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If you follow the news or blogs talking about social media and networking online then I’m sure you’ve read terms describing the interactions between web sites and visitors as “conversations” and “discussions”.
It stems from the idea that the web has evolved from an Information Superhighway full of billboards–those static sites of old which simply allowed the site owners and webmasters to blast their brand and pitch to the masses–into a two way medium where site visitors are no longer guests but rather participants.
The idea is nice and a bit lofty in some ways, but is it true?
Sure, some very popular community portals out there were certainly and obviously designed with user engagement and interaction in mind… but has that become the primary focus for a majority of business and media outlets? Or, is it just an additional feature being added to sites in order to cater to visitor expectations?
What are the real motivations? To engage or appease?
How about with blogs. the staple of Web 2.0 and online socializing? Certainly they’re all about “the conversation”, right?
Or are they?
On the surface perhaps. Bloggers make (hopefully) interesting postings and visitors are able to comment on them… and the conversation takes place.
Bloggers even add all kinds of neat little widgets and badges to their sites just to make it easier for their visitors to share and expand the conversation with others across the web.
But is all of that really intended to spawn and grow the conversation, or is it eye-candy and glitter to get visitors to just help site owners bring more people to their pages?
If it seems like this has just been a post of questions so far that’s intentional. I’m not presuming to know the motivations of other site and blog owners, I’m trying to ask you about your own.
When you start a web site or blog what is your primary focus? Is it on engaging and benefiting your visitors? On converting sales? On being viral?
None of those are wrong by any means, but by answering the question honestly for yourself it may help you to recognize why some of your efforts excel and some don’t.
I have almost 2 dozen blogs that I either own or am a partner on, and I participate in most of them to some capacity as a writer and/or promoter.
Image by DavidDMuir via Flickr
Of those, 6 were started purely for their profit potential and the rest were built around topics that interested me or a partner on a personal level.
All of them have some form of monetization to them, from running Google AdSense to promoting affiliate products; and all of them are doing well.
But what’s most interesting to me is that the 6 we started based on profit potential are all doing about as we expected they would, yet are all in the middle of the pack on earnings for us.
The top 5 earning blogs were all built from topics of interest rather than projected profit potential, and the reason I believe that happened is the point I’m driving to with my questions in this post.
Because those blogs were launched out of an interest or passion for the topics there was additional attention paid to how visitors would experience and use the blogs. Tiny, often minute details were pondered and labored over specifically to make those blogs as user friendly as we possibly could.
It isn’t a conscious thing where I intentionally disregard the user’s experience on a project that’s created strictly for commercial reasons, it’s just a natural tendency to pay closer attention to every little detail when you’re working on something out of a passion for the results rather than working on it for your paycheck.
And the lesson I take from that is that there’s a real benefit for everyone, site users and owners alike, when you build your projects with a focus on “the conversation”. When you take every extra step to ensure that you engage your visitors and encourage them to participate.
Visitors will enjoy the site more, which translates into higher return visit rates, longer on-site times, expanded word-of-mouth promotion and more revenue if you’ve monetized the site.
So again I suggest you ask yourself, when you start a web site or blog what is your primary focus? And please feel free to share your thoughts and experiences on this with me here.
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Tags: conversation, social media, web 2.0
Scott, mind sharing what types of sites are u doing? i.e. forums, blogs that got good following
thx
james
Sure my sites I’m talking about in this posting are all blogs, or blog based eZines that are using WordPress for the back end.
Scott, what do you mean blog based eZines? It is something people subsribe to for info that goes out regularly?
James, basically that’s what I mean by blog based eZines.
That was actually a poor choice of words on my part. You could think of them as “membership blogs”. We’ve essentially applied the print magazine model to a few blogs where content is posted on a weekly/monthly basis and only subscribers can get it.
I’m not charging membership fees on any of them, but a couple that are on very niche topics were setup to require free registration with the blog in order to access the full postings.
I’m not sure if that would work in a large market where readers have lots of alternatives for content to consume, but in smaller niches where there’s an information void I believe it has helped to generate a sense of community with our readers that has spawned higher participation rates and readers being more responsive to product or service suggestions.
Thanks Scott for clearing that up. Hmm something to think about.
Guess that could be proof that “conversation online” do work to a certain extent.
My experience? I do have blogs set up as site to specifically to convert customers. Basically I want them to send me an email or call so the info there not for people to comment & I’ve all but shut off the comments section.
On blogs where I do encourage comments, so far not many leave comments as visitors are just looking for quick info. I found controversial topics tend to create conversation.
James, glad I could explain it better, and thank you for sharing your experiences.
I know what you mean, in the first 2 years of this blog I allowed comments but completely discouraged people from leaving them unless it was to ask a question about something I wrote.
That was intentional. I didn’t want to hold ongoing discussions here. I worried it would lead to seedy marketers seeing my mostly noobie readers as targets for their “get rich quick” schemes. I’ve seen that happen on a lot of online business blogs before.
But, over time this blog has become more about me as a person who owns a small business rather than just a venue for sharing my working knowledge and experiences, so I’m happy now when a posting spawns conversation.
Yes, controversy is a fast way to encourage comments from readers, but I try to avoid it when I can. I think it’s cheap and over-used for link baiting by too many already.
I’d much rather write a thoughtful and hopefully helpful posting that encourages others to comment on my blog.
Unlike with controversial topics where people connect with the issue, these kind make me feel like an honest personal connection has been made with someone.
My pleasure sharing the experience Scott.
Well, about seedy comments, even though my blogs are not of the money making business genre, I still get spammy comments of all sorts.
Btw, I don’t write articles to create controversy. I agree that is a cheap shot way to get links & it is over used. I have a blog where try to warn others of (what I think is) scams, when I do come across them. Seems to attract those defending their views, until later when some of them wake up to the truth.
Yeah, making connection is the way to go & online is still some ways off compared to meeting people the old fashion way. “Eye to eye, belly button to belly button.” Oh, that is a borrowed phrase