Step 4 Worksheet: Finding Your Audience

Part One—Once More, With Feeling—Content and More Content

Pure marketing and publicity aside, what makes a Yawp visible is great content—great text, great ideas, great visual presentation. You can promote your Yawp to the hilt but, once someone’s there and they don’t like what they see, even the best promotion can be pointless.

That makes it essential to build a great blog or website. In Step Two, we covered techniques and steps to build a great Yawp. But that’s only one part. To market and promote it effectively, it has to stay that way. Nothing is more effective from a promotional standpoint than a Yawp that’s consistently fresh and provocative.

10 Action Items To Keep Your Yawp Fresh

1. Update. Take the time to update your blog or website as often as you can (see tips below.)

2. Read and research. Your Yawp doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Read about your Yawp’s topic in newspapers, magazines and online. Yawp about what you read. Sign up for online news alerts.

3. Go deeper into topics. Newspapers and other media are often very general. If you see something interesting, research and take your readers into greater detail.

4. Try different perspectives. Vary your topic and the way you address it. Consistently surprise your readers and website visitors.

5. Don’t just whine. Opinions are great, but mere complaining gets tired quickly. If you’re bothered by something, offer solutions.

6. Move readers to action. Everyone likes to be inspired. Urge your readers and website visitors to do something.

7. Don’t be afraid to be outrageous on occasion. Even the most staid reader likes to be shaken up occasionally. Consider an argument, idea or topic that may upset or anger readers—at least, get them thinking.

8. Use humor—sparingly. If you’re funny, insert that on occasion. But too much can overwhelm and make others question how serious you are. Plus, it’s hard to be funny all the time.

9. Don’t forget to solicit feedback. Your Yawp is a dialogue. Don’t forget to solicit feedback from your readers and visitors so they feel a part of the discussion.

10. Remember why you started. If your Yawp seems stale occasionally, revisit Step One. Think back to your passion and why it mattered. That usually reignites the fire within.

Find The Time To Keep It Fresh

A fresh Yawp is a marketable Yawp. And that means finding the time to keep it up to date—one of the biggest challenges, no matter if you’re a time-stressed student or a businessperson with more on your plate than you need. But there are ways…

10 Action Items To Find The Time for Your Yawp

1. Remind yourself that it matters. A Yawp is an expression of passion--a value that you hold dear. Remind yourself of that occasionally—you’ll find the time to Yawp.

2. Set aside a regular time to do it. Earmark first thing in the morning or after dinner to update your blog or add new links to your website.

3. Set tasks to specific days. Plan on one topic or chore one day, something else on another day. That way, you always know what’s coming up next.

4. Find your sweet spot. Know of a time of day when you’re most productive? Use that for your Yawp—you’ll get more done faster.

5. Set deadlines. Establish an objective—say, 200 words a day. Once you hit it, you’re done. That can keep time from leaking away.

6. Take it in small doses. Pinpoint one task and do it. Don’t take on too much at once.

7. Backlog. If you have a bunch of free time, load up on updates that you can implement over time.

8. Do the same with ideas. If you come across something that you like, keep a file on it. Having a ready idea at hand to add to your blog or website can make time management easier.

9. Approach it with a lighter hand. It’s hard to find time for drudgery. See your Yawp as a pleasant task, a release, the voice of passion that you enjoy finding time for.

10. Review what you’ve done. Seeing what you’ve accomplished can be inspiring—and help you find time to do more.

Part Two—Steps To Building An Audience

You’re up and running. Your content is where you want it to be. Now it’s time to start building an audience for your blog or website.

What is Marketing?

In a nutshell, marketing is the process of creating a satisfied audience—that group of people that like your Yawp and look forward to it.

That goal is made up of a number of significant steps and objectives. You need to find an audience and, from there, know just how to connect with them.

However critical, this is a step many bloggers and website builders overlook—taking a “build it and they will come” approach rather than identifying their message, their audience and the best ways to bring those two together.

You’ve got your message. Now, let’s find your audience.

Marketing Musts For Your Yawp

1. Identify your audience.

It’s great to try to attract a broad array of people to your Yawp. But it’s helpful to hone that a bit—to find a target audience to whom you can most effectively direct your Yawp. Don’t just say “I care about endangered animals. I want to reach others who feel the same way.” Take it further than that.

Think about the people who would care about endangered animals. What are they like? What animals in particular might they care about? What do they do? How old are they? Are they married and have children? The more you ask these and other questions, the closer you can pinpoint who your audience might be and tailor your Yawp accordingly.

How to do that:

a. Talk to others. Describe your Yawp and have them describe what they think your target audience might be.

b. Visualize someone reading your Yawp. Try to picture them in the most minute detail possible.

c. If yours is a group Yawp, have members talk about what they see as an audience member. Put together a picture based on those observations.

d. If your Yawp is up and running, ask your readers to describe themselves through visitor feedback or registration programs. As that information comes in, put it together and identify common points.

2. Know what others like about your Yawp.

A natural follow up to knowing your audience is knowing what they like about you. Work to pinpoint what your audience sees in your Yawp—is it readability, information, visual presentation, what? Once you have that, you can emphasize those elements when working to attract new readers and visitors.

How to do that:

a. Solicit feedback from people who read your blog or come to your website. Include a questionnaire you ask them to complete. Encourage them to be blunt—what do they like? What bores them to rigor mortis? Read what you get. Over time, you’ll see common patterns of what in your Yawp works and what doesn’t.

b. Mention your Yawp every chance you get. Work your Yawp into every form of communication you use—email signatures, snail mail, letterheads, business cards, voicemail recordings, you name it. Talk it up with colleagues, friends, family members and others. Encourage them to refer others to your Yawp. This helps establish word of mouth marketing—an exceedingly powerful tool.

c. Play up your differences as well as your attributes. We’ve talked about the importance of setting your Yawp apart from other blogs and websites. That’s critical in marketing. When you mention your Yawp—no matter the medium—be sure to point out how it’s unique, special or will offer readers and visitors something they won’t get anywhere else. Play up the attributes readers and visitors identify in #2. Difference really does matter.

d. Post in chat rooms and in newsgroups. These online groups often discuss or are devoted to a particular topic. Find ones related to your Yawp by going to (http://forums.digitalpoint.com/). Then, post a note that mentions your Yawp. Do this in a very low-key fashion—as many of these are moderated, anything that comes off as too much of an ad may be pulled by the moderator.

e. Offer feedback on other blogs and websites. These are not necessarily the “enemy.” If you find another interesting Yawp, post a comment or feedback and mention your own Yawp. Be thoughtful and provocative in your post so others will be encouraged to check you out.

f. Keep marketing. Marketing your Yawp is not a one shot deal. Make marketing a priority, including the various techniques described above. Chances are good that either your Yawp or audience will change over time—paying attention to marketing will help keep the two in synch.

3 Ways To Make News With Your Yawp

Another way to attract an audience with your Yawp is to use it within the context of news. Do or say something noteworthy and you make news. And news brings attention.

How To Use The News

1. Write and distribute a press release.

If your Yawp has some sort of news hook or you introduce something new or noteworthy, let news media and others know about it with a press release. Press releases offer a quick and efficient overview of something newsworthy. The trick is to craft them so that they get your message across and are as easy to use as possible for the person to whom you send it. For a sample press release: click Here.

a. Press Release Targets:

i. Other blogs or websites with similar interests.

ii. Newspapers and magazines (local newspapers, particularly small ones, love well-crafted press releases about local news.)

iii. Related organizations and groups—For instance, if your Yawp is about home brewing, send a release to home brewers’ groups and clubs. A relevant topic is as important as the news itself.

2. Turn something from your Yawp into an article.

A blog or comment on your website may have potential to blossom into something more. Consider taking a topic or issue and turning it into an article that you can submit to publications, websites and other news sources. Not only does that let you discuss a topic in greater detail, it can prove a highly visible form of discussion—and attention for your Yawp.

a. Writing Tips:

i. Use the Yawp writing tips we outlined in Step Two.

ii. Keep the article short—no more than 500 words. Nobody wants something that’s a hassle to cut down to a useable size.

iii. Include a cover letter explaining who you are and the purpose behind your submission. Lacking that, even a solid article can be deep sixed.

iv. If they like what they see, ask if they’d be interested in additional submissions. More pub space, more publicity.

3. Position Yourself as an Expert.

Press releases and articles can help define you as someone who knows what he or she is talking about. In contacting news media and other places that offer publicity potential, offer yourself as a source. Not only can that help get publicity about you and your Yawp, you may work your way into other news items that requires insight or a comment from someone who’s knowledgeable about the topic.

(Continue To: A Sample Press Release)

Next Action Item: If you have completed the above Action Items, then you are ready to move on to step 2:

Move On To Step 5: Create Your Business