Comments on: Blog Polls – Add Interactivity to Your Blog

By: John Yen

John Yen — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 19:22:44 +0000

Interactivity in general is a great feature for any blog… whether it be map applets, gimmicky flash things, etc.

Though I find that I like to view results first for any polls I see. If a visitor were to see a low amount of poll votes it might discourage them from voting at all, or maybe even lower their view of the blog’s credibility. So I figure there might be a threshold number of visitors before polls become an effective way of keeping traffic.

By: Free Blog Poll Tools: ProBlogger Blog Tips

Free Blog Poll Tools: ProBlogger Blog Tips — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 05:21:57 +0000

[...] Following on from my last two posts on blog polls…. [...]

By: Henry

Henry — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 07:41:52 +0000

Yes I would be interested on when to properly implement this on your site especially to those who are just starting out.

Plus is it ok to use those free polls codes (without ads) out there for those who use blogger?

By: Spindrop » Blog Archive » Polls

Spindrop » Blog Archive » Polls — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 03:00:18 +0000

[...] I decided to install Democracy for WordPress. This was partially inspired by Darren’s post at Problogger and for my own development efforts for the restaurant review site. Not sure if it allows you to change your vote, that would be useful for the first poll. I suppose we’ll find out. [...]

By: David Hobby

David Hobby — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 01:59:51 +0000

I think blog interactivity is a *great* idea. I run a niche blog that teaches other photographers off-camera lighting. I have been doing the one-way thing for a few months now, with a full lighting course and regular “how-to’s” from my assigned photos shot for publication in the print world.

Last month we set up a group on Flickr, so people could throw up their own stuff. It has been a big hit. Much reader-to-reader discussion is being generated, and a community is definitely forming.

Today I threw up the idea of a structured group of assignments – specific challenges – that I would put up for the readers to complete. I had 33 very positive responses in a few hours – far and away my fastest and biggest comments response.

So, in two weeks we will begin a sort of virtual “classroom” environment. I expect there will be pretty much continuous interaction between the readers throughout the course. I am also hitting up some of my vendors for “premiums” for the best three photos turned in from the course.

I love the idea of a blog. I hate that it can easily become a one-way conduit for ideas. No one person can stay fresh very long in an environment like that.

By: Darren Rowse

Darren Rowse — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 01:03:37 +0000

stay tuned for more info on polls tomorrow – I’ll answer most of the questions in that post. :-)

By: Jason Haley

Jason Haley — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 00:38:39 +0000

Interesting Finds: May 31, 2006 PM edition

By: WidgetMaster

WidgetMaster — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 00:32:50 +0000

Shameless self plug here, however, you guys have requested it so… http://www.majikwidget.com works with blogger and any other blog platform.

So everyone knows, this is our software and it is not my intention to advertise just simply answer all the comments. BlogFlux makes a nice poll as well. I do not know if it works with Blogger for sure.

By: Gene

Gene — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 00:31:04 +0000

Great post, Darren, as I’m running a poll right now. Maybe you can address in your follow up — How long should a poll run? A day, a week, until it runs out of steam?
I introduced the poll with an article, and about 1 in 4 people who visited the article participated in the poll.
Great blog, by the way. I visit it daily.

By: Netwalker

Netwalker — Wed, 31 May 2006 20:58:52 +0000

I’m more interested in knowing which software to use for the polls: an external provider or some plugin for the blogging software.

By: Ben Yoskovitz

Ben Yoskovitz — Wed, 31 May 2006 20:43:31 +0000

I’d have to agree with all the other commentors — I’m using Blogger at the moment, so what tool would make the most sense for polls, and what level of visitors do you need before running with a poll?

I think people are afraid of running a poll and not getting any results…

By: Squirrelinabox

Squirrelinabox — Wed, 31 May 2006 19:34:06 +0000

Yeah, I too would love to hear thoughts on how many visitors you should have for a decent polling experience. My main blog gets around 100 uniques a day and I’ve run a couple polls. Both had a poor turnout, I think only like 10-20 votes.

Though I’m glad they had at least double digits, it was kind of weak posting the results when a winning option would have like 5 whole votes. My blog has started to pick up some steam with regards to visitors, but I think I’ll hold off doing any more polls until the number of visitors increases a lot.

By: Carolyn Goodwin

Carolyn Goodwin — Wed, 31 May 2006 19:17:56 +0000

How many daily visitors do you recommend having before posting a poll? It seems like it could almost be detrimental if you don’t have enough of a response. Great post, by the way – love the topic.

By: Charlie

Charlie — Wed, 31 May 2006 19:17:28 +0000

I’m with you, Patrik. I love the polls that have been here at Problogger, but I’m a little inexperienced with PHP/MySQL and assume I’d need to know more about them to get an effective poll going. If you have any pointers, Darren, let us know!

Thanks for the topic!

By: Patrik

Patrik — Wed, 31 May 2006 19:00:19 +0000

I would be interested in learning more about what software to use for polls. Especially for us that use blogger and similar services. I am sure there are some nice plug ins for wordpress that take care of it :) But what if you run your blog on another platform?

By: Ned Porting

Ned Porting — Wed, 31 May 2006 18:10:09 +0000

Nice topic..

Poll voters will also most probably come back, to see how things have turned out.

A possible distinction is between Yes/No polls versus those with multiple choices. Relative to the width of your readership, a multiple choice poll might actually end up in a tie. I think I prefer straight-cut Yes/No’s..