First off, let me say a big huge THANK YOU to all the EN readers who have already participated in our little census exercise. It has been really interesting reading your comments, getting a true idea of who our “nation” really is, and what you like about the site. Please keep commenting (positive or negative!), it really helps keep us motivated and focused on what to do next.
I have spent a portion of this evening playing with Excel, and have a rough tabulation of Census Results as of 6pm EST. I realize this is not a FULL reflection of our audience, but it’s at least somewhere to start. So, from the preliminary responses we have received…
Most popular location: Kentucky (5). (This does my big blue heart proud!) I know we have TONS more readers from the east coast area, particularly VA (Feedjit does not lie), but until those readers respond we can’t count them accurately. Tied for second: Massachussets, Michigan, and North Carolina (4). Also shout out to our 5 Canadians and 1 Australian checking in.
Average Age: The average age is about 33 yrs. Breaking this down further: about 19% Young Rider audience (16-21), 35% age 22-30yrs, 25% 30-45yrs, 21% 45-60yrs.
Eventing Experience: Averages out to about 12 years, but ranged from nearly none to over 40 years. Quite a diverse group!
Average Level: Preliminary was the most frequent response, but here again was a wide range from intro to Advanced and CCI****.
How long have you visited the site? Many of you have been reading since the beginning, at Fair Hill 2009. But there are lots of new readers, who have jumped on the bandwagon within the last few months (we did receive a huge spike in traffic in early January, I think most of you know why). I hope we can keep growing, but more importantly maintain the quality and spontaneity that keeps people coming back for more. Speaking of what you like…
Suggestions: a huge number of responders simply said “Keep up the good work!” We appreciate your attention to our efforts, and we’ll do our best to produce more of the same. The Training Sessions clinic reports have also gained a great response…I admit, I love them too! Also, there were many readers that requested lower-level rider profiles and inspirational stories– this is a GREAT suggestion and I promise we will work on it soon. We’ll keep on going with the humor, funny videos, and grooming tips, and we’ll try to expand our coverage for more West Coast and International views. I loved everyone’s ideas, and we will try to incorporate them as we can.
Thanks again for your participation. The number of comments we’ve received to this point has far exceeded our expectations. I can’t stress enough how much we appreciate your feedback, and getting to know you will help us better to provide the content you crave. Please keep responding to any and all topics you like (or don’t like); send us emails, photos, stories, suggestions to make the site better. We’re just everyday eventers running this site for fun, and we don’t pretend to know what we’re doing…we need your help sometimes!
If you haven’t added your comments to the Census, it’s never too late. I expect many more responses in over the next few days, and I’ll still be compiling the results. 🙂
