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How To Connect With Your Target Audience When Using Blogs For Marketing

Writer's picture: RhiannonRhiannon

Your website content is there to do three things for your business: captivate your target audience, connect with them so they know, love and trust you, and convert them into customers. Blogging is often thought to lack the potential to connect with your audience, although I strongly disagree with this. In this blog article, I will show you how you can use blog content to connect with your target audience and nurture them towards becoming loyal customers and clients.


Summary: Connect With Your Target Audience Through Blogs


By creating high quality, engaging blog content that informs and educates, you can connect with your target audience when they visit your website. Demonstrating your experience, expertise, authority and trustworthiness (EEAT) is a big part of this. Blogging also provides opportunities for you to connect with you audience on a deeper level, by inviting them to subscribe to your email newsletter and follow you on social media.


In order to connect with our target audience, we must first get them onto our website. You can do this through publishing search engine optimised blog content that will drive organic traffic from search engines to your website. You can learn more about how to captivate your target audience with blog content here. For an overview of how to captivate, connect and finally convert with blog content, read my overview guide here.


Skip to a Section:

  • Blogging - not just for SEO!

  • Google EEAT

  • Using blog content to open the doors to deeper audience connection


Blogging is Not Just For SEO!


As an independent SEO consultant, much of my work is centred around getting my clients’ websites found organically in search engines such as Google. Blogging forms a major part of making your website more visible in search results, and you can read more about how to drive visibility with search engine optimised blog content here.


However, your blog content is not there just to feed the search engines! Engaging blog content gives you the opportunity to connect with your website visitors, and nurture them towards becoming loyal customers or clients. 


The second C in my 3 C’s Framework - Connect - is critical to driving sales, leads and revenue. If you want your target audience to buy from you, then you need to connect with them.


Connecting with your audience means making them feel something positive about your business. You need to demonstrate to them that you understand their problem, need or desire, and that you are the one to help them solve their problem or satisfy their desire. 


Furthermore, as search engine algorithms improve and become more intelligent, they are getting better at detecting poor-quality content written purely to rank. Therefore, it makes sense to focus on creating informative, engaging, quality content that will connect with your audience.



using blogs for marketing
Blogging is not just about trying to rank well in the search engines. It also helps you to nurture and connect with your audience, so they come to know, love and trust you.


Using the Google EEAT Framework to Create Blog Content That Connects


With the above in mind, I encourage my clients to consider a framework called EEAT. Developed by Google to help them understand the impacts of their search algorithm updates, EEAT is supposedly a criteria for what Google calls “quality content”. 


EEAT stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness. 


Whilst meeting this criteria does not necessarily directly impact your website’s rankings, it is worth considering because it covers the key things Google is looking for in your content. EEAT also sums up very nicely the four key elements of connecting with your audience.


Moz have a fantastic and very accessible article about Google EEAT on their blog, with a helpful infographic. If you want to explore EEAT in more detail then do check it out. 


Experience


Original content that cannot be found on every other website and blog post on the subject helps your website stand out as a quality, authentic source of information. Demonstrating real-life experience in your blog content is key to connecting with your real-life audience, who have real-life feelings, thoughts, problems and desires. 


Demonstrating experience in your blog content means showing that you have actual real life experience of the subject area you are writing about. If you are writing blog content about dog training, try to include some anecdotes and examples of how you helped dogs and their owners with specific training issues. If you are blogging about the best outfits to wear to the races this summer, try to include content that shows you have actually worn the outfits / items you are writing about and what you love or don’t love about those items. 


Using original images in your blog content where this is relevant can also help to make your blogs more authentic. For example, a blog about style or fashion could include images of you or your team modelling the clothes, rather than suppliers’ images. 


Furthermore, featuring third-party reviews and testimonials demonstrate the real-life positive experiences of your clients and customers.


Expertise


Demonstrating your expertise on a subject matter is especially important when you are selling products or services that require a level of expertise. Examples could include dog training, professional equestrian services (e.g. saddle fitting), marketing, or even high-tech, luxury or specialist products.


This element of the Google EEAT framework applies even more so to regulated industries or professions where a person’s financial, legal or physical / mental wellbeing could be impacted by your content. Examples include accountancy, medical products or services, and legal professions. These subjects are sometimes known as “YMYL” (Your Money Your Life) topics, to which Google applies their algorithms more stringently in order to filter out less reliable content.


You can demonstrate your expertise in your subject area by mentioning your professional accreditations, qualifications, licences, years of experience and anything else that is relevant. 


If you are not in a YMYL subject area, you can still demonstrate that you have the technical skills required to provide accurate and reliable content on your subject matter. For example, if you are writing a blog post showing people how to make their own tweed skirt, you could include pictures or a video showing you actually making the skirt, with the end result. 


Authoritativeness


Building authority is all about being recognised by others as an expert in your subject area. In SEO terms, this means getting backlinks - links from other reputable websites in your subject area to your website. This signals that your website is an authoritative source of information on that subject area. 


However, building authority can also mean being featured as a guest on podcasts, contributing blog content to other websites, doing joint videos or live social media content, and even PR (digital and physical publications). 


I accept applications of other business owners in the business and marketing professions who would like to write a guest blog post to feature on my blog. You’ll get a link back to your own website, and I’ll share the blog post on my social media. If this is something you’d be interested in, please do feel free to get in touch. 


Trustworthiness


Trust is critical to everything I have outlined in this article so far. Without trust, experience, expertise and authority mean nothing.


Demonstrating trustworthiness is in part a combination of demonstrating your experience, expertise and authoritativeness. However, it also hinges on the accuracy and validity of your blog content (and your website content in general).


Examples of the things that can help or hinder your trustworthiness include:

  • The accuracy and presence of your business contact information - keep your relevant contact and business information up-to-date. This can include things like phone numbers, but it can also include legal details such as your company number or registered charity number if applicable

  • Website security - having a secure website and an SSL certificate is crucial to SEO and the human side of building trust

  • Accuracy - use factually accurate, verifiable claims and information. This is crucial to YMYL topics, but applies to all of your content. 

  • Reviews - use only genuine reviews and testimonials

  • Policies - ensure that any relevant policies (such as delivery, returns, bookings policies) are clearly accessible and up-to-date



using blogs for marketing
By incorporating Google EEAT into your blog content, you can create quality content that builds authority, trust and audience connection.


Use Your Blog Content to Generate Email Subscribers and Social Media Followers


Your blog content is a fantastic way to connect with your target audience. Using the framework I outlined above, you can create blog content that demonstrates your real-life experience, professional expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness. 


However, blogging also presents opportunities to connect with your audience on an even deeper, more personal level. You can invite people to subscribe you your email newsletter and connect with your on social media at the bottom of each blog post, giving you further opportunities to nurture them after they have left your website. 


Capturing your audience at this stage is crucial, as a lot of people reading your blogs may not be quite ready to make a purchase at that point. However, they could become loyal customers in the future. By capturing them at this early stage of the buyer journey, you’re getting your foot in the door and planting the seeds for the future. 


Transform Your Website into a Revenue-Generating Asset With Purple Horse Marketing


My mission is to help independent businesses transform their websites into revenue-generating assets through SEO and blogging. As well as the complimentary SEO guides available on this website, I have a range of products and services designed to help ambitious and committed businesses and entrepreneurs captivate, connect with and convert their target audience. 


In the meantime, why not check out my online course, Captivate, Connect & Convert With Blogging. This free online course offers inspiration for how you can use blogging to grow visibility, nurture your audience, and generate leads and sales through blogging and SEO. It also gives you a preview of what it is like to work with me. 


If you are looking for training, support and guidance from an experienced SEO consultant without the price tag that comes with bespoke consultancy, why not check out my SEO Sprint? This live group programme equips you with the essential tools you need to transform your website into a revenue-generating asset through search engine optimised blogging. The programme runs annually, and there are only 10 spaces available on each edition, so book your spot now or register your interest in the next edition. 


About the Author


Rhiannon is an independent SEO consultant and Associate of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (ACIM) with 5 years’ experience helping growing businesses transform their websites into revenue-generating assets. She has worked with businesses in a range of sectors, from service providers in the equestrian industry to products brands in the affordable luxury market. Rhiannon supports businesses with SEO and blog content strategy for their WordPress, Wix and Shopify websites through a range of offers from online self-study courses to bespoke marketing consultancy.


Connect with Rhiannon on Instagram @purplehorsemarketing


Get in Touch!

If you have any comments, questions, suggestions or requests, I'd love to hear from you. Email me at rhiannon@purplehorsemarketing.co.uk and tell me about your top SEO / blogging challenge, something you found useful or which SEO / business blogging topic you'd like me to cover next. 

If you have a business in the business support / marketing area and you have an idea for a blog topic that could complement my free guides, please feel free to enquire about writing a guest blog. I will include a link to your website from the article, and you can introduce your brand and offers to a wider audience! I'm especially keen to hear from anyone in social media, Pinterest, email marketing, PR, e-commerce, equestrian or business coaching / consultancy. Plus, if you're happy to do a swap, I'm usually open to contributing an SEO / blogging related article to your blog in return, or appearing as a guest on your podcast.

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