Learning to Blog

Tonight I am teaching my first class on personal business blogging. We've got a photographer, an Ebay merchant, a storyteller, and a doctor with a highly technical specialty, so it should be a pretty interesting mix. One of the things I'm going to talk about is how to identify your audience.

How do I figure out who my audience is? What do I say to them?

• What do you enjoy talking about?
  
  Fun blogs last longer and work better. Chances are that if you're passionate about a topic, that will come out in your posts.


• Who do you enjoy talking to?
  
  These might be the people you want to start a conversation with?


• Are there any questions that you get asked over and over?
  
  If the answer is yes, that's a great sign. Not only do you have some valuable information, but you're already an authority!


• What are your customers interested in?
  
  The best answers to the "who is my audience" question usually start with "people interested in...".


• What do I want to learn more about?
  
  It's not just a one-way channel. Blogging is as much about what you learn as what you can teach.

UPDATE: Class is out and I'm very pleased with the results. The students asked good questions, and I think we're going to get some good blogs going as a result. I've also got heaps of notes on how I can improve my class.