A few posts back I submitted a survey for your responses. In order to ascertain what your readers want, you must do something which takes you outside your comfort zone. And this exercise did that for me.
Asking you, my faithful readers, to take time out of your already busy days made me uncomfortable. I fight the time management battle myself.
To expose my blog and myself to your critiquing did not help my nerves by asking you to respond to a survey.
But I did it! And you responded! Today I’d like to share with you what I learned and how I plan to use the information your responses provided.
Q1: When visiting a blog highlighting writing topics such as memoir and other nonfiction, what are your expectations?
Answered: 17 Skipped: 1
The results here are clear: Less grammar and language posts, and more of the other four sprinkled throughout.
Q2: If you were asked, would you be willing to appear as a guest on this blog?
Answered: 18 Skipped: 0
First, thanks to so many of you for your willingness to guest post on this blog. Second, I’ll be contacting many of you soon!
Q3: Do you enjoy reading guest posts by other writers?
Answered: 18 Skipped: 0
The responses to this question clarified the use of guest posts and bringing balance to this tool. Perhaps it isn’t always best to overload your site with words from writers other than the blogger. I have done that in January and again this month. My plan is adding leaven, so to speak, to the recipe and offer you a more balanced mix of my posts with posts by guests.
Q4: Do you enjoy posts by experts in fields which support writers (i.e. editors, publishers, self-publishing experts, agents, marketing gurus, cover designers, etc.)
Answered: 18 Skipped: 0
A little over half of respondents answered affirmatively to this question with the other half split between “sometimes” and a suggestion. The suggestion pointed out when these posts are used to make certain they apply to the memoir genre as this is the focus of my blog.
Q5: Please share any other suggestions that come to mind which are related to or similar to guest posts.
Answered: 3 Skipped: 15
Three positive comments were left on the survey at this juncture, all of which made me feel affirmed in my efforts thus far.
Q6: Much is written pro and con about posting to your blog five days a week. Recommendations are all over the park — 5 times/week, 3 times/week, once a week or other ideas.How often do you feel a blogger should be posting on a regular basis, or does it really matter?
Answered: 13 Skipped: 5
I have only one response to the results for Question 6: I’m going to do what my survey responders say!
Q7: Compared to other blogs on writing and memoir, is Sherrey Meyer, Writer a competitive blog with respect to readability, content, writing style, and formatting?
Answered: 17 Skipped: 1
Another blog-affirming response.
Q8: In appearance and format, is Sherrey Meyer, Writer a professional looking blog?
Answered: 17 Skipped: 1
One negative in a comment left under the “Somewhat” response related to my header, suggesting it is a “template” header and replacement needed. When I chose WordPress’s Hemingway theme, this image was one among the template headers but one I found on Flickr reminding me of a place where I once felt safe. If anyone can speak to the phrase “template header” or the above photo being one, I’d love your thoughts in a comment below.
Q9: Would you recommend Sherrey Meyer, Writer to your friends and acquaintances?
Answered: 18 Skipped: 0
Thanks for all the recommendations to other writers, bloggers, and friends.
And thank you for willingly taking a few minutes to respond to my survey. Understanding what my followers want makes time spent here, for me, much more enjoyable.
If you have questions or comments on the responses, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment below or email me via my Contact Form or at salice78(at)comcast(dot)net.
Thanks for following,
