Complete Guide To Using Polls On Your Blog

Polls make your blog interactive and encourage readers to participate.

Want to know how you can create polls and make them more interactive? Then read on.

4 Reasons You Should Use Polls

Recently Jimmie, one of our readers asked a question: Why use polls?

Here is why you should use polls on your blog:

• Interactive: Polls are interactive and let your community raise their voice.
• Easy: It easy to participate in a poll than commenting. So, (lazy )readers participate more in polls.
• Polls Make Good Quick Posts: Sometimes, we are in hurry but still want to post. In such cases, polls can be easily used as a "filler"(although, you should use polls this way rarely)
• Polls Show You Direction: Ever encountered a "What do you want more on this blog?" poll? I have encountered many of them. Many bloggers use them because they show where the blogger is lacking and can improve.

The Toolbox

Blogger has inbuilt widget for polls. But many platforms do not have this feature. So, in this section, I have covered some services that will help you create better polls and manage them easily.

1. WP-Polls:  WP-Polls is the WordPress plugin that lets you create, customize and style the polls. You can create as many polls with it and it will keep record for them all. Best thing with it is that it integrates well with WordPress and records lot of important data about voter(for example, if he had commented on blog before or was a new reader.) You can easily style polls via CSS to match your blog theme.
2. PollDaddy: PollDaddy lets you create good looking polls(and surveys) without need for any plugin. You can use poll on any platform that supports javascript and Flash. Although free account has some limitations, it will do well for most bloggers(unless you plan to have advanced surveys on your blog!)
3. ChartGizmo: OK, so you have just closed a poll and have the results. How to display these in an eye catching manner? Answer is ChartGizmo. Their tagline says it all: "Create Stunning Charts Online" You can create charts and then display them without having to host anything yourself. You can export graph as an image or use Flash version for interactive chart(see demo in this post on our blog: How to Find and Fight Content Thieves)

These three free tools are enough for any platform.

Now, when we have the tools, let's learn how to use them.

Creating Good Polls

First of all, what is a good poll? Here is how I will define a good poll:

A good poll is one which:

1. Asks a timely Question
2. Make readers vote

First thing you have to decide is question that you will ask in your poll. When thinking of question, keep these tips in mind:

• Relate to recent happenings.
• Relate to your niche.
• Ask about reader's blog/ anything related to them.
• Ask simple Yes/No/Can't Say questions.

After having a clear question in mind, you have to write down the answers. Make sure you do not have more than 4-5 options.

After you have questions, answers ready, go and use the tool of your choice to create the poll. Next, you have got to display the poll on your blog.

Where to Display?

After you have poll ready, next thing to do is display on your blog.

Writing a small post with some background and the poll is the best option. This also makes RSS readers aware of the poll and you will get more votes.

Also, if you can, add the poll to sidebar(preferably top) to give poll more exposure. If possible, add a link to related post to increase Page Views.

Displaying Results

OK, so moment has come. You have results ready. Now, head over to your service of choice and create a nice graph.

Useful Strategy: Do not display results in a  small post. Instead, write a big post if you feel there is need for it and relate to results.

Do Successful Bloggers Use Polls?

Yes. Many popular bloggers post polls regularly on their blogs. Darren Rowse posts a poll every Saturday. Daniel Scocco also regularly publishes polls.

That's it. Now, you are a master of polls! Go, use them on your blog! Wait,  answer this small poll first:

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