Friday, October 5, 2012

Bloggiesta Reader Survey Results

I thought maybe you, especially those that participated, would like to know how my survey from Bloggiesta last week turned out. And what I learned from it. Thanks to all those who took the time to let me know what you think!

I had a total of 60 responses and here's what you had to say:

How long have you been a reader of this blog?

45% of you have been reading this blog for a couple of years or more, 17% forever, and 17% less than a year. The rest of you are brand new around here! (And while new ones are AWESOME, it also makes me happy that so many stick around, you know?)

How often do you read this blog?

Half of you come around several times a week, and 17% come every day!

What do you read and what do you skip?

As far as features and blog posts go I'm happy to report that 88% enjoy the book reviews. This is something I truly have wondered about because they don't generate many comments. Next most popular are the Top Ten lists with 60%, which is also good to know. I'll keep them up! It's a tie with 44% for both Sunday journal posts and discussion posts. I'll try to do better with them too! Other reviews came close with 35%. Everything else got small-ish percentages.....

......which leads us to conclude that the LEAST popular posts (or the ones you all skip!) are posts about Utah specific events and authors (makes sense if many of you are not from Utah... a question I didn't actually ask) and Book Club Reports (33%) and Authors Pick Five (26%). I guess it's good those posts don't come around very often, eh?

Commenting?

More than half of you (52%) don't leave comments because you feel you have nothing to say, or there's not enough time. Yep, that makes sense and I would have answered the same thing about my reasons for not commenting. But the thing I really wanted to know is if it makes a difference if I ask question... does that encourage you to comment? 72% of you said yes, it does! (Watch to see if I come up with more questions in the future.) And 82% said that you'll comment usually if you feel passionate about the subject of the post.

Clicking on tabs or sidebar links?

I wondered if anyone ever clicks on my pages found at the top or the label links on the side. It appears that you sometimes use the top links (57%) but hardly ever use the side links (50% said never.) Interesting! I'm guessing I myself use those side ones more often than readers of the blog!

Life Story posts?

I'm pondering another journaling type post, and so I wondered what your reaction would be. I won't be doing it all the time, maybe twice a month or so (more on that later) but thankfully, most of you  thought it sounded interesting (51%) and would give it a chance (39%) Even some (28%) said Love It! A few, however, said stick to books! (7%) Oh, well.

Who are you all?

It's not surprising that 72% of those that responded said you are fellow book bloggers, but I found it a little surprising that 20% are not bloggers, but just readers of the blog. Awesome, and now I wonder who you are! And I actually had two family members take the survey... I know one of them, but who's the other? Hmmmmm.

Several of you made some fun and encouraging comments, which was awesome to hear! Thanks to you for that! I will remember them on the down days!

What I learned:
-- keep writing reviews
-- ask questions
-- don't overly blog about Utah stuff
-- don't worry if I don't get a book club report up
-- it's okay to try some life story journal posts
-- don't assume everyone reading here is another book blogger
-- maybe I don't need all the sidebar links? Condense those perhaps?

Thanks again for participating and allowing me to get a little feedback once again.

And now your questions.... did YOU learning anything from this that you can apply to your own blog? Will you try conducting your own survey sometime in the future (if you haven't already?) What do you think about this being a mini challenge next Bloggiesta?





10 comments:

  1. I've never done a survey on my blog, but now I'm curious what the results would be.

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  2. This is so interesting. Some of our results are the same and same are way different. I was planning to put up a post tomorrow since today is the end of a week for me.

    Did you have anyone tell you that the reason they don't comment is 'cause they look at your blog on their mobile device using Google Reader? I had a couple people tell me that. They said it was too hard to comment like that. It made so much sense and I never even thought about it.

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    1. Jenni: Interesting! I had a couple say it was hard to comment, but didn't say why.

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  3. It is nice to know who reads your blog isn't. I though bloggers, authors and a couple of friends, but I have realised a few that read books but don't blog, they are few and in between I think though.

    Keep it up.

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  4. Funny, I came to the same conclusion about all my sidebar links and labels. I use them CONSTANTLY, but I'm not sure anyone else does. Oh well -- I need them, so they stay!

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    1. Susan: I'll leave some up, but as I said, I may condense and whittle a bit.

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  5. Way to incorporate your findings by asking questions! ;) I've never really considered who read my blog that doesn't comment. There's quite a few, though. Maybe I should think upon that.

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  6. Thanks for sharing your results with us Suey. I like to ask questions in my posts and feel like it helps give people something to comment on. Sometimes I think people JUST read the question, but that's neither here nor there. ;)

    Also great point about assuming our audience. I do this and know I should be better about it.

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