The Survey Results and Our Decision

Thank you to everyone who took our survey and left comments on the post. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate your feedback and honesty! It had a massive influence on our decision about opening the blog to sponsors and advertisers and hosting giveaways.

First, here are the results of the survey:

• It was almost a 50/50 split between liking and disliking blogs that offer sponsorships/ads.
• Only 1/3 often read posts with product reviews; about 1/3 rarely read them.
• 50% often enjoy giveways; another 40% sometimes enjoy them.
• 56% agreed that 1 giveaway a month is the right amount.
• 42% rarely visit sponsored websites and 46% only sometimes visit them.  
• Product reviews are best when the blogger has paid for the item themselves; otherwise it seems dishonest.  If they don't pay for the item themself a lot of you said that you wished the review was more realistic.
• If a blog has too many ads / buttons on their site it is distracting; however most of you said you don't look at the ads at all. 
• Giveaways should match the blogger's style/site and should be limited to once a month.
• If a blog has sponsors, they should match the host blog's style/aesthetic. 

Our decision is this - we will NOT sponsor/host companies, other blogs or shops on the blog, nor will we conduct product reviews (where the product is given to the blogger for free). 

Matt and I talked about how much work goes into hosting sponsors - the behind the scenes coordination, the adding of buttons and ads on the blog itself, payment details, plus the posts dedicated to ensuring these "advertisers" are getting their money's worth. And a company sends you something to review, pays you for the review, but can you truly be honest about it? I wouldn't want to promote something that I didn't believe in or truly like. However, we are open to hosting giveaways on occasion. I blog for ErgoBaby and they are a huge fan of doing giveaways through their guest posters; I also know a few other companies that I would be glad to host a giveaway for. (I'll add an official policy thing on the blog soon.)

Also, a few of you noted in the general comments section that you'd like to hear from my "silent partner" Matt every once in a while. ME TOO! So I am going to beg him to write something here every once in a while - he isn't comfortable writing in general, but I agree that his voice needs to be heard.

Again, THANK YOU for your feedback and opinions!!! I have the BEST readers out there!