Why You Need to Identify Your Blogging Target Market

Back in 2009, I began blogging for fun. While I didn’t realize it at the time, I had a clear target market for my blog — updating friends and family about my life in Arizona.

As the blog developed into a business blog, it became a hodge podge of personal, business, blogging, and social media posts. I just didn’t want the trouble of running more than one blog and it became a problem.

Colleagues began asking me what my blogging target market was and I had three all crammed into one blog.

Once I realized I had three target markets, I knew I needed a change. I couldn’t continue to dump everything in one place. It was too confusing. It was time for a change including a website re-design and refocus for the business:

• Blogging Portfolio and Business Services → This became the updated McAuley Freelance Writing website and blog you’re on right now.
• Entrepreneurs, Solopreneurs, and Freelancers → This became The Solopreneur Blog in partnership with my blogging and social media colleague Robbi Hess.
• Personal → That’s the as-yet-to-be-launched McAuley Musings blog.

You need to identify your blogging target market to focus content creation.

It’s challenging to develop a content strategy when you’re not sure who you want to reach. That goes for blogging, podcasting, videos, infographics, and social media.

It’s overwhelming when EVERYONE is your target market.

By identifying your blogging target market, you can eliminate ideas and focus on what matters to your audience.

Let’s take real estate as an example.

Anyone who wants to buy or sell a house is as non-specific as a skincare representative saying anyone with skin is their target.

• Do you want to build a commercial or residential real estate business?
• What city or neighborhood is your focus?
• What kind of client do you want?

If you’ve selected investors as your focus, you may write blog posts about how the recent mortgage rates impact buying or selling investment properties or how school districts impact the value of your home and type of renters. You would shy away from posts that talk about packing and moving tips, for example, that would speak to a different target audience. Each of your posts would be relatable to your target market of real estate investors.

Whether you’re in real estate or another industry, it’s important to identify your blogging target market so that you can focus your efforts. Remember, EVERYONE isn’t a target market.

Check out my blog post Why You Need to Know Your Target Market on The Solopreneur Blog for more on this topic.

Need help identifying your target market and creating a content strategy? Call 480-206-6452 to schedule a Content Strategy Session.