July 28th, 2006
In case you haven’t heard the venue for the August 5th 2006 WordCamp has been set. The Swedish American Hall will have the good fortune of hosting all the WP geeks. I am not too familar with SF but apparently this place is on Market Street. There will be food there in the form of BBQ and the WordCamp website is open for suggestions on topics for sessions. If you would like to contribute your thoughts go to:
http://2006.wordcamp.org/session-ideas/
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July 19th, 2006
I recently was asked the question “How would you encourage readers of our site to write a blog (on their site).” I didn’t really have a solid answer and since then have given the question some real thought.
At first the question confused me, was the site operating like a wiki or did they want to host candid blogs written by their readers? I walked away with the understanding that they wanted a middle ground of the two. After some research on the blogosphere and good old fashion brainstorming I came up with the following conclusion on how to entice readers into blogging on your site.
>>Offer a feedback button that would enable reader comments to appear as a post on a blog.
Theory Behind This Tip:
People love to give their two sense, these same types of people appreciate seeing their two sense in writing even more. After these individuals have posted their comments personally invite them to host a blog. Flattery will get you everywhere!
>>Allow readers to suggest a topic
Theory Behind This Tip:
This seems very elementary and obvious but many sites don’t utilize this simple interactive function. When readers search for information sites they have something specifically in mind they want to find out. If they don’t find it, they leave. If you add a “suggest a topic” feature on your site you have a better chance that they will come back to see if their issue/concern/question has been addressed.
>>Write something so profound that your readers have no choice but to voice their opinions.
Theory Behind This Tip:
Never underestimate the power of controversy. The key thing to remember in this topic is “profound.” It has to be something that really makes your readers want to have their voices heard. This doesn’t mean you have to get “ugly” it just means you need to really know your audience well enough to know what makes them get out of their comfort zone and let their voice be heard.
Most of the other brainstorming I did for this question was site specific and not worth mentioning to the masses. If you have any other suggestions I would love to hear them.
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