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Building a Community With Polls

Why should you include polls in your articles? The answer is simple: it will help boost traffic and help build your reader community. Polling is one of the most powerful tools in marketing and branding, and it shouldn't be overlooked when it comes to promoting your HubPages articles! 

Here are five reasons why you should use polls in your articles:

1. Direct feedback from readers: Besides the comment section, there isn't another option to get immediate feedback from your readers. Polls can help you answer: did readers find the information helpful, unhelpful, or somewhere in-between? Hearing directly from the source can help improve your writing and help you find your target audience. 
2. Interactivity: After reading a longer, more informative article, readers enjoy having a fun break to digest the information intake. What better way to give readers a well-deserved high five for finishing your article than a fun interactive poll at the end? 
3. Community building:  Polls are a unique way to spark conversation and improve engagement. These polls can help show your readers that your articles aren't just a one-way street, and they can also have opinions about your writing. Additionally, seeking input from the HubPages community shows readers that you are listening and want to know what they think! Doesn't everyone like to voice their opinions one way or another?
4. Increased traffic: Having polls could encourage readers to share your article with their friends, co-workers, or family as well. Imagine your article being shared by two people; then those two people share it with three more people. It's all one big chain reaction!
5. More writing inspiration: Get some interesting replies on your poll? Were readers really interested in one answer particularly? Awesome! Write an article about that subject or why you think readers reacted or felt strongly about a particular question. The opportunities are endless! 

Polls are truly the way to go if you want to interact with your reader community! Let's now talk about how to create them.

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How to Create Polls

Never used a poll in your articles before? Don't worry, creating them is probably easier than your think.

Follow these easy steps:

1. Open your new article and click on the dropdown "Add content capsules" on the right-side toolbar.
2. You'll then find the polls option under the supplementary category.
3. Move it to the end of your article so readers will be fully informed on the subject before voting.
4. Enter your open or closed-ended question into the question header, and don't forget to use proper APA capitalization!
5. Enter your different replies in the answer capsule. We recommend using 3-4 answer choices so that readers have some variety to choose from!
6. The last step is to choose how you want the answers formatted. You can either display them in a bar graph or pie chart. Both look great!
7. Click save, and the poll is ready to go!

One important thing to note is that if you make changes to an existing poll, any votes that have already been counted will be deleted. If you're not ready for people to vote in your poll yet, simply check the "Don't display this capsule" box above! Uncheck the box and save when you are ready for readers to vote in your poll.

Happy polling!

Ken Kayse, From United States, 15 Fans, 29 Hubs, Joined 2 months ago

Traffic Jams

Our fresh face of the week is Ken Kayse! Ken enjoys creativity and loves life. He is a firm believer in being prepared for life's uncertainties. He is also a decorated combat veteran of the Vietnam War and was awarded the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star with Valor medals for meritorious service.

Ken has incredible articles about soothing your minding during traffic jams and how education comes quickly in a firefight. 

Check him out! 

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