David Fiske Affiliate marketing & web development musings from Fiske Towers

I've recently started a new content site and set out writing content aimed towards what I thought was a target audience. However, looking through the stats I can see that my audience is not what I once imagined it was.

I could be alienating visitors simply because I'm writing the wrong stuff.

Here's an example and how you can avoid making the same mistake.
 
My example will be Carrot Cake Lovers, a fictitious website with the sole intention of getting more people baking cakes.

So I've written articles about the ingredients required and the perfect carrot cake recipe.

But a look through the stats shows that most of my visitors are not looking to make carrot cakes, they are looking to buy ready made cakes.

It's not disastrous and you should leave pre-existing content online. But going forward, you should be changing your writing style. Start adding articles about pre-made cakes. Perhaps write an article about the ingredients of such cakes and why additives can be harmful. Remember you still have two audiences: those that are after the recipe and those who want to buy the finished item.

Don't forget about the affiliate pennies either. Perhaps link to MySupermarket's carrot cake listings through an affiliate link. Perhaps list eBay auctions as there are cakes available there. What about striking a deal with a nationwide carrot cake manufacturer and sell them yourself?

The upshot is that before you were looking at the raw ingredients and suggesting recipes. Now, given your new found statistical knowledge, you are still doing this but focussing more on the people who are after cash-rich time-poor solutions.

The morale of this tale is simple. Start off as you normally would but check your keyword logs as these are worth their weight in gold. Spotting trends and identifying potential market segments you could be attracting is a valuable skill.