The success of your website or blog depends on your internet marketing campaign. This article is here to help you adapt your approach to your target audience.
Start by defining your target audience: be as specific as possible. Find studies on the activities connected to your products and find out who your competitors are selling their products to. You should use Google AdWords and other similar tools to take a look at the demographics of users who looked up keywords related to your industry. Use as many different sources as possible and do not assume you already know everything about your target audience. Stay up to date with new trends: your products might become popular among a new niche if a new trend starts.
Find out what your target audience does on the Internet. You could for instance organize a contest: give out free products to the people who answer to a survey about their online habits. Find out which social networks are popular, which sites or blogs your target audience reads regularly and which online communities these people belong to. Get in touch with the bloggers and webmasters who target this audience and offer to exchange links and to get your content featured. Do not connect with anyone who could become a competitor: look for sites and blogs with only informational content.
Join the social networks your audience uses. Take the time to create good profiles: add detailed information on your products, links to your site and pictures of your products. Post updates on a regular basis: you could for instance write new articles every week for your site or blog and share these on social networks. Integrate social networking on your site or blog: you should be able to add buttons on your articles for your readers to share them as well as links to your profiles and feeds for people to read your updates from your site or blog. Using social networks give you an opportunity to connect with your audience directly and observe what these people talk about and what kind of content they share.
Join different message boards on topics related to your products. Get to know the different members and find out what they are interested in. You should be honest about who you are and post a link to some of your articles when it is relevant to do so, but do not push your products. You should write helpful answers and be friendly to everyone. Your goal is to establish a positive reputation as an expert on your topic. If you are using a blog to promote your products, use your blogging platform to find blogs on similar topics. Comment on these blogs regularly: do not simply post links to your content, write thought-provoking answers and give helpful tips. Contact the best bloggers you find and offer to exchange links.
Take the time to get to know your audience before you start thinking about internet marketing strategies. Keep track of your progress and look for new trends to keep your strategy up-to-date.