When you’re talking with your friends, the last thing you’d expect or even want, is for a stranger to come and interrupt you mid sentence by shouting about how great they are.

If they did want to join in with your conversation, their best tactic would be hang round in similar places as you, become familiar with your interests and wait for the right moment to politely introduce themselves. Next they should ask a few questions about you and most importantly LISTEN so they can start to understand your likes and dislikes. Then you probably wouldn’t mind if they started offering useful related stories and information in the flow of the conversation.

How about they then used all the information they had learnt and threw a party – where the food and music were exactly to your taste. You’d probably go. And you’d probably bring your like minded mates with you. And during the party you’d also probably be happy to listen to the host with an open mind about what they have to say.

So why do so many people think these social rules are any different online. Yes you can shout about yourself and you can easily create a blog or website to do this. But who will listen? There will be no reason for anyone to stop by, if they do, they won’t stay long or come back again. And if you are not attractive to what people are looking for, you’re not attractive to Google. It’s as simple as that.

At Propellernet we always bang on about content and the first step in making good content is not thinking about what you want to say about yourself, but getting out there and listening to your key audience. This information is gold dust when creating content and making your website the party people are talking about and want to go to .

So where should you begin? If you haven’t already, identify your target audience and find out where they go online. Start hanging out in forums similar to them. Read the blogs and websites they read and get in their world. See what people are asking about. What are their likes/dislikes? Are there common questions that keep cropping up again and again? What do they want to know and what can’t they find information about? Most importantly, what can you help with?

This information is then a great base to create useful and compelling content, which will make your website the place to be in the eyes of Google and your target market.