Saturday, February 28, 2015

Chris Kauffman blog...Reader survery

          I have had a lot of time to really think about my blog lately...what is it's purpose?
Where is it headed? What will I post about especially during these lean times when projects are few and far between. I started this blog to show and share decorating projects and then to share my DIY projects, just to share and for feedback...good or bad, mostly it has been a great experience.

I started this blog way back before Pinterest and way before instagram and twitter, blogging was just blogging...you could make some money with advertising and that was a bonus but it wasn't the goal.

I recently went to a blogger media event and it was great to reconnect with other bloggers that I respect and admire and that understand the journey of writing a long term blog. Turns out I am not alone with the way I am feeling about blogs, about my blogging and about sponsors and partnerships with brands.

                               thought I'd throw a little selfie in here just in case you forget what I look like...hi!

I feel like the blogging world has changed a lot in the last few years...Many years ago...going on 8 years, I started blogging to share to connect and for fun, today I see a whole other community of bloggers, ones who are mainly blogging for income (I didn't see that one coming)...of course making an income is great....no one would shame anyone for trying to make money and that is not my intent, we all need money to survive and heck we certainly need money to keep these blogs going after all...these projects don't pay for themselves for the most part...but I think it's caused a shift in the way some blogs come across...it can feel like a numbers game, it's a touchy subject and it can alienate readers and no one wants to do that.

I don't want to get caught up in that, for me that's not what I want...we tell our kids not to worry about likes on their selfies or followers on their instagram feed...so when I hear people buy followers it truly makes me sad...it sounds like a popularity contest that I am not willing to sign up for.

I know it is a tricky balance, no one wants to sell their soul to the devil for success or for money & I know I hate it when a blog/blogger I follow and really enjoy makes the change into mainly a promotional blog and they leave behind all of what made me visit and follow their blogs in the first place.
  I too have over the last 1 1/2 years started to embrace the occasional sponsored post. As many bloggers I do get approached to review and promote lots of products and brands... and because most of the time the products aren't an authentic fit for me I don't usually participate...when it is something I feel strongly or positively about I am happy to be a part of sponsored posts or reviews and it is a great perk of having a blog at this stage of the game.
Currently things I review and promote about are 90% personally endorsed no compensation and max 10% sponsored.

I have slowed down my blog posts as I really want to have an interesting post to share that is worth publishing, I don't want to scramble together a little bit of content just to keep posts coming, however I am planning to make a change to the frequency of my posts. You don't want me to blather on the way I used to about any old thing I'm sure for that you can always follow my on Instagram here  please let me know you followed from my blog I would love to follow you back.

I am hoping that you can help me out to show me where I should take this blog by completing this quick survey to give me some information I really need to best serve you... click here to take the survey. Please feel free to leave addiditonal question and comments on this post if you like.
* I am so grateful for all of the responses sadly the survey is closed for now. thank you 

I look forward to your answers...thank you for taking time to answer a few questions.

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