In a hurry? Scroll down to the bottom of the post in order watch a short video.
Under Promising – Over Delivering
One thing you learn quickly in this business is to avoid over promising. Any web design business that plans on lasting more than five minutes is well aware of the pitfalls associated with such practices. Still, there are many startups who do so. It tends to lead penny pinchers down a rabbit hole of despair when they discover that all of those ‘free’ things weren’t really free at all. Many times they never even existed. The grand bargains might have been wishful thinking on the part of the young startup, or just outright lies.
When you have a website created and cared for by MidState Design you can rest easy knowing that you are getting what you paid for, and then some. There are consistently more features built into each online presence than most site owners ever know. One of my goals this year is to show clients what they are getting so they can utilize these extras to their advantage.
Enter Advance Form Building
Subscribers of our celebrated WordPress Care Package are already well aware of the value. Not only does it offer regular updates, it also provides six hours of support time for clients to use as they wish. If there’s a better deal in the business I’ve yet to find it. Most charge many times what is being asked here and only provide a fraction of the services.
The benefits go much farther than simple website maintenance, however. They also include various premium functionality that would normally cost you quite a bit of money. One of the features available to subscribers is advanced drag and drop form building. Not only can it create custom contact forms (something I will post about at a later date), it can also create surveys and polls. How wonderful is that?
The best part? There is no extra charge so long as you continue your subscription.
This kind of functionality can cost a small fortune through online providers, yet you can make as many as you want without incurring any additional fees. It’s baked right in!
Don’t just take my word for it. Have a look for yourself at the kind of prices being charged for similar features.
(There are plenty more just like these. Just Google it.)
You can save a ton of money on such advanced functionality if you’re a WordPress Care Package subscriber! 🙂
Now, without further adieu, let’s dig into a little bit of what you can do with the advanced drag and drop survey and poll builder, shall we?
You Can Create Surveys
There are so many ways you can use surveys to enhance your products, services, and knowledge thereof, that one could go on all day trying to list them all.
Here are just a few possible ways to use surveys to your benefit.
- You would like to know what folks think of the quality of the product, or service.
- If you’re an author, you could ask for opinions on your various books. Did they enjoy it? Did they find the main characters believable. How about the story line? Did they discover any typos or omissions?
- How do people feel about the prices of the products or services you offer?
- If you’re a blogger, you could ask what topics people would like to see more of, and/or less of.
- Maybe you’re a band who just released an album and you would like feedback on it. This is a great way of getting that.
As you can see, when it comes to surveys you are only limited by your imagination.
Key Points About Creating Surveys
- Know the goal of your survey. Focus on what you really wish to know.
- If you are inviting people to fill out surveys, keep them infrequent. Continually sending out surveys will irritate most people.
- Consider adding surveys to an occasional post, or page instead of email them. This will help remove the feeling of obligation and may lead to more thorough results.
- Keep your surveys as short as possible so you get better results. Very few people are going to sit and answer 5-10 minutes worth of questions. You want them to be willing to reach the finish line.
- Keep in mind that filling out a survey uses up your guest’s valuable time. Consider offering a freebie or coupon for completing surveys when appropriate. An example: You don’t want to offer a reward for good reviews as that would be unethical however, you might want to offer something if you are just asking visitors their opinion on the best path forward for your product.
- Make sure to say thank you to those who take the time to help you out. Remember, that is what they are doing.
Example of a basic one question survey.
You Can Create Polls
Working Poll Example
Creating polls is fun, informative, and easy for everyone involved. They take less time than a survey and do not require any information on the part of the visitor. Polls can enlighten you about where to focus your future efforts, can evoke discussion, and can even expose options you may not have known about through the “Other” field.
Beyond it being a great way to gather opinions, there is also an entertainment value. By adding a poll to your article it adds a dynamic element that can get your visitors engaged in the topic at hand. Polls can lead to triggering emotional responses that can also increase the number of comments you might receive.
The one drawback to adding a poll is that a person is currently able to vote more than once if they revisit the poll. This, of course, can affect the results. I have asked that this be addressed in future versions so that there is an option to allow only one vote per IP. While there are still ways around that, it does lead to clearer results. All of this said, unless you’re discussing a hot topic issue like politics or religion where a person might be emotionally inclined/invested to skew the vote tallies, most aren’t going to waste their time doing so.
A Quick Video Describing Survey and Poll Functionality
Can’t find the advanced form builder in your admin area?
No worries! If you are a WordPress Care Package subscriber (formerly called “Maintenance”), simply contact MidState Design to make sure it is installed, activated, and available for your use.
