A couple of weeks ago I asked for your help filling in a survey which many of you kindly did. I received nearly 60 responses which I thought a reasonable number for a small blog. It was a lovely surprise to hear from readers who normally never comment, when you took the time to fill in the survey and leave sweet, personal comments I was able to ‘meet’ many ‘new to me’ readers, so special.
I poured over your opinions, comments and suggestions. Not only was it interesting (yes I’m quirky that way) but now have a clearer vision for blog direction for the upcoming year. As promised sharing results with you, although not the more personal info revealed in the comments.
1. Which country do you live in?
Majority of readers (who filled in the survey) were from Australia, with the US slightly behind.
2. Are you female or male?
Three males responded, my champion supporter PC and two of our sons. I was rather ‘chuffed’ to read their comments, though not really surprised as they’re clear about what posts they do and don’t enjoy.
3. How old are you?
Majority of readers are in their 30-50s, my age, which makes sense. I was humbled that my writing somehow brings older and wiser women to my corner of blogosphere and touched that younger folk are interested in what I have to say.
4. How many children do you have? (This includes babe/s in the womb)
| 0 | 6 | 10% |
| 1-2 | 11 | 18% |
| 3-4 | 23 | 37% |
| 5-7 | 11 | 18% |
| 8-10 | 10 | 16% |
| 11+ | 1 | 2% |
The majority of reader’s children are in the 4-12 age bracket. Though many with only under 3s, surprised here as I’m certainly not as entertaining and comedic as many of the younger mum bloggers. Many readers also have children in their teen years, which makes sense, I know I’m always seeking bloggers who chat about the teen years, though there aren’t a huge number. My readers with children over 20 years are often over 50, and I’m very humbled by that those wiser would pop in here.
| 3 or under | 26 | 42% |
| 4-7 | 33 | 53% |
| 8-12 | 33 | 53% |
| 13-15 | 25 | 40% |
| 16-19 | 17 | 27% |
| 20 or older | 16 | 26% |
| Other | 4 | 6% |
Whilst the demographic questions helped in knowing ‘who’ was reading, I was keen to know ‘what’ my readers were seeking. I poured and poured over this and the related questions. Nearly all wanted Family Life posts, good news as that’s predominately what I’ve been capable of lately. Many requested homeschooling posts, as I’m not really delivering there, time to chat homeschooling more. Of course you all had various favourites and not so favourites, really interesting and helpful.
| Family Life (including Daybooks) | 52 | 84% |
| Homeschooling | 40 | 65% |
| Book Chat & Reviews | 22 | 35% |
| House/Extension Progress | 33 | 53% |
| Faith | 22 | 35% |
| Hearth & Home | 29 | 47% |
| Photography | 15 | 24% |
| Philosophical Musings | 10 | 16% |
| Other | 3 | 5% |
These answers were wonderful, lots of ideas for future blog posts, ideas are now percolating away:) Thank you dear readers, your comments are invaluable! You asked for posts on;
- Australian life and snapshots/tours of our area, an armchair travel on other side of globe,
- The daily life, struggles and joys of raising a large family, and a few requests for some ‘day in the life’ Daybooks, family life, photography,
- homeschooling, homeschool organisation, homeschooling camps, how All About Spelling and Reading translates to Australian English and curriculum chat
- How to get boys to read and not play computers, (You want me to tell you how! Oh my!)
- Crafts and activities (you’re reading the wrong blog my friend, you’re out of luck there)
- Children working together on projects, building/extension work
- Grain free and Paleo
and this sweet comment, “Aussie bloggers write about whatever and I like that” made me smile and agree, each country has it’s own ‘flavour’.
8. What do you wish I would write less about?
Whilst most are happy with what I write and wanted me to ‘change nothing’. I did receive a few requests for less book chat. So..whilst I simply must talk books, I must, I firmly resolve to space my book posts out a little more.9. How would you describe your religious beliefs?
Mostly you ‘landed here’ via other blogs and search engines. A number also came from 4Real, friend recommendations or you know me in real life (and not just my family members) Pinterest and facebook received little votes but considering I’m only new to facebook I was surprised to receive any votes.11. How long have you been reading Seven Little Australians & Counting?
Yep you are all checking in here at least fortnightly, if not weekly and every post. One very keen reader checks multiple times a day, that folks is my champion supporter PC:)
14. How do you read Seven Little Australians & Counting?
Most of you come directly to the blog, with a smaller portion reading via subscriptions and a tiny amount via email.
| Directly on Seven Little Australians site | 44 | 71% |
| Via email | 4 | 6% |
| Via reader subscription (Feedly etc) | 12 | 19% |
| Other | 4 | 6% |
| Yes | 17 | 27% |
| No | 10 | 16% |
| Other | 24 | 39% |
*When I do add disqus, if you don’t like it PLEASE let me know.
- Welcome to my new readers:)
- Some really personal comments were shared and I treasured them, my dear readers who shared with me your heavy crosses that you carry, I have been praying for you{{}}
- Do not be intimidated by who I am today, once I too had one child and I too struggled, thankfully I was able to slowly stretch and grow as each child was added, one at a time.
- Yes I do have bad days, our family has its own share of flaws, crosses, and challenges. However it’s not all my story to share and I tend to be a glass half full gal anyhow.
- Glad you liked the new tabs, they were a learning curve but they make me happy and I find them extremely useful myself;)
- I’m humbled (and nervous) to know I’m an inspiration to you.
- You wrote such encouraging notes and I treasured them all.
* What questions would I ask/not ask if I were to do a survey again?
Writing a survey was fun, but I would change my questions slightly if I was to do it again. The gender question was superfluous, so it would be ‘axed’. And questions 13 & 14 could have been ‘cut’ too. If I re-wrote I would ask ‘Do you homschool?’ as not all my readers do and I’d be interested to know the percentages.Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions. I enjoyed the opportunity to ‘get to know you’ a little. Do drop in and say Hi, I promise to reply:)