London Cyclist is a blog run by one person (and his bike) about cycling in London. I’ve always covered the topics I’ve enjoyed. My aim is to make the site as open as possible and to give exposure to the good work people are doing and good products that are worth raving about. As well as exchanging tips and opening up the site to debate about cycling issues.. serious (HGV ban) or otherwise (is it rude to overtake a fellow cyclist?).
Moving into the new year I want to get a sense of what people want to see more and less of from the blog. Therefore, I’ve put together a little survey that will help me choose the future direction of London Cyclist. Your answers will help me decide what topics I’m covering.
Take the survey here:
Thanks all for helping with the survey! We received 438 responses which is way more than the previous 100 we managed in a survey.
You’ll be able to complete it in 2 minutes flat and I’ll hugely appreciate your responses.
Thank you and look forward to covering more of the stuff you love!
Its a good idea to see what issues matter to readers. Will you publish the results?
I will do sometime today.
I’ll post up a roundup of what I discover, yes 🙂
Andreas, this is a very good idea to “interview” your readers, but I love Londoncyclist essentially because it is like it is. 😉
Don’t change too much; your blog is great the way it is. Thank you for that.
Thanks Philippe! I won’t be changing too much – just want to be sure I’m getting the balance right and making sure I’m not missing out on some content people are craving.
I think the balance between product reviews and articles is just about right and even thought I don’t live in London I find the site very relevant .
Keep out the good work.
Thank you Chris. Always encouraging to hear people are enjoying the blog.
…er….that should’ve been keep up the good work….poxy phone keyboard !
Haha I suffer off that far too many times!
There may be a minor issue with the form- when I tried to submit it it seemed to think that I had already submitted and said you could only submit once per reader. Perhaps there is someone else in my office who is a london cyclist reader and it is picking up on the same IP address or something (flails around pretending to have a techy knowledge). On that basis I’ll leave some feedback here that I was trying to fit into the survey.
1. Re balance of articles.
Not to bad overall in my opinion. I don’t deel you overload on product reviews at all (which I think was some feedback you may have got to kick off the surveying). I find the comparative review round-ups/ buying guides pretty good actually and very helpful. Also feel there is an appropriate emphasis on value and incrementally buying what you need and not just buying top whack stuff and getting all the kit all at once (unless you want/ can afford it)
2. More of
I particularly like the safe cycling tips, tecnique, comment fridays and the editorial. It’d be good to get some profiles/ interviews with folk involved in the scene but I would keep it light touch. As one guy writing a blog I don’t think you have to try to cover the cycling news side- you’ll never manage to keep it up in a timely and informative way and it isn’t what the feel of the blog is about for me.
I would be interested in additional pieces around perhaps getting involved in some campaining. You have a loud voice here Andreas thanks to a very well run, current and well written blog. Perhaps it would be good to direct that, and indeed mobilise the passive support of your readers, into supporting/ driving an issue forward. Let’s not just comment on the state of cycling in london but drive to improve it!
4. Finally- yes I have, and do recommend the blog to people I know as it presents a fairly positive and upbeat message about the pleasures there are to be had from cycling in London (without papering over the inconveniences and dangers). Through this it feels like an approachable window into cycling whether the audience is a beginner commuter or someone who uses their bike as their way to get around. The blog doesn’t serve hard core “lycra” cyclists but then I don’t think you would want it to (is my impression anyway as I don’t see you that way from your approach)
Gibby – that’s right it blocks per IP so like you said someone in your office must be a London Cyclist fan! I guess that’s positive news and you should probably meet them!
On your feedback that is much appreciated..
1/ Yep, the survey was partly kicked off by some comments about one of the roundups and I definitely was worried I was scaring cyclists away by talking too much about gear that people may not be able to afford (I certainly can’t afford all the gear I mention or I’d be the most cycling geared up homeless person out there!). I’m glad to hear from the survey and you’re comments that in general I seem to have got this right.
2/ I agree that keeping on top of cycling news is too much for one person and it would take away too much time from the other stuff people seem to enjoy and don’t generally get elsewhere (such as editorial, comment fridays and safe cycling)
In terms of campaigning I can definitely look into ways the blog can do more of that if people are interested.
4/ Think you’ve cracked the general approach of the site I’ve taken and I’m glad to see it’s resonating with you and others. The Lycra side seems fairly well covered by magazines so I tend to veer away from me (and also it’s not really me)
It is good a very good idea to have some rapport with your readers.
Thanks lemony – I agree!