I’ve never really set blog goals. I started Beyond Mommying as a way to keep busy, connect with other mommies and share my knowledge and experience. And I’m so thankful it’s done all of those things!
But as I come up on my three year anniversary (hard for even me to believe!) the one aspect that has become more and more ignorable the longer I blog is the TIME aspect. The amount of time it takes to put together and share blog posts somehow seems to increase as I get better at it and with four kids including an infant and two homeschoolers, I really need to better manage my time. But the good news is, Beyond Mommying has also grown substantially over the past year and I feel more confident in it’s staying power.
So this year, I’m going to set some actual blog goals for myself and I’m sharing them with you in order to help myself stick to them and so you can help me stay accountable for achieving them!
1. Post Less
For most bloggers this would probably be the opposite. When I started Beyond Mommying, I decided to write daily and it’s a goal I’ve kept up with (mostly, I did cut back to a Monday through Friday schedule awhile ago) but I find myself rushing to write posts, not getting them out when I want them and taking away from time with my family to get it done. I’m always afraid that posting less will slow my traffic or even lose me some readers but this year, now that Beyond Mommying has shown it can sustain itself without constant new content, I’m ready to take on an official schedule and I’m hoping it will allow me to better schedule my blogs and blog ahead rather than doing a lot of it at the spur of the moment when I have time (or the nagging feeling I need to get something new out.)
So here is what I promise my readers: A new post each Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning. (Wish me luck on that morning part!!!)
2. Share More
I really need to be better about sharing my own content more regularly across all my social media accounts as well as sharing content that is not mine more consistently. I’m good about sharing my latest content on Facebook and post life moments somewhat regularly on Instagram but I’m terribly inconsistent with posting on Twitter and pinning new posts to Pinterest and I really need to get better about sharing, liking, pinning and retweeting other content.
So this is what I plan to do: Pin all new pinnable posts; share, comment and/or like at least one post on Facebook that isn’t mine each day; Tweet daily (both my content and others)
3. Do Some Housekeeping
This is my main motivation for posting less, I need more time not only to increase my social media activity but more importantly to maintain the backend of my blog. My “About Me,” “About My Family” and other background pages (as well as my logo thanks to the addition of baby #4!) really need some attention and I’d also like to spruce up some of my older, evergreen posts to make them more shareable.
So here’s what I’m going to do: Use Tuesday and Thursday, when I don’t post new content, not only to plan and blog ahead but to take care of these necessary housekeeping tasks.
4. Increase Interaction
I know I have some great, loyal readers and followers but I don’t hear from them much. I’d like that to change in 2016. I want to be better about getting my readers and followers to interact with me and my content. I want to know who my readers are so that I can better reach my audience as well as meet their expectations.
So here’s what I’m going to try: Interaction has never been my strong point (in the blogisphere or in real life, honestly) so I’m going to be trying a few of the suggestions offered up by The Nectar Collective and Business2Community.
5. Keep Growing
This has really been the only ongoing blog goal I’ve had but I’ve never had a strategic plan to achieve it before, I’ve just let it happen (and am thankful it has!) but it’s time I start doing something about it.
So here’s what I’m hoping: if I meet all my blog goals above and stick to my plan, I should see increased blog traffic and hopefully will growth in my Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest followers.
It’s good to have blogging goals! I hope to connect more with my readers too. I really want to keep working on pinterest too because it’s my biggest source of traffic. Happy New Year!
I wish I got more traffic off Pinterest, their algorithm change over a year ago KILLED my referrals. Good luck with everything in 2016!
Wow great read its good to have a timetable so you know what’s what because it can be difficult. All the best a d you better keep some of your promises
Thanks, here’s to hoping for an awesome 2016!
I totally resonate with this post. I’m losing the balance between mom and blogger and I need to focus more on what actually needs to be done on my blog to reach goals. P.S. I’m really digging your overall blog! I plan on homeschooling soon so it’s nice to see other mom bloggers doing the same!
Finding balance is sooo hard! It has been an ongoing struggle for me to balance my family needs with my blog aspirations. (but homeschooling has actually helped by freeing up our schedule to be 100% flexible!)