The title of this post seems pretty straightforward. But how can you REALLY know what your customers want? The easiest way to know is to ask them!

When I say ask them, there are also quite a few ways to ask people what they want in order to get the answers you seek. If you just ask, “What do you want?” you’ll either get a huge list of things that already covers what you’re giving them, or you’ll get nothing.

The better way is to ask is by using a survey. You can survey people using survey software, or you can just use a blog post. Most forum software also has a survey option that is simple to use.

When you ask, you’ll want to ask a direct question. Something like, “Which of my blog posts did you enjoy the most?” Instead of “What do you want me to write about?” That will at least get you a targeted answer – and hopefully boil it down to a subject you are already writing about.

Another way to find out what interests people is to look at local magazines. Or, check out Google Trends to see what’s being searched for at this minute. If you do this every day, one day you’ll find that people are looking for something in your niche market. Then you do a quick blog post on that subject and you’re in the money (hopefully)!

It’s not really that hard to find out what people want – all you have to do is ask, look, and listen.