What People Read on Your Blog

Late last year I placed a poll on my blog and website, asking people to tick whichever of these categories applied to them. Most of the answers are encouraging. The only seriously bad news, is the low number of people who check out books and products for sale. I would like to see sidebars and Author information read more often. Bios may need to be placed in a sidebar to overcome reluctance to click on links.

As the poll was multiple choice, the results don’t add up to 100%. I decided on the choices based on the pet peeves I have heard from bloggers and blog readers.

What do you read in a blog results:

Only the linked post that interests me – 6%
I will look at recent posts – 23%
I will not click on teaser links to read more, I want the full post straight up – 4%
I rarely go through archives and calendars of posts – 8%
I check the sidebars for more information – 18%
I like to read about the author if I don’t know them – 18%
I will check out people’s books and products for sale – 9%
I bookmark to come back later, but rarely do – 5%

So what do you think of these results? I am interested in your interpretation and reaction. The sample was fairly modest.

If you have any ideas on how to improve the way we present books for sale on blogs, please place them in the comments below. It would be good to brainstorm new ideas.

Filed under: Writing Tagged: blog, poll, reader habits, readership, writer, writing