Quizzes are perennially popular because people naturally want to test their knowledge of a subject or learn things about themselves. While most magazine or online quizzes shouldn’t be taken as comprehensive or scientific, they can prompt reflection on a topic and make a great springboard for discussion. Quizzes can be a terrific addition to your website because they are easy to create, draw extra traffic, and can be easily shared, increasing traffic even more.

You can choose from among several basic types of quizzes, from the fun “What kind of _______ are you?” quiz to quizzes that test actual topical knowledge to quizzes designed to challenge reader assumptions about a particular subject. There are several ways to use quizzes for audience engagement on your website.

The Fun “Classification” Quiz

There are countless variations on classification quizzes, and you see them all the time on websites, blogs, and social networking sites. Some of them are downright silly (“What type of soda are you?”) while others are designed to give light psychological or philosophical insight, or promote discussion.

This type of fun quiz can be incorporated into a trade website in many different ways. For example, a site for chefs may have a quiz on “What type of fish scaler is right for you?” A site for computer professionals might post a quiz on “Which of these five IT personality types are you?” These can range from silly to fairly serious, depending on the type of site you have and the type of audience.

Quizzes that Test Actual Knowledge

Knowledge-based online quizzes don’t have to be intimidating to be effective. In fact, one reason people like online quizzes is their anonymity. If a person isn’t up to speed on a particular aspect of their profession or trade, they can find out for themselves without risking embarrassment. Knowledge-based quizzes are perfect for helping people keep up with the state of their industry, and they can help professionals brush up on skills that may have become rusty over time. Written in an engaging and non-intimidating manner, knowledge quizzes can add real value to your website for your audience.

Quizzes Designed for Surprising Answers

If you’re in a disruptive or rapidly changing industry, you can design a quiz to point out facts that people may find surprising. When people are engaged in the day-to-day aspects of their profession, they can lose sight of industry trends as a whole. “Surprising answer” quizzes can grab reader attention and give them valuable information. Here is an example question that might work on a site for safety engineers:

What is the probability of being killed in an airline crash?

a) 1 in 3.7 million

b) 1 in 11 million

c) 1 in 5,000

(The answer is “b.” You have a 1 in 3.7 million probability of being eaten by a shark and a 1 in 5,000 probability of being killed in an automobile accident.)

This type of quiz can be used to raise awareness or bring readers up to date on new information.

Quizzes Keywords and Social Sharing

Not only do people enjoy taking online quizzes, they enjoy sharing their results. Make it easy for them to do so by offering social sharing buttons on user results pages. You should also make an effort to include important keywords in your quizzes to help boost long term SEO.

Including quizzes on your website is a terrific way to entertain and engage visitors. Quizzes can prompt site visitors to reflect on certain topics, help them gauge their level of understanding of concepts, and provide the seeds for a lively comment discussion thread. When you develop quizzes with basic SEO principles in mind and add social sharing buttons, you can gain extra exposure for your content and your brand, helping with audience development and audience engagement initiatives.

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RealMatch is devoted to helping media companies, digital publishers, and trade publications with audience development and revenue development through recruitment advertising solutions. Custom job boards represent a great opportunity to develop a new revenue stream and improve your website’s traffic levels both short and long term.

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