Day 1 – Monday: How to engage your readers by having an ideal reader profile
Of course you’d like tens or hundreds or even thousands of people to read your blog. But a reader wants to know you empathize with her; that you can help her; that you’re writing for her; that you understand her fears, her struggles, and her dreams.
A target audience is a faceless crowd, and addressing a crowd makes you sound like a lecturer or preacher, as if you’re standing on your soapbox at a busy street corner.
Visualizing just one ideal reader makes your blog posts more vivid and more personal. When you write, imagine having a conversation with that one person. But don’t think that means only one person will read your post. Whoever closely matches your ideal reader feels that your content is written for him. That piques his interest and engages him.
Describing your ideal reader also helps you generate better blog post ideas because you know exactly how you can help your reader. You know the challenges he’s facing. You know what he’s struggling with.
Your action points for today:
- Watch the video below about creating an ideal reader profile
- Check out the ideal reader examples
Check out the two examples of ideal reader profiles: Click here to download two examples of ideal reader profiles (opens a new tab)
Click here to download the slides (opens a new tab)
Click here to download the transcript (opens a new tab)
Right click (ctrl click on a Mac) and select save link as to download the MP3
Any questions? Let me know, so you’re ready to create your own reader profile tomorrow. 🙂
Enchant readers. Woo customers. Win business.