seo search engine optimization link building agencyseo search engine optimization link building agencyseo search engine optimization link building agencyseo search engine optimization link building agency
  • BRANDS
    • PPC.co
    • DEV.co
    • Website.Design
  • SERVICES
    • Managed SEO
    • Link Building
    • White Label SEO
    • Content Writing
    • SEO Audits
    • PPC Management
  • TOOLS
    • Backlink Checker
    • Site Audit
    • Broken Link Tool
    • Robots.txt Tester
    • Sitemap Validator
    • Site Speed Tester
    • Title Tag Checker
    • AI Content Writer
    • SEO Training
  • WHY US
    • Case Studies
    • Our Process
    • Our Team
    • Our History
    • Acquisitions
    • Become a Writer!
  • BLOG
  • CONTACT
LOGINGET STARTED
✕
Semantic Search: A Comprehensive Guide for Understanding & Optimizing for Semantic Search
Semantic Search: A Comprehensive Guide for Understanding & Optimizing for Semantic Search
December 20, 2021
Pros & Cons Of Managing Ecommerce Sites
Pros & Cons Of Managing Ecommerce Sites
December 20, 2021

Buyer Personas: How to Construct (or Improve) a Customer Persona for SEO

Last Updated by Sam Edwards on December 20, 2021
How to Construct (or Improve) a Customer Persona for Marketing Your Business Online

Customer personas are underrated tools in the realm of branding, content marketing, SEO, and practically every other marketing strategy there is.

You might have considered who your target demographics are, or the general “type” of person that you want to write content for, but have you created a full-fledged persona?

Personas are useful because they help solidify preconceptions you might have about your audience, or challenge ones that aren’t relevant.

They’re also useful in getting the rest of your team up to speed quickly—rather than going through an exercise of what does or doesn’t work for your audience, you can use personas as quick training tools to demonstrate your ideas.

Finally, buyer personas are important because they can help you better deliver search intent when attempting to target your ideal audience.

And delivering what customers want, will invariably improve your content marketing:

Source

All this sounds nice, but how can you create a persona? Or, if you have an idea for one already, how can you create a better one?

Table of Contents

  • Buyer Personas – Video Tutorial
  • Start with a Basic Buyer Persona Framework
  • Develop a Character, Not Just a Profile
  • Customer Interviews
  • Ask “Why?”
  • Create Qualities and Appeals
  • Engage Your Team
  • Adjust & Iterate Your Personas

Buyer Personas – Video Tutorial

Here’s our video overview, in case you’re too lazy to read this post in its entirety.

Start with a Basic Buyer Persona Framework

You don’t have to build a full-fledged persona for your brand all at once. Instead of overwhelming yourself with all the little details, start out with a basic framework—you can work on filling in the rest later.

Some of the big topics to cover are the age range, gender, profession, education level, and geographic are of your target demographic. If you’re doing this for the first time, it’s wise to focus only on one of your business’s target demographics. You can always create more once you’ve fully fleshed out the first.

Develop a Character, Not Just a Profile

Don’t make your persona creation a list of objective traits like “35-45, female, college educated, suburban.” This makes it sound like a description in a police report. Instead, make your personas come to life by injecting them with personality and making them full-fledged characters.

Source

To get things started, give your personas fake names, and describe their physical features, even if they have no bearing on your demographic needs (as long as they don’t interfere with those demographic needs). Ron Buckingham, the young, suave blond-haired gentleman who always wears flannel shirts, gives you a much more vivid conception of the same man described by a list like 22/male/recent college grad. It leads to better-rounded personas, and better inspiration down the line.

Customer Interviews

To help you get an accurate picture of your target demographics, consider conducting interviews with real current or potential customers.

Source. A comprehensive persona, gleaned through interviews, can be time-intensive and costly.

For example, if one of your strongest demographics is older business owners, make a short list of all the older business owners currently doing business with you, and call them up for a few questions. Ask about their education level, job histories, values, and motivations.

Ask what’s most important for them in procuring new deals, and ask what they value most in messaging and communication. Integrate this information into your existing frameworks.

Ask “Why?”

Effective buyer personas are all about understanding motivations. Without those motivations, your persona is useless. For every quality you’ve described in your characters and personas, ask the question why.

Ron Buckingham thinks companies should be more down-to-earth, but why?

Lindsay Donovan likes the feeling of comfort more than the feeling of excitement, but why?

These questions may not have concrete answers, but contemplating them will help you develop fuller, more relatable personas.

Create Qualities and Appeals

For each buyer persona you’ve created, make a list of “qualities” with a corresponding list of “appeals.”

The qualities, as you might imagine, should reflect all the individual significant elements of that persona.

The appeals should be tactics, messages, or other strategies that can help you relate to those qualities.

For example, a quality like “craves social confirmation and acceptance” could be met with an appeal like “increased social media targeting” or “emphasize previous buyer reviews.”

Engage Your Team

Unless you’re a master at creating fictional characters, it’s a good idea to let other people in your business get in on the process.

Great buyer personas are almost never created in a vacuum because each person in your business will have unique experiences and unique perspectives to help flesh out the details of those characters.

For example, your account managers might have more in-depth relationship with real people in line with your personas, and your marketing team might have more creative ideas for persona appeals.

Adjust & Iterate Your Personas

If you allow your buyer persona to remain unchanged, two things are going to happen. One, your online marketing will never have room to grow, and two, your team’s going to get bored. Every several months, you should revisit your classic lineup of personas and make adjustments to reflect any changes your business has gone through and any new insights you’ve uncovered.

Barring that, you can create new, fresh versions of your older personas to inject new life and fresh air to your approach.

Get to work creating your buyer persona now—the sooner you have one (or more) created, the sooner you’ll be able to use that framework and its resulting insights in real, practical purposes. Don’t be afraid to make multiple versions of your personas, either. If you’re detailed in your creation of personas as characters, you can easily produce multiple versions for each target demographic, or create personas for separate demographics you only peripherally target. The more often you work with personas, the more adept you’ll become in using them to their full potential.

Whether you run your own business or operate a marketing agency, we help build high quality backlinks directly or through our white label SEO partners. For more information, get in touch today!

  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Sam Edwards
Sam Edwards
Chief Marketing Officer at SEO.co
In his 9+ years as a digital marketer, Sam has worked with countless small businesses and enterprise Fortune 500 companies and organizations including NASDAQ OMX, eBay, Duncan Hines, Drew Barrymore, Washington, DC based law firm Price Benowitz LLP and human rights organization Amnesty International.

He is a recurring speaker at the Search Marketing Expo conference series and a TEDx Talker. Today he works directly with high-end clients across all verticals to maximize on and off-site SEO ROI through content marketing and link building. Connect with Sam on Linkedin.
Sam Edwards
Latest posts by Sam Edwards (see all)
  • Link Reclamation: How to Reclaim Lost Backlinks - June 20, 2022
  • Lead Nurturing: How to Nurture Leads & Close Sales - June 13, 2022
  • Lead Generation with SEO: How to Use SEO to Generate Leads - June 7, 2022
Share
4
Sam Edwards
Sam Edwards
In his 9+ years as a digital marketer, Sam has worked with countless small businesses and enterprise Fortune 500 companies and organizations including NASDAQ OMX, eBay, Duncan Hines, Drew Barrymore, Washington, DC based law firm Price Benowitz LLP and human rights organization Amnesty International. He is a recurring speaker at the Search Marketing Expo conference series and a TEDx Talker. Today he works directly with high-end clients across all verticals to maximize on and off-site SEO ROI through content marketing and link building. Connect with Sam on Linkedin.

Related posts

How to Optimize for "People Also Search For" or "People Also Ask"
June 27, 2022

How to Optimize for “People Also Search For” or “People Also Ask”


Read more
Link Reclamation: How to Reclaim Lost Backlinks
June 20, 2022

Link Reclamation: How to Reclaim Lost Backlinks


Read more
Lead Nurturing: How to Nurture Leads & Close Sales
June 13, 2022

Lead Nurturing: How to Nurture Leads & Close Sales


Read more

Inc 5000 Logo

Our Services

  • SEO Services
  • Link Building Services
  • White Label SEO
  • Content Writing Services
  • Amazon SEO
  • PPC Management
  • Public Relations
  • Brand Mentions
  • SEO Site Audits

SEO Resources

  • SEO for Beginners
  • Link Building Guide
  • Local SEO
  • Online Marketing
  • Digital Marketing
  • Content Marketing
  • SEO Reseller
  • Backlink Checker
  • Keyword Research
  • Google Ranking Factors

About SEO.co

  • About Us
  • SEO Team
  • SEO Blog
  • SEO Clients
  • SEO Tools
  • Markets Served
  • Locations Served
  • Client Login
  • Contact

Contact Us

Email: info@seo.co
Call: +1 (877) 545-4769
Address: 1425 Broadway Suite 22689
Seattle, WA 98112
White Label SEO Agency
  
Outwrite. Outrank. SEO.
© 2022 SEO.co. All Rights Reserved
Privacy Policy | Sitemap
PPC.co // DEV.co // Website.Design
An Invest.net Partner
    GET STARTED
      We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of all the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
      Cookie SettingsAccept All
      Manage consent

      Privacy Overview

      This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
      Necessary
      Always Enabled
      Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
      CookieDurationDescription
      cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
      cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
      cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
      cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
      cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
      viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
      Functional
      Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
      Performance
      Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
      Analytics
      Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
      Advertisement
      Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
      Others
      Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
      SAVE & ACCEPT