My Blogging Goals

 

My blog was started in August 2017 – although I have written extensively and blogged before in a previous category. I’m very experienced with WordPress and run a business social media page. I’ve been self employed with my business for 10 years, so I feel like I’ve got a pretty good head start on the whole website site of things. Blogging as a parent is a whole different world though with so much to learn! I’ve read so many things I think I’m dreaming in SEO terms these days…

In business we talk about SMART goals – that’s Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Results-Focused and Time-Bound. So not “I would like to have more traffic”, but “I will increase my traffic by x within x time frame.” A hard goal provides motivation and specific aims, as well as being able to feel like you have achieved what you set out to do.

Here are my SMART goals, with the aim being within 12 months of starting my blog (August 2018)

• Have a combined social media reach of 2500. That’s shared between Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
• Have averaged at least 3 posts per week. That’s 162 posts in a year.
• Be posting on Instagram at least 5 times per week.
• Have started earning some income. Let’s aim big. I’d like to be earning £250/month by the end of the first year (I’m picking that based on how much time I have to spare right now).
• Have a DA of 20
• Attend a Blog Conference (I’m thinking Blog On Christmas 18?)
• Have at least 500 email subscribers.

Here are some less SMART goals but areas I need to make a plan for improvement in:

• Improve the quality and frequency of taking photographs – I think this is really letting me down right now.
• Set up Pinterest and figured that out. I love browsing it I’m just not sure how to use it to help my blog!
• What is StumbleUpon? Why do people keep telling me I need to “Stumble” my posts? Figure it out!
• Get to grasp with social media scheduling to free up some time and help with micro management.
• Create a media pack and start getting in touch with brands / PR companies (I think I need some higher stats, but this is one for when my blog is 6 months old for sure).

My stats right now at 2 months of blogging:

• Social reach of 1386
• Posts are averaging 3 per week.
• Instagram is averaging 1-2 per week if I’m being generous. I need to step up my photo game.
• I’m not earning anything. So far this blog is losing money with hosting costs but I think it’s supposed to be like that at the start so I’m not too worried!
• My DA is 1 because it has not updated yet since I started but I’m working hard on back links and putting a lot of time into commenting.
• My email subscribers is 15. I’m still proud of those 15 though! Although I haven’t actually sent out a newsletter yet…

It was Blogtober 2017 that pushed me into thinking about goals and deciding to get a hard plan of action for my blog! This falls under day 7,  #goals. Do you think my goals are reasonable, or am I crazy? How am I doing so far?

Want to help me achieve my goals? I’d love a follow on my social media – Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.