To those who took the time to take my recent reader survey: let me start by saying you are all so smart and inspiring! I'm sure those of you who haven't responded are just as brilliant. After reading your feedback and kind words, I am more motivated than ever to take Life After College to the next level. During the last two years of blogging, I've been pretty laid-back and "fly by the seat of my pants" with my blog. Now it's time for me to look forward and be more proactive about where I want the site to go. In the next few months I am going to set some concrete goals for my blog and my business - which I will share (per your feedback!) as soon as I can.
Below is a summary of your feedback so that you know what to expect in the coming months. Many of your ideas sparked new thoughts of my own (added bonus!), which I also shared below.
Survey Feedback Summary
What you like:
- Practical advice and tips that are easy to incorporate into your daily routine
- Demystifying big issues like finance, career and organization.
- Clear, conversational tone with a sense of humor (blushing over here)
Content and ideas you'd like to see:
- Be open, share my experiences and struggles; make a point to write a couple posts a month that are more self-reflective (to balance out the informative posts)
- Post on a regular schedule to help readers know when to expect a new post
- "Jenny Blake Approved" list of products
- Include more images & video
- Share my vision on where the website (and my life!) is going
- Real life case studies and/or "Ask Jenny" Q&A
- Specific post ideas: more on dating & relationships, overall happiness after college, staying positive, simple living tips, strategies for making friends.
Some ideas that I had as a result of your feedback:
- Create a "templates" page with a link to all the templates I've shared
- Restructure my coaching services in a major way - package my coaching around specific topics and offer as one-off sessions (so you don't have to commit to a 3-6 month engagement). I will still give people the option of ongoing coaching if that's what works best for them.
- "Ask the Readers" feature - I'll post a question or predicament from a reader, people can weigh-in in the comments.
- Short, 5-minute video interviews with people living "life after college" - focused on struggles and triumphs in different areas of life
- Weekly Life After College virtual tip collection buckets - with a chance to be featured in my book!
- Site map of best articles by category
I don't yet know when I will implement all of the ideas above, but it makes me excited to think about all the ways to build out this website even further. If this summary sparks any new ideas or requests (or if you haven't yet had a chance to participate), I'm leaving the survey open for a while longer.
Thanks again everyone! Jenny
P.S. Speaking of feedback - check out the video testimonials I did for Rypple, a great Web 2.0 service that provides a clean interface for quickly gathering and reviewing feedback.