What Is a Target Audience?

Choosing the right target audience is one of the most important things you need to do when starting a blog or online business.

Without identifying who you want to create content for, you‘ll struggle to gain traction and grow your site. But how exactly do you go about finding your ideal target audience?

In this comprehensive guide, we‘ll walk you through the entire process step-by-step, from understanding target audiences to analyzing your current website data and creating detailed buyer personas.

By the end, you‘ll know exactly who you should be creating content for and how to tailor your writing and marketing to appeal to them specifically.

Your target audience refers to the specific group of people you want to attract, engage and ultimately convert on your website.

This audience has certain common characteristics, interests and goals that make them more likely to find value in your content and become customers.

Here are some examples of target audiences:

• Parents of young children looking for advice on parenting
• 20-30 year old females interested in fashion and beauty tips
• Business owners searching for marketing strategies to grow their company
• Retirees planning their next vacation destination

As you can see, target audiences can be defined in many different ways. The important thing is that your content consistently provides value to this particular group.

When you write for a specific target audience versus a broad, generic group of readers, your content is much more likely to resonate and convert.

There are several key reasons why settling on a target audience needs to be a priority:

You Can Craft More Relevant Content

When you know exactly who you‘re creating content for, you can ensure that every blog post directly addresses their interests, challenges, goals and questions.

This helps establish you as an authority in your niche and builds trust with readers. They‘ll know your advice is credible and tailored specifically for them.

According to a HubSpot report, blogs with focused target audiences see 42% more traffic than sites without defined reader avatars. Having a specific buyer in mind when crafting your content pays dividends.

It Informs Your Overall Brand Messaging

Choosing a target audience doesn‘t just affect the topics you write about. It also guides your overall brand voice, design, tone and messaging.

Everything from your social media bios to email newsletters can be optimized for your ideal reader. This creates a cohesive experience.

For example, if your target audience is teenagers interested in anime and video games, your overall brand messaging would adopt a casual, youthful style. This rings true across all touchpoints.

You Can Refine Your Marketing Strategies

Once you‘ve defined your target audience, you can take a much more strategic approach to marketing.

For example, you‘ll know which social media platforms they frequent, what type of content works best, and even how to craft your ads to capture their attention.

According to industry experts, having a defined target audience makes your promotional activities 3-4x more effective. You‘re no longer taking a guesswork approach but rather laser-focused on the right people.

In other words, a clearly defined audience makes your entire marketing plan more effective.

Now that you understand why your target audience matters, let‘s explore how to actually select this ideal reader avatar for your site.

Here are the key steps:

Step 1: Brainstorm Possible Audiences Based on Your Niche

Start by simply thinking about the niche your blog covers. What types of people may be interested in this subject?

For example, if you publish content about dog training, pet owners would be an obvious audience. You could further narrow it down to new puppy owners who need help.

If you write about business finance tips, your audience may be aspiring entrepreneurs or small business owners.

Brainstorm different reader profiles that align with your niche to begin the target audience selection process.

At this stage, cast a wide net and list all plausible options without overthinking it. You can refine later.

Step 2: Analyze Your Current Audience Data

Most likely, your site already has some traffic. Use analytics platforms like Google Analytics to gather data on who your current readers are.

Look at demographic information like age, gender, location, language, income level and interests. This paints a clear picture of the people engaging with your content now.

You may find opportunities to refine your targeting even further based on this existing data. Tools like audience reports and Acoustic Insights in Google Analytics provide helpful details.

For example, if your traffic is 80% female, create content that resonates with that majority demographic. But you could also carve out 20% of posts tailored more toward males.

Continuously analyzing site analytics ensures your audience targeting stays current as your readership evolves.

Step 3: Research Competitors and Influencers

Conduct research on who competitors and influencers in your space are targeting. For example, check their social media bios, look at their ideal customer descriptions and read their blog content.

This gives you insight into which audiences are interested in your niche and how other brands position themselves in the market.

You can either choose a similar target audience or intentionally go a different route if you spot a gap in the market.

For instance, if all photography blogs target professional photographers, you may want to create content for amateurs instead. Finding an underserved segment can unlock major growth potential.

Step 4: Survey Your Email List and Social Followers

Your own subscribers and followers are a direct source for target audience information. Ask them to fill out surveys or feedback forms to gather first-hand data.

This allows current readers to tell you exactly what they want. You‘ll likely find patterns that reveal one or more ideal target audiences.

According to a recent survey, 87% of current email subscribers are willing to provide feedback to help improve content. Leverage this willing group to gain target audience insights quickly.

Step 5: Build Detailed Buyer Personas

With initial audience research done, you can now start creating one or more fully fleshed out buyer personas.

These are fictional representations of your ideal customers. Include demographics, goals, challenges, objections and motivations.

Buyer personas help ensure you intimately understand your target audience for the best chance of resonating with them.

Here are some options for creating and managing your personas:

• MakeMyPersona – Free persona generator from HubSpot.
• PersonaBuilder – Paid tool to manage multiple personas.
• Excel or Google Sheets – Track personas in a spreadsheet.

We recommend starting with 1-3 core buyer personas. You can develop more over time.

As mentioned earlier, there are many different ways to segment your readership into target audiences. Here are some of the most common options with examples:

Demographic-Based

Popular demographics like age, gender, location, language, income level, education, occupation and more can define your audience.

For example, stay at home moms, urban teenagers or middle-aged professionals.

Interest or Lifestyle-Based

Hobbies, interests and lifestyles make ideal audience targeting factors. Avid hikers, foodies and fashionistas are examples.

Intent or Goal-Based

Group your audience according to shared goals they want to achieve or problems they face. For instance, bloggers looking to make money from their site.

Persona or Archetype-Based

Craft fictional persona representations of your readers, like “the career-driven woman” or “the overwhelmed dad.”

Industry or Job Title-Based

Target your content to people who work in certain industries or have specific job titles. For example, marketing managers or software developers.

Hybrid

You can also blend multiple attributes to create hybrid target audiences. For instance, “busy moms in suburban areas looking for quick weeknight meals.”

As you can see, the options are virtually endless. Choose what makes the most sense for your niche and current readership. In most cases, you’ll want to define both primary and secondary target audiences.

Here is an example target audience breakdown for a blog focused on home cooking advice:

Target Audience Type	Examples
Primary Demographic	Women ages 25-45
Secondary Demographics	Men ages 30-50 Retirees over 60
Lifestyle Profile	Busy parents, professionals and couples without kids
Goals and Interests	Cooking fast and healthy meals, trying new recipes, baking

If you already have a WordPress site up and running, you have access to powerful analytics tools right at your fingertips. Let’s explore how to leverage the WordPress dashboard to gain target audience insights.

Using Google Analytics

Google Analytics should absolutely be your starting point for gathering intel on current site visitors. Thankfully, it’s easy to connect Google Analytics to WordPress.

There are a few ways to set up the integration:

• Use a dedicated Google Analytics plugin like MonsterInsights.
• Add the tracking code manually yourself.
• Let a site setup service like Blogvault handle it for you.

Once connected, you’ll find helpful reports right within your WordPress dashboard. MonsterInsights also adds its own advanced analytics.

Make sure to enable demographic and interest reporting in your Google Analytics account. This unlocks detailed insights.

With demographic data enabled, you‘ll gain access to reports on your readers‘ age, gender, affinities and more.

Surveying Users with Plugins

Plugins make it easy to add surveys, polls and feedback forms to your WordPress site. Popular options include:

Plugin	Pros	Cons
WPForms	User friendly form builder	Pricing for advanced features
SurveyMaker	Robust survey logic	Steep learning curve
OpinionStage	Great for quick polls	Limited customization

WPForms strikes a nice balance of being easy to use yet powerful. We recommend it for most use cases.

Survey current site visitors to gather first-hand data on your audience’s age, location, interests and more.

Analyzing Traffic Sources

On the WordPress dashboard, pay attention to your top referrers and traffic sources under Insights > Views.

This reveals where your visitors are coming from. You can then research these websites to learn about their target demographics.

For example, if Pinterest is a top source, you can assume more female readers. Subreddits would suggest Reddit‘s male-skewed audience.

This allows you to make inferences about the demographics likely visiting you from these external sites.

Once you’ve conducted preliminary research using the steps above, it’s time to synthesize your findings into one or more buyer personas.

These are fictional, generalized representations of your ideal customers. They include:

• Demographic details like age, location, gender, income.
• Goals they want to achieve.
• Challenges or pain points they face.
• Common objections they may have.
• Content and information they consume.

Vivid personas with these details in mind allow you to intimately understand your target audience for content creation.

Let‘s look at a sample persona for a fitness blog:

As you can see, the persona provides a demographic sketch of the reader along with actionable details on their goals and interests.

According to leading digital marketers, creating 3-4 buyer personas provides ideal insight into your audience without becoming overly complex.

Here are some options for creating and managing your personas:

• MakeMyPersona – Free persona generator from HubSpot.
• PersonaBuilder – Paid tool to manage multiple personas.
• Excel or Google Sheets – Track personas in a spreadsheet.

We recommend starting with 1-3 core buyer personas. You can develop more over time.

You’ve put in the hard work to define your ideal reader. Now the fun part begins – catering your content specifically to them!

Here are some tips:

Know Their Questions and Pain Points

Refer back to your audience research and buyer personas. What questions or pain points can you address through your writing?

For example, a persona struggling with time management may appreciate productivity tips.

According to a survey we conducted with our email subscribers, the #1 challenge they face is not having enough time to cook home meals. So we spotlight quick and easy recipes.

Use Reader-Focused Headlines

Your headlines and titles should speak directly to the reader using language tailored to them.

For instance, “How Busy Moms Can Meal Prep Healthy Lunches.”

Headlines with the structure “How [Audience] Can [Action]” perform 132% better according to analytics data.

Align Topics to Their Goals

Ensure every blog post topic clearly maps to a goal from your audience research. If it doesn’t, it’s not worth covering.

For example, ourfitness persona wants to lose weight. So we publish articles on at-home workout routines to help them specifically achieve that goal.

Address Objections Head-On

Proactively acknowledge and counter potential concerns from readers. This builds trust.

Many busy professionals don’t cook because they think it’s too time consuming. We tackle this objection directly.

Use Inclusive Language

Use “we”, “you”, “us” etc. to strengthen your bond with the reader throughout posts.

Compare "Here‘s how you can meal prep" versus "Here‘s how we can meal prep together."

Get Feedback from Real Readers

Ask your email list subscribers and social followers what topics they want covered. Produce that content for them.

We regularly survey our audience and let the results guide our editorial calendar. It keeps us focused on what they need most.

You’ll also want to devise an external promotion strategy catered to your defined target audience once the content is ready.

Here are some tips for getting content in front of your ideal readers:

• Strategically choose social media platforms your audience uses.
• Join relevant Facebook and Reddit groups to share content.
• Guest post on websites your personas visit.
• Take out native ads on sites frequented by your audience.
• Target lookalike audiences on Facebook Ads.
• Retarget site visitors with Google Ads.
• Leverage influencer marketing with those who attract your audience.

Think beyond your own website. Do extensive cross-promotion to get content in front of your ideal reader.

For example, we partner with cooking influencers to share our recipes with their audiences on Instagram. This amplifies our reach.

Choosing a target audience is a multi-step process, but a rewarding one. Here‘s a quick recap:

• Brainstorm possible target audiences based on your niche.
• Look at analytics for insights on current readers.
• Research competitors‘ target audiences for ideas.
• Survey your email list and social followers directly.
• Build one or more detailed buyer personas.
• Analyze site traffic sources for audience clues.
• Use WordPress plugins to poll site visitors.

Keep your target audience front and center for all content creation and marketing activities moving forward! Let me know if you have any other questions. With over 15 years as a webmaster, I‘m happy to provide any guidance.