New Post has been published on Feedweb Research: The Blog
New Post has been published on http://blog.feedweb.net/?p=226
Get Feedback: You Care About Opinions
You care about my opinion and want my feedback. You don’t know me, but if I have an opinion regarding any aspect of yourself or your life, the odds are that you care about my opinion. Why? As much as we are taught not to care what others think about us, we cannot live our life and not give attention to what people around us think. It is a part of life. Just as I need to eat and drink, I pay attention to what other think. Will I do something with those opinions? I don’t know. Each case is unique and judged at the time that it occurs.
The opinions that I want to focus on are those of our “customers”. Customer-a person that one gives service to. Websites, and more specifically, bloggers have customers that we refer to as readers. Why are our readers “customers”. One is a customer the second he/she begins using a service provided, with no regards to cost. A non-profit has customers. This blog has customers, and your site has customers. What is the correct term to define them? It may not be customers.
What can be said without a doubt is that anyone that runs a blog cares about the opinions of those that read. I want to see that people comment. Why? I don’t write to myself. I can only improve my content and site if I know what my readers think. What readers of another blog think is not on my mind. What professionals content managers think is not on my mind. They don’t read my writing-you do.
Most, I wont say all, of those that run blogs want people to know about it and read it. They want it to be utilized. How can that be done? We’ve gone over that already. Improvement=listening to your readers’ opinions. That is the only thing that we as bloggers can do to improve our site. Any website that has a blog (even the big ones…Mashable, Inc, Field, etc) wants to get better. We want everyone that reads about what we blog to read it from us, and not someone else. Competition is competition.
You know that readers don’t take the time to leave comments. Does that mean that we need to wave our hands in the air and give up. “I don’t know what they think”, “We will work with a pro to improve”-that is not the way you want to go. Being unique is important. Why did Apple prosper? They were very unique. Why are they stumbling now? They don’t really stand out as much as they used to. So back to the comments issue. First of all, create a buzz and make readers want to comment..leave them wanting more and asking for it. Make the comment form attractive and use commentluv.
Now I have got to mention Feedweb. Yea, I admit I am crazy about it. Is it because I am part of “Feedweb Research” that published the useful plugin? Maybe. No matter my connection, Feedweb can undoubtedly get you more opinions from your readers. What’s more, is that by asking specific questions bloggers can use the answers to help them write future posts (content or angle). It is a valuable plugin that can make getting feedback so quickly and so easy.
Now, assuming you have used the plugin correctly you can get back valuable feedback. Do you share this feed with friends? Do you find this helpful? Did you learn from this? Do you like the appearance of this site? Is social media marketing to stay? Do you believe in…? Is he/she the right person for the position? The questions go on and on. You can use the same questions each time and see how they differ from post to post or just ask questions when you have to get answers.
Either way, any way you do it, you have to get a better understanding for what your readers think. Are you gonna call them one by one? No. Send a newsletter..,how many are going to answer or even open it up? Keep it short. Keep it quick. Get to the point. GET FEEDBACK.
Find out what each one thinks. It’s important for you.