Over the break, I spent a great deal of time planning for 2012. Part of this was undertaking in depth analysis of the survey I did before Christmas. The feedback was amazing and I am very appreciative of the time you spent completing it for me.
It has given me so much information and ideas for what I can and need to do in 2012. I did read every comment left, but as there were almost 600 responses, naturally there were some conflicting points of view, for example:
- Some requested more recipes meat and veg style, while another reader felt too many recipes contained meat.
- A number of readers asked for more cute party recipes, while another reader felt that there were too many sweet recipes.
- Lots of people like the step by step photos, while another didn’t.
- Many loved the Melbourne focused posts, while others wanted me to focus on other cities in Australia occasionally.
My reason for showing these examples is so you can understand that is not going to be possible for me to act on every single suggestion. However all of the suggestions have made me think more carefully as I put together the content plan for the blog for 2012, and where I have been able to I have tried to take the suggestions on board.
There was also feedback that was pretty unanimous, things like:
- More info how I approach the day to day basics of our family life.
- More about time management and achieving “balance”.
- More info on organising paper work and clutter in general.
- More info on menu planning.
- More post on routines for kids and mum.
- More posts on “mum” and finding time to do the things you want to do.
You will see this type of info being published more frequently through out the year.
Changes for 2012
The feedback also confirmed something I sort of new already – the navigation of the blog really could be better. Better defined categories, easier to use search facility and better recipe index where some of the key areas highlighted as needing improvement. And I agree!
So a new blog design is my first big project for 2012. It will take a little time, as there is 4 years worth of posts and the first couple of years I didn’t tag them correctly, so I will set about working on that, while my clever designers help me give the blog a complete make over. I am very excited about this!
In terms of posts, I will have some new regular features for 2012 that I will be introducing over the next few weeks aimed to cover the areas you are most interested in reading about.
The Planning With Kids Menu Planner App is closer to release and we are hoping to have it available in the next month. I am also working on some other useful products that will help make getting organised with a young family much easier.
I am really excited about implementing the changes that have come from the survey and some new ideas I have been keen to start on. Thank you again for taking the time to help me work on making Planning With Kids an even more useful resource to parents.
{Image – I just love this photo. I took it just before Christmas in the gardens at Melbourne Museum. Someone was setting up for a work Christmas party. They were getting ready to party. I feel a bit like that with the blog this year – I can feel it is going to be a great year!}
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