If you have been blogging for a while now, you are only expected to have had a hang of who your readers are. The importance of readers and your target audience can never be over-estimated. Your blog exists for your readers. Period. If you have not considered your readers seriously yet, it is high time you did just that. In marketing parlance, you sell your services to readers, your consumers. And there is no way you can know what to sell, unless you knew whom you served.

Read Comments: The best way to know your readers is to read them. Comments may take long to appear in your blog; but that doesn’t mean your blog has no readers. Wait for comments – patiently. If you have not had comments, you can read into that too – perhaps, you are yet to give a compelling post that drives your readers to comment on. And when you do have them, do not ignore them. Read through your comments with a neutral perspective, without trying to be defensive or without being offended. If you have appreciations, take them in your stride and try to work in line with the posts. Respond to comments, engage your readers.

Check Mails: The same would go for reader mails. If you have left the option to comment on your blog open to mails, make sure you keep checking your mails regularly. Popular bloggers may not be able to respond to each and every mail that they get, though it would be ideal if they could do so, individually. Remember, your blog exists for your readers and there can not be many other reasons that may be more important than your readers who have felt the urge to comment.

Create Polls in your blog: Readers who may not comment may cast their votes. Make voting in polls open to anonymous participation – you may have readers who may not want to reveal their real identities as they participate in activities. And what is more important for you is the vote itself, not who done it. Be creative in polls and choose topics wisely, that would not only encourage active participation but would also give you a far idea of your reader group.

Your quest to find out who your readers are becomes easier if you are a niche blogger. If you blogged on SAP, for instance, you can be pretty sure that your readers either practise SAP, teach SAP or learn SAP. At least, you can safely know that you wouldn’t have readers who are computer illiterate. However, even then, you would have to tailor your posts in accordance with whether you target beginners or experts – you wouldn’t want to sound too technical for beginners, nor would you want to teach the basics of your trade to expert readers.

Google Analytics has solutions that would let you know, fairly well, who your readers are. But then, you need to take the time out to analyse what analytics states. If you can find out your target audience and pitch your blog in line with their tastes and preferences, your task is half done. Time would take care of the rest.