Setting up a survey on your site is extremely simple and many times just as beneficial, for two main reasons. One, they let you create a more interactive website for your visitor. Choose interesting topics, poll opinions on recent events related to your site, and people will participate to find out what other people on your site think. Second, if you write your surveys in a way that keeps them interesting and useful to yourself you can gather important information about your visitors in order to build a site better tailored to their interests.
STEP 1: Set Up The Software
You'll need to either sign up for a remotely hosted poll service or to install a CGI script on your own in order to manage your polls.
While a remotely hosted poll is not as customizable as one you host on your own, it's definitely easier to set up. One of the more popular of the many free remotely hosted poll services out there is PollIt. You can have your poll up and running fast after registering and filling out a couple forms: http://www.pollit.com/webpolls
The other option is to find or write a CGI script to run the poll on your site. This gives you the ability to customize the poll to look exactly as you want it and to fit in with your site. It also eliminates the links back to the poll host that many remotely hosted ones have. You can find a good one here: http://www.pollit.com/webpolls
STEP 2: Write Your Question
The goal of your poll is to create a more interactive website for your visitors and to collect information for yourself. Choose topics where responses would interest both the visitor to your site and yourself. Ask a question about the topics your site covers to find out what your visitors want more information about.
You may even ask questions directly related to your website. Ask "what do you want to read more of" and list several topics your site covers or may cover in the future. Ask "how often do you read our daily gardening tips" and find out exactly how popular they are.. or aren't.
STEP 3: Post Your Poll
Placement is key! You won't get a heaping response to your poll unless it's very well written. Place the poll towards the top of the page where it will be visible when the page loads. While some of the remotely hosted services offer polls that pop up when the page loads, these will generally get less response than one integrated into your site well.
With CGI-based polls, you can usually use SSI or Server-Side-Includes to include your poll right in your webpage without doing much editing. Do a search at any major search engine for more information on this.
STEP 4: Use Your Results
Once you've acquired enough votes to get an idea of what your visitors are voting overall, use this information to improve your site. Build your site based on what your visitors really want to see. If they tell you they want to learn about topics over other topics, focus more on the ones they're interested in.
Hopefully this will lead to a more successful site for you in the long run. Your users will benefit from a more interactive site and a responsive website owner who tailors the site to their wants and needs.
About The Author
Dan Grossman runs http://www.pollit.com/webpolls where you can find over 250 hand-picked resources, articles, and tools! Dan also publishes the free weekly "WebDevPortal" newsletter for website owners! Subscribe today and get articles like this every week: http://www.pollit.com/webpolls
taxi o'hare Wisconsin Dells ..Your website is your tool for showing the online community... Read More
Designing your website can be a difficult task especially if... Read More
Clutter: Too much noise, too much text, and too little... Read More
We've all surfed the web and seen some awful web... Read More
If you're running a website or online business, your number... Read More
If you are designing a web site for which the... Read More
Sin #5Poor Spelling And GrammarWe all make mistakes when we... Read More
An application is not ready for use unless you have... Read More
Projecting a professional image is paramount to your website's success.... Read More
Graphics are fun, but if you put in too many... Read More
The Basics You have a flourishing business ? everything is... Read More
Ever wonder how HTML color codes are put together? For... Read More
Choosing the right typeface for your website copy is important,... Read More
Physical therapists have unique web presence needs. An effective site... Read More
1. Assemble a web site development plan that is integrated... Read More
Imagine you're going on a blind date. You've heard wonderful... Read More
New Web sites are springing up online by the millions.... Read More
QUESTION: We promote our web site in all our... Read More
Almost everything is available on the web? products, services, e-books,... Read More
Here are a few programs I can't do without. They're... Read More
With so many different configurations internet users have their computers... Read More
The question that I most frequently hear from people is... Read More
Everyday we hear that another company goes out of business.When... Read More
There is a widespread confusion among lots of new website... Read More
Remember the famous line from the movie Field of Dreams,... Read More
bmw rental chicago Ackley ..No matter what product or service you're promoting, unless you... Read More
In my last article entitled, Maximizing The True Value Of... Read More
Your home page is the most important page of your... Read More
Web design is a very competitive area and there is... Read More
Automating your online business is one of the most important... Read More
I'm sure you've all heard the saying 'Build it and... Read More
Before deciding on which web design company to choose, you... Read More
When you begin the design of your Web site, one... Read More
If you are trying to sell a product or service... Read More
1. Repackage your web site content in to different products... Read More
Customers will form an opinion of your business as soon... Read More
You know that I'm always extolling the virtues of an... Read More
Website design firms come in all shapes and sizes.When choosing... Read More
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) allows you to create fast loading... Read More
The object of search engines is to give their visitors... Read More
You have only 10 seconds to impress your potential buyer.... Read More
Persons engaged in website design, here's a scoop for you!... Read More
One of the challenges of moving a web site up... Read More
As a webmaster, you want to keep your visitors content... Read More
When building your website you might not have a large... Read More
A client asked me, at what point do you change... Read More
10 Basic Things Your Website Should Have ...__ all short... Read More
Ever wonder how HTML color codes are put together? For... Read More
CSS or Cascading Style Sheets has opened up tremendous possibilities... Read More
We've all surfed the web and seen some awful web... Read More
Web Design |