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One of the most common mistakes I see aspiring bloggers make is never thinking about who they are blogging to. Usually, a person just creates a blog about something he is passionate about and starts posting. But whether you’re blogging for fun or to make money (or both) – it is essential to think about who you are blogging to.

Your blog’s authority is mostly measured by your subscriber count. The key to getting subscribers is to actually LISTEN to your audience. Just like any marketing campaign – blogging is based on the needs and wants of the consumer. Unless you are going to give your readers what they want – they won’t be back to read your blog tomorrow.

Beta software is a first class example of provider-consumer communication. Beta simply means that the version of the software isn’t final and that you can submit a ticket/suggestion on how to improve it. Beta testers are literally asking people to say what’s wrong with their product so they can fix it.

Just take Wordpress as an example. The latest update was the version 2.8.4 and there are more to come. Wordpress is being updated each month and there is a strong marketing foundation behind it. Wordpress developer team carefully studies the feedback received from bloggers and keeps improving in order to keep Wordpress the best blogging platform ever.

By now I believe you get the point, so with no more beating around the bush, I want to present you with a number of ways to get in touch with your audience.

1. Unique Selling Proposition. The USP (also known as the Elevator Pitch) is a short phrase that should communicate what your blog is about in one sentence. In order to grasp this concept, imagine that you are in an elevator with a client and you’re supposed to describe what your business is about before you he gets off.

Your USP shouldn’t take more than five seconds to read/say. It is supposed to be short and to the point.

Igor Kheifets

Great USP examples are:

• Wal-Mart: Save Money. Live Better
• Lexus: The Pursuit of Perfection
• On-Time Plumbing Repairs With a No-Wait Guarantee – Or It’s Free!

2. Polls/Surveys. Polls and surveys are a great way to find out what your customer needs. It is probably the easiest way to find out about any fears he might be facing and problems he needs solved.

WP-Polls is a great plugin to conduct survey on your blog. If you don’t want to install anything, try PollDaddy.

3. Comments. Comments are another great indicator you can use to monitor your audience’s reaction to certain content. Although there are those annoying readers that comment solely to get the backlink, more often than not people express opinions about your content and it is very important to carefully examine those opinions to better understand your audience.

4. Related Posts Plugin. This plugin helps you to give your readers more of what they want by placing related entries below every published post. I recommend using Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

5. Contact Form. A contact form will enable your readers to submit questions, requests, suggestions and general feedback regarding your blog. A Contact form is a sure way to communicate an “open doors” attitude which indicates that you are open to any advice, suggestion and contribution.

You can create a contact form using the cforms II plugin.

People crave being understood. They want their problems solved and their needs met. Knowing who you’re blogging to will do just that. You will not only leave them with no choice but to subscribe to your blog in order not to miss a single post, but also build a stronger relationship based on the fact that unlike most – you CARE.

Igor Kheifets