Today your task is to write a post that calls your readers to some kind of action.
I'll talk about why this is important and give some tips on how to do it as well as some suggestions on what kinds of action you could call your readers to here.
Once you've written your post share it with us below.
ProBlogger, DPS & TwiTip
Darren
One of my sites is perhaps 40% calls to action, so this is a really timely challenge - thanks.
One of my calls to action this past week netted a reader comment saying that she had blogged about it and completed the task, which thrilled me no end. :)
One of the other calls to action though - a fundraiser - leaves me baffled at how to help it gain momentum - any ideas there? If it continues to sit at $0 will anyone make the first move?
Passionately supporting home education (aka homeschooling) law reform in Germany as a human right.
Oh, I hate asking people for things!! I am in the running for a blog contest, so pleading for votes would be a good place to start, I suppose. Here goes nothing...
scarymommy.com An honest look at motherhood: The good, the bad and the scary.
I made a post that the whole point of was to call readers "to Action", to make a life change that would be the start of a profound change in the way they viewed the world around them.
I started the post conversationally about people in general and slowly shifted the focus until I was addressing my reader directly.
The post culminated in two calls to action.
1, Move out of your comfort zone more often
2, Look up #bucketlist on twitter search.
I have had plenty of good feedback on the “post”. It would have been nice if someone had said “I’m going to go and hug my boss” or “I’ll try Phish ice cream”, sadly, this so far is not the case.
However considering my very limited readership, I consider myself incredibly blessed that I have received this much attention.
http://andyshack.blogspot.com/2009/04/life-on-right-hand-side-of-menu.html
I usually include a call to action on every post, something a long the lines of “I would love to know how you feel about this, let me know in a post or a comment”
I like the idea of making the assignment a whole post though, not just a line at the end. I have a few ideas in mind that i am going to brainstorm. One is a touchy subject, but important. Be back in a bit with a link to what i come up with.
In general I have a very engaged readership and get many comments and subscribers considering how new my blog is and my traffic levels.
Frequently I get emails from readers telling me they have enjoyed some recipe or technique I recommend, but usually they are the simplest of my recommendations. Yesterday I gave my readers a "teaser" by telling them about a great recipe I made with an unfamiliar ingredient but not tell them how to make it. Instead I explained how I deal with new ingredients and challenged them to buy and cook with an unfamiliar ingredient.
I modelled this idea after the assignments we have been getting here at Problogger. It will be awhile before I get responses, but I'm excited to see if it was effective.
Summer Tomato - Upgrade Your Healthstyle
My idea for a call to action will require some help from my fellow bloggers. I just read an article about a "creative blackout" that is being held in Alabama. Here's the idea:
"On Nov. 4 at 5 p.m. ... it all shuts off!!" the e-mail reads. "No television. No MySpace. No Facebook. No Twitter. No video games. No Internet. Just you ... ART ... and CREATIVITY. Paint a picture, write a story, make a sculpture, choreograph a dance, take an art class, write a song -- anything your artistic heart desires."
(You can read the rest of the article here.)
I'd love to host a virtual blackout calling creatives to step away from their computers and create something - then, come back and report. It's amazing what a few dedicated hours for art will do for the creative spirit, and I think it would be a fantastic exercise. Would anyone be interested in joining me? It would be awesome if we could choose the same day/time frame and interlink our calls to action. We could brand it with a logo, too. Any thoughts? I'll post this over in the collaboration forums as well.
Here's mine - about the new audio feed for my blog. It's called Coming Soon to an Ipod Near You.
I presented my readers with an overview of who I am, why I started my blog, what I "want" from blogging and what's in it for my readers. I also ask my readers to contact me with whatever questions they might have. I feel that blogging is a highly interactive venture and thusly that interacting with your readers is essential to making or breaking a blog.
I stated very clearly that "If you ever have any questions, suggestions or just want to talk feel free to mail me."
This blogpost I named "Zen and the art of blogging" zen is one of the pillars of my blog, nonconformity and (un)common sense are two more.
I have my targets I'm aiming at but I can't do it without you. Simple as that, so all feedback, questions, suggestions and ineraction are welcome at all times.
I want to get to know you
Mind the beginner A blog on beginning, it sounds so simple but it’s quite complex
I have built a poll using Polldaddy asking people what they would like to see on the blog, ie topics they are particularly interested in to help me fine tune the way I write.
In hindsight I forgot to add a final option of "Forget it, the blog's crap, wrap it up" but maybe I wasn't that brave!
Regards, Kevin
Web2 and More - Bringing Technology and New Ways of Working Together
http://web2andmore.net/blog
Here's my post on this topic, with a call to action right at the bottom:
For my birthday, I posted a video (so people could put a voice & face to me) asking people to leave a comment. I identified three things I wanted in the comments:
Part of my "how you will benefit" message was that this was not just for me, but that it would let my readers get to know each other.
Despite my calls that this not be skewed to people who have known me for years, almost all of the comments were from old friends. (This might be due to the "How do you know me" question.) But this morning I saw in my feed stats that the number of subscribers had gone from 114 to 124, an increase of 9%!
ok, did mine- I would love yall to hop over and share your funniest spam story!
http://confessionsofahousewife.com/2009/04/28/are-any-spammers-actually-successful/
I am not sure if this qualifies-but I asked my readers to share with me a project they are working on...
http://www.toddlercraft.net/tackle-it-tuesday/tackle-it-tuesday-2/
I'd love you all to check it out and join in-I will be popping by a bunch of your blogs soon!
Loving 31dbbb! Onna @ Toddlercraft -resource for crafts & parenting advice
I have asked a direct question from my readers for sometime now, with the sole intention of getting a lively discussion going on the posts: In the few recent posts I have even succeeded, making the upkeeping of the blog more a commenting than writing new.
And I enjoy the exchange of thoughts.
Thanks for pointing this out again, Darren.
My call to action was to enourage others to take Spreading Joy's 30 day challenge. Doing something for someone for 30 days. It can be big, it can be small. It can be for strangers or family. It can be random or planned. There is really no wrong way.
I asked people to commit to it by letting me know in the comment section or on the actual Spreading Joy web site (www.spreadingjoycorp.com) on the "Tell Me Your Story" page. They can update everyone on how things are going for them every couple of days and then at the end of the month, I'll tally everything and report back on the huge difference that we made as a group.
Thanks for an awesome article and challenge! You have been such a great help!
I hope people will sign up and commit to doing 1 act of kindness a day.
Here is my call to action article
http://spreadingjoycorp.blogspot.com/2009/04/30-day-spreading-joy-challenge-for-may.html
Spreading Joy - Doing what we can with what we have!
Actually, in yesterday's forum I saw an idea that fits into this perfectly. The idea was from LarrieCampbell at Sciolist. Her idea was for a "Caption Contest". I already have something I call "Photo Friday" which are mostly "bad" pictures I find in the my local MLS. I am going to figure out how I can incorporate her idea into this weekly feature.
Betty
Darren,
I usually end my posts with an open question to the reader in order to invite comments.
I have found that letting people know that I am not just talking at them, but I actually value their feedback, usually increases the number of comments I receive. It might only result in one or two comments, but that is certainly better than zero. And I usually find that once one brave reader goes first, it encourages others to also comment.
Here are an example: All I Really Need To Know About Data Quality I Learned In Kindergarten
Best Regards...
Jim
I use atemplate for my blogs and over time I have inserted about 3 calls for action in the template itself, so tjey appear at the end of each post automatically. I would not recommend this for the reason Darren suggests, viz there are too many calls for action!I will delete them from the template later.
I wonder if anyone can help me? I have been trying to encourage my readers to et me know how they think my website might be improved. After much repetition and exhortation to fill in a survey that tkaes 3 minutes, I've had 5 responses. I've started to think perhaps I should announce some sort of prize draw for peple who complete the survey, but have no idea what to mkake the prize! My 'problem' seems to be that people like the content and so don't care much about the look and feel of the site -- which is great except that it doesn't help me much.
Any suggestions as to how to get a better response in this regard would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! (In fact, perhaps this is the question that I shopuld ask on my blog)
@Terry Freedman
Being that you run an ICT site I think it would be entirely appropriate for you to use a pop-up with one question in it for users to click the multi-choice radio button in response to. Depending on readership you may keep it up there for a week or for so many hundred site views.
I would also suggest that if you want to make changes to your blog but are apprehensive about it, that you change one thing at a time gradually. Perhaps left aligning and using interesting bullets under the 'Keep me updated' button, or giving your sidebars decent left and right padding?
For each change you make, draw your readers attention to it at the end of a blog post (once per week?) asking if your readers like the newest tweak - people tend to tell you when they don't like something :)
Could a thread be opened here in these 31DBBB forums to ask for other bloggers feedback to your site and others, as Darren does from time to time for other bloggers?
I am sure that many of us, me included, would appreciate a third parties take on what they think of our 'babies', if done graciously!
A Better World Project: A call to take action on somebody else's Blog... plus a beautiful drawing, have a look and let me know what you think.
http://www.thetrimtab.com/a-better-world-project/
I hope you enjoy it.
Fred
- Thoughts to change humanity's rendezvous with destiny -
@kinderlehrer -please see daily task 17. Would be a good idea for you to hook up with other homeschoolers, perhaps see collaboration section? Am sure I visited one during this challenge and also other mommies blogging - look for twintensity.
@terryfreedman - perhaps tweet your request, see #teachertuesday tweets or look for other ICT-Ed bloggers in ning groups, webheads and classroom20
@summertomato - what a lovely idea. Hmmmm... yum!
@evelester - have to think about this and will delicious your blog post. I know I have a story rattling around in the cage.
My call to action:
Do you have any old university tomes, high school textbooks, pop-science or business books lying around that you haven't read/ won't read or no longer need?
Alexander needs them - would you please help him out?
Karenne
@kinderlehrer -please see daily task 17. Would be a good idea for you to hook up with other homeschoolers, perhaps see collaboration section? Am sure I visited one during this challenge and also other mommies blogging - look for twintensity.
@terryfreedman - perhaps tweet your request, see #teachertuesday tweets or look for other ICT-Ed bloggers in ning groups, webheads and classroom20
@summertomato - what a lovely idea. Hmmmm... yum!
@evelester - have to think about this and will delicious your blog post. I know I have a story rattling around in the cage.
My call to action:
Do you have any old university tomes, high school textbooks, pop-science or business books lying around that you haven't read/ won't read or no longer need?
Alexander needs them - would you please help him out?
Karenne
@kinderlehrer -please see daily task 17. Would be a good idea for you to hook up with other homeschoolers, perhaps see collaboration section? Am sure I visited one during this challenge and also other mommies blogging - look for twintensity.
@terryfreedman - perhaps tweet your request, see #teachertuesday tweets or look for other ICT-Ed bloggers in ning groups, webheads and classroom20
@summertomato - what a lovely idea. Hmmmm... yum!
@evelester - have to think about this and will delicious your blog post. I know I have a story rattling around in the cage.
My call to action:
Do you have any old university tomes, high school textbooks, pop-science or business books lying around that you haven't read/ won't read or no longer need?
Alexander needs them - would you please help him out?
Karenne
Sorry, very much sorry for the triple post - my computer is acting up and was showing that the post wasn't posting. Lara, if you can delete the 2nd two that'd be great.
Thanks to everyone who visited and filled oin my poll, some excellent feedback.
@kinderlehrer and @Karenne thx 4 gr8 bsuggestions :-)
Call to action comes at the end of a two part post. I don/t think it is a strong enough call, and I am open to feedback or ideas.
8 Ways to Ride the Wave of Anger, Part 1
8 Ways to Ride the Wave of Anger, Part 2
Mike
I'm nervous about doing this, because if no one responds I'll take it as a personal failure! Eeek!
Finding the beauty in life, while swimming in a pool of testosterone.</
I end most of my posts by asking my readers a question and asking them to share their opinion.
I also set-up a static page that lists some of the questions I’ve asked on the various blog posts so they can find something they may be interested in contributing to, even if the post they are reading isn’t right for them the time. Here’s what it looks like: http://wealthwisdomandsuccess.com/success/join-the-conversation. This page is new so I don’t know yet what kind of effect it will have.
Also, every post has a section below the post that starts out “Dear Success Oriented Reader” which invites people to comment.
So far, I’ve still had a difficult time getting people to comment, but my feed subscribers have risen since adding that.
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