Are you looking to build a massive audience for your website? If you’re like most people trying to build an online presence of your own, you’re probably not satisfied with just a handful of visitors.
With a number of well-known bloggers and website owners bringing in millions of dollars a year, you know building a large audience is possible. But how do you actually make it a reality? What’s the secret formula that turns a website from just a spot on the web to an actual community with an audience willing to spend money? In this guide, we’ll share the exact formula for building a massive audience for your website. Hint: it’s not as complicated as it sounds!
1. Know Your Niche
The most important first step is to niche down. What does that mean? Simply put, you need to know what to focus on. If your website is about everything, it might as well be about nothing. Choose a niche that you’re passionate about and something you know well. In addition, make sure it’s something that other people are actually interested in.
Every business, whether a solopreneur’s blog or major corporation, will benefit from defining its niche. A nursing home, for example, might have a specific niche within the retirement community demographic that they target. Some specialize in advanced care for those with Alzheimer’s or dementia. Others cater to clients of a higher income bracket with a luxury approach. By drilling down to a niche approach, you improve your conversion rate with smart marketing.
2. Become an Authority
Once you have your niche, it’s time to start making an impact. This is where it pays to be an expert. Or, at least, it pays to be good at research. Nobody wants to read from the perspective of a total newbie who clearly doesn’t know what they’re talking about.
This is where that sweet spot between passion and skill comes into play. You might be super interested in rocket science, but if you don’t have the ability to write from a place of authority, that probably isn’t going to work out. You need to become the go-to authority. You do this by creating content that’s knowledgeable and valuable to your niche.
3. Produce (a Lot) of Content
There’s no specific amount of content you need to produce in order to be successful, but the more the merrier. Think of it this way. It’s much easier to get 10 hits each on 1000 blog posts than to get 1000 hits on 10 blog posts.
Learn how to refine your process. Writing content that’s high-quality, interesting, and value-heavy doesn’t have to be complicated. Think of ways to build upon content that’s already proven to be successful. Learn what your audience wants and actually deliver.
4. Collect Email Addresses
Now that you have a solid foundation, it’s time to make sure you can keep the visitors you do have. The best way to do this, surprisingly, is with email. You might have thought it was smarter to direct these users to social media and other platforms you use to connect with your audience. While this is also valuable, it’s not nearly as important as email.
You could lose access to your social media followers at any second. The platform could go away, an error could occur, or your account could simply be deleted. You don’t own your follower lists on any platform. What do you own? Your email lists. That’s why you need to start harvesting your audience through an email list. With over 269 billion emails sent and received every day, you can’t afford to ignore this marketing channel.
5. Diversify Your Content
Finally, start diversifying your content. Today, users are looking for more than just blog posts. They’re interacting with their favorite websites in a number of new ways. There are so many things to choose from. To name a few: podcasts, videos, downloads, social media, live events, and so on.
This also might be the time to start monetizing. There’s no set-in-stone number of visitors you need to hit to start monetizing. Once you have an audience, you can start selling whether it’s through products, ad space, or so on. Don’t be afraid to try something new.
Making an Impact Online
Though this formula can be implemented by anyone to build a massive audience online, don’t make the mistake of thinking it’s easy. This is not an overnight rags-to-riches success story, rather a long race that takes an integrated approach for long term results. This takes time, dedication, and a lot of trial and error.
As long as you’re willing to put in the work, market your website, and find your niche, you’re ready to find success. It’s true that a lot of people simply don’t have the patience to get to this point in their digital careers, but that’s up for you to decide. Are you ready?