Professional Blogging For Dummies®

Chapter BC. Blogger Survey Results

It seems like every day, one research organization or another releases new results about bloggers, social media, and the Web. Probably the most relevant to Professional Blogging For Dummies is the annual state of the blogosphere report from search engine Technorati.

In 2008, Technorati reported that the top reasons bloggers blog are to

• Speak their mind

• Share their expertise

• Connect with like-minded people

• Keep friends and family updated

And in 2009, Technorati probed into the financial side of blogging and reported that only 17 percent of bloggers derive their primary income from blogging, largely from advertising and affiliate marketing. See the following site for the results:

http://technorati.com/blogging/article/day-4-blogging-
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Not wanting to base my conclusions on Technorati alone, I conducted a little original research into the subject, using online survey tool SurveyMonkey (www.surveymonkey.com). My survey objective was simple: To give you a snapshot of what people just like you do with their blogs. The best way to use the data is as an indicator of general trends among bloggers.

In this bonus chapter, I explain in more detail how I carried out the survey for Professional Blogging For Dummies and then explain the results.

How I Conducted the Survey

To solicit respondents, I reached out through my blog, Facebook, and Twitter, clearly describing the survey as a survey of independent, individual, or small-business bloggers, to be used ...