Do You Know Your Visitors? 5 Points to Consider

Yes this is the question of the day for you. Do you know your visitors? Do you know what exactly they are looking for in your blog? Do you know if you are writing articles for an advanced user or for a beginner?

You will always encounter situations when the post which you consider good is not appreciated by your readers and simple posts which you never gave importance to, becomes popular among your readers. That is why it is important to understand the psyche of the majority of your visitors and write accordingly.

1. Analyze Comments

This could be the first step in this process. Once in a while, lets say once every two weeks or in a month, sit and analyze the comments made by readers on your different posts. Also check the comments on the popular and most commented posts. Try and understand that what exactly in the post, the readers are appreciating. This will give you a good idea about your regular visitors.

2. Analyze Popular Posts

You should also take time out and analyze the posts which have generated a high traffic. Take 5 popular posts at a time and check whether those were simple posts or those were the posts which were written for advanced users.

3. Check Stats Thoroughly

I am sure you check stats everyday, but once in a while you should devote 2-3 hours for a comprehensive analysis of the stats. If you are Google Analytics user like me, then you can actually check so many things about your blog that even 3 hours would seem insufficient. But it is important to check different posts and analyze the entry and the exit pages and the bounce rates on different pages. This will help you decide on the quality of your posts as perceived by your visitors. For more on this topic read Top 5 Google Analytics Reports for Bloggers.

4. Analyze Reader Emails

Although this may not be conclusive, but still it is good to analyze the emails which you get from your readers at least once a week, so that you can check if there is any particular issue or queries around any specific topic which you have failed to address properly in your blog.

5. Analyze Your Feed Count numbers

You probably have already noticed that Feedburner presents fluctuations for the feed count, depending on how many people actually consumed your feed on the previous day. Not all RSS readers will affect these fluctuations, but some like Firefox Bookmarks will. If that is the case, you could take these fluctuations to evaluate what topics catch the attention of your readers, and what topics turn them down.

Conclusion

I do not say that you can get to know your visitors in a day or two. It will take time and whenever you do an analysis, make sure you consider a time interval of some weeks or a month. This will give you a better picture about your readers, thereby helping you to further improve upon your writing and becoming a better blogger.