I want to tell you about a blog tool that I have found invaluable for certain types of sites that need more content added to them or more readers and reader involvement. In a word, that is probably most websites and blogs!
Skribit is a widget whose code you simply paste into your blog, probably on the sidebar, that allows your readers to easily ask you questions and request that you write about a given topic.
The first thing that this widget will do combat writer’s block. Someone might ask you a question completely out of the blue that you never thought of addressing, or didn’t think there was any interest in. Imagine how easy it will be to write on a given specific subject if there is a real person on the other end asking, who cares enough about your opinion to post the question first place via Skribit.
The other benefit that you get as a blogger is helping to work up a rapport or dialogue with your readership, no matter how small. You can make the case that this is most valuable when you’re just starting, out which is why I would suggest that new bloggers definitely install this widget. Imagine how you will differentiate yourself in the eyes of any reader who asks the question, from all the other anonymous blogs out there. It’s easy to see that you encourage repeat visitors by doing this. Just having the tool on your sidebar gives a certain professionalism to your blog, and by the way Skribit is customizable.
I have found my readers to be very receptive to leaving questions right there on the home page with this blog tool. Put yourself in your readers’ place. If you have established yourself as an authority on a topic, they might be tired of doing Google searches to find an answer to a specific question that they have. The prospect of a real person addressing their specific point could be worth a lot to them, and certainly worth leaving a brief question to you involves minimal effort.
This plug-in is a win-win for website publishers and bloggers on one hand and their readers on the other. It’s an example of how incredibly easy the Internet makes the exchange of information between individuals, as opposed to always having to refer to a centralized repository like an encyclopedia in the old days, or even Wikipedia today.
Skribit can be added to various blogging platforms, certainly not just WordPress. It is also free, although to add additional blogs you have to ‘go pro’ and pay. It may very well still be worth it to install and test to see the response you get.
It is a blog tool that might just put you down the road to having an audience with whom you interact, much faster. Don’t forget that that interaction more than anything is what separates successful (even professional) bloggers from the millions of people out there who are finding it difficult to connect with an audience.
