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7 Questions to Ask On Your Blog to Get More Reader Engagement

Posted By Darren Rowse 2nd of December 2009 Video Posts 0 Comments

Have you ever been ‘talked at’ instead of had someone ‘talk with’ you in a real life conversation? It doesn’t feel good to have someone talk AT you.

It leaves you feeling like you might as well not have been there at all.

Blogs can be like that and in this post we explore the power of asking questions on your blog and I share 7 types of questions you can ask to increase reader engagement.

The 7 questions are:

  • What Do you Think?
  • How Do you Feel?
  • What Will You Do?
  • What is Your Opinion?
  • What is Your Story?
  • What is Your Experience or Example?
  • What Have you Been Working On?

Of course there are plenty of other types of questions – what type do you ask and how do you find people respond?

Note: you can get the full sized version of this video at YouTube here.

About Darren Rowse
Darren Rowse is the founder and editor of ProBlogger Blog Tips and Digital Photography School. Learn more about him here and connect with him on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Comments
  1. It’s very true that you have almost 100%control over a business if the product that you are selling, it’s yours. Clearly, you know where you want your product to be seen, how you want it to be known, you know all the details..and it’s really better for you to have the control.

  2. Thanks for the tips. I think I will add a little more about my expertise on my about page.

  3. The question list is cool to start the conversation. Cool.. I really like the things you mentioned. Thanks!

  4. Thanks for the tips. I use the ‘ask a qustion’ technique to prompt people to write their opinions.

  5. .. And this post is exemplary somewhat of the message being preached. Interactivity is always a good way to engage and lots of people like to debate so you can even ask more direct questions, just hope it doesn’t turn out into a blog-war ;)

  6. Great way to get the audience to comment. Sometimes I’d rather use a simple question than a poll.

  7. I love asking questions throughout my posts to engage the reader more. I want my blog to be more like having a conversation than reading a book, sadly many blogs never really do this and get boring quickly.

    Hopefully I can get some readers so they’ll actually comment back haha.

  8. sweet thanks for this. will deffo implement this.

  9. Wow very true everytime I read your content it makes me think “Wow that is a good idea!” haha love it

    Scott,19 CA

  10. this is all very helpful. I just started my blog and am afraid to ask qusetions because I am afraid no one will answer, and I don’t know what questions to ask.
    Anyone have any suggestions for me?

    http://www.laurenruthie.blogspot.com

  11. This is really helpful. I always throw questions out and it kinda works.

  12. these are really thoughtful questions and ones that will definitely make a difference. cant wait to try em out!

  13. or “what would you do different?”

  14. i`ve just creat a blog and want to promoted it and enrich the content, hope it will runs well.

  15. PS : this is my site`s URL : http://oceania4u.blog.com

  16. I always make sure that i want to know other peoples opinions on the subject im talking about. That way it leaves it open for comments.

  17. or “what would you do different?” ;)

  18. “”
    Great way to get the audience to comment. Sometimes I’d rather use a simple question than a poll.
    “”

  19. My blog is 3 mos old and so far I’m finding ways of how to improve it and drive tons of traffic to it. I managed to earn from my blog through things I learn from other blogs. http://bucksfreeonline.blogspot.com/

  20. Hi Darren readers posters one n’all – Jay Abraham – gave me a great tip a while ago that has always kept me on the right track – here you go –

    Do You Know How? -What We Do Is!

    Cheers Darren – great blog space you D-E-F-I-N-I-T-E-L-Y know how

    Phillip Skinner

  21. Having your audience participating in your blog or forum posting can be very interesting. I love reading their comments and suggestions because I always find myself gaining more knowledge by doing so. My habit is I will try to have an open-ended question in my posting as this will encourage interaction.

  22. the best thing i have found about making money from home is here : http://freeincomefromhome.blogspot.com i now do 1000 $ per month without no investement , please join us !

  23. This is really a nice website..i will keep getting into it..

  24. hoho..i hope my blog will get more reader. More loyal reader.

  25. I use open ended questions all the time at the end also. I’ve found that if you do that, some will comment but most will still not. Perhaps I should offer a free ebook or something…

  26. These 7 Questions are enough for a person to determine on how he has to blog and on what topic. An overview of how to start a business blogging, Great job Darren.

  27. Hi! I just started a new blog a few hours ago. Reason is my money making blog is strictly for free money making programs and I don’t want to go off the topic. http://chopsueyrice.blogspot.com/ is my new blog and my money making blog is http://bucksfreeonline.blogspot.com/

  28. People are just to lazy. On one with my pages some topics have thousand of views and couple comments. What’s count is a content and how unique your site is.

  29. Nice tips and as always it does help to ask the readers to do something. A call to action is very important :)

  30. Thanks for this little tip, I like these kind of posts (lenght).

  31. Having your audience participating in your blog or forum posting can be very interesting. I love reading their comments and suggestions because I always find myself gaining more knowledge by doing so.

  32. Great article. I always believe good work always get good response and you did a great job here that is the reason you got such interesting response and comments..

  33. Thank you for sharing on how to get more comments and response for a blog from readers.

  34. Very good post, I learn many things from your post. This is a really interesting find for sure. Thanks for the great tips!
    http://www.losangelescarrental.org/

  35. I went back in my last few posts, and did a find on “?” I only used the powerful question mark once and that was in a quote that I was using…not exactly a call to action.

    It’s a good idea, and I’ll try it to see if I elicit a better response…Thanks

  36. Great post. I have been thinking about this a lot lately. Today I wrote a post introducing a new idea for my blog. I write about cooking with kids, and would love for my readers to write in with stories and photos of their experiences cooking with their own kids. I am going to invite people to share in a topic called What’s Cooking with YOUR kids?

    It is my hope that these posts will make people feel like they are a part of a larger community – those of us with kids all have kitchen adventures at one time or another. It would be fantastic for us to share and hear about their trials/tribulations AND successes. After all, kids who cook are better eaters – so it is worth it to give it a try :-)

  37. This site has a lot of good tips and information. i have lately been thinking about how to get people to leave more comments on my site. i am going to incorporate more questions, for sure! Thanks for the good info!

  38. these are really thoughtful questions and ones that will definitely make a difference. cant wait to try em out!
    Thanks a lot…

  39. I look forward to having a live and truly interactive experience on my blog. One perhaps where posters can speak to me within a VR environment.

  40. Asking questions at the end of an article is a simple call to action that engages users.

    Rather than having a set of canned questions, the ones I use are usually very specific to the article. I typically try to use open-ended questions as well.

  41. Asking for opinions from the reader improves interaction. Audience participation is important. Your blogs are a great read.

  42. Really useful ideas for blogger, this is the reader’s point of view and what they actually want to read from your blog is very important thing, but I never tried to understand them profoundly

    Cheap Old Cars Blog

  43. the video is cool and really resourceful also and got many ides from it some of them i was applying and some of them i will be applying and see how they work and hope they put a positive effect on my blog

  44. In any writing I do I ask questions like those, questions to really get the reader going and make them mad or make them happy and just want to respond. Like you said, this does tend to engage the reader a lot more.

  45. I am asking these questions, but I find I still have quite a few lurkers. They show up nearly everyday but don’t leave a comment. Sort of creepy actually..LOL :)

  46. I am starting to use this strategy. thanks!

  47. I always start as a story that maybe have nothing to do with the topic and end with answer questions from the audience.

  48. look forward to having a live and truly interactive experience on my blog

  49. You give really Good Advice Darren!! Keep up the Good Work!!!

  50. I have a small tradition at plasticpilot.net… Since September 2008, I make a monthly Readers Poll, a post in which I do nothing else than ask the readers a direct question. Some are very specific, some are funny (like their best aviation joke), but the last one, this December, was the most successful one…

    I simply asked “Who are you ?”

    Some readers dropped a single line, few paragraphs, describing their full flying experience. This helps to stay connected with my readership and I’m sometimes surprised by the results.

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