Hi, everyone! It’s a brand new month, or rather it has been for like 5 days now. I want to start out each month with a list of all my goals for that month in regards to my blog. Hopefully, it will keep me accountable if I write down what I’m going to do. Even more so if I have an online record of me saying I am definitely going to do these things. Thanks for keeping me accountable, my currently non-existant but future audience!
August Blog Goal Evaluation
So before I get into my goals for the next month, I want to review my goals from August. Did I live up to these goals? I would like to think so. August’s goals were super simple because I was just starting out. My main goal was to have the website up with a good theme. Starting a new blog is exciting, but I know I need a good foundation. I feel like I learned a lot and now I’m ready to get serious in September.
Here are the things I set out to do in August:
- Pick a unique name
- Set up blog
- Create social media graphics
- Create a posting schedule
- Post something every day
- Create a Polyvore outfit every day
Out of all of those things, I got about half of them finished. Social media graphics took longer than expected but are done. While I didn’t post something every day, I was able to at least come up with about 50 ideas for posts. I consider that a win because at least now I know what I’m going to be working on.
I definitely didn’t keep up my Polyvore goal but that’s something I’m not sure if I’ll be able to stick to anyway. Maybe once I’ve finished the whole setup process. Right now, I’ve been spending so much time making graphic templates, researching marketing strategies, writing posts, and a bunch of other one-time things. Plus, I’ve still got to work my day job. Once I have everything exactly how I want it and have a good workflow going, I’ll have more time.
While I felt like I got a lot done, and really I guess I did, I only actually completed 50% of my August goals. I’m going to say I got about 75% done. I didn’t fully complete my graphics or meet my posting quotas, but I did manage some effort. I know for a fact that I was constantly working or researching during the whole month. So I think that’s a solid C+ for the August evaluation. I’ll work harder to do better in September!
September Blog Goals
On to my goals for this month now!
- Produce more content
- Create a free gift for email list subscribers
- Up my social media game
- Promote my blog
1. Produce more content
My main focus this month will be content. It’s the most important thing to me right now. Traffic is important, yes, but keeping people on my blog means I need quality content.
I have a schedule all set up and a ridiculous amount of drafts waiting. Because I’m still such a new blog, I might disregard the schedule a bit just to make sure I have stuff here for people to look at. At this point, the main goal of my schedule is to do at least one post that’s on topic. After that, I can post whatever else I want as well.
I need to actually finish some posts, though. The main thing that was been holding me back was my social media graphics. Up until two days, I wasn’t really sure what I wanted. I created about 5 or 6 designs before I made something that felt right for Wonderland Loft. Which really, that brings me right into my next goal.
2. Create a free gift for email list subscribers
I need something more than just my lovely writing to get people on my email list. I’ve been toying around with a few ideas in my head. I could do a worksheet of my blog writing process. I already have a checklist I made for myself in Trello that would convert well to a planner document. I haven’t made a document or worksheet since my senior year of high school. Maybe we did one in one of my college classes, too. I don’t remember. But I think it would be a fun experience.
The other idea is to do up a graphic kit. I had a lot of fun designing my Pinterest template. It feels like a waste to let the other perfectly good designs I did just sit on my hard drive. Plus they were really fun to make. I can see this becoming some sort of “gateway drug” into a seedy blog graphic underworld. Or maybe just a potential business endeavor. Either way, I’ve already got one foot through the door. I’ve never really been much of a physical planner/binder-having-person. I usually prefer digital planners, but all this blog work has made me want one.
3. Up my social media game
Now that I have a graphic template, I can finally finish up some post drafts. I have quite a few posts that were done, but I needed the promotional graphics for. Now that I have something I’m happy with, I feel like I can promote these posts on social media properly. I know it’s important to establish a certain look for my blog early on. I’ve got templates for Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram graphics. Time to get social!
I also want to participate in Facebook and Google+ blogger groups. I’ve joined a couple, but it’s so scary! Sure, I plan on treating this blog more like a business than my old blogs. It’s still my art, though. Sharing your art is always scary. Everyone I’ve seen talking in the groups has been very supportive with other bloggers and their questions, so at least the people aren’t scary. Knowing that makes the idea of speaking up a little bit less stressful.
4. Promote my blog
This is probably the hardest part. I’m not really sure where to start here. My social media efforts will help a lot I hope, but here are two things I’m going to be actively working.
Join at least 1 Pinterest group board
My first priority here is going to be to get into a few group boards on Pinterest. Two weeks ago, I tried to contact a few people but I never heard back from any of them. That’s why I say at least one. At this point, I’ll be glad if I can get into that. I have a few more people to contact from groups I found on my own, but I also googled up some suggestions from other bloggers.
Join a link party
A link party is basically a linking get together for bloggers, pinners, whoever. Someone hosts the main list of links gathered from readers on their blog. I want to do this at least once! I’d also really love to host one. I hope by next year I will have enough traffic to be able to start my own. I’ll be using a website called LinkyTools to find open link parties to join.
Good luck in September!
My goals might seem simple, but they feel a bit ambitious to me. I’m really going to put myself out there because I want to succeed. Running a successful blog has been a dream of mine for a long time but I always felt I couldn’t do it for whatever reason (read: excuse). I’m really glad I’m doing this now, even if I probably should have a lot sooner. Better late than never, right?
What are your goals for the month? Have you set any yet? If you haven’t, there’s still time. Good luck in your endeavors!
Pin this post!
