I’m very happy for the feedback I received as a result of a reader survey. I’ve shared the hard data, most recently with your favorite types of articles to read.

The survey also included a section for respondents to write any comments they may have, protected by anonymity. Here are some of those comments. Warning: this post is long and isn’t really about personal finance — it’s about this blog.

I’m already retired – have been for 8 years – I’d like to see more commentary/articles about those of us already living on pensions, those of us still working after retiring from careers, etc. Thanks!

Thanks for the topic suggestions! I have the habit of trying to write from experience more than anything, and I’m quite a few years from retirement. The topic doesn’t come naturally to me, but I can certainly look for inspiration.

More on renting vs. buying (benefits, tax situations, especially when living in a high cost area like NJ); the site covers a broad area of personal finance, and I like how you interject your personal life within the PF info given

Thanks! I thought I was writing too much on renting vs. buying for a while, but that is a topic that is very close to my interests at the moment.

I’d love to see more complex issues tackled sometimes, even if any given one will only apply to a subset of readers – for example, tax-advantageous ways to save money if you don’t have a 401(k) but once you’ve maxed out your IRA, issues of citizenship and investing, issues of how to invest when married, SRI investing, etc. But, I like things as they stand now, too!

I try to find balance between stuff I like that might be out of the ordinary for the usual financial reader (see my post, 10 Inexpensive Things You Could Do This Summer) and topics I think readers are interested in. I’m happy to look for certain subsets of readers.

In the end I like blogs that give me analysis rather than facts. It’s more interesting to read what a bright person thinks about things, and I think you’re doing a nice job – thanks!

I agree, facts suck (grin).

Good information, even though I am fairly sophisticated re financial matters. I sent a lot of your items to my daughter who is just getting her feet wet in investments, savings, etc.

Sharing the love is excellent. Thank you.

You’ve got a good thing going here. We disagree on a few things, but you definately run a ship-shape blog. Here are some topics for which I would like to see you cover: 1) Motivation for how each of your financial goals are set… 2) Fulfillment. Do you have a holistic approach to achieving “peace” through financial independence?… 3) How about some advanced financial topics… 4) Entrepreneurship/starting a business. This is probably an over-written topic, but a lot of whats out there is pretty miserable.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Change the format of your e-mail newsletter. Try some more html and possibly tinker around with linking the posts to the site instead of putting it right there in the newsletter, that way your website gets more traffic.

I use FeedBlitz for the email newsletter (you can sign up here), and I don’t have much control over the look, but that’s something I can work on.

First off, let me say that I do enjoy your blog and I encourage you to keep up the good work. That being said, you are seeking feedback, so I am going to give you some constructive criticism. (At least from my opinion.) Let me tell you what I hate. I spend a little time reading articles from websites like money.cnn. I hate that after I do that, blogs like yours try to use those same articles as posts of their own… I really dislike your “weekly roundups”. Again it is obvious your are just trying to promote your network buddies and not trying to be a service… I hate the “this week in the archives…” Again, let me re-state that I enjoy your blog…

Thanks, there are definitely some good points in there. I think in many cases, when you see blogs sharing links with each other, it is not for those readers who read personal finance blogs or articles on CNN Money as a habit. Every blog has a subset of readers who don’t read other articles in the genre. 67% of our readers read fewer than 20 other blogs, so there’s a chance someone might discover something new.

I’m a strong believer in building communities, and relationships between bloggers including interlinking helps in that respect.

Way back when, blogs were known for finding good content elsewhere on the web and linking to them, possibly adding commentary. After all, “blog” is short for “web log” — a log of things found on the web. The theory is it can be more beneficial and time-saving to read blogs that comment on the news and pick out the “important” items, like a filter — or like a MetaFilter.

My goal is to be able to provide my filter but work on the ratio so this linking is a smaller portion of the entire content here on Consumerism Commentary.

Thanks for the comments, everyone. Even the comments that weren’t all that positive were constructive. If you have anything else to add, feel free to post comments here — or if you would rather, you can email me as well.

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About the Author

Flexo, the owner and creator of Consumerism Commentary, has been blogging and writing for the internet since 1995 and has been building online communities since 1991. Find out more about him and follow him on Twitter.

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