Do you know the most important factor to running a successful blog? There’s good content and steady traffic, but your blog would be nothing without your loyal readers. Your readers keep your blog going, and they keep coming back for more. That’s why it’s important to focus on them and write with your audience in mind.

Finding Your Ideal Blog Reader

As your blog gains popularity, you will start to see a trend in the type people who visit your blog, leave comments and interact with you as the blogger. From here you can start building a profile of your ideal blog reader. Is that person a male or female? What types of content does he or she like? What problem does he or she have that brings this person to your blog, looking for information? The more specific you can get about your ideal blog reader, the better.

Finding What Your Readers Want

Once you have an idea of who you are writing for, you can figure out what to write for them. There are many different ways to do this. You can:

• Ask yourself what your readers want. How can you help them? What can you do (what info can you share) to make their lives easier/better?
• Ask your readers what they want. If you really want to know what they want to read, just ask. Pose questions at the end of each blog post, send out questions to your email subscribers or post a survey.
• Check your analytics. If you don’t want to take the forward approach and ask, you can check your blog stats to find out which types of content does the best. Which posts get the most shares and likes? Which get read the most? What keywords does your audience use to search for your blog?
• Check your comments. The more active your readers are the better. And your comment can help you learn what your readers want. Which posts seem to have the most comments, the most discussion?

When it comes to writing a successful blog, focusing on your readers really makes a difference. Study your ideal blog reader and ask yourself what he or she wants to read before you post anything and you will find your readers will keep coming back for more and more content.