I have actually been planning to write an article on social proof with widgets for some time. Farkfan in a recent comment on my Clickbank Disclosure post was questioning my positioning of subscription boxes in the primary real estate on the top of my page and part of my response included.
One thing I haven’t yet written about is the effect of social networking and images of readers in social proof. By seeing the name of someone you recognise in the sidebar, it shows that obviously your blog is a worthwhile read, and so you sign up.
Dane Morgan has written a great post today emphasising what I have previously stated, but also building on it by expressing the suggestion that you will see benefits from increasing the number of avatars displayed in your widget box. Whilst you may provide more exits, you will also be providing more social proof.
2 Comments
This is so true, Andy.
When I saw John Chow’s face show up on my blog yesterday I was so excited I blogged about it. I would put the link to my post right here but I wouldn’t want it to disappear…
Absolutely. 100%. Unfortunately as humans we tend to make pretty snap judgements about new websites we visit, and so having lots of “social proof” indicators on your site speaks to our subconscious that popular = good quality.
We know it’s not always true, but that’s the way we tend to work as humans when we are required to make snap judgements like when we visit a site for the first time.
So Andy, you’re absolutely right to display your subscriber numbers right at the top :)
Best,
Paul Hancox | Internet Influence Magic
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[...] important when more and more bloggers sign up with MyBlogLog. Andy Beard has also written about how MBL’s widgets provide social proof or validation of your blog’s worth in the eyes of other bloggers and [...]
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