First Feedback Survey Results - Part 1
I’ve tallied up the answers to the multiple choice portion of my feedback survey, and here are results complete with pretty pie charts!
Are you male or female?
I predicted a male bias, but not this much. Is it me or the subject matter or both?
What is your age?
97% of readers were under 50, and 59% under 30. Not sure that I will do anything with this information, as I am myself nearing 30 and plan on sticking to stuff I am personally interested in.
How Do You Visit My Money Blog?
This one’s a little confusing as I changed the answer “Whenever I remember / Casual visitor” to “Type in address / Casual Visitor” midway through the poll. So those two are the same thing, which gives us 50% via bookmark, 30% via RSS, and 20% just type in MyMoneyBlog.com when they remember.
The popular belief is that convincing people to subscribe to my RSS feed helps to increase regular blog readership. But I guess it isn’t critical. Some people said they didn’t know what RSS feeds were - RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication, and is a way to get regular updates to a site’s content. Traditionally this is done by a RSS Reader application like Newsgator or Bloglines. But you can also just get the newest headlines really easily if you use homepages like MyYahoo or GoogleHome. Just click the button that works for you below:
How Often Do You Visit My Money Blog?
I’m pretty happy with this one. I try to update every day, although towards the end of the week sometimes I lose steam.
Do you think I…
Ok, I could probably update more, but it’d probably be more like just a link and a blurb. That’s probably still an improvement, eh?
What is your opinon on full RSS feeds? (Don’t really care, Like it the way it is, or Want it bad)
This was also surprising. Out of the people who cared, 64% preferred the current format, in which short posts are included in their entirety and longer ones are cut short after 2-3 paragraphs. Ideally, this gives you enough to know if you want to read the rest without clogging up your feed reader. 36% wanted full RSS feeds - I totally thought this number would be higher.
How did you find this blog?
This was another question to satisfy my curiosity, as I don’t buy advertising or anything like that to promote this site. I have thought about it, but I wonder what would be the most time-efficient way to introduce my blog to new readers. Oh, who am I kidding. I probably won’t do it anyways.
Overall, from these questions, my takeaways are:
- I would like to reach out to more female readers (but how?),
- I should try to post a little bit more often, and
- I will consider full RSS feeds.
That was fun, but now I really want to read all the specific written feedback that I got as well. More on that next. Thanks to all 458 people that shared!
October 30th, 2006 at 12:41 am
Interesting results — thanks for sharing!
October 30th, 2006 at 7:10 am
50% via bookmarks? Only 30% via RSS? You guys are nuts! Use RSS feeds so you don’t have to check the website daily. If you don’t know what a RSS feed is find out because you are wasting a lot of time.
October 30th, 2006 at 7:21 am
How many people participated in the survey?
October 30th, 2006 at 10:17 am
I don’t think you can do anything to reach out to female readers, other than having your wife contribute posts on money issues that would interest females…maybe shopping discount programs at stores like Macy’s or Forever 21 (hope that doesn’t sound TOO sexist!). It’s not you, you’re a guy writing about stuff that generally interests guys more than gals.
BTW — Another vite for full RSS feeds here!
October 30th, 2006 at 10:57 am
Maybe it’s my tone? Am I unconsiously turning off women? Something to ponder. Maybe next survey I’ll delve more into it.
Oops, forgot to include that - 458 people did the survey.
October 30th, 2006 at 11:00 am
Sorry I missed the survey, but I would just be one of the majority. So no big deal. How to gain attention from more female readers? Maybe you could post more deals on cosmetics?
October 30th, 2006 at 11:03 am
Hmmm…only 3% over age 50. Well I’m one of them. Wonder where my fellow baby boomers are hanging out…Vanguard Diehards and the like I suppose.
October 30th, 2006 at 11:42 am
If you are interested in attracting a larger female audience, you might try tracking down survey results on which categories of household financial decisions are made most often by the female members of the family. Then write articles in those categories and about those specific decision processes.
October 30th, 2006 at 11:56 am
What was the sample size? (how many people responded?)
October 30th, 2006 at 12:11 pm
Go through and re-read the survey responses by the 15% that are female. What they said should be informative as to what a female audience would be interested in.
October 30th, 2006 at 12:14 pm
Wow - the female stat is most suprising to me. Just think about the PF bloggers out there - I wouldn’t think the ratio is anything close to this.
October 30th, 2006 at 12:16 pm
As one of Jonathan’s long-time female readers, I just have to say that I wouldn’t read this blog if Jonathan was as sexist as some of his commenters.
Shopping and cosmetics. Puh-leeze.
Try breaking through the glass ceiling, the income disparities between men and women, saving for retirement when your life expectancy is longer, balancing work and family, etc, as personal finance topics of special interest to women. Plus all those other personal finance topics that interest men and women equally.
October 30th, 2006 at 12:34 pm
Sorry, I was one of the females that did not take the survey. I am sure a good majority did not. I refuse to belive that there are not many females out there who are not interested in finance. I am one who does visit your site daily..oh! and I will find out about RSS feed. Thanks! You are doing a great job.
October 30th, 2006 at 12:52 pm
That’s one thing about surveys, they are only really surveys of people willing to take surveys!
October 30th, 2006 at 12:52 pm
Hi, Jonathan. I think your blog is great, and I check it out several times a week.
I am delurking to second Tiredbuthappy’s comments. I like your format as it stands, but what she suggests would be a useful addition, if you’re interested.
I suspect the female readership of your blog is higher than your results show. I don’t remember if I took the quiz or not, but it’s likely that I didn’t. (As a female educator, I am very leary about putting any personal info on the web.)
October 30th, 2006 at 3:26 pm
On female readership:
I really doubt it’s a “tone” issue, or anything you’re doing - I’ve been reading & enjoying the blog for a while and don’t remember anything ever striking me as inappropriate or off in this way.
More likely, I would say, is that it is a sampling bias. I know I decide to go ahead and spend my time answering little surveys (and making comment posts like this one…) when I’m sitting at my computer stuck on something I’m coding up and looking for a short break. This is a position more men are in than women (I’m surrounded by them right now, filling my office…!), and so, I suspect, more men took your survey.
On the suggestion to “hav[e] your wife contribute posts on money issues that would interest females?maybe shopping discount programs at stores like Macy?s or Forever 21…..” Please, no!! If I wanted to read a shopping blog, I would be reading a shopping blog. I’m not. I’m not sure whether I even know if Macy’s exists in my city, and I wouldn’t have even known Forever 21 was a store except from context… and I really don’t care. I want to read about high interest savings accounts, and how to organize your own retirement savings in tax-free accounts even if you don’t have an employer with a 401(k), and which credit cards will give me the most cashback depending on my buying habits.
Thanks for a great blog - and keep it up!
October 30th, 2006 at 7:04 pm
I would like to use the RSS feed but when I subscribe posts will pop up as new all the time even after I’ve read them. Perhaps it’s marking them new when a comment is posted? At any rate, it’s the only website I have trouble with. This is using Bloglines, btw.
October 30th, 2006 at 7:19 pm
Well I think that it’s pretty accepted that women don’t have the same computer-viewing habits as men; as an aside, you have the same percentage male/female distribution as World of Warcraft. For myself, I’d say it isn’t you. But some more ideas for topics women would be interested in: how to pool family money when one person earns a lot less than another (2 bank accounts? 3? joint credit card?), earning enough to afford/rationalize child care (it has to be over 40K I think when you add up everything including commuting costs). And more psychological/social aspects of money like, how does marketing affect what we want to spend money on (and how to fight it!).
October 30th, 2006 at 8:01 pm
Jay - People have mentioned this problem to me (I use Newsgator so I don’t see it), I think it happens when I edit a post to clarify or correct something. I really have no idea how to fix it, except to try and edit less. I think it only happens in Bloglines, which isn’t good because that’s what most people use. Sorry!
October 30th, 2006 at 8:22 pm
Hmm… I would think my blog would do better than World of Worldcraft. Money affect everyone, no? Ok, random story time:
My sister played Warcraft, and her handle was “Joey Potter”. For those that don’t know, this is a *female* character on the Dawson’s Creek TV show (Katie Holmes aka Mrs. Cruise). Anyways, so I’m walking down her dorm hallway one day and I hear this:
“DUDE! Who’s this Joey Potter guy and why is he kicking our asses!?!”
Anyways, I guess that goes to show how male-dominated WarCraft can be.
October 31st, 2006 at 7:45 am
@ jay / re: posts popping up again
Jay, you can change this behavior by changing the options for your subscription. Go to your bloglines page and bring up this blog. Now, look towards the upper right hand corner and click on “edit subscription”. In the window that pops up, the fourth item will be “Updated Items”. Change your selection from “Display As New” to “Ignore”.
This is an option you can also set as you’re subscribing to a blog, if you remember to do so.
October 31st, 2006 at 11:04 am
Hi Jonathan - As another woman, I second all the other women who responded to your post. I missed your survey, but I enjoy reading your blog. I’ve read it a few times a week for a few months now, and found it when ‘googling’ for treasuries. If I want shopping advice, I go to fatwallet. Keep up the good work. I don’t think you need to change anything. Thanks!
October 31st, 2006 at 11:57 am
Thanks Rebecca for the tip!
And thanks to all the women for the feedback and support!
November 2nd, 2006 at 3:49 pm
Hi, I’m one of the few (apparently) women who took your survey. My husband introduced me to the site, and we both read it. I just asked him if he answered the survey and he said no:) Anyway… I agree with tiredbuthappy’s suggestions because those are some things women should be aware of. But I don’t think you should stress over making sure you cover those topics. As others have said, I like most everything you post, even though I might not use everything. The shopping and makeup comments are a flop to me….I don’t even wear make-up. Only other possibility…maybe the women just stay with the money blogs by women..
November 2nd, 2006 at 6:38 pm
Actually, it would be interested to see what the ratio is on a female-authored financial blog. Anyone want to run a survey? I still have some time left on my WuFoo paid account…
November 6th, 2006 at 9:24 pm
Jonathan:
I too, am one of the “few” women who took your survey- and I must say that enjoy your blog very much. I agree with a lot of the other women leaving comments on this post, as your blog is NOT- and hopefully will not become- where I get information on cosmetics deals and shopping! I wonder, if perhaps that more men took the survey, or whether it still reflects the old adage that men are more likely to make the long term investment decisions in a household vs the household budget, even though all recent surveys show that just as many women want to become involved in the investment decisions then men perceive! Either way, I think you’re doing just fine, as I enjoy the vast majority of your posts, particularly those about investing, comparisons of different account types, etc- things that I wouldn’t get from other PF blogs, regardless of the gender of the author.
BTW, I thought it was FANTASTIC that you asked for feedback from us!