4 Ways to Make Your WordPress Blog More Interactive
There are many elements that contribute to making a blog successful. Looking at the popular sites in the blogosphere, it is hard to specifically deduce a secret formula of aspects that need to be incorporated in to a website for it to be successful however, one ingredient that most blogs that could greatly contribute to the success of a blog is interactivity. The more interactive you are with your readers, the more information you will have about your users regarding the type of readers they are, what type of content suits your blog’s audience as well as ideas to talk about in the future. Apart from comments, there are numerous plugins as well as a few other subtle methods that can be used to increase the interactivity on your blog:
- Comments
While comments is a feature of any blog and is switched on by default, most users do not fully utilize the power of blog commenting. Some bloggers even tend to turn it off. While the reason behind this may be justifiable (spam, controversial content, etc.), you are instantly killing the interactivity when you do not use the comments feature to its maximum potential. Comments can be used to individually communicate with readers in a quick and easy manner thanks to the handy WordPress dashboard. Apart from this, comments can be used to receive feedback on your content and learn various aspects such as what they thought about it, ways you could improve your post (if it is informational content) as well as ideas for future posts.
The primary purpose of a “Ratings” plugin is it helps you get a fair idea as to how well your content is received by readers however the ratings should be taken with a pinch of salt as since it is simply a click to register an entry, it is open to a lot of abuse by trolls and spammers. There are numerous plugins available. some plugins offer a range from 1 to 5 stars for example while there are also other Youtube style ratings options where you can either thumb up or thumb down the post.
A Feedback plugin is another great way to gain some valuable insight. A good Feedback plugin will give the user an option to leave a message to the blog owner by category such as criticisms, suggestions or general comments. There are plugins available similar to the notable “feedback” buttons displayed on the side of certain websites.
Similar to the Feedback plugin, a contact form allows any reader to send a message related to any topic to the blog owner. However, if you are looking to increase interaction as a Feedback option is usually more enticing than a generic Contact page which virtually every site offers.
It should be remembered that simply asking the user in a strategic location (below post, on top of post, etc.) for interaction will result in some activity whether you are looking for a rating, a comment or other feedback. Interacting as much as possible with your readers is an integral aspect of a successful blog and should not be overlooked.
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