Reasons to Use Polls and Surveys on Your Blog
Perhaps one of the most overlooked tools in the blogger’s arsenal is the ability to set up surveys and polls on the blog. Yet, these surveys and polls can serve a number of different purposes for the blogger and, in reality, should be used more often on many blogs. Here is a brief look at some of the benefits that polls and surveys provide.
Benefit #1: Performing Market Research
Simply put, surveys and polls help you get to know your audience better. Although you should have already conducted some market research in order to get to know your target audience better, surveys and polls will help you get to know the people who are actually reading your blog. Armed with this information, you can create posts that are more to their liking and you can add features to your blog that will help you keep your audience happy. If you are trying to make money with affiliate products, polls can also help you when it comes to selecting the products you will try to sell on your blog.
Benefit #2: Starting a Conversation
Polls and surveys are often great fodder for getting conversations going. One on hand, you can ask a question with your poll and then ask your community members to explain why they provided that answer. On the other hand, the results of the poll or survey can often stir up additional conversations – particularly if the topic is one that is controversial. In fact, using a poll or a survey is a good way to introduce a controversial subject for your readers to debate without you having to take a strong stance on either side.
Keep in mind that you will have the option to allow your readers to view the results or to keep the results closed as the survey is taking place. If you don’t want the responses to be skewed, you might want to keep this feature closed until after you have conducted the poll.
Benefit #3: Keeping it Simple
Polls and surveys are also beneficial to the blogger because they are pretty easy to set up. So, if you have a day when you really can’t think of anything to write about or you simply don’t have time for a post, putting up a survey or poll will still interest your readers without taking so much time to create.
Although polls and surveys are relatively easy to create, this is not to say you shouldn’t put any thought into the one that you create. Rather, make certain you ask a question that involves a topic that is meaningful to your readers. Also, make certain your answer choices are clear and well-defined. That way, you will get an accurate response to your poll or survey and you may actually be able to use the information to further improve the content of your site.
I myself have only used polls once or twice. I have yet to have a big enough subscriber base to get much results, but the day is coming. The time I did use it, I asked about some changes I was going to do to my site. I let my readers choose.
Stephan Millers last blog post..Clickbank’s New YouTube Channel
You do see these popping up more and more…it’s definitely on my TD list.
I heard of a good one from John Dilbeck, called Poll Daddy
Dennis Edells last blog post..A Monkey Can Do Your Job!
Good morning, Larry,
As Dennis mentioned, I’ve been testing using polls and surveys powered by PollDaddy.com on my blog. One nice thing about their polls is that I can show the same poll on multiple sites using a single line of javascript.
I tried voting in your poll and it didn’t work for me.
This is something I’m going to be doing a lot of over the coming months, now that I’ve found a solution I like.
Act on your dream!
JD
John Dilbecks last blog post..Do you want to add polls to your site?
Thank you Stephan, Dennis and John for the comments. This was my first attempt to try this myself. I agree with Stephan that you might want to have a large subscriber base to get the full benefits.
Thanks Dennis and John for the tip. I should have really tested my previous survey I had on that I got from feepollkit, I have now installed the one from PollDaddy, and it works fine.
Works fine now! Good job.
Dennis Edells last blog post..A Monkey Can Do Your Job!
Thanks for the suggestion. I’ve not done with polls and surveys in the past, but it’s something I’ll consider for my writing blog.
Nobody can tell you what will be a hit with your community more than your community!
Lindsays last blog post..$250 Writing/Blogging Contest — Write a Fable for Your Blog and Win!
No Problem Lindsay, I plan to use them more in the future to see what my readers are thinking.
Well, Larry. I mostly using the polls to collect some important informations/feedbacks from my readers and it works all the time
wilhb81s last blog post..Starting Your Own Business is Not a Dream Anymore!
I’ve never used polls for my blogs, but it’s a nice idea
Blue Hosts last blog post..UltraWebsiteHosting.com
Am using a wordpress plugin and install a permanent poll widget on my blog’s sidebar – Good to see when prople reply to your calls.
Shanker Bakshis last blog post..The End of New Beginnings
I know I have used polls and surveys in the past and have had plenty of success. The results you get can also be used to create some great info products.
Matt Helphreys last blog post..The Money Spot is Above the Fold
I think you need to have a bit of traffic to get much benefit from these – I’ve tried a couple of times on another blog, without much response. It’s actually a bit embarassing when you only get 2 or 3 replies – I guess it’s kind of the same as displaying your feed count when you have hardly any subscribers.
However, in principle I agree it’s a great way to get feedback from your readers, and polldaddy looks good.
Rodney@Blogging with WordPresss last blog post..WordPress.com statistics plugin
I totally agree with all your comments especially “Starting a Conversation”. I think that blog readers love to debate, comment and listen to what others have to say and polls give the opportunity for opinions to be expressed. Until now I have not bothered with polls but i have just downloaded some poll software which i intend to get up and running soon.