Around February of this year I decided I wanted to start building my blog. But life happens and schedules happen and the blog building had definitely been sidelined for a few (or 6) months. Blogging takes time! A lot of time. And a lot more time than I’ve had this year. But things are a changing around here and I may find myself with a bit more time on my hands relatively soon (Hopefully. Fingers crossed for us please!).
In anticipation of growing my blog, last month I put out a survey to get an idea of what people like to read about on the old blog. What brings you back? What keeps your interest?
I first want to say thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who took the survey! I truly appreciate your feedback and it really helped me get an idea of what you all like to read about here on A Touch of Grace. All 10 of you….
Even though participation was low, I was able to glean a pretty good idea of what people like to read about here.
The results are in…
I discovered that the 2 areas that people liked to read about most are personal stories and family. Honestly, this was a little surprising to me because those types of posts seem to get lower readership than others. This may have to do with the fact that quite a few people who took the survey are friends (I think) and friends always want to hear about what’s going on in your life. Nevertheless, I plan to continue with my #graceeveryday posts because it’s a great virtual scrapbook for us. I’ll also continue to post about any wild weekends we have or fun vacations we take.
Recipes and health/fitness posts were also high in the rankings. I know I’ve been slacking lately on my health/fitness posts, so I’m planning to focus on this in the near future. I also want to post more clean eating recipes in the coming months. Those were a big hit when I did them a few months back so I want to continue with some healthy recipe posts. I’ll of course continue to post my baked goods because that is most definitely my happy place. 🙂
About half of those who took the survey were interested in guest posts from other bloggers. I’ll continue to do this every so often. It’s a great opportunity for me to network with other bloggers, as well as gain new readers.
Scoring low was reviews/giveaways. Unfortunately reviews are a potential source of income for me, but I don’t do them often and will continue to try to keep them interesting and informative.
I loved receiving the positive feedback from you! It affirmed that you enjoy reading A Touch of Grace and really made me want to continue on this journey I’ve been on the last year and a half.
Next on the horizon…
I am going to be redesigning the blog and switching to WordPress! I am so excited for the change; and slightly terrified at the same time. WordPress is a whole ‘nother ball game and I really hope I don’t mess it up. I’m teaming with 2 wonderful women for the redesign and transfer because Lord knows I would 100% mess that up. I may work in IT, but I am by far the least techy person I know. I’m sure I’ll be raving about them when all is said and done.
I’m also working on my strategic plan for the blog. I actually started this a while ago, but lots has changed so I’m starting fresh. My friend Jennifer from The Deliberate Mom did a great post on strategic planning a few months back. It is my inspiration for my strategic plan for A Touch of Grace.
My blogging journey has definitely had it’s ups and downs, but I love writing and sharing with you all. I truly value the friendships I’ve created in my little corner of the blogosphere and I look forward to coming every day and seeing the comments from readers and reading your blogs as well. So thank you for being such a great support system. You don’t even know how much it means to me.
Now….time to get this blog ready to move to WordPress. 🙂
YAY for WordPress!! Seriously. You will really really love it once you get the hang of it.
I can’t wait to see where your blog goes! It’s a great read!
Yay! Exciting! I’m looking forward to all of it 🙂 I admire you for switching over…that intimidates me :-p Can’t wait to see what you think about the change.
I’m so grateful for your blog because of the friendship that we have now! I seriously feel so blessed to call you a friend and appreciate you always being there for me 🙂
Wonderful to hear what your surveys revealed. You’re doing a lot right Tiffany.
WordPress switch… I’m sure it will be fine. That’s why it’s great to hire someone to do the work for you.
Wishing you well and thanks for the mention. I’m so glad you used my strategic planning template to get changes underway.
Praying for all aspects of your life right now.
Wishing you a lovely day.
xoxo
Oh so exciting! You will LOVE WP 🙂 I started with blogger too – WP is so much better. I had a friend do all the work for me – transferred all the posts, comments, etc – so, if you have questions or want someone to do it, he would love too!!! Excited for the new changes 🙂
You’ve done an amazing job so far with your blog and I can’t wait to see how it progresses 🙂 I enjoy reading your adventures and recipe ideas in the morning before I get started at work….shhh don’t tell my boss hehe.
Aw thanks girl. I’ve really enjoyed sharing different aspects of our lives on here. It’s been a challenge at times but I would love to be able to continue this blog as long as possible.
So glad you like reading in the morning. That’s when I try to read my favorite blogs too. 🙂
I appreciate you always being there Brittnei. We are definitely lifelong followers of each others’ blogs. Yes, I do get a lot of traffic from Pinterest which is great, but you’re right, not always long term followers. I am really enjoying blogging more now than I have in a while so I’m really excited to make the change to WP. It’s always great to hear more positive praise of the platform. 🙂
Yay for changes! I love WordPress. I bet I can answer why your results read that way compared to your traffic. The people who visit for recipes and tips usually are coming just for that particular post. They don’t always read to comment and follow forever especially when you blog about all sorts of things. I bet that traffic came from Pinterest? That’s a guess. I think I forgot to take the survey. I’m glad I didn’t though because I love reading what’s been on your heart now so I think I’ll like whatever you decide to add or change. We seem to have the same interests in healthy living, food and we are mommas…with other minor interests or similarities I’ve noticed in between. I think I’m a forever follower…that is as long as I’m blogging and the Creator allows me to 🙂
Love this plan, Tiffany. I love your blog and I’m glad you love blogging, because it’s been really fun following along with your cute little family. Sometimes bloggers disappear and it’s actually sad cause you can’t follow along anymore! I can’t wait to see how you like WP compared to Blogger. I’ve gone over that decision in my head about a million times for the last year. Hopefully we can talk lots of blogging next week, haha!
Oh my goodness, can I first say, I LOVE the look of your blog?!
Wowzers! It;s screaming you!
I also see you have a cute little favicon too!
It already looks all WordPressy (I know it’s not a real word but work with me). When do you make the big WordPress switch?
Plus I see you have your own domain too! Woohoo!
So exciting! Thanks for the shout-out too my friend. I’m glad my strategic plan post/template is being put to good use.
Wishing you a lovely day.
xoxo
LOL – see what happened there? So you must have made the WordPress switch.
My WordPress dashboard indicated you had linked to my Strategic Plan post, so I came right over through the link to read.
Funny too because I was thinking as I was reading this post… hmmm, this sounds so familiar but maybe you’re re-emphasizing these changes. Of course I didn’t catch on either because everything looks so different. LOL
That’s so cool it let’s you know someone linked to one of your posts! I am seriously just getting in for the first time right now. So much to learn!!
Thank you so much Jennifer! I’m super happy with it. She did a great job and was so quick. I’m hoping you see all these replies. 🙂