In today’s digital world, it is important to know who your reader is in order to provide them with the most relevant content. In this blog post, we will be talking about how to create a reader persona for your blog and what that means for you as a blogger. A reader persona is similar to a buyer persona in the field of digital marketing because they both focus on 5 key details: demographics, interests, media habits, monetary habits, and social habits.

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Demographics

First, let’s talk about demographics. When you are creating your reader profile or persona for your blog, make sure to include the following details and make them as detailed a possible. The better you can narrow down your reader persona, the better you can gear your content for the:

• Age
• Gender
• Location (specifically where they live)
• Occupation (what do they do for a living?)

The best way to find this information is by asking questions on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

I also recommend finding at least 50-100 people who fit into these categories so that you can accurately collect their answers. Next, look through each response carefully to extract as much data as you can.

Make a list of the top responses and save them somewhere that is easily accessible for later use

If 100 people were not enough to give you all of this information then find more people who fit into these categories and repeat the process until you have created your reader persona!

Once we’ve figured out what demographics look like, it’s time to move on to interests.

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Interests

When you’re fleshing out the aspect of the interests of your blog’s reader profile, create questions like these, ensuring they speak directly to your brand. And then 50-100 people who fit these categories to answer these questions (same as before).

• Do they enjoy reading nonfiction or fiction?
• Do they read books about certain topics such as business, health & fitness, history, etc.?
• Are their favorite genres mystery novels, romance novels, horror stories?
• What are your hobbies?

Take note of all likes and dislikes by asking questions via social media platforms again with at least 100 answers per question. To get more specific, you can ask questions about what types of blogs they read or what kinds of media that they consume.

Then create a list of their top interests and include some dislikes as well to create the perfect balance. Remember that likes and dislikes are both vital for creating our reader persona to the best of our ability.

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Media Habits

Next up is media habits! When it comes down to this part, there are three main types:

1. online activities
2. mobile activity and
3. offline activity.

You can ask questions such as:

• Do you prefer using your mobile phone, computer or tablet?
• Which internet browser do you prefer?
• What type of content do you love: written, video or audio?

Start by creating lists for each one so you have all the information in front of you before moving on.

For example: if your blog posts influence people who want to buy items then go ahead and include things like “shop at Amazon” or “click ‘buy now button.” As an extra tip here – start with Google Trends because it’s a data analysis tool that shows how often keywords are searched for overtime.

Then create a list of their top media habits and don’t forget their dislikes.

Financial Habits

Now it’s time to move on to financial habits! These types of questions can be asked in many different ways so start with these four general categories:

• primary income
• secondary income
• monthly budget, and
• expenses vs. savings.

This is where you want that second set of 50- 100 responses or even more if possible because the data isn’t always accurate when you’re only relying on one group of people.

When starting this part try asking them things like:

• how do they pay bills?
• what kind of items do they buy most often?
• What are their pain points that they’ll gladly pay someone to solve?
• How do they usually shop: online or in-person?
• What are their views on money?
• What do they enjoy splurging on?

As an extra tip here – look at Google Trends again because it will show you if their interests are influenced by money!

Then, again, create a list of their top financial habits and add their dislikes as well.

 

 

Read More: 8 Benefits of Passive Income (And Why It’s Important)

Social Media Habits

Lastly, let’s move on to social media habits. This part can be tricky because sometimes people just don’t have the time or desire to spend much time online so you might want that second set of 100 responses here too.

When starting this section try asking them questions like:

• What is your favorite social media platform and why?
• How often do you use it?
• What social media communities are you a part of such as Facebook groups, subreddits, and so on?
• What social media influencers are you following?
• What are the topics on social media do you follow?

As an extra tip here – look at Google Trends again for information about what kinds of topics influence your reader persona the most!

Create a list of their top social media habits and dislikes

Time To Meet Your Reader Persona

Your reader persona is now ready for use. All of this information will help you when it comes to creating blog posts, advertising, and more because the data all points back to your audience over time.

You want them to come back again and again so make sure to keep their interests at heart while writing future content pieces like articles or ebooks!

Also, I advise you to connect your blog to Google Analytics. Google Analytics is a great tool to gather most of this information from your paid or organic web traffic. It also creates insights so you can learn more about them.

You can also use different tools and apps such as Google Trends, native social media analytics tools, and many more!

Lastly, never forget that your reader persona is always changing. Aim to stay ahead of the curve by modifying your reader profile as you go along! Remember it takes time.

Example of a Reader Profile

Here’s an example of a reader persona for a blog:

 

Serena White is a 23-year-old female who is interested in programming. She’s currently studying Software Programming at her university and is hoping to join this career field. To get a head start, she’s trying to learn more about programming online and even freelance as a software programmer to offset student loans and hone her skills. She is a fan of Reddit and Quora where she’s able to connect and learn from others from beginners to experts. As a student, she is not able to afford the most expensive online courses in programming. But rather, she’ll buy more affordable online courses.

 

With this example, you can not only create content catered to the needs of Serena but also monetize your blog to fit both your needs and hers. You can also choose to promote your content on Reddit and Quora to reach personas such as her.

Take the time to create 3-5 reader personas similar to the above. Then identify similarities among all of them. Next, you’ll draft a plan on how you can create content specific to their needs.

Have fun!