The Survey Says...

"Feedback is one of the most important things your readers can give you." 

(http://www.blogtyrant.com/blog-survey/)

Are you thinking about making major changes to your blog?  Try conducting a blog survey first to see if your readers will appreciate the changes.  Blogger Kiersten Frase, who writes a vegetarian blog called "Oh My Veggies" (http://ohmyveggies.com/) considered adding a menu planning service to her blog.  She decided to conduct a reader survey first only to discover that most of her readers weren't interested in such a service.

According to Kiersten, here are some other reasons to conduct a blog reader survey:

-find out why your blog has experience a drop in traffic
-plan a redesign
-conduct an annual health check; are you on the right track?

Several sites offer blog survey services including Google, Wuffo (http://www.wufoo.com/guides/create-a-poll-with-instant-public-results/)  or SurveyMonkey (https://www.surveymonkey.com/).

When creating your blog survey questions, avoid leading questions like "Do I write too many history posts?"  Instead, say something like:

     I post five history posts per month.  Is that:

     a.  too many?

     b.  too few?

     c.  just right?

You can include multiple choice questions or open text or a mixture of both.  SurveyMonkey will help you with the wording of your questions if you visit http://help.surveymonkey.com/articles/en_US/kb/Writing-Survey-Questions-Tips-for-effective-and-relevant-questions.

Here are some of the questions that blogger Kiersten wanted answers for when she held her reader survey:

1.  Who are my readers?

2.  How did they find my blog?

3.  What did they like about it?

4.  What new features would they like to see?

5.  How long have they been reading my blog?

6.  How often do they visit my blog?

7.  How do they find out about new posts?

8.  How frequently would they like me to post?

Kiersten embedded her survey in her blog post.  She publicized the survey on Facebook and Twitter.  If you have a newsletter or other website, don't forget to advertise there as well.  Kiersten received 550 responses to her survey, including many from readers who had never commented on her blog before.  She warned bloggers not to offer a prize for completing their survey.  A fellow blogger made this mistake and spent a lot of time sifting through answers from readers who had never read her blog before, who just completed the survey for the prize.  

Kiersten included her survey results in a blog post.  SurveyMonkey created charts and graphs based on the survey's results.  Kiersten also had a blog designer create an infographic for her (see http://ohmyveggies.com/oh-veggies-reader-survey-results/).  Kiersten is publishing a vegetarian cookbook later this year.

http://www.problogger.net/archives/2007/08/20/run-a-reader-survey-on-your-blog/

What is the Magic Number for a Blog Post?

When I first started blogging, I was told that 500 words was the ideal length for a post, just enough substance for the reader to bite his teeth into but not so long that he doesn't read until the end. However, recently I have heard that longer posts are the way to go.  How long, then, is the ideal blog post?

Is there a minimum length for a post?  Bloggers recommend that posts be at least 250 words in length to optimize your search engine results.  On the other hand, if a post exceed 1000 words, some bloggers recommend that it be broken up into a series of posts.

Most bloggers seem to agree that the each post should be written succinctly.  Headings help break up the text and make the post more scannable for the reader.  Short paragraphs are preferable to longer ones.

Blogger Neil Patel outlines several factors which affect the length of a post.  They are:

1.  Substance:  What does your topic require?  If it is fun and lighthearted many a short post is best.  However, if it is a serious subject, or a controversial one, it likely requires more substance.

2.  Style:  What is your writing style ex. short and brief versus long and conversational?

3.  Frequency:  If you post rarely, chances are each post will be lengthy and well thought out.  If you most every day, your posts are likely to be shorter.

4.  Format:  Do you use subheadings and short paragraphs?  These techniques help break up a long post.

5.  Purpose:  If you run a business blog, you might be pitching a product.  If your blog is personal, you might be telling a story or trying to spark a conversation.

6.  Audience:  What are the needs, interest, passions or problems of your audience?

7.  Medium:  Do you include infographics, videos or podcasts?  If so, your word count is less relevant.

To read more, visit http://www.quicksprout.com/2014/03/31/how-long-should-each-blog-post-be-a-data-driven-answer/.

According to Neil Patel, long blog posts perform better than short ones on all levels.  There are over 200 factors which determine how your content ranks in SERP (Search Engines Results Page).  The more content you have, the better chance you will achieve a top position in Google search results. Therefore, more readers will see your post.  According to one blogger, the ideal length for a blog post is 1600 words -- the magic number (https://blog.bufferapp.com/optimal-length-social-media).

blogspot.com

P.S.  In case you're wondering, this post is only 400 words.