In late June I asked you all to share the love with me by doing my reader survey. 64 of you lovely people weighed in, and I am tremendously grateful. And now, because I love Excel with a passion that is not quite reasonable, and also because I strive to be open and honest in this space, I have created many charts to share with you. If you want to see a bigger version of any of them, just click on the image. And if you’re curious, you can see how your responses this time compare with your responses to my last reader survey.
Up first, I asked you how old you were. Here’s how you answered:
Next, I asked you about your kids. Here’s how you answered that:
Then, I wanted to know how long you’ve been visiting Strocel.com. Although, in retrospect, I should have asked how long you’ve been reading Strocel.com, since I know that many of you read it in a feed reader without actually visiting, per se. What can I say, next time I’ll ask it differently. But that’s not the point. The point is that this is how you answered:
Then I wanted to know how often you visit, although once again I should have asked how often you read. Anyways, this is what you said about that:
And, as I said, many of you use a feed reader. I use one, too. Yay for feed readers!
Now we get into the nitty-gritty, at least for me. What are your favourite things to read about here?
Not every post can be a home run, sadly, as I learned when I asked about your least favourite things to read here.
And, finally, I didn’t make a chart, but I asked you were you live. 55% of you live in Canada. I decided to break that down a little further, and found that 28.3% of you live in the Vancouver area, 6.7% of you live elsewhere in BC, and 20% of you live in another Canadian province. 35% of you live in the US, 5% live in the UK, and 1.7% of you live in each of Australia, Belgium and Italy.
Your comments were really, really touching, and I won’t be sharing those. But I will say that I read every one, and you really did share the love. You all rock, and I really wish I could reach out and give you all a big hug.
In deference to the person who commented that they could do without my blatant comment solicitation, I do understand, and it is a bit contrived. I will not end this post with a question. But as an FYI to the 53.2% of you who like to read what I have to say about blogging and social media, I will mention that when I started ending my posts with questions, I got far more comments. I love comments, and I love to facilitate discussion, so with apologies to those who wish I didn’t so obviously angle for your thoughts, I’ll probably revert to the regular routine fairly shortly.
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Yeah, I was one of the ones who said I visited pretty rarely, because I read you every day in a feed reader. I was up in the air about what to answer, and I guess I guessed wrong! Oopsie.
Look at me, commenting even though you didn’t ask! I must really love you!
Sheila’s last post … Mama matters too
Twitter: kellynaturally
says:
FWIW, I learned that “trick” of ending posts with a “comment solicitation” question from your blog. And it DOES work.
kelly @kellynaturally’s last post … English Muffin Pizza Recipe
Me too!
Amanda’s last post … Monthly Recap: What I learned in June 2011
Twitter: mothersofchange
says:
Me too~not only have I used it myself once or twice and plan to use it more often, but I LOVE it when you ask! It feels like you care what I have to say! FWIW. It would have taken me wayyyyy longer to post a comment as a lurker if you hadn’t asked the questions.
Melissa Vose’s last post … Absence
Twitter: jenarbo
says:
I love charts. Seriously.
Jen’s last post … Chickens
Okay, but who gets the chocolate?
(I love the charts too, but seriously, who gets the chocolate?)
Grin.
Alexis’s last post … Thursday Confession – Shampoo (Or Lack Thereof)
Twitter: AmberStrocel
says:
I did an anonymous draw and there were 14 winners for 15 chocolate bars. So far, 13 of the bars have been claimed. We’ll see what happens with the rest – there’s still hope!
Wow these are such awesome charts! And what a great way to get to know your readers more. I really enjoy your blog and don’t always comment but I do read it! I love how authentic and true you are and I feel as though I know you even though I only really know you through your Twitter handle and your pics.
And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with asking questions so your readers comment. I’ve been on blogs where the comments are closed sometimes and there is no way to interact.
Kasia’s last post … Stress, Good Decisions and Dry Camping Gear
I wish I had enough readers to do a survey and justify some nifty charts like this…
Amanda’s last post … Monthly Recap: What I learned in June 2011
I like that you end with a question. I think so much that we do on the net is so passive, I think we all need to be reminded to participate. Participation makes the experience richer for everyone. Part of what is so exciting about where we are technologically is the potential for communication and connections with people. I think your questions are great conversation starters.
Twitter: bitterindigo
says:
It cracks me up when you end with the question, because it always makes me think of Bear and the Big Blue House, and the segment where Bear says “what do ya think?” before they interview real kids about the issue of the day. God I miss that show. I don’t really see why it would annoy anyone – it’s not like there’s a compulsion spell on it that forces anyone to answer. I admire you for being what I think of as a more grown-up type of blogger than me (even though you’re you’re younger) – more organized, better at marketing yourself, focusing on actual ‘issues’ and exploring ways to grow.
Hey, I like the craft posts! Was I the only one that ranked them highly? Shoot.
Inder’s last post … Frugal Sewing?: Thrifting fabrics.
Twitter: AmberStrocel
says:
If it’s any consolation, I like craft posts, too. And only slightly more people said they didn’t like them than said they did, so I’m not necessarily going to pull the plug on them. But definitely, I can see that I need to focus on parenting.
I love it that you do the question thingy at the end of your posts, it is brilliant! And I always enjoy reading the comments. PS – I love how you geek out with graphs.