Meet Your Fellow DailyBlogTips Readers: Six Interesting Survey Results - DailyBlogTips

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Meet Your Fellow DailyBlogTips Readers: Six Interesting Survey Results Posted: 05 Nov 2013 06:34 AM PST If you've been a DailyBlogTips regular over the past month, you'll know that we ran a survey recently. And if you're an old-timer, you'll know I've been writing for DBT across several years … but as the new co-editor of DBT, I wanted to get to know you all a little better! We ran the survey using SurveyMonkey, which is a great tool (free at the basic level) to use when you want to ask your audience questions. Here are some of the results that particularly stood out for me – and that you might find interesting too. I’ve included how we’ll be responding to this feedback, too. #1: What Stage Are You At With Your Blogging? More than a quarter (26.9%) of DailyBlogTips readers haven't yet launched their blog – so if you're still at the planning stage, you've got plenty of company! Close to a third of DBT readers (31%) are well-established bloggers, though, with more than two years’ experience behind them. What now? Daniel and I will continue aiming for a mix of content, with a blend of beginner-friendly posts and more advanced topics.   #2: What Platform Are You Using? As we expected, WordPress.org (self-hosted WordPress) was the most popular choice – but 23.8% of readers were using WordPress.com, and 18.7% were using Blogger. There were a huge range of "Other" options entered, including Tumblr, Weebly, Joomla, Drupal, and impressively, "I handwrite my own code." TypePad, which I thought might be used by some, was nowhere to be seen. Not a single DBT reader said they used it, presumably because it’s a paid-for service. What now? Several readers mentioned wanting to move from Blogger to WordPress, so look out for a post on this in the future. #3: Are You Making Money From Your Blogging? A small percentage (5.2%) of DBT readers aren't interested in making money from blogging … but the vast majority, at 61.6% want to make money but aren't yet doing so. If you've been putting a lot of effort into your blog without any financial rewards – yet – then rest assured that this is normal. It can be a frustrating time, but close to two thirds of DBT readers are in the same position as you. What now? I’ve been blogging more about monetization since the survey, and will keep posts coming on this topic to help you start making a steady income from your blog. #4: What Methods Are You Using to Make Money? We've covered monetization in several recent posts (Seven Ways Blogs Make Money, When Should You Start Monetizing Your Blog, and How Should You Monetize a New Blog?) and we weren't surprised that advertising (54.2%) and affiliate sales (51.8%) were the most popular monetization methods. Around a quarter of DBT readers (26.2%) are selling digital products, and another quarter (24.4%) are selling their services. What now? We’ll be taking a closer look at advertising revenue in the future, since this is such a popular monetization method. #5: Which Course Topics Are You Interested In? Almost everyone was interested in at least one of our proposed course topics, and the most popular turned out to be a beginner-friendly course on "Building a successful blog" – with "Taking your blog further" and "Creating your first digital product" running close behind. Daniel and I are getting the details of the course together right now, so look out for news on that over the next couple of weeks. What now? Our current plan is to run a four-week course on “Building a successful blog” before the end of 2013, then run follow-on courses covering the more advanced topics in early 2014. #6: What Would You Pay? This was a really interesting result for us, and a good illustration of why surveying your audience is so important! I thought DBT readers might want an in-depth, premium course … but as you might suspect from points #1 and #3 above, most of you don't have a lot to spend on blogging training. Almost half (47.7%) of DBT's readers said they'd pay $47 for the course, but 38% said they'd pay nothing. Quite a few readers left comments to explain that this was because they were on a very tight budget, and several suggested alternative figures ($25, $29 and $30 all came up). What now? Good news! I've revised my (perhaps a bit ambitious ) plans accordingly, and while we can't make our first course completely free, we're going to make it quite a bit less than $47. Do any of these results surprise you? Or do they fit perfectly with your own blogging experience? Let us know in the comments… Wanna learn how to make more money with your website? Check the Online Profits training program!

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