When and How to Ask Your Audience for Help
If you do any amount of blog-hopping, it’s something you’ll come across every once in a while: a blogger asking his or her readers what they would like to read more of. It’s a natural tendency, especially given the amount of interaction a blogger may have with his or her readers. But, that doesn’t always mean it’s the right thing to do!
I’m not talking about annoying your readers. I don’t think asking for input now and again is something that’s very high on a reader’s list of annoyances. In fact, many people like to give their opinion and are happy to be presented with the opportunity to do so. That’s not the point I’m about to make, so you can cast that issue aside.
What you have to figure out is whether it is the right thing to do to achieve your specific goal. What is the reason for asking your readers’ opinion? What is the result you are trying to achieve? For example, are you trying to gain readers? Let’s go through a few example scenarios and determine whether a reader poll is going to accomplish your objective.
When TO Ask Your Readers What They Want
- You want to increase comments. If you’re not getting many comments on your posts, you may want to poll your readers. Why aren’t they commenting more? Are there different topics that they would feel more inclined to comment on? Is your writing style discouraging comment?
- You want to turnaround a decline in readers. If you’re losing readers and subscribers, asking for your readers’ input can definitely help you here. Have you switched subjects from what they originally visited your blog for? Have you stopped posting content they want to read? Asking your readers what they want to read more of can be a great value in this type of situation.
When NOT to Ask Your Readers What They Want
- You want to increase readers. In this case, asking your readers what they would like to read is probably not going to accomplish much. They are already your readers! You’ve got them hooked!
When you’re looking to increase the number of readers, asking your readers what they want to read is probably the least effective method. But, that being said, you can still make use of them if you turn the question around. Instead of asking what content they want, ask about them! In other words, what are their goals and interests? Why are they reading your blog? What do they enjoy most about your blog?
In such a case, finding out more about your readers will help you identify your target audience so that you might then concentrate your marketing efforts on finding more people that fit that profile. You will no doubt find that to be much more effective than simply asking your readers what they would like to read more of on your blog.
In any event, before asking your readers anything, be sure to (a) figure out what your goal in doing a reader survey is and (b) craft your questions to accomplish that goal.
As always,
Believe. Act. Achieve!
Good topic Dan! I like the poll idea, but having open feedback is good too. It could be more valuable, depending on what the blogger is asking.
Personally, I may increase/decrease my readership to someone’s blog if they have changed subjects. Like if someone went from a personal blog to pay posts, then I probably would visit less.
Personally, I may increase/decrease my readership to someone’s blog if they have changed subjects. Like if someone went from a personal blog to pay posts, then I probably would visit less.
No worries about that here! I’m signed up with one of those services, but no one ever wants me to write a review!
Perhaps I spoke too soon…
Dan,
I agree that asking your readers what they want will probably not increase your readership. Yet, it can be a great way of finding out where your current readers’ interests lie, so you’ll be able to provide them with targeted content that will keep them coming back. (It can also provide ideas for future posts, which always come in handy!)
Jeanne