted audiences.
See the point?
They are important because they help to connect with you. Creating them enables you to understand better your target audience, which means that the content and marketing methods may change to suit their needs.
- Use audience persona to help you in publishing better articles.
- Create a more engaging copy that will drive traffic to your site.
As for me, I call it a real person with specific details, which is my basis for creating content.
Do you understand your audience? โ Maybe you don’t
All successful content strategies start with knowing how to understand their audience.
It is one big reason why most marketers fail. *Whoosh! BOOM!*
They don’t know how their audience looks.
*Tsk! Tsk!*
To create the perfect user persona, you need to find an audience hungry for what YOU have written.
Some business bloggers have a vision but have not conducted market research to determine the current and potential needs of their readers.
Do you really need to deal with it for the rest of your life? Not sure who you are writing for?
A solid understanding of the data-driven personas will define your audience if you want to convert them into your real customers in the future.
How to create your perfect blog persona in 5 minutes or less
You’ve got to establish your brand identity before starting to develop a website. A user persona is the personality and voice of your content. It’s the face that you present to the world. It’s what your visitors will see when they go to your blog. It’s the impression that you want to leave with them.
When it comes to your audience persona, you want to make sure you’re reaching the right people with the right message. Your content should appeal to your target customer.
So what makes your ideal reader?
What kind of reader would they be?
What do they need from your content?
And how can you reach them?
When you’re drafting a post, you first need to think about who your ideal reader is.
A. Who is your Reader?
Think about demographic-related questions. Think of a real person. You can include various demographic data of the individual Persona that you might have thought of or use your own Persona to identify people.
Fill in your Persona’s basic demographic information. Concentrate on one person at a time to narrow your ideal reader.
Demographic questions
- What is their gender?
- What is their age?
- What’s their job?
- What’s their educational background?
- Where do they live, or where are they located?
- What’s their financial situation?
- What social media or communications do they use?
If you look at the worksheet, this is what you might see on page 1.
B. What are their goals and dreams?
The next step in figuring out who your target audience is to find out what kind of content they most likely want to read.
Think of what they hope to achieve in life.
The world is endless, so be imaginative! But try to be specific as possible.
You may write:
C. What are their challenges and shortcoming?
How do you know the type of content your target personas want?
Think about their struggles and shortcomings.
You can include:
As a writer, you’ll often be asked to research data and provide information. You’ll have to provide links to sources and perhaps explain how to apply the knowledge.
So make a list of your target audiences’ challenges and shortcomings.
I know, right? Nobody likes problems. Who wants them anyway? But in this case, this is your chance to shine and leverage your pitch!
The point is, the list should provide a good idea of what types of articles you can write about to attract the right audience.
D. What are their interests and motivations?
Now fill in their interests, hobbies, or passions. What makes them motivated?
Think about why they might be interested in your blog. Is it because you’re making a new and innovative product? Maybe they love cooking, and they want to bake something delicious. Whatever it is, think about how your piece fits into their life.
Take a look at my sample:
E. How can you help?
Here is the game-changer! This is where you can pitch in. How can you help? Create a message for your Persona. It is your chance to provide your solutions.
What do they need? Why would they read your content and return to your website?
Is it because you’re solving a problem they have?
Is it because you’re providing a service to them? Or they’ve asked you to be a part of their team?
Whatever the reason, your help in some form is what makes their world go round. If you want to write about specific topics, go ahead.
You may list:
Content writing is not talking about yourself. It’s about giving your target audience something of value that they can’t get anywhere else.
Your content should be about solving others’ problems and providing them answers or solutions! In short, it’s should be useful.
F. How to give your fictional character a life?
It’s time to make name your Persona.
You might be thinking, “What if I don’t have a name?” Well, if you don’t have a name, you’ll never be able to identify yourself or market your blog effectively.
So, give it a NAME. A good one!
You can create a persona that reflects who you are, your interests, or how you want your audience to see you.
Use some name generators to make your branding more personal and related.
Do you have any thoughts on why I came up with Carole Newman and Taliyah Kidd? I’d love to hear from you. Comment down below.
TIP: Read my story and you’ll find out!
After giving your Persona a name, add a reference image to make it even more like a real person. That way, it is easier to illustrate the information when you can visualize the person.
You can check some avatars from Canva.com or Twinkl.com
G. Your Blog Avatar in a Glimpse
Finally, sum up the key details and how you can best communicate with your audience.
Congratulations! You have just identified your ideal reader.
Next time you sit down and write fresh content, revisit this worksheet to brainstorm for possible topics that your readers might be interested.
Why don’t you print it for future reference?
Proven Tips for Staying True to your Target Persona
While it’s true that you can be yourself on a blog, it’s also important to maintain a distinct persona. Don’t try to be someone you’re not. If you are going to produce topics that are similar to what you usually pen about, then be sure that those topics are interesting to your readers. This means avoiding the “same old, same old” instead of writing about something new and different.
Again, be yourself.
Don’t try to be someone else.
You don’t need to follow the crowd.
After all, it’s okay to be different.
You can be yourself if you are blogging about topics that you know your audience will like.
However, it might also be great if you’re trying to talk about things that are different from what you usually do.
Your Persona will love it.
When you decide to add a new topic, make sure it’s something you want to discuss. You should have a genuine interest in the subject and be excited to share your thoughts. If you feel that they find them boring, then maybe you need to take a break from blogging and come back to it when you have a new and exciting ideas to discuss.
It doesn’t mean you’re quitting, though. Taking breaks is different from quitting. When you quit, then you never know how to get thereโ
Your audience personas will consistently seek out new content from YOUR website because theyโre passionate about it but also interested enough in other blogs, as well!
Keep your content fresh.
The one thing that will keep you from getting noticed is your blog’s stale content.
FAQs
What does your most realistic blog reader profile look like?
Carole Newman has just finished her degree and started a job but doesn’t like it. She is keen on starting a business–tired from 8-5 working at the office. She blogs in her free time but doesn’t know how to build up.ย
So, she might be interested to read on:
– Tips to help improve her writing skills
– How to gain and drive traffic
– Monetize her blog
Taliyah Kidd is a stay-at-home mom (SAHM) looking for a side-hustle to make her free time productive and eventually help her husband pay the bills. She has taken a few online courses on content marketing, social media, and graphic designs. However, she doesn’t know where to gain clients or build an online portfolio. She realizes that blogging is good to gain clients that will make her visible on search engines.
She will surely read about:
– How to set up a blog from scratch
– How to write a killer blog post that goes viral
– How to build an online portfolio in one’s blog
– What are the perfect calls to action to negotiate among clientsย
How many blog personas do you need?
It’s best to start with a couple of personas that you think best represent your target audience. You can then create more as you learn more about them and discover what they really want.
Personas are great because they help you think about who your readers are, how they use your product or service, and how they like to interact with it. They also give you a way to organize your content around a particular customer or group of customers.
How to change your Persona if needed?
If you find that your Persona isn’t resonating with your audience, it’s time to change it. It may mean revamping your brand or changing the tone of your published articles. There are many ways to make a change, but one of the most effective ways is to add a call-to-action (CTA) to your posts. You can also make changes to the content of your posts, such as adding more visual elements or using different types of media.
Also, think about the tone of your copy. If you have a funny gizmo, you should use a humorous style. If you are more serious, you should use a more serious tone. When you change the tone of your longhand, make sure that it fits the content of your article. For instance, you shouldn’t use a sarcastic tone if you talk about politics.
What is a CTA and how does it relate to your Persona?
A CTA is a message that encourages potential customers to take a specific action, like signing up for your newsletter, downloading a free guide, or visiting a particular page on your site.
Also, take a look at your insights.ย
If they are not engaging with your posts, it may be time to make a change. You can start by revamping your brand. Make sure that the name of your website is consistent with your brand.
Last words…
Your ideal audience has a passion for your content but wants to learn more about what else is out there too! This means they’re looking at other blogs as well. So be sure not only to focus on blogging to please them specifically in mind.
They are the target customers who click on the links and read your content. And because they are the people who read your post, they ultimately decide whether or not to buy your products or services.
In other words, they are the ones who will make or break your business. This is why choosing the right type of audience persona is so important. The wrong kind will lead you to a lower conversion rate.
Download the Worksheet
Download my free worksheet right now, and you’ll discover precisely who your different personas are. Good luck!
