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.
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Thank you for reminding me to engage my readers
Hi guys
I love the idea of ending it on a question though when i do my email inbox fills up rather quickly but it is worth it.
Its also a great way for my blog readers to chat between themselves and make friends.
kind regards
sam
X
I am new to blogging. My approach has been to ask what people think. How does X make you feel?
I will let you know how well this works for me… Once I get some traffic ;-)
Some of my blog posts have questions at the end but not all.. thanks for this idea, I will keep this in mind that questions are really worth it for engagements in readers thoughts (^_^)
mostly I used: What do you think? and what is your opinion?
I usually just tell them if they have anything to share they should leave a comment, but asking a question might be more effective.
Hi Darren —
Should I be embarrassed to admit that I said “thanks!” out loud to my screen at the close of your video? Very engaging…
Here it is in writing as well: “Thanks!”
Nancy
Thanks for good post. I also try to find the way to have people come my blog again and again. This post is really useful.
Really good questions that really need to be thought
Cheers
this video is really reaaly interesiting and I like it very much, some time I feel this thing that when we have little thing It really give much more thing for the betterment of our life and for peoples. thanks
Interesting information. I will always try to end my blogs with a question
A blogger need also to achieve certain credentials before these questions can ignite certain fiery responses.
Great post Darren! I’m a big supporter of making blogs interactive, two-way conversations, and this is such a simple, logical way to do that–people love to talk about themselves in person to person conversations, so why wouldn’t they want to talk about themselves on our blogs? I frequently end my posts with a “calls to action.” This technique has been very effective, and I think that by incorporating questions that elicit readers’ personal stories and experiences into my concluding “call to action” I will evoke an ever stronger response!
Great post! I will definitely start using some of these!
Darren, you did exactly what Dale Carnegie says to do in How to Win Friends and Influence People at that party. I do it all the time. I ask people what they do (wind them up) and let them rattle off. I do however get suprised when they do not recipricate and ask what I do.
But on that note, if I don’t start making more money from my blog, I might actually start geting embarrassed if they do ask that question. :-)
Indeed, how can you expect a reaction if you don’t elicit one? Thanks for the nifty little question list as a reminder.
For a new blogger..it’s the first need is to get his/her works popular. And he/she wants people to read and give comments. Also he/she has lots of questions..answered by professionals and the type I am taking about they are looking is here..
Great post as per ususal Darren – as someone who maintains numerous blogs on a range of topics i can honestly say that there isn’t one standout question that can be used to illict a reaction from your readers, ultimately it all comes down to the quality (or lack thereof!) of the conent within your post.
Really helpful post, and very interesting. Its almost as if you should think of the blog as a party where you are meeting new people. Asking questions is not only the best way to engage people, but to get people to like you. Everyone loves to talk about themselves (especially bloggers), so inviting them to do so makes you seem friendly. Very smart. Thanks a lot.
Many thanks for making the effort to put this interesting info together. I am going to certainly bookmark your website to revisit again. Keep up the really good work. By the way, your RSS feed won’t operate in my browser (google chrome) just how can I repair it?
hank you for reminding me to engage my readers
Your my confirmation I’m on the right track. I asked similiar questions on my newest post last night.
http://intentionalconsciousparenting.blogspot.com/
I’d really like to learn how you added all your links to follow your blog. That’s great!
I’ve only been seriously blogging for a few months now and i’m loving it.
Daren is great with his tips. In fact, I bought and read his book “ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income”.
For the question, I ask readers, ‘What do you think or feel after reading this post?’
Darren, you did exactly what Dale Carnegie says to do in How to Win Friends and Influence People at that party. I do it all the time. I ask people what they do (wind them up) and let them rattle off. I do however get suprised when they do not recipricate and ask what I do.
Some of my blog posts have questions at the end but not all.. thanks for this idea, I will keep this in mind that questions are really worth it for engagements in readers thoughts (^_^)
mostly I used: What do you think? and what is your opinion?
I always try to end with a question to encourage the reader to comment.
I only just started “really” reading your blog, and I love it. I feel smarter every time I read a post. :) Your expertise will hopefully help me build a successful blog. Keep up the good work… oh, and I can’t wait to start asking my readers questions!
Wow darren great advice. Getting an audience that is involed it worth more. Having a smalled involed audience like alex jones can bring alot of money, and attention.
This post really helped me, i added a question immediately to the end of my post. I have actually only been blogging for about a week, so i am just a beginner, but i am very much enjoying it.
If you wanna check it out, and tell me what i could improve, i will be highly grateful.
Thanks
http://jgblogging.com/
Asking questions at the end of your post is a great way to get comments, but here is a little something to get extra comments.
In one of the comments on my blog, a lady commented on the post and finished by saying that her brother now lived in England.
I thanked her for her comment and asked “where abouts in England does your brother live?”
I wasn’t trying to get another comment, but having read this post, I realised that this would lead to a response.
Not something you can do with every comment, but worth bearing in mind!
Ask them questions! What do comedians do…they involve the audience to improve reaction and to use the audience feedback to refine their act in real time…
I just can’t believe that so many people post spam on sites especially personal blogs just for the sake of some link juice. I need to stay alert 24/24 even with fancy pluggins like spam killer… I dont want to imagine what would happen to my work if I didn’t had the minimum ammount of protection.
These 7 questions are really came to mind. I hope it is right place to learn and share the information. I will be very pleased if I can answer any of query.
I am not much of a guy who thinks in so deeply about web design but I think your post had some valid points in it. Like designers are forced to design stuff within the limited code available and not go beyond it, their innovation is somewhat limited but still I think Web Design won’t die! I agree that Amazon and other some big sites won’t have a blog but now a days it’s very important to have some sort of option available so people can quickly communicate their thoughts. I think Amazon if wants to shift it to that, they can get a customized CMS for themselves.
Darren, thanks for your thoughts and advice. As a direct result of this post, I’m off to re-edit my most recent blog post http://sammiam.wordpress.com/2010/02/28/skin/ by asking a question or two. I may even get brave and invite feedback by posting a link to the DPS forum! Cheers Samm
What is Your Opinion? What do you think? These are two common questions I like to asked my readers in order to get them involve in the blog conversion post.
Wow, I got another host of question from you today that I would start using from now onward. That’s great…
Thanks! The guidance and tips are very much appreciated. It’s difficult to get direction when starting off as a blogger but this is helpful!
Hi Darren,
Being “talked about” has always been giving ways to be able to build posts into “discussions” – this increases your capability to be viewed by more people because more and more could react and this will be continuous! Additionally, you should as well participate with them by threading into their conversations.
Yes, I do believe that asking them “What do you think?” can always open up their ideas and reactions. Also, asking their experiences can always be effective at the end of any post as they will not only react on the topic but will also relate it to their real-life activities which adds interests as possible just similar to “What’s your story?”
Thanks!