I was sat in Starbucks this morning and whilst writing some plans for this site and the book I took a few minutes to look around the shop. Being in the middle of London it naturally had a diverse mixture of people and it got me thinking about the different type of person that visits this site and how I can cater for all their needs.
I know there are tons of different personalities that visit this site and it’s going to be almost impossible to cater for them all, but you can have a bloody good go, so here’s how I try and make sure there is food for all types of people;
- Bookworm
You know the type I’m talking about, whilst I was sitting in Starbucks I noticed two people reading books in the comfy chairs totally engrossed in their book occasionally taking time out to drink their coffee before it goes cold. Now how do you recognise the bookworm visitors on your site and how do you cater for them?
Some times bookworm visitors won’t comment, they just want to hoover up all the content they can, bookworm visitors will also look for well written content that actually speaks to them rather than the masses. To be honest these type of visitors are the easiest to please in my opinion, produce content and make it personal, helpful and educational. Motivational pieces work really well too. Bookworms will visit your site and unless you won’t really be able to tell in what quantity they visit, if they do comment however, They will more than likely leave a comment that shows they clearly read the post by referring to parts of it.
- The Italian
Not to socially stereotype, but by and large whenever I have come across Italians whether it be drinking coffee or in the military they are full of passion. Everything they say is verbal gold to me, I love it. I think it’s by far the sexiest language on the planet and I love Italian people because fire is in their DNA.
In the majority of cases you will have people visit your site who are hot heads and extremely passionate about everything, overtly passionate if you like and these types are fairly obvious to spot in your comments area or in your emails etc. They will be the type of reader who will react instantly to what is being said on your site, be more than happy to get involved and in some cases be very quick to cause some waves.
Writing posts that will cause debate and touch on important matters within your market place will give the Italian type readers enough to get stuck into.
- Cool Kid
The cool kids are the ones who are happy to follow the trends of fashion, the ones who clearly are happy to go along with whatever. These types or readers are great fun and usually quite interactive, but you can’t take them for granted. By writing current content that talks about issue in your market place that are happening at the minute or have happened very recently you will keep the cool kids on side. The point to remember about cool kids is they can often be swayed by others opinions so don’t be shocked if you have a reader who comments constantly for a few weeks then stops, it’s more than likely their eye has been drawn elsewhere.
- Heavy Tipper
The heavy tipper type reader is the one who is more than happy to link back to you, spread your content via Twitter or Digg etc and the one who speaks extremely highly of you to other people. Heavy tippers are extremely important to your site because they are doing a lot of your work for you and helping you build your site.
As with all readers you have to look after them furiously, they are building your site with you so make sure you look after them and keep giving to them, keep heavy tippers in mind though because they are gong the extra mile to actually spread your content to their following, this is really important, just as tips are important to a waiter or waitress, you need to return the favour and actually promote their content if and when you can.
I haven’t mentioned the bully as every workplace and website will have a bully visit them, don’t play up to them though. Bullies will try and infect your site and it’s readers, stand up to them and never let yourself or your readers become a victim.
What does everyone think?
Please Comment
Please Re-Tweet, Digg and StumbleUpon
Interesting article James…who would you say I am? (That is me teasing BTW)
I have just had a mental breakthrough recently with Taming Time and its readers. I thought I had niched it enough being about time management, but I recently realized that I need to niche it down again – my focus: Infopreneurs, Entrepreneurs and small business owners. So I plan to restructure things in the coming little bit to focus on speaking to these people – because like you said it’s impossible to cater to everyone.
I would put myself as the bookworm, I read so much (probably too much sometimes)! The blogs I enjoy, books and relevant magazines…
.-= Michelle´s last blog ..Mar 27, Causes of Procrastination and Help to Overcome this Detrimental Habit: Why do We Procastinate? =-.
Exciting times ahead Michelle, I’m sure their is a guest post in that ?…. I think it’s great you change your plan to keep moving forward rather than actually carrying on in the same direction or giving up, top work
I’m probably part bookworm, part heavy tipper. Would like to be a bit more Italian.
It’s never easy to fit in a single category, but it’s easy to identify with particular ones in cases such as your reader profiles. I guess the main problem is when we kid ourselves we’re something that we’re not. For instance, I say I like to tip, but what if others don’t think I tip enough?
I live in hope…
.-= Martin – TheUniversityBlog´s last blog ..EduLinks – Wikis, Politics & Common Sense =-.
yeah that’s the cool thing about the net man, everyone is different which means everyone can make it
This was a cool post. I took it in a different way though. I thought of it as what am I? How do I interact with other blogs? Am I a cool kid? Am I an Italian? Well I know I am not Italian but you know what I mean.
I guess it would be best if you were a little bit of all of these. And it would be good if you got a little bit of each of these to your blog. (Or rather a lot of all of these!)
.-= Patrick Toerner´s last blog ..$1,000 a Month From a Minisite =-.
Hey man, yeah brother I constantly think about how people are different, I love it ha ha. I suppose a bit of everything would be awesome but being 100% of one type keeps us all different which is what the world needs
Hi James, I like the coffee shop comparison.
Last week I wrote out to my mailing list and asked them for suggestions on blog topics coming up in April. Several people who came back to me (with excellent suggestions) have NEVER commented on my sites. Which surprised me a lot.
I can’t decide if you’re Italian James, or a heavy tipper, which is it!!?? Maybe both!!!
My lesson in the last week is that just because people don’t comment doesn’t mean that they don’t have an opinion and you should reach out to connect in different ways.
Matthew
.-= Matthew Needham: The Big Red Tomato Company´s last blog ..How to Invest In Property =-.
Ha ha yeah I was thinking that, brother I’ve no idea ha ha.
Heavy Tipper and Cool Kid. I’m the type of person that will really spread the word about a site if I like the person and like the content and message they bring. I fully believe in building other people up. Karma always comes around.
I also try to stay the Cool Kid and take things light-heartedly. A little fun and laughter always makes life better. Interaction is the key. I like to chat and talk and work very hard at the same time. I feel I can learn something from everyone and everyone can learn something from me.
Hey brother yeah man you really do need to keep the chat going, everyday is a school day dude. Your gravatar pic looks like your on the beach! Looks ace
Hi James,
This bookworm/heavytipper, thinks that soaking up atmosphere at Starbucks while planning to take over the world with one’s Blog in the middle of London is surely the way to go. Ahh, yes …….. life is good for some “Pro-Bloggers”!
.-= Jeffrey´s last blog ..Twitter Proves Useless For Most =-.
ha ha not there yet brother! it was really useful and was great ”market” research lol
Very interesting post here James.
I was thinking of who I would be the whole time reading this post. I love to help spread amazing content that I find so I would probably be the heavy tipper. I also like to really get into a story so I can see myself as the bookworm. I’m always reading books. Always.
I think we all fit in just a little bit into each category however. I find that if you’re evening yourself out just a bit on each level that you’ll go the furthest. Not to say one is better than another, not at all, but if you are a bit of everything while staying focused on who you truly are, I think you can go further much faster and help others along the way.
Excellent post dude!
.-= Eric´s last blog ..Lets Help Each Other: Monthly Experience (February – March) =-.
Yeah I agree that a bit of everything would be awesome, especially as all types have their strengths
.-= theinfopreneur´s last blog ..Stop Looking For The Big Score =-.
This post has given me an idea. I think it might be quite impossible to please all of these types of people with one post. But perhaps we can write one post dedicated to one group – the bookworm, for instance – and then on our next post, we focus on the Italians.
We just have to make sure though that we at least incorporate one factor in our post that would interest most if not all of the groups.
.-= Julius´s last blog ..Learning About Web Accessibility Through Everyday Tasks =-.
Hey Julius,
yeah that’s a good idea or you could put little parts in the post for all types if you can?
.-= theinfopreneur´s last blog ..Stop Looking For The Big Score =-.
Hey James,
Very nice job at grouping the readers together in their own little groups. I think I may be one of the cool kids, I get distracted real easily. More than so often I just get spurts of energy so to speak to go around the blogosphere. I enjoy everyones content still but some days I just enjoy sitting down and chatting with my relatives online or play a game.
Those are my personal preferences, I am more casual in my approach to everything. Keep up the great work man, everything you are building is growing very quick!
.-= Ryan Hanzel´s last blog ..Technology and its advances =-.
Funny concept, I although I’m not it works. They so many types of readers and that makes it hard to categorize them.
Just blow them away with your awesome content – some will comment, some will just scan it – but hopefully everyone will read and act on it !
BTW, if you’d stereotype me, I’d go for the Italian
.-= Mars Dorian´s last blog ..What’s Your Mission ? =-.
hi james,
how are you?
i loved the analogy used here.
it is clear that i am the bookworm type lol!!!. but as patrick said it would be great to be a bit of each.
it’s also given me food for thought on how i should approach certain posts for the future on my blog.
thanks for this
enjoy the rest of the day
.-= ayo´s last blog ..Personal Development Roadblocks =-.
Hey Ayo, being the bookworm is great especially for your line of work
.-= theinfopreneur´s last blog ..Stop Looking For The Big Score =-.
I think it does scream guest post… haha … You will just have to give me a little time to get it together – I’ve got a huge pile to get through (online and off) and we are away on holidays for 3 weeks in April as its our wedding anniversary…
Congratulations, how many years?
So you study people do you? I guess that makes sense. You have to be pretty good at reading people and situations in battle where it really matters. I started out as a bookworm but have been working to being a heavy tipper. Just a comment. You only see Italians in a London Starbucks? I’m disappointed. I thought Italians would have higher coffee standards. And where are the rest of the Eurodudes?
.-= Ralph´s last blog ..Shameless plug for Cantankerous Old Coots =-.
Starbucks rocks if you know what to order I love it! Yeah Italians are also in their or Cafe Nero, I watch people a lot, I actually learn a great deal from body language who is hiding something, who is being covertly agressive etc etc
I love the whole Italian analogy, I would never have classified those passionate, firery bloggers like that but it makes sense.
I guess some of us also cover various different “types”. Sometimes I’m a bookworm, either silently reading or simply browsing for information that I would find useful, although I’d never let my coffee go cold, I hate it when people let their coffee go cold…what a waste of the world’s best hot beverage…
I’ve so far not really encountered any bullies. Maybe one or two but they’ve not affected me, which is a relief. Have you? Or is this just a general (and true) observation?
.-= Mo “Mad Dog” Stoneskin´s last blog ..Sisyphus Eat Your Heart Out =-.
Hey Mo,
Yeah there are bully’s everywhere but you just got to move on really, no point wasting time on them. And you are so right coffee rules!
Coffee, fine ale and Rioja, depending on the time of day…
On a couple of occasions I have “moved on”, not necessarily from bullies, but more from unsavory types antagonise rather than respond too their audience.
.-= Mo “Mad Dog” Stoneskin´s last blog ..Sisyphus Eat Your Heart Out =-.
4 years…doesn’t time fly?!! (Got married young too…)
.-= Michelle´s last blog ..Mar 28, Free Time Management Tools: Time Management Chart of Tools =-.
Ah we’re 5 years this year and still not one arguement! We got married mid twenties
Hi James
Now that is a really interesting article and observation. No one being successful can be linked to just one specific type of customer even when you are in a niche. It is good to consider how you will appeal to all types that are likely to be interested in your niche.
Once we are aware of the customers / readers etc that we have we can tailor our business to suit them and provide them with what they need.
Roland
.-= Roland Millward´s last blog ..Beware of The Paradox =-.
Yeah you’re exactly right being aware of your surroundings and the people you are attracting is key to actually building your empire