answered question
0
Votes
Votes
10
Answers
Answers
M$5.00
What would improve our polling site's stickiness?
A bit more detail: We currently do well on Search Engines and StumbleUpon, but I'm most interested in making the site stickier. What would entice people to get more involved?
Mahalo mods: If it's inappropriate to ask for site feedback, feel free to remove my question.
Mahalo mods: If it's inappropriate to ask for site feedback, feel free to remove my question.
answers (9)
Lots of good stuff mentioned so far. And, I think your site actually has a lot of potential. Here's my riff, sorry for any duplicate concepts.
1. The only reason people will come back is if you pull up snarky comments from people on the main page. I come for humor. Not to see if other people have Christmas decorations at work too. A good example of a "snarky comment" feed is the small box on the middle right of www.passiveaggressivenotes.com. You have all your base content one after another on the left. And on the right, a reason to click and read more comments.
2. The map is the biggest thing on the whole page. Why? Seriously. Does it do more than tell you "red states/blue states"? Does it make you emotionally invested (the way comments do). Nope. It's a big f-in map. I know you probably spent a ton of time on it. And it functions. But, it's not a hook. At best, it needs to be a tab in the statistics section.
3. Where's the big old "facebook" and "myspace" or iGoogle link? Or the RSS feed? Oh, I see, a link called "embed". But wait.... clicking "embed" makes me have to sign up for something. I'm not sure what. Tell me the benefits of signing up. Tell me the fun I'll have. And give me every chance to easily tell the world about this question you just asked - without having to sign up.
(more)
1. The only reason people will come back is if you pull up snarky comments from people on the main page. I come for humor. Not to see if other people have Christmas decorations at work too. A good example of a "snarky comment" feed is the small box on the middle right of www.passiveaggressivenotes.com. You have all your base content one after another on the left. And on the right, a reason to click and read more comments.
2. The map is the biggest thing on the whole page. Why? Seriously. Does it do more than tell you "red states/blue states"? Does it make you emotionally invested (the way comments do). Nope. It's a big f-in map. I know you probably spent a ton of time on it. And it functions. But, it's not a hook. At best, it needs to be a tab in the statistics section.
3. Where's the big old "facebook" and "myspace" or iGoogle link? Or the RSS feed? Oh, I see, a link called "embed". But wait.... clicking "embed" makes me have to sign up for something. I'm not sure what. Tell me the benefits of signing up. Tell me the fun I'll have. And give me every chance to easily tell the world about this question you just asked - without having to sign up.
(more)
| Asker's rating: |
Great job thanks jonceramic!
Which polling site is it? It's hard to give constructive feedback if you don't provide a URL.
Sorry, I've updated the question.
If your site is, in fact, Ask500, then I would recommend a total site redesign.When I first enter the site, I don't know where to look, and frankly the site looks worthless to me, instead of a fun, engaging webabb.
So I would consider redesigning the site around a live Q&A. Maybe on the first page load, you can ask a question, and in real-time, you can watch votes come in for your question.
While browsing around the site reading other people's questions, you could keep the user's questions tucked away in a sidebar, again, constantly updating as new results come in, allowing the user to quickly flip around the application.
So I would consider redesigning the site around a live Q&A. Maybe on the first page load, you can ask a question, and in real-time, you can watch votes come in for your question.
While browsing around the site reading other people's questions, you could keep the user's questions tucked away in a sidebar, again, constantly updating as new results come in, allowing the user to quickly flip around the application.
Thanks, the idea of letting people track their questions as results come in is interesting.
the map and pins on your front page doesn't make much sense. i would think your "hot topic" page should be the front page.
you should probably group your questions by subject and question type, seeing a mixed group of questions (by subject and type) on a page is also very distracting
overall its too busy and doesn't pull me in. good luck.
you should probably group your questions by subject and question type, seeing a mixed group of questions (by subject and type) on a page is also very distracting
overall its too busy and doesn't pull me in. good luck.
Thanks bpb, we are intending to make "hot" the homepage, and we're adding tags soon as well. Appreciate the answer.
Pay people cash, like Mahalo. I'll whore myself out to a polling site if there were cash paybacks.
OK, since you're asking this site is a total mess.
1. Why am I here?
You do not explicitly explain what the site does, and the huge map doesn't explain that. You should take a moment to think about why your site exists. If it exists to take polls then you should say that right at the top with a tag line like:
"Ask500People: Find out what people are thinking about topics that matter to you."
2. The Map is confusing
When you come to the site the map makes you think you're, well, on google Maps. This screams mapping not surveys. Surveys look like surveys with radio buttons and graphs and charts.
3. The design is poor.
You're using five different fonts/fontsizes and ten different colors (red, two or three blues, orange, green, two or three grays, light blue, black, etc).
4. What is the most compelling thing for people to do here?
Is it read the surveys or take them? both? watch the map (no way). Think about that for a some time. I think you would want a featured survey up top and list of popular surveys below that maybe. Sort of like digg or the NYT.
I'd suggest a total site redesign. Go to 99designs.com if you're on a budget.
1. Why am I here?
You do not explicitly explain what the site does, and the huge map doesn't explain that. You should take a moment to think about why your site exists. If it exists to take polls then you should say that right at the top with a tag line like:
"Ask500People: Find out what people are thinking about topics that matter to you."
2. The Map is confusing
When you come to the site the map makes you think you're, well, on google Maps. This screams mapping not surveys. Surveys look like surveys with radio buttons and graphs and charts.
3. The design is poor.
You're using five different fonts/fontsizes and ten different colors (red, two or three blues, orange, green, two or three grays, light blue, black, etc).
4. What is the most compelling thing for people to do here?
Is it read the surveys or take them? both? watch the map (no way). Think about that for a some time. I think you would want a featured survey up top and list of popular surveys below that maybe. Sort of like digg or the NYT.
I'd suggest a total site redesign. Go to 99designs.com if you're on a budget.
Thanks Jason, useful stuff. Good luck with Mahalo Answers, I think you're onto something.
The bottom line is that if you want the site to be "stickier" to search engines and polling sites, you need to make sure the content is fresh as often as possible. Many polling sites and search engines have taken the "Google approach" in making stale sites fall off first slowly and then rapidly. Make sure to keep the page information fresh and you'll be good to go.
thanks for the answer akuta.
Re-frame your site as something else, and give people another reason to come (say, an answers site like this). Have them answer your questions when they sign up to earn points, and answer more to get more points to increase their level on the site.
The idea of re-framing is interesting, I've thought of a bunch of ways we could do that but they all feel like a distraction from our core focus. I'll keep thinking on it.
Add a system which rewards users for answering questions, and asking popular questions (answers per minute or something). Even if it is a virtual reward (ahem... think points/belts). Maybe even add a "how normal are you index also..." I like the idea of allowing businesses to add questions, but overall you're not the place to have this concept look at mahalo answers and Wii votes for some of the best inspiration in this.
Don't allow comment only questions. When I go I want to give my answers by clicking something and moving on. I feel the questions with throw away answers are inappropriate uses of the service.
Don't allow comment only questions. When I go I want to give my answers by clicking something and moving on. I feel the questions with throw away answers are inappropriate uses of the service.
Hey cmealerjr, I agree a rewards system would be good. Thanks.
Related questions
140 characters left
ask any question
Seriously.... Okay, you need to hide this "business" thing. Put that content on a different site. Your goal on Ask500's interface should be to get tons and tons of eyeballs, so your responses are fast and furious (and hopefully accurate). Put all that business contact and pricing info far, far away from your website.
I'm guessing the heavy handed focus on the sign-up process is for collecting your demographic info, right? Okay, okay. I see what's going on here.
Sooooo....The focus really needs to be on... what gets me eyeballs. Not what gets me proper demographic info. Because, with eyeballs and incentive, you will get your demographics.
I'd say, if you want to really explode, you need to make this a gadget/widget for facebook. End of story. Make answering your questions part of some incentive game. Let people track their friends with the answers. Put in goofball questions. Figure out some "hook" to get people to answer. (i.e. Turn it into a fake quiz. Build a widget so that people's friends can see their answers and vice versa.) Make people answer one of your questions in order to set up a quiz/poll for their friends. Push avatars with people's comments. Encourage a comment to go along with the answer. People want crazy talk and silliness. A map of people is not crazy talk and silliness. People want advice ("and why's".)
Another thought - People want to know people like them, and people different from them. Hey, that's a hook. Use the old "personality profile" hook. "Hey - Answer 10 questions - and find out who's most like you - and who is your mortal enemy". They answer the questions, and you say "sign up to find out". Let them send messages back and forth.
Make the sign-up page more interesting. When you click "ask a question" now, you get the generic sign-up/log in page. Blah, blah, blah. Where's the friendly "Hey, if you want to ask a question or set up your own poll for friends, then you need an account. To get started, all I need to know is an email and password."
9. Edit to the interesting stuff on your statistics, or just show them all on 1 page. (You do this already with the "xx% of yy agreed with you" statement. Expand on that sort of thing... i.e. If poor people love giving money to charities more than rich people, then point that out.)
9.a. Why embed your info in tab after tab (why does "406 votes" take me to statistics?), and then hide them so you have to scroll down past the map EVERY time. You need tiny bullet point statistics, that are there automagically when they are "interesting".
10. What the heck are "points" and why would I "add" them? Makes no sense to me. Especially when people can answer questions that aren't bumped up already. You want people to answer questions. Why get in the way of that? You could change your pay model to have people paying to get their questions asked first. OR to forcing them to answer questions. Be upfront about this. (If you do a facebook "free poll" model, then have people answer a paid for/legit question before than can post a question.)
4.a And why can't I click "Y" or "N" to give my answer TO THE MAIN QUESTION?
4.b OK wait, so I just clicked on the little green Siberia "vote", and voted. And, nothing happened. Wait? Why didn't anything happen? Where's my vote?
4.c. So, I scroll down for my vote, but just see more questions. So, I voted below on a question, and now it says only 11% of pirates agree with me. What's a pirate? Hmmm, says "See more". Okay, I'll "see more" and find out about pirates. Pirates are cool, right. Wait, another map. Huh? I'm confused. Is that where the pirates are?
5. April's cute. http://www.ask500people.com/profile/april Why doesn't her picture/avatar show up on every page where she has an answer?
6. Sign up, login, login, sign up. BLARGH!!!!!!!! Too hard to do anything but vote.
6.a. I might sign up if I was promised something. Or told why I was signing up. Or got some kind of summary email of the "best questions" each day?
7. Wait, those blobs are buttons to vote? I thought they were people's cool snarky answers in the comments... Maybe you need some better formatting on those?
8. Ah, I clicked on that "business" tab. I see. The business model is to sell to people who need answers from a demographic. Glad I know I'm being used now. I'm worth, what, 50 cents an answer? How about giving me a quarter of that, huh?
Okay, that's all I've got for right now. To summarize this riff.
1. Give people what they want. They want cheese and tease. Not maps.
2. Convince people why they need to login and sign up. Think social networking. Let people "follow" other's comments more easily. Let them find people "like them" and "opposed" to them. (Have a facebook style ticker for people's favorite'd voter's/commenters.)
3. LESS MAPS. NO ONE LIKES THE MAPS. I've polled myself, and it's 100% against.
4. Make widgets for other sites, RSS feeds, highlight "question of the day" emails.
Oka, some new riffs: If more than 500 people vote, then let people narrow down to a 500 person demographic (500 people closest to where you live? 500 people farthest away?))
Buy a smaller monitor. Seriously. Your whitespace is outrageous, and constantly forces vertical scrolling. You should be able to cram those questions in as one liners, and show 20 questions right on the first open (NOT A MAP!). Or do some sort of "hiding" action where you click an arrow to open them up. Make everything a tease to get people to answer and comment.
My favorite old school submission site: www.selfpromotion.com. I love that guy. (Where are your meta tags? Why is your site called "ask500people", but none of your page titles say "people"?) Wait, you have a nice, tidy, catchy "www.ask500.com" pointing to the longer and less catchy www.ask500people.com. That seems backwards. Just be www.ask500.com and be done with it.)
My favorite usability helper guy: Jakob Neilsen. www.useit.com You've got the "simplicity" part down. But, not the "bang for the real estate buck" or the "why am I doing what I'm doing" part.
Best of luck with the tweaking!