The Survey Results Are In!

 

Ok, to be honest, the results were in a while ago, but unfortunately I couldn’t get around to them till now. Better late than never, right?

I had only received 8 responses, but I’m glad I received any responses at all. I guess a lot of people feel the same way about as I do about surveys. 😉 Even if there were only 8 responses, I’ll still share the results because I said I would and even if you didn’t fill out the survey, you might be curious.

Everyone receives feedback. If we work for an organization or company we get evaluated on a regular basis. We all want good feedback.  Nobody wants negative feedback. Sometimes it can be hard to hear. People can sometimes misinterpret constructive feedback as negative feedback. How you deliver the feedback to the person is really important.  Telling people in an encouraging way, what they need to work on/what they need to improve it is only going to help them get better and reach their goals quicker. It’s a growing and learning process.

While I was training to become a group fitness instructor, I would ask and receive a lot of feedback.  I still receive feedback from time to time from my peers and my members.  It has helped me in all aspects of teaching:  demonstrating my technique, my coaching-when to reinforce certain things, my cueing-setting them up for the next movement and motivating-how to motivate, when to motivate, what type of voice to use.

In the near future, I would like to take a couple of more training courses on instructing classes.

Getting back on track: So, to those 8 people (you know who you are), who took the time and effort out of their busy lives to read and respond to my questions:

 THANK YOU SO MUCH! I REALLY APPRECIATE IT!  IT MEANT A LOT TO ME.

The survey is now closed so I’ll go through the questions briefly and add some comments if needed.

Q1. What is your gender?

I was curious to see who my readers were. Although 8 is clearly not a huge numbers, so that stats won’t be that impressive, I also didn’t think a visual representation such as a graph was necessary either) but if you’re curious to know, 5 were male and 3 were female.

Q2. What is your age?

Five people are in the 25-34 age group. Whereas there is one person from each of these age groups: 35-55, 45-54, and 55-64.

Q3.  How did you find the site?

Most people seemed to have found me through a link from another blog (4).  The next method was via Twitter (2). One person didn’t remember and a couple of people skipped that question.
(I wonder if my blog has ever come up in a casual conversation over a cup of coffee or on a date.  So, if you’re not the best at small talk like myself, why don’t you bring up blogs and mention my blog? It has a catchy name.)

Q4. How long have you been reading the blog?

Two people have been reading it for 6 months. Three people have been reading it for 6 months -1 year.  One person has been reading it for 1-2 years.  The last two skipped this question. Considering, that this blog is less than 3 years old, it’s pretty cool knowing that there are  people out there who have been reading my stuff for a while.

Q5. What topics do you enjoy reading the most? Please check all that apply.

Travel -1

Fitness -1

Relationships-2

Food-2

Saving Money-5

Investing-5

Technology-3

I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised that the saving money and investing categories were the most popular. Who wouldn’t want to read about saving money and how to make more money? My blog name is after all, MakintheBacon!  Regarding niche though, I still consider my blog niche to be a blend of personal finance/lifestyle, although lately I think it’s been leaning more towards personal finance.

One person’s response for the other category was “personal stories or personal viewpoints on topics”.  I don’t have too many personal stories on personal finance. If you read the My Story post, you’d probably find it pretty boring and unexciting compared to other bloggers’ stories.  However, I will still continue to provide personal viewpoints on topics I find interesting.

Q6. What do you like most about the blog?

Surprisingly only two people answered. Maybe everyone just likes the blog in general? 😉

Here’s what they had to say:

” I like that you write from a personal perspective and share your life. Your posts aren’t like the generic ones that you always see.”

“it seems personable, topics are relatable”

There may have only been two comments, but it was more than enough to make me smile and give me those warm fuzzy feelings inside. I know the majority of my topics aren’t original, and especially in this day and age of the internet, it’s almost impossible to write something that someone already hasn’t written about before.

I do try my best to write as if I’m talking to you, hence the random, cheesy jokes, sarcasm, dry humour, ranting, going off the main topic (I think I tend to that a lot. Lol) etc, etc. My goal is to make my posts as authentic as possible and I’m glad that people can relate to them on a certain level.

Sometimes I’ll have a topic I want to write about and I’ll have writer’s block for days on end. I don’t have a schedule. I basically write when I have time and whenever I feel like it. Like many bloggers, I’ll write a post, read it, re-read it and re-read it some more. Then come back to it and read it a few more times before I feel comfortable publishing it.

Q7. What would you like to see more of?

One person wanted more giveaways. I can totally understand that. Who wouldn’t want more giveaways??!?! So far I have had only one, hopefully more will come my way. C’mon free stuff!!

One person left a comment: topics that are relatable. I also like your stock analysis (not overly analytical like P/E ratios and earnings, but reasoning like “I see these products everywhere, they are useful and catching on”)

I actually would like to learn more about the technical side of analyzing stocks, but I do think it’s important to have your own reasons for buying particular stocks as well. I think it makes them seem less intimidating when you’re familiar with the company’s product.

Three people want to see my net worth and/or blog income. I still go back and forth with the revealing of the net worth. The way everyone calculates it and what they include in it is so different from one person to the next. It’s definitely not something to brag about, it’s really more on the lower end compared to other pf bloggers, but given my past circumstances, it’s not too bad?

Regarding blog income, I will look into writing a future post about it and maybe include my experience with blog monetization thus far.

Q8. What could I do to improve MakintheBacon?

Much to my surprise, nobody answered the question at all. I thought I would get some comments for sure on it.

I suppose what I would I like to improve is more from a blogger’s point of view:

• Blog re-design: I am debating whether or not I want to try this one myself or shell out the money and go pro. I paid for the pre-made theme I currently have less than a year ago, so I think I may want to stick with it for a little bit longer. I still would like to have a re-design eventually. I’ve been saying that for how many years though….lol

 

• A bit more content: I have approached a couple of fellow bloggers to help me out on this one, those whose writing styles I feel are somewhat in line with mine. Expect to see the occasional post from them.

 

• More variety of posts: Not only in the topic sense, but the type of post. My collaborative post on Women in Investing for the most part was well received. I would like to include a few more collaborative posts in the future. I would also like to have more interviews with personal finance figures, interviews with authors, more personal finance book reviews ,possibly product reviews and summary of my attending a finance-related event/seminar.

 

Q9. Where has my blog helped you the most?

Here are the responses from the people who answered this question:

“It helps knowing that there are others like me who want to be financially independent”

I agree. Blogs and the internet in general has helped create a place for people to connect with others with the same goal and share their triumphs and tribulations along the way. Sometimes I feel I’m the only one in my circles who is passionate about this, but it’s nice knowing that there are other people with the same mindset.

“Relating to personal experiences. You are in a “real” financial situation and aren’t afraid to share it!”

I wish more people weren’t afraid to open up more and share their financial situation. Sure, we can be somewhat judgemental, but I think we’d show more empathy and/or sympathy if we knew what the other person was going through. Opening up is not that easy. For the most part, I can be a pretty closed book in person, but I’m comfortable about being open with my finances/financial situation to a certain extent on the internet.

Q10. Would you recommend this blog to friends, family and colleagues?

Four people said yes! The other half skipped this question. So, what are you waiting for, spread the word. Tell them to subscribe!

 

Final Thoughts: I’ll be honest, when I first started this blog, my sole intent was just to make money. I made absolutely no money the first year and a half, but I realized I enjoyed blogging and was excited when people visited and/or commented. I still feel the same way and I hope you’ll still keep on reading. 🙂