Dear Readers: What Do You Want?
I’m skipping this week’s “Dear Mark” post en lieu of a “Dear Readers” post. That’s right. Enough from me. I want to hear from you. You see, I’m working on giving MDA a well-deserved design update and would love some feedback. I have a long wish list that just keeps getting longer, but I want to know what you want out of Mark’s Daily Apple – both in terms of content and blog features. I’ll throw out some ideas and questions to get the ball rolling. Hit me up with a comment with your suggestions.
Content:
What kind of content would you like to see more of on MDA? Here are some of the major categories to give you some ideas, but feel free to offer up your own ideas.
- Videos
- More “Dear Mark” and Reader Response posts
- Tuesday 10 (Top 10 Lists)
- Fitness Posts – Specific Workout Ideas/Routines
- Definitive Guide Posts – Lengthy/Detailed Nutrition Articles
- Recipes – How-to and Tips on How to Prepare Food
- Coverage of the Latest Health News/Research
- Weekend Link Love
- Guest Posts
- Interviews
- Book or Product Reviews
- Health Challenges
- Posts on broad topics: low-carb living, Big Pharma, stress, sleep, supplementation, weight loss, aging/longevity, marketing, etc.
Design/Blog Features:
- Apart from content (which to us is most important) what else could MDA offer you to make the experience fulfilling and enlightening?
- Would you be interested in Primal e-books?
- Would you like to connect with me Twitter?
- How about weekly reader polls?
- Does the ability to easily submit MDA articles to social networking sites (stumbleupon, digg, reddit etc) appeal to you?
- How about the ability to easily print a blog post?
- Would you be into reader avatars to personalize comments?
- Would you be interested in the ability to subscribe to all of our posts via email instead of just via an RSS feed?
I want this redesign process to be as democratic as possible, and want to reward all loyal MDA readers with what they want. This is your chance to be heard and have your wish list for MDA turn into a reality. I am eagerly awaiting what you have to say. Thanks, everyone!
P.S. It doesn’t have to just be about what you do want. If there is something that has always driven you crazy about the site (the way our search results are displayed has always bugged me), or some regular column we do that just doesn’t strike a chord with you please let me know. Thanks again!
Update: Keep all the suggestions coming! They are wonderful and will be extremely helpful as I redesign MDA to make it the best health/fitness blog on the net.
If you want to comment, but are worried your suggestions will get lost in the shuffle (as of writing this there are 38 comments), think again! I will be going over each and every comment with a fine-tooth comb.
Posted By: Mark Sisson
recipes! recipes! recipes! i really get inspired by your ideas… and it helps me break out of my steamed veggies and fish rut!!!
What ever you do if you start a discussion board DO NOT caharge 49.95 to get on it.Your word does need to get out like the book you are working on i will buy it for shure but i will not pay to get on a discussion forum.
Bill
Great idea bout food timing. I am also interested in pre/post workout nutrition.
How about innovative new ways in overcoming plateaus?
And my top two wishes: fist, a step by step direction sheet (re: quick cheat sheet) to IF and two, access to your fitday account. In Fitday, you have the ability to make it public. I want to see what you eat on a day to day basis to give me a better understanding of the Primal lifestyle. I know, a little weird, but a girl can only have a kitchen sink salad so often.
More Definitive Guides and recipes
Oh ya, and more info in terms of nutrition for marathon/tri athletes: even though I know you don’t recommend that long training =)
I would love to see “Day in the Life of….” posts from individuals living the Primal Life. First and foremost, a Day in the Life of MARK!
A forum would be great. I struggle with finding ways to “deal” with people not understanding this lifestyle, thinking “is just another diet/gimmick” and would love support of fellow Primal folks.
As a long-time lurker of Mark’s Daily Apple, I really like the site as it is… I don’t know how you come up with so many things!
Of course, you can always improve (right?), so here’s a list of what I think would be positively marvelous additions to the site:
- Videos would be extremely helpful, especially if you made a video of the weekly routines, how to do them, maybe your own cooking show…(lol)
- More “Dear Mark” and Reader Response posts: I LOVE reading these. It’s usually a question I’ve been pondering myself, or something I would never have thought of, but it’s always useful.
- Tuesday 10 (Top 10 Lists): I’m not sure what you mean by this, top 10 of what? (That might be the point.) No matter what it’s about I’d like to hear your top ten of anything, whether it be Top 10 Work-outs, Top 10 Brands of Shoes, Top 10 Housepets, etc.
- I’m all for the specific work-out routines-coupled with the videos, of course!
- Definitive Guide Posts – Lengthy/Detailed: I’m one of *those* people who likes to have things down to every detail…I would love the odd lengthy/detailed article here and there. (:
- Recipes are ALWAYS welcome!
- Book or Product Reviews: I very much like to read, and I also like to know what’s worth buying before I buy it…no one likes to waste money, you know.
- Health Challenges: THIS, my friend, would be something I would be looking forward to greatly! I’m always one for competition and _motivation_!!
Primal e-books would be great for when I need to review and the internet is down…also to print out and carry around with me (I actually do that!)
I don’t use Twitter, it’s mostly about MySpace…it has essentially the same function.
Weekly reader polls would be fun and interesting. I, for one, would be taking part.
I think you do fine without avatars, although I’d like to hear others’ opinions on that.
I’ve tried to answer your queries as directly as possible, Mark! I really do like the “Apple” Design and I hope you will stick with something similar. I think it’s very creative and very cute. (: Although if cute isn’t what you’re looking for, of course, the “daily apple = health connection” gets through very well. Also, the search bar would be easier to find at the top of the page…the first time I used it, I knew it was on the page SOMEWHERE, I just didn’t know where, and it took me a bit to find it.
Other than that, you’re doing great and I really appreciate all the advice you provide your readers with. (:
Wow! Thank you all for your comments and suggestions. They are all very helpful!
Keep them coming. As I said, I am working on a new design for MDA – one that will better serve my readers. What better way to serve you than to ask you directly.
A lot of great suggestions here. One I have tossed around again lately, somewhat reluctantly, is the forum idea. MDA had a forum for the first year or more. We had trouble with spammers (though, I’m sure this could be managed if we were to do it again), it drove comments away from the comment boards, was somewhat time consuming to moderate, and overall wasn’t used by that many readers. With that said more people are reading and participating on MDA now than ever before and a community is forming around the Primal Blueprint. I’ll have to give it some thought. If anyone has any more ideas regarding a forum I’d love to hear them.
Thanks again, everyone!
Cheers!
I (personally) think Twitter is a great idea. Also, maybe consider publishing some simple tracking tools or pocket-sized quick reference lists for us newbies. Oh, and please please please, ditch the goofy logo of you with the giant head. I’m thinking a rotating series of logos, each one depicting you in a humorous caveman situation, though with a normal sized head.
Jay – Yes, I will probably be ditching the comic book character. I don’t want to give too much away just yet, but my header will be something along the lines of your suggestion.
A few things I’d like:
#1 More recipes (with nutritional info)
#2 More of what Mark eats
#3 Reviews of food products..ex: salad dressings etc
#4 More ideas of how to eat in the real world..loved the first one!
#5 Cooking Videos
Thanks it for now:)
Reader Response, Fitness,Definitive Guide, Recipes, Latest Health News/Research and Posts on broad topics.
All of these ingredients make yours a great blog, with rich and varied content.
Maybe a forum wisely moderated by you, would be good to add.
Thanks a lot Mark!!!
I think the content has been well-covered by others, but I’d like to see, on the technical side, a better post index — that is, search results not being the posts themselves, going backwards in time, but rather a listing of the post titles by category or search term or whatever: much easier to find what I’m looking for that way!
Thanks!
I enjoy the reader Q & A. Not a big fan of videos. Receiving posts through email would be great. I don’t do the Twitter thing. Thanks for everything y’all do.
I liked the forum and was against it being removed, especially because I know the spam problem is manageable as other forums use the same software and never have a spam problem. Like anything else a forum needs to be maintained, and if it’s not then you will have internet bots taking over in a heartbeat. Now, being that said I actually think not having the forum is just fine because it would feel to time consuming at this point. You have lots of great information on this blog, some great reader comments, and between that and reading some other blogs I personally wouldn’t have time for the forum anymore. That’s not to say others wouldn’t, I’m just saying that while I still don’t agree with the decision to remove the forum when it happened, I as a reader here have no problems with not having a forum now. As for anything else I like MDA as is, I visit at least once a day.
I love the top 10 lists, the guest posts and the recipes- especially the ones that are quick to make. If you could do more recipes focusing on low cost indregients that would be great. College students want to stay in shape too!
the probelm I have with search and the categories section is that it comes up with the full article immeadiately. I would prefer if you got a list of links, sorted alphabetically or by date posted, that you could then click on to go to that specific post.
This website is awesome as I try to into primal eating.
Thanks!
Hello Mark, I have not read all the comments on this thread, so what I say may have been said before. However, here are some of the things I would like to see more of on MDA :
* More in-depth articles, perhaps branching out to more esoteric subjects. I find that understanding the details about the science underlying the PB acts as great motivator to action.
* Following on from the previous point, the in-depth abstract articles could be supplemented by in-depth concrete articles about how to implement the PB lifestyle tangibly. This would mean more recipes, more workout ideas, etc. Calling out external resources or including guests posts on these topics would be a source of great variety.
* A more expansive “Ask Mark” section. Maybe doing the column bi-weekly instead of just once a week would be desirable. This would keep the blog interactive and more relevant to the readership.
I think MDA is by far the best overall resource I have found for guiding one to a healthy life. And I think the reason I like it so much is that it does the best job of covering the abstract science, as well giving ideas about how that science might influence one’s day to day choices.
By increasing the focus on the three areas outlined above, I think MDA could really build on its greatest strength and be even more valuable to its readership.
Thanks for all the great work. And thanks for giving us the opportunity to share our opinion for this blog’s future direction!
Enjoy,
Apurva
More Definitive Guides to “x”. I love the unfiltered information and being able to draw my own conclusions. Also, more exercise related posts would be beneficial as I feel like a generally active bunch consistently reads your blog.
Mark,
Great site and great info. I’d love to see more recipes and videos.
Keep up the great work.
Mitchell
Mark,
This blog rules – I look forward to a new post everyday. Seriously. Because of this blog, I say “primal” on a near daily basis!
I looked over your suggestions, and here is what I liked:
More Videos
More Recipes
Definitive Guide Posts
Weekly Reader Polls
Easily print a blog post (when I cant read at work)
Better Search results
and on a personal note, my “primal utensils” email to you
Keep on keepin on man!’
Fixing a good search function would be brilliant, I often come back here thinking of some post- Never quite being able to find it without scrolling through 10+ pages.
Me, I like ‘dear mark’, definitive guides, and I’ve got this thing for guest posts. It’s nice to find out about other sites, the fitnessblackbook f/e was new to me.
Maybe some more ‘how to do this shit in real life’ kind of posts?
I love this blog, it’s my first go-to when I get a chance for leisure reading each day. Here are my suggestions:
- more difinitive guides
- recipes and what you eat
- topics of most interest to me: low-carb, fat loss
I’m a big fan of your top 10 posts so please keep them coming. I also agree with some of the comments that an improved search function would be a good idea. Keep up the good work.
Huge fan of yr smarts work and site.
Only one thing i ask;if those who love you notice that you are going the way of Art De Vany with his seemingly endless self-aggrandizement will they stop you ?
Arse de Vany more like !
Keep it up..as the actress to the bishop sayeth
I’m another person who would love more recipe videos.
Mark
Great blog. I’d like to see more technical, scientific explanations to help understand how the body works better. More explanation of the chemistry, hormones, proteins and more explanation of how such things are affected by stress, diet, exercise, sleep.
I guess what I’m going (and probably some of your other readers) for is a holistic understanding of the body but on a deeper granularity.
I know there have been several posts like this already, so perhaps all that’s needed is a new category so it is easier to find; perhaps: biochemistry, science, chemicals and pathways of life, etc..
I would love a section devoted to readers and primal health followers telling their story, before & after pictures – that kind of thing.
A forum is also a great idea, as debates can get lost in the comments of different posts.
A podcast would be AWESOME! maybe it could be a weekly thing
I like the definitive guides! More please! What about some stuff on mainatining weight after losing it?
I am huge fan of the varied content on this blog. Great work! I would suggest –
1. Definitive Guides
2. Recipes
3. Videos
The ability to search for key words with a list of blog titles, rather than the entire posts to scroll through.