Encourage Discussions on Your Site - What Moves Them?
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Notice what topics, blog posts and articles seem to encourage the most discussions, the highest number of comments, on your Web site. Scour your site’s forums and discussion board as well; what topics and subject seem to be popular for interaction? Start getting an idea of what gets people talking, and the topics that seem to prompt them. Once you know what they like and what seems to bring forth action, you can start to repeat these trends throughout the rest of your site’s content.
Want to encourage discussions on your site? You’ve got to learn how to make your traffic respond to the content you put out there. If none of your content seems to be creating excitement and discussion, look to sites that are similar to yours to see what sort of reactions their text seems to be getting. Often, the most popular and comment-heavy content contains similarities. Find out why this content compels the interaction you want to see on your own pages.
Notice the difference in the examples on the previous page. One article has receive 97 comments, while another has received only one. Both of these articles appear on the first page of the E! entertainment Web site, http://www.eonline.com/. Why has one prompted so much discussion while the other seems to be sparking only a small trickle?
Both articles in question are about famous personalities, celebrities who are capable of drawing a lot of attention in their own right. The difference in each article, in this example, is in how they end.
This first piece is very simple and straightforward, a well-written standard accounting of celebrity news that ends with a positively-toned statement. In many ways, it’s not so different from the article on the same page which prompted nearly one hundred comments. In one way, however, the two differ greatly.
In this comment-heavy piece, the writer encourages readers to sound off and even to title the story -- a heady temptation for any Internet user with an opinion. This call to action easily prompts it, opening the door and actually requesting readers to get involved. Judging by the amount of comments the piece is racking up, the readers responded resoundingly.
Next: Make Them Respond >>
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