AmyJBennett.com Fall 2013 Survey Results

Alright, folks. It’s time to discuss the survey results!

Thank you so much for participating in our first survey.  It’s already helped me so much to understand who you are, what you like and what you don’t.  Grab a cup of coffee because this is a long one!

I’m a nerdy visual learner, so I made an infographic.  For those who prefer to talk it out, just keep scrolling down and we’ll chat afterwards with a recap.

Click on the picture for full resolution

 

If you’d like the data without the pretty pictures, I have a PDF of the raw results for you here.

 

Who You Are

You’re likely a married woman from your late 20’s to your early 40’s, have kids at home, live in the US and don’t blog.  Basically, we’re a lot alike other than the blogging thing, obviously.

Lots of you don’t fit that description but no worries!  If you’re male or single or don’t have kids or live in Australia (I wanna come visit), I still love you and desperately want you to keep coming back.  Diversity is a GOOD thing! 

 

How We Connect

Most of you found the site directly from me (on or offline) or someone else you know on or offline.  That sounds kind of obvious but what I mean is there’s not a lot of people finding the blog from Google searches and then hanging around or even following me back from a comment I made somewhere, which I find enlightening.

On an on-going basis, a lot of you are subscribing at Facebook or an RSS reader.  A small percentage of you don’t subscribe at all and should! Like the Facebook page, subscribe through RSS or email.

 

What You Like

I’m not hearing a big demand for a newsletter. On the other hand, if I found a way for it to be awesome, most of you would be down for that.  Obvious follow-up question: for those that said maybe, what content would make it worth it to you? 

For most of you, your favorite posts are personal/memoir, parenting or faith.  The personal one seemed like a gimme since this is a lifestyle blog, although it was good to get confirmation you like to hear about the every day things.  But I’ll admit the parenting one surprised me. I always hear people get annoyed when you talk about your kids too much.  No?  And finally, the faith one encouraged me. It was great to find out my favorite things to write about are your favorite things to read about.  We’re a perfect match!

30% of you didn’t list a least favorite topic at all.  Those that did said fashion, gardening and book/movie/TV reviews were your least favorite.  Surprisingly, only one of the males listed fashion as their least favorite type of post. 

I can understand the fashion (for real, it’s not my forte) and gardening (I’m no expert), but I’m a little sad about the book reviews.  Not only did 16% of you suggest it was your least favorite topic, only 34% listed it as a favorite topic. I think I’ll come up with a different way to share what I’ve been reading.

So, that recaps the infographic.  I’d love to know what other insights you have of the data, nerdy people.

 

Blogs You Read

You guys inundated me with other blogs that you read.  I’m so eager to check them out.  Here are a few that came up several times along with ones I recognized:

• The Pioneer Woman
• Modern Mrs. Darcy
• Chatting at the Sky
• Momastery
• Young House Love
• Money Saving Mom
• The Nester
• Flower Patch Farmgirl
• Boo Mama
• Kelly’s Korner
• Nitty Gritty Love

If you’re looking for a full list of the blogs, I uploaded a PDF of all the blogs you read.

 

Blogs Like AmyJBennett.com

The question I was very interested in was one most people skipped.  It wasn’t easy so I’ll give you a pass, but it was what other blog reminds you of this one?  Here are several of the blogs submitted:

• The Pioneer Woman (what? I wish)
• Shana Norris
• Sarah Mae
• The Lettered Cottage
• Pass the Cereal
• My Blessed Life
• Gretchen Clark Blog
• Arabah Joy
• Mama Hooper
• The Handsfree Revolution
• Musings of a Housewife
• Giving Up on Perfect
• Modern Mrs. Darcy
• Dear Baby
• Kelly’s Korner

I love a lot of those blogs so I was happy to see some friends on there! I take it as a great compliment and appreciate it!  So, if you like this blog and want to check out more, bookmark a few of those!

This list gave me a really good idea of your perception of what this blog is about, so I can’t thank you enough for taking the time to list those.

 

General Feedback

And finally—general comments. For the sake of anonymity, I won’t share all the details but here are just a few generalities amongst the comments:

• You guys like that I’ve infused faith more actively into all sorts of posts, regardless of the main topic.
• You all want more honesty and transparency, regardless of how I believe it might be received.
• You especially like when I share struggles you may relate to.
• You like the differing content.
• You want more life stories.
• In general, you seem to just like following along on the journey.

I can not tell you how affirming and encouraging these statements are.  It truly inspires me to dig deep and be brave.  I enjoy writing here so much but at times feel like I’m not doing it right or not measuring up.  What I’m realizing though is I just need to be me and that’s enough.  You guys are helping me learn.  For that, I thank you greatly.

 

Whew! Congrats if you’re still reading!  Once again, thank you so much for taking our Fall 2013 Reader Survey.  I hope to make these more regular.

Now, hit the comments and let me know what surprised or disappointed you, what questions you’d like to see answered and any feedback you have on the survey itself!

Hint: I wish I would have asked you about your faith background and also if you work!