Analyzing Your Market’s Wallet

I know a lot of people who have a lot of really good ideas. They start blogs. They write great posts. They engage readers on social networking sites.

And they fail.

At least, in terms of making a living as a full-time blogger, they fail, because they never actually make any money from their work. They might have thousands of followers on Twitter and dozens of comments on every blog post, but the best ideas in the world can’t save you from failing is you forget one key step: analyzing your market’s wallet.

When I first started freelance writing, I took a job with a fairly well-known blogging network at the time, which I won’t name here. They had great ideas for blogs – relevant topics that were in popular niches. They hired some great writers and built up a nice little community. The problem? They never actually thought about how they were going to convert pageviews into sales. Sure, they made a little money getting people to click on Google ads, but Adwords alone isn’t going to drive any blog to success.

It comes down to asking yourself two questions:

1. Who is my average reader?
2. How does my average reader spend his/her money?

Let’s use some fake blogs I’ve devised as examples. Say I write a cooking blog, where I post recipes and reviews of kitchen products. Here’s how I would answer those questions:

1. My average reader is female, between the ages of 25 and 50, and likely married with kids or thinking about having kids.
2. My average reader has to be careful with her money. She spends it first on bills and then on things that will improve her family’s life.

Of course, this blog probably has male readers, retired readers, single readers, etc. We’re going for an overall average here. Now let’s look at a complete different blog. Say I run a site that posts movie reviews and red carpet news. Here’s how I would answer those same questions:

1. My average reader is likely between the ages of 15 and 35, enjoys celebrity gossip and pop culture, and is single or newly married.
2. My average reader spends money on entertainment, but is often short on cash. He or she probably has some credit card debt, but will splurge to have fun with friends.

Again, not every reader will fit those descriptions, but we’re going for average here.

The common blogger, whether writing at the cooking blog or the movie blog, tries to make money the same way – posting banner ads. It just doesn’t make sense. Yes, you’ll make some money that way if you build traffic, but you have completely different readers with completely different needs and spending habits. Why would you ever try to make money from those people in the same way? It doesn’t make sense.

Instead, take some time to more closely analyze your market’s wallet.

* When they make emotional purchases, what do they buy?
* Do they shop online or at brick-and-mortar businesses?
* How much spending cash to they have after paying monthly bills?
* Why problems do they have in life that they would be paying to solve?

That last one is a biggie, because it’s how you can make sales. Going back to my examples, at the cooking blog, one of the problems readers have is not having more time with their families. Would they be willing to pay for a cookbook that taught them how to get kids involved in the kitchen? It’s likely.

You don’t even have to create products at this point if you’re not able to do so yet. Sign up as an affiliate and start selling products on commission. Once you’ve brainstormed the items that your market is purchasing, it’s easy to offer those products and see an immediate jump in profit on your blog.

Analyzing your market’s wallet is easier in some niches that others, but it’s an important step no matter what your blog is about. Unless make a few bucks with Adwords every month is you idea of a decent income, you have to treat your blog more like a business. The best blog idea in the world will only be a hobby if you don’t sell something to your readers.

Why Can't You Make Money From Your Ideas? You Can!

It takes a special skill to be able to figure out ways to reap the rewards from your attention-getting ideas you come up with to promote your blog. It’s important to have a plan in place so that you don’t get caught up in a situation where the momentum passes you by.
Step 1 – Research it!
Once you’ve got the idea in your head you first need to figure out if it’s been done before. A quick look on Google can usually help you track down what you need to know. Don’t just stop there though. Do searches on YouTube as well, and other non-Google search engines like Bing, MSN and Yahoo! just to be thorough. If your idea is something that could be considered trademark-able, then you’ll want to do a quick search at the US government trademark site at the Trademark Electronic Search System, or TESS for short.
Just because it doesn’t show up in the online search doesn’t mean  the idea is not protected. Consult an attorney and have them conduct a proper search, which will usually run you between $500-$3,000. There’s no sense in spending a lot of time and effort and most importantly, money, pursuing an idea that is someday going to get you in legal trouble. An attorney should also be used when you’re unsure about conducting online contests or using someone else’s name on your product or service.Of course, just because it’s been done already doesn’t mean you can’t do it better. Competition is a great motivator, and a great starting point for imitation. Chances are that the idea wasn’t done as good as it could have been done, leaving the door open for you to take the reigns and do it even better. Learn from you competitor’s mistakes and figure out what they’re doing, or rather what they’re not doing, that you can improve your idea with.
Step 2 – Act on it!
Wayne Gretsky, probably the world’s most famous, and legendary hockey player once said, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” He’s right. A great idea is nothing if you don’t take action on it. Ask most every entrepreneur how they got started and you’ll often get the same answer of “I just went and did it” or “It was do or die“. Unfortunately, not everyone is born an entrepreneur and are as open to risk as they are.
Here’s an update for you reading this right now. If you don’t try, you lose. Plain and simple. You will lose. If you have an idea that you think can work, then you HAVE to give it a go. Act on it and see what happens. The downside is you never try and you never succeed. How depressing is that? Very.
Step 3 – Be Interesting!
Actually, you could put this before step 1 if you wanted to. Nobody ever remembers the middle. Human beings react to what’s different, good or bad. What are you doing that is interesting and different, good or bad, that makes people pay attention to your ideas?

How to Create a Media Kit For Your Blog

If you’re in search of direct advertisers as part of the monetization strategy for your blog, having a professional media kit goes a long way to providing facts, statistics, and testimonials about your blog.
Your blog media kit is a vital sales tool with the goal of getting potential advertisers excited about the prospect of advertising on your blog!
How to Create a Media Kit:
Most media kits are documents that can be downloaded from a link on your advertising page (or you can have them request the kit via email). You can create your media kit in an image or document software and then save it to a PDF for best viewing. Your kit should be laid out in an easy to read manner with headings and sub-headings, charts, images, and correct grammar and spelling. Remember, this is your first impression to potential advertisers. You don’t want it to be your last!
Your media kit will need to contain vital information, including:

• Blog Topic/Profile
• Contact Information
• Advertising Rates & Acceptable Forms of Payment
• Advertising Placement (you can include a screenshot that defines the different ad zones)
• Traffic Information (Unique Visitors, Pages Per Visit, RSS Subscribers, E-Newsletter Subscribers, Social Media Followers, etc)
• Demographic/Audience Details
• News, Press Releases, and any Key Sites/Print Campaigns that have featured your site
• Testimonials

Do you have a media kit you’d like to share with our readers? Post a link in the comments below!