2014 reader survey results

I am super excited to share the results of my first reader survey. I was doodling with a sharpie, trying to think of the best way to present this information... and decided to use my doodles to make things more interesting. [side note: not all drawings are to scale, or geographically accurate. oops.]

first, I want to say thanks to everyone who participated. I learned a lot about my readers [you guys!] through this survey. and I think the results will help guide some of my future content, based on what you liked most and least.

readers like most:

travel stories + photos

personal posts

life in Taiwan / expat experiences

readers like least:

book updates

recipes / food posts

post about blogging

[though many people skipped this question]

readers would be interested in:

travel / destination guides 64%

photography tutorials 57%

writing tips 45%

packing guides 43%

blogging tips 32%

one thing that really jumped out at me was the number of expats reading this blog. nearly 2/3 of readers have, do, or plan to live abroad. since I myself am an expat, and write about expat life often, I guess that makes sense. I know that [for me] connecting with other expat bloggers has been a wonderful thing in helping to deal with culture shock and commiserate about missing home.

here's how it broke down:

NOT expats 37%

currently expats 37%

former expats 16%

future expats 10%

considering that this blog is written in the English language [or something close to it, anyway] it shouldn't be surprising that 53% of my readers live in the US and UK. [and sorry if you live in Alaska, Hawaii, or any portion of any of these countries which my sharpie skills missed or messed up.]

many of you read ink + adventure because you have visited or lived in Taiwan. a few of you are fellow Michiganders and Spartans. others just enjoy reading travel/expat blogs and learning about life across the world. and 16% of you claim to know me in real life.

another discovery was the number of readers who are bloggers. I mean, we all know that if you write a blog, you are likely to also read blogs. based on the survey results: 66% of readers are bloggers, 34% are not [but 13% might like to be.] not shocking - almost everyone who said they enjoyed posts about blogging, or were interested in seeing blogging tips here, were bloggers.

I think this result might be a little skewed, since I know people who are bloggers are more likely to comment, and I think they are more likely to do something like a survey as well.

another crazy statistic [that is probably quite typical of blog readers and people likely to take surveys] is that 80% of readers are between 18 and 35 years of age.

51% of readers have started following in the last 6 months. I've been putting effort into growing this blog as of late and - it's working! in fact, 61% of you said you discovered this blog via social media or a feature or linkup on another blog. so... welcome, and I hope you'll stick around!

but I have to show some love for my longtime readers too. 28% have been reading for over a year [which dates back before I was taking this blog business seriously] and 14% have been following since the beginning back in May 2012. that includes several people who used to read my food blog before then, and have stuck around all this time. have I told you guys you're amazing recently?

length of readership:

less than 1 month 6%

1 to 3 months 20%

3 to 6 months 24%

6 months to 1 year 21%

1 to 2 years 14%

since the beginning 14%

and of course, the cat rating. when I saw this as an option I couldn't help but add it. some readers commented that they have cat bias [dog people!] and so rated it lower. overall, you guys awarded your survey experience an average rating of 4.39 cats. or... 4 black cats and 1 white cat with a black tail.

the general consensus seems to be you all love my photos, but many of you also enjoy reading for the "personality" and "honesty" in my writing style. one criticism I received was that I don't share enough pictures of myself in posts. well... I have to agree! [and I'm hoping to change that.]

I also wanted to share some of my favorite comments I received in the free response sections. these gave me some serious warm fuzzies. you guys are so sweet, and this is as much to remind me when I get discouraged as it is to share with you:

"the main reason is your honesty - it's not always easy to come by in this world, 

so it's so refreshing to see a take on life as an expat that isn't all travel and rosiness"

"I first fell in love with the pictures, then slowly with the way Jamie writes."

"I'm not authorized to work [in my current country.] So when I read about your personal work 

(your book, blogging habits etc) it makes me feel empowered. 

Even without a "real job" you can still be an accomplished person."

"I really like the way you write, it feels like hearing news from a friend"

"because it's warm & filled with color & opens a window to a world I might never see"

and several of you made statements to the effect of 

"I think I would like Jamie in real life"

thank you so much again for taking my survey! I hope you enjoyed reading the results and that my sharpie doodle graphics kept all the data interesting. this whole experience was both very enlightening and encouraging for me, and I can't wait to compare the results to next year's. hopefully you'll be around then too :)

the temples of Lotus Lake

the Lotus Lake area of Kaohsiung is packed with temples, pagodas, and pavilions. [I've already shown you the Confucius temple and the Dragon Tiger Pagodas - but there are plenty of temples not marked on the tourist map that I still found beautiful and photo-worthy.

I've said it before and I'm sure I will say it again a thousand times over the course of living in Taiwan: one of my favorite things is that you can find temples while wandering just about anywhere.

all of these temples were visible just by walking around the lake path - and we could spot plenty of dragon-topped roofs just a few blocks further back. just another reminder to keep your eyes open and look beyond the guidebook.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

and now I'd like to introduce you to my featured sponsor this month. Olivia is the Australian traveler behind the blog Halfway Somewhere, where she shares her travels and tips on everything from taking photos while traveling solo to how to survive an overnight train journey. I'm also in love with this clever DIY project she imagined - turning leftover foreign coins into magnets. read on to get to know her better, then stop by her blog for more!

I'm Olivia. I'm an International Studies student from Melbourne, Australia, although I try to get out of the country as much as I can. I like to move overseas and spend 6 months or more in a place as opposed to taking trips where you're constantly on the move, so that's what I write about the most on Halfway Somewhere - moving overseas, studying overseas, taking a gap year, all that fun stuff.

what are some of your favorite posts, and why? I recently wrote one called An Australian's first impressions of America that was both really fun to think up while I was in the States this year and seems to have resonated with a lot of people, both Americans and visitors, which is always nice.

Another one I really like is Can Harry Potter teach you a new language? I grew up on Harry Potter and basically love everything about it, so using it to learn Spanish was a lot of fun. Turns out it's not an uncommon thing to do, which is awesome.

what is your favorite trip you've ever taken? While I've never had a bad trip yet and I love all the trips I've done for different reasons, my favourite is probably my first big one when I moved to Ireland after high school. It was the first time I was on my own and out of my parents' house and I was living and working with some great people who I still see as much as I can, even though we're all spread out across the world now. I'd always wanted to spend my life travelling and that trip was like confirmation that this is what I want to do.

where would your dream trip take you? My dream trip is to buy an old Winnebago and spend months (years?) driving slowly around the world. I'll have to get it in the States since they're so cheap over there, so I'll explore Canada and America for a while and then bring it home to Australia somehow. That's probably two years away now, but I talk about it all the time. I try not to write about it too much since it's not happening soon, but every now and then I can't help it and dedicate a post to that dream.

learn more about Olivia on her blog: halfway somewhere

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