Reader Survey! (and a giveaway)

Ah, the reader survey. A necessary evil when it comes to blogging, I’m afraid. We can only learn so much about our readers through our social media interactions.

As I continue working hard to create exciting, entertaining, and informative content for Bunny & Dolly, it will be helpful to have certain demographics available to share with potential collaborators (when they ask). I’m also curious to know what you think about the blog’s current content and what changes you’d like to see.

Although this blog does chronicle certain adventures in my life, it’s not my diary. It’s not meant to be kept a secret. As a writer, I want readers! I want my thoughts and my words to have meaning to you,  so I want to know what it is about my blog that makes you want to come back for more — and the things that might turn you away. Your feedback is important to me.

I have an idea. Let’s bring back blog comments. Saying you “don’t have time to comment” is like saying you don’t have time to be nice.

— Danyelle Mathews (@dandeedesigns) April 23, 2013

Unfortunately, comments are the easiest way to gauge reader feedback, so when you don’t get very many, you fear you are doing something wrong. Like Danyelle, I’d love to bring back blog comments, but I don’t necessarily think that people aren’t commenting because they don’t have time. I think it’s because it’s not always easy to comment when you read blogs on a phone or iPad. No matter the reason, not getting comments still sucks (just ask any blogger).

However, there is another way to get reader feedback: the reader survey.

I would really, really appreciate it if you’d answer my short 10-question, mostly multiple choice survey. To make it worth your while, I’ll throw in a small reward: one survey participant will win a $20 Starbucks gift card! If you’d like to be included in the random drawing, just leave your email address as the answer to question 10 when prompted on the survey. The survey will close on Tuesday, May 7th, and the winner will be notified by email the next day. (The giveaway is now closed.)

Thanks in advance for your participation! I’m so happy to have you as a reader!