BUILD YOUR OWN DEMOGRAPHICS

Chances are you do not get as much input from your visitorsand subscribers as you would like. When people write and saynice things, it makes you feel great, but it does not providegrand insights. Those who have bad thoughts usually justunsubscribe or leave your site for good. If you have clearlydefined a narrow niche, obtaining sufficient feedback is evenmore difficult, for much of what you receive will be off-target. Below are some ideas that help increase feedback, along withsuggestions about evaluating the input.Polls Are FunThe key to obtaining great results from a poll is a questioneverybody has an opinion about, one they want to share. I goofedin this regard with a poll running on my site. I asked visitorstheir opinion about using HTML in business email. Response hasbeen so low, it's clear not many are concerned about it.Still, even these limited results tell me something of myvisitors. That few are interested in this question is part ofwhat I learned. While this may seem a trivial point, it doesapply. I will be hesitant to say more on this subject, for Iwant to produce content readers and visitors want.If you are interested in this notion, check out The scrip I'm using is free. And even though handling scripts is tough for me, I found it easy to install.Surveys Can Produce Powerful ResultsThe only surveys I've tried on the Web have been offered via"STAT News." It's difficult to get a significant response inthis format. For one thing, we're all quite busy and it takestime to figure answers to questions. Additionally the surveytaker must reply via email; many are hesitant to do so for fearof their address being misused.One way to obtain anonymous response is to put a survey up onyour site. SurveyMonkey.Com makesthis easy to do. While I haven't tried it yet, I will. Again,the more interesting the topic, the more input you'll get. Andthe quality is likely to be correspondingly better.About Those RespondingAn honest poll or survey seeks a random sample, a small partof the whole. It's tough to obtain. And few get it right. Witha survey or poll in your newsletter or on your site, the sampleyou get will *not* be random. Why?Those responding may be more aggressive types, notrepresentative of the whole. Or you may have phrased yourquestions in such a way as to turn off readers and visitors of one sort or another. Composing questions which all or even most will understand as you meant them, is a real challenge.Evaluating ResultsIf you get a relatively large response, results can be takenmore seriously. This is not the usual case, however. The modeis to get a few responses, but not nearly enough to considerresults representative of the whole.I personally am willing to extrapolate and say that any oneresponse represents that of nine others, had they taken the timeto participate. But I won't go further. Thus given say 4000subscribers and a response of 100 to a survey, you may be able to draw some reasonable conclusions about 1000 subscribers, butnothing much about the other 3000.How To Screw Up ResultsIf you require an email address, you will turn off thoseunwilling to give one. Input will come only from those who will,and those who give a phony address. Either way, any randomnessin the sample is gone. And results are likely to be meaningless.Offering a freebie will almost always kick back on you. Atleast some will participate just to get the freebie. Some willeven try to twist results, just for the fun of it. The greaterthe perceived value of the freebie, the muddier the results arelikely to be.Other Ways To Gather InputForums, bulletin boards, and chats are terrific. But theydon't work well without sufficient traffic. On the Web, image iseverything, at least initially. Nothing I can think of at thiswriting can destroy an image quicker than a "dead" forum in whichthe last message was posted a month back. (And don't think for amoment you can fake it; the only luck in trying this is all bad.)Further, it takes time to manage the input. To even considerletting stuff flow without a moderator is foolish. One solutionis to find a volunteer to moderate, someone interested in thetopic who can benefit from the exposure. It's easy enough, then, to drop in now and then and add a comment of your own. Let Nothing Be OverlookedAnything you can do to obtain input from your readers andvisitors is worth the effort. Even little things can make adifference. Elsewhere I've mentioned AtomZ.Com. This great little site search engine offers a neat spinoff. By examining the terms searched on, you can gain a good deal of insight about searchers. You can often separate out beginners from more experience searchers, simply from the search term used. But again conclusions are limited, for you have only input from those who search, not a random sample of visitors.Email Is KingEmail is the most effective tool I have found for buildingdemographics. On my site and throughout my newsletter, I invitecomments and questions. In fact I beg for them. In answering, I have an opportunity to generate further feedback. Moreimportant, it allows me to demonstrate expertise and make thefirst connection in what may grow to be a significantrelationship. And from every message, I gain a better view of my readers and visitors.Even frivolous questions get an answer. Serious questionsare answered as completely as possible. The path for dollars to my pocket begins with a site visitor who subscribes to "STATNews." Once they decide I know a couple of things, and come tobelieve I can be trusted with their feelings, they may step forward and ask a question. A good reply generally creates a supporter, one who may also be a potential client. Paths to profits on your site may be quite different. But figure what they are, and enhance each step along the way as possible.Evaluating InputIt's tough to do. About when you decide your visitors knownothing about the Web, a steady flow of them begin to point outauthoritatively where you are screwing up.What it comes down to is hunches and guestimates. But try to answer such questions as how old your average visitor is. Something of their economic status. And so forth. As mentioned,I take one input as representative of nine others not received.Also try to answer questions relative to your business. Where are your visitors and subscribers on the Web cycle? Whatpercentages are novices? Have a site? Want a better one? Yourquestions will be different than mine, but take the time to statethem clearly. Then seek the best possible answers.Your TargetBehind all this, you have already defined your niche andtarget market. Disregard any input that is off target. Answeremail, of course, but discount this input from your view of yourvisitors and subscribers. The objective is to continue to narrowyour focus even further. Thus you are looking for input thatwill help you do so. In short, you are seeking a betterdefinition of your perfect customer.The Bottom LineWrite your newsletter and site pages targeted as closely aspossible to your view of your typical reader and visitor. Writefor the needs of your perfect customer. In time those who do notfit within your tight focus will unsubscribe and stop visitingyour site. You will in fact have created an audience who for themost part are interested in your niche or focus.