Bonjour, mes amies! Thanks a million to those of you who took the time and effort to complete my little survey about this blog. I found it such an interesting experience and learnt lots on the way. The same day I posted about it, I read this useful post by the clever Blog Tyrant. After we exchanged a few comments, I realised that I could already find some of the information I was asking you by looking at my Google Analytics account. What a duffer! I deleted those first few questions and added the broader ones at the end which gave me so much information than I'd actually hoped for. So thanks, Blog Tyrant!
In case any of you are considering conducting your own survey, I found Survey Monkey extremely easy to use. After a few of you commented that I'd missed an option you wanted, I was able to edit the question quickly to fix the glitch. I used the free version which limited me to asking 10 questions. That's all I need at this stage of my blogging but they have a number of other priced plans on offer if you want more bells and whistles!
Anyway, let's have a look at the results. To make it easier to digest, I've added your answers to the brilliant (and free) site, Wordle, to create these 'word clouds'! The larger the words, the more popular the response.
Anyway, let's have a look at the results. To make it easier to digest, I've added your answers to the brilliant (and free) site, Wordle, to create these 'word clouds'! The larger the words, the more popular the response.
What is/are your favourite topic(s) covered on Life on Planet Baby?
The vast majority of you surveyed enjoy my focus on family life, the pixies, parenting and Hobart/Tasmania. No great surprises there, I guess.
My creative side
I was intrigued by how many of you are interested in my discovery of my creative side and the resultant personal growth. I was really chuffed about that as I often wonder if I get the balance right.
I was brought up never to focus on myself so opening up to you all here to show my journey of self-discovery has been a big leap of faith for me. Thankyou for embracing it and encouraging me so staunchly. You have no idea how much it has buoyed me and helped me through a difficult couple of years.
Blogging
Many of you enjoy reading about blogging and blogging tips so I think I'll post a bit more on them. I'm no expert but I do love sharing any useful tips and tricks I've found on other blogs.
Stationery
I was also delighted to see so many of you still interested in my passion of stationery. That's just the prompt I need to restart my 'Sublime stationery' series so watch this space!
What topic(s) would you like to read more about?
Daily life
I was surprised to see how much interest you have in our daily life on PB. I had been pondering the meaning of the blog's title lately, wondering how much of our 'life' I reveal. You've given me some real food for thought now - expect more posts about what we do here!
Parenting
This also intrigued me. There are so many parenting blogs about and I don't want to write a didactic blog, telling you how to do things. Those blogs have their rightful place in Blogland and are very helpful. But that's not my style. We each know how to parent our own children best. However, I'm happy to post about how we're handling parenting dilemmas with the pixies and invite your ideas and comments - maybe we can help each other out!
Creativity
You make me blush about this - really! I have only discovered my latent creative side since I started blogging so I'm a bit shy about it. I'm no expert. But sure, I'm happy to share some thoughts and projects I've created if that's appealing!
What do you like most?
What do you like least?
I was dumbfounded that 90% of you said you like it all. Thankyou. Goodness, I didn't see that coming! Practical issues you raised were:
- finding the comment box (I promise I'm working on that!);
- maybe the use of a larger font as older eyes find the current size a strain (anyone else have that problem?);
- a request not to highlight key phrases (hmm, I really try not to overdo it but will keep an eye on this - sometimes it's really important to me to do that); and
- the length of posts - they are too long. This is something I regularly agonise over. I know I can be prolix. However, hopefully I am where it's appropriate. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.
The comment which intrigued me the most was that my posts are "sometimes depressing". I can understand that viewpoint. Truly. But I guess that the hurdles I've had to surmount in the past few years have involved dealing with some big picture life issues. I don't shy away from that. I do hope, however, that when the sadder posts are read in that context, they have their rightful place. I really aim for a balance of the light and hopeful, leavened by the sometimes painful experiences life throws at us.
The vast majority of you are very content with the layout.
Further suggestions included:
- enlarging the photos (can do);
- a new banner (it's on its way); and
- adding a 'meet the family' section. I might work on the latter idea if you don't think I've covered that enough in the 'Planet Baby 101' tab at the top .
The vast majority of you can find your way around easily. The only concern raised was the problem of finding the comment box which I'm onto, believe me!
For the moment, just click on the post title and the comment box will open up underneath the post.
What is/are your favourite colour(s)?
I really enjoyed discovering your preferences. The vast majority of you love blue, green and aqua (no wonder we have so much in common!). They were followed by grey, red, white, pink and yellow. Stay tuned for some colour-inspired posts!
How does reading Life on Planet Baby make you feel?
I was blown away by these responses. You articulated exactly what I hope the blog conveys. Thankyou! I cherish this haven and the community we have here. I'm so pleased to see you feel that as well. Still having the detachment caused by my post-natal depression, it's not easy to assess how others perceive my blog. This is so encouraging for me.
One comment interested me - "I feel inspired and also a little envious - I don't know how you do it all". Thanks for your frankness - it really got me thinking. Firstly, I'd hate to make anyone feel envious - that's never been my intention. For those you know me personally, you know that's just not in my 'makeup'. And secondly, I don't do it all - far from it. I'll write a post about this soon to elaborate.
What are 3 words you'd use to describe Life on Planet Baby to someone else?
I was really delighted by your suggestions for a tagline for my header. I'll have a hard task choosing one! Some of you found this hard to answer. I'm not surprised - that's been my dilemma as well ☺. I guess I cover such a broad range of topics that it's tricky to find an overarching theme. So thanks for all the suggestions!
What's your one burning question you'd like me to post about?
Wow! I had no idea how popular this question would be or the varied responses you gave. You've given me so many ideas that I plan to start a 'Your burning question answered' series of posts!
Just a handful of them were:
- How you stay connected to the side of you that loved/loves law/work while you stay at home with the pixies?
- How do you manage to 'be true to yourself' but guard against saying too much?
- If you won $1 million, what would happen next?
- What are your motivations and sense of purpose?
- How do you find the time to do all of your creative pursuits and get out so often on your own?
- What do you love, and dislike, about Hobart?
So tell me, do any of these results surprise you? And do you have any more questions you'd like me to ask next time? Fire away - I'm all ears!
Edited on 31 May 2012: This post was featured in the May 2012 edition of The Post of the Month Club.
