
Last month I conducted my third reader survey, and as usual it was really fun to go through all the answers. I got a total of 192 responses! I was hoping for an even 200, but WHATEVER, YOU GUYS. It's fine. I'm over it.
Thanks to everyone who took a few minutes to answer some questions for me. Some of the answers were predictable, but some were really surprising! I'm only sharing thoughts on the first half of the questions, because quite honestly I got overwhelmed and just decided to stop. So check back for part two! [UPDATE: Read part 2 here.]
Before we start, I say this every time I do a blog survey, but I just want everyone to take a moment of silence for all the moments I spent making these pie charts that I can never get back.

Holler to the twenty-somethings! Although in just about a year I'll be moving up an age bracket, so I don't know quite what to think about that. It's nice to see a range of ages represented. I like to think there's a little something for everyone on TLO...

The US seems to dominate my blogging world, but I have enjoyed getting to know some of you who hail from foreign lands I'll probably never get to visit. I asked this question in my first reader survey, and the percentages were about the same.

I asked this question in a previous survey as well, and the responses this time were a little different. Most of the people who answered my last survey were bloggers (63%), whereas this time it was less than half. I'm not sure what that means or if it means anything, but I figured I'd make note of it in any case. Maybe blogs are dying? Or maybe I'm attracting fewer bloggers these days? Who knows.

It makes me happy that there are so many of you who have been reading for a while! I really do feel like I have a great community of bloggers here, and it is always so much fun interacting with you. So hurrah for that. For those of you who are fairly new, welcome! Feel free to email me any time. I'd love for us to be friends. I also have handy tabs up at the top where you can browse some of the archives if you're into that kind of thing.

It's not surprising that the majority if you follow me via a blog reader. I asked this question on a previous survey, and since the first time, my Twitter numbers have jumped up considerably (3% vs. 13%).
Unfortunately for you Twitter people, we all know I'm terrible at promoting my posts on there. I'll try to do better, but I think it's obnoxious when people tweet a link to the same post 85 times a day. I guess I need to find a balance...
If you don't follow my blog on Facebook, maybe you should. You might have more success getting updates. I always link my posts on Facebook, but I promise not to spam you guys with other links and random crap no one really wants to see. Sometimes I preview upcoming posts too!
"Other" responses on this one were mostly that people come directly to the site through my URL. Someone wrote "I manually browse like an animal," so thanks? I guess. I don't know.
"Other" responses on this one were mostly that people come directly to the site through my URL. Someone wrote "I manually browse like an animal," so thanks? I guess. I don't know.


These two questions go together, obviously. I got the idea to ask these from another blog survey I found on the internet. I found it interesting that although 36% never leave a comment, only 20% never read the comments. This means there are 16% of you who read comments but never leave one yourself. You know who you are. (Ahem, Jordan Bumgarner.)
In case you didn't know, as a blogger it's hard not to gauge the success of a post on the number of comments it did or didn't get. However, obviously that's a terrible way to gauge anything, since it looks like only about 20% of those who read a post consistently leave a comment! This is fine, of course, but it's definitely good to know for my own reference.
I also enjoyed seeing that people do read the comments. I find your comments so interesting and fun, and I like that others do as well! Honestly, sometimes the comments section is more interesting than my actual post. Plus you all have great advice. If you haven't ever taken time to skim through the comments, you should!

I've been wanting to ask you all this for a long time, and I'll be honest: the answers surprised me. About half of you have no idea what I'm even talking about. If you don't know, Disqus (yeah, I spelled it wrong in the graphic, but I'm not changing it now) is a third-party commenting system that I have been thinking about installing on my blog. A lot of blogs have it. My favorite feature is that when you reply to a comment, the blogger who left the comment gets notified. Currently, only I get notified if a comment is left.
However, there are a few things that have been holding me back. You do have to log in to leave a comment, and I don't want to discourage anyone from commenting because of that. Also, I worry that since it's a third-party system, it will slow down my blog. That seems to happen occasionally on other blogs I read that have Disqus, and I feel like my blog runs kind of slow already. (It's those darn BlogHer ads that make me approximately 2 cents a week.)
I also really enjoy the back-and-forth emails I have with those of you who comment, and I don't really want all of that showing up on my actual post, which is what would happen if I used Disqus. I could email separately through Disqus, but it seems more complicated than just replying to an email, which is what I'm doing now.
All that to say, I thought the answers to this would be much more swayed for Disqus, but I was really surprised to see that of the 50% who even knew what I was talking about, nearly 40% don't care either way, and only 8% really want me to get it. Considering that 7% don't want me to install it, it's pretty evenly split overall. I was certain that after seeing the answers to this question, I would install it. But now I'm conflicted. I think I might just leave it as is for now and see how I feel later on. Thoughts?

The answers to this question were surprising. I thought for sure you would say that my posts are too long. I feel like compared to many of the blogs I read and see out there, my posts are pretty long. And especially since people don't seem to want to read, I figured more people would say they skim.
I am very shocked that not a single person said they think my posts are long. Most if you feel they are just right, so that's great! When I write posts, I don't try to hit a certain word count or anything; I just write until the post feels complete, so it's nice to get validation that I'm doing a good job in that department.
(I hope you all catch the irony here that this post where I talk about the length of my posts is probably the longest ever. Ha!)
I am very shocked that not a single person said they think my posts are long. Most if you feel they are just right, so that's great! When I write posts, I don't try to hit a certain word count or anything; I just write until the post feels complete, so it's nice to get validation that I'm doing a good job in that department.
(I hope you all catch the irony here that this post where I talk about the length of my posts is probably the longest ever. Ha!)

I explained some of my thoughts about blogging about Baby Bum when I shared my pregnancy journal. I know that a lot of bloggers use their blogs as their weekly diary to write about the baby, but since I am making my journal, I don't feel the need to do that. I also don't think I could keep up with a weekly post. I do feel a bit like a hypocrite, because I enjoy reading weekly bump updates from other bloggers I follow (I used to always skip those, but now that I'm pregnant I like reading them), but again I don't feel the need to do them myself, and I feel good about the amount I'm blogging about the baby. However, if anyone ever wants to talk baby or pregnancy with me, I am always up for a good email conversation, so feel free to get in touch that way!

This is where things get serious.
Who are you fools who prefer creamy over crunchy? Get out.
No that was mean.
But really the 6% of you who said you hate peanut butter can leave now.
Someone actually made a point to write in a special note to me that said, "Crunchy peanut butter is gross." When I find out who you are, you're dead to me.
I am sorry for those of you who are allergic. I keep saying that if Baby Bum decides she's allergic to peanut butter, I'm sending her back. Do they give refunds on babies?
Don't answer that.
I do want to take a minute and give a shoutout to the person who wrote an extended comment about how unfair this question was. I've copied the comment below for your reading enjoyment.
_________
Uh, the answer to "My favorite type of peanut butter is:" is not quite fair, b/c it is entirely dependent upon the situation in which it is being used. You made me select one answer! And it was mandatory!
See, you cannot have a crunchy peanut butter and honey nut cheerios (optional: banana slices) sandwich. There's just too much going on in each bite, and it is overwhelming.
But, you could have crunchy peanut butter and grape (welch's) jelly sandwich.
Yes, my house has 2 types (same brand- Skippy) of Peanut Butter in the cupboard - as well as Hellman's Mayonnaise (ick) & Miracle Whip in the Fridge.
_________
I'll end it there. Because peanut butter.
CRUNCHY RULES ALL.
Amen.
Part 2 will cover your responses to all the specific topic options, and I want to address some of the critiques I got and responses to "I like reading The Lady Okie Blog because..."
I can't promise I'll get to it soon. We're actually moving next month for real, and it's about to get crazy up in the Bumgarner house.