Now, this is where the semi-hard part comes in. You’re going to have to really define who your audience is and speak directly to them. Most don’t do this because they are: (i) afraid of “missing out” on a group; or (ii) don’t know how to go about it.

I’ve had to do this recently because of my site redesign, which is underway. While the site is in the designers’ hands, I’ve spent some time really defining who it is I’m talking to. For example, my target market is freelance writers. But, that’s a broad niche. So, which segment of the freelance writing population? This bring me to the next section . . .

How to Find Out the Psychographics of Your Audience

There are a number of ways to define your niche, and the the psychographics of your niche.

Go through questions, comments and feedback you’ve received in the past: One thing I did was go back through old emails, queries and questions I’ve received from readers. What I learned was that readers of my blog and website appear to be new freelance writers (those with 0-3 years of freelance writing experience).

So, that’s what I need to keep in mind when I sit down to write.

Playing into the psychographics of that market, what are some of their concerns likely to be? Again, going back through questions, feedback and comments I’ve received, their concerns can be generally broken down into three categories: How to Get Started (eg, set up systems and procedures); How to Market; and How to Set Freelance Writing Rates.

There’s so much that could be covered under each one of these that I have fertile ground to cover for years to come.

Ask; Devise a Questionnaire: Another way to figure out the psychographics of your target market is to simply ask them. Devise a questionnaire of 2, 3 or 5 questions and send it out.

Put a Poll Question(s) on Your Site: You can use free polling software like that found at CoolSurveys.com and PollDaddy.com (love that name!).

Dig Through Feedback on Articles Posted to Sites Like AC: I have close to 600 articles on AssociatedContent.com. I glean a lot of information from the comments that people leave to my articles posted there. If you have a large body of content posted on sites like Helium, AC and Triond, go back and read your comments. This will help you to get inside your customers’ heads.

While this may take some time, doing this type of research into who your customer is will not only help you to write traffic-generating content, it will help your blog or website become a must-read all the time.

How to Draw Readers In: The Power of “Nike” Psychographics

This is particularly helpful if you are in a competitive niche and are striving to differentiate yourself. How do you think Nike became a powerhouse in the sneaker market? They pitched themselves as the ultimate performance shoe and focused on “the serious athlete” in all of us.

Not an active person, or a weekend warrior, or a casual exerciser. Even though they get sales from those markets, they speak to the serious athlete in all of us.

With celebrities like Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and Serena Williams on the payroll, even if we subconsciously know we’ll never get to that level, when we’re ready “get serious about our game,” we most likely have some Nike gear to go along with this effort.

This is the power of psychographics. It speaks to the heart of who and what we want to be (have, give, achieve, etc.). NOT what, where and who we are now.

Google Gets in the Pyschographic Game

As an aside, online advertising is becoming much more complicated. No longer do web surfers want a generic online experience. They want one targeted to their values, wants and needs. Proof?

According to the InternetRetailer.com article, Online consumers expect personalized product recommendations, “36% [of online shoppers] say they are more loyal to retailers that provide true personalization in the shopping experience.” Although this was an internet shopping survey, online information providers like bloggers and website owners can learn from this.

Google’s new behavioral based marketing program addresses this.

How great is the potential of behavioral-based marketing? According to online research company eMarketer article, The Aim of Behavioral Targeting, “For advertisers, effective behavioral targeting leads to ad campaigns that are more likely to sway their audience. . . behaviorally targeted ad spending will reach $4.4 billion by the end of 2012.”

So if you’re trying to build your site’s traffic in order to monetize it, knowing as many factors about your audience as you can – its psychographics and its behavioral variables -- can help you get there much quicker.

Psychographics is listed first in this series because it is the hardest traffic-generating  exercise to master. Once you know your target market’s psychographics though, the rest is simply mechanics.

Stay tuned for Part II of How to Write Content That Drives Traffic to Your Site.