If there’s one thing I’ve learned throughout my 30-something years living on this planet, it’s that there’s an audience for everything.
EVERYTHING.
Every niche, interest, and hobby you can imagine. They are out there. Believe it.
Of course, when you’ve been working on your start-up for weeks or months (or years!) and no one is reading your site, watching your videos, buying your gear, or signing up for your service, it probably feels like you are the only one in the world who could be your audience. An audience of one.
The wrench in our initial thought is this: while there may be an audience for everything, everything else is out there too.
We live in a world where, for better or worse, there are too many options, too much noise. The internet has opened up unspeakable amounts of content and information, all floating out there, hoping to be consumed.
Here’s the key: your task as the creator of your content, product, or service is to be found by your audience, or make it so that they can find you. If no one is showing up to your site, it’s not because of disinterest, it’s because of obscurity.
Obscurity means you’re unknown, hiding in the shadows. People aren’t avoiding you for any number of reasons that you’re probably thinking right now, they simply can’t find you amongst all of the other stuff out there. There’s a lot, so it takes a lot to be found.
Now this isn’t to say that some people won’t be disinterested or that once someone finds you they’ll instantly become obsessed with whatever you’re offering, just that once the RIGHT people find you, the ones who share your interest or values or vision, they will feel like they have finally found what they’ve been looking for all along.
BUT, and you knew there’d be a but, you can not depend entirely on them to come to you, Because… they don’t know you yet. You really have to make the effort and put in the time to getting out there and getting noticed, as uncomfortable as that may be. Whether through paid advertising, search engine optimization, content creation, or ‘guerrilla’ tactics, there needs to be a level of commitment on your part to help your audience find you.
Finding your audience can be, and has been for me, one of the most difficult parts of this early phase. And initially, when no one is around and your site is visited only by crickets, it can be insanely discouraging. It may feel like you made a mistake, like no one finds value in your work, or like you’re completely alone in your interest.
In reality, no one is finding your work to begin with!
Get out there and find them!
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