How Do I Grow My Audience?

One thing that every business owner seems to want is more followers.  More traffic to his/her web site.  The usual question that I get is this:  “How do I grow my niche audience?”

Then the business owner asks about strategies and methods to increase traffic.  Should I start a blog?  Should I find a freebie and set up a landing page?  Should I advertise for subscribers on Facebook?  Should I spread my web site name around the Internet by posting to forums?

In order to answer these questions and others that are similar, we should first understand why we want to grow an audience.

And to do that, we should understand the difference between principles and strategies.

The principle is that you want prospects in your niche to listen to what you have to say. They will do that if you prove to them that you are an authority in your niche and that you are willing to share your knowledge, experience, and wisdom that you have gained on the subject. As people come to recognize and believe that you are a niche expert, they will listen to you and they will trust you to help them in the niche. They will want to purchase the tools, resources, and products that you suggest to them.  That is what you are after.

First, however, you have to prove to them that you know what you’re talking about … that you understand the niche. You do that by sharing your knowledge and expertise about the niche.

Sharing your expertise leads us to a discussion of strategies, that is, ways or methods you will employ to share your knowledge and display your expertise. Blogging about the niche is a strategy to share your knowledge. Participating in forum discussions is a way to share your wisdom and introduce yourself to niche prospects. Publishing articles, creating reports, writing a ebook, or making a video on various subjects important in the niche are all strategies you might employ to prove that you are an expert and to show prospects that you care enough about them to share your wisdom and expertise.

“Offering a freebie” is simply one strategy to introduce yourself, share your niche knowledge, and get a prospect’s contact info so you can communicate with them at a later time via email. There are lots of other ways to do this and the strategy you choose will depend upon the niche and how you decide to “attack” it.

The important thing is that you realize that the principle is what is critical if you want to eventually make sales. You should focus on sharing your expertise, on building trust with your prospects (audience), and letting them see your expertise. You won’t typically do that by just bribing your prospects with some PLR giveaway that you didn’t even write.

Use this opportunity to set yourself apart from everyone else in the niche (your direct competitors) by creating your own freebie that gushes with quality, answers important niche questions or issues, and displays your expertise. That is how you build an audience – by sharing your expertise and offering to help niche prospects. You’re asking people to follow you, to listen to what you have to say, and trust you that you know what you’re talking about.  They will follow you if they trust you and believe you really do know your stuff!

What is best for the prospect? That’s what should determine how you grow your audience. If you always give them what is best for them, they will soon realize that you are someone worth following and they will begin to trust you to guide them in their niche purchases.

So often business owners look for all their content from PLR products, ghost writers, or other sources.  I am not against using these things on occasion, especially when the purchased material is high quality and of sound information.  But the truth is, it’s best if YOU, the business owner, create the material yourself so you can prove your expertise and that you are “in touch” with the issues, needs, and desires of prospects in the niche.

To your online business success,

Steve Browne

www.stevebrownedirect.com