Lordy, it’s almost that time of year – goal setting time. Personally, I’d like to get my everlasting box of Cedar photos organized. My son will be twenty before I finish this I swear. Here though, we should talk about blogging. When it comes to blogging, I’ve got some semi-medium sized goals figured out and one major goal…
My major blogging goal is pretty simple – make more money via blogs asap or quit blogging for clients.
Before mid-2008 I was making decent blogging cash; absolutely enough to live on with a little to save. It’s been a lame second half of the year. I’m either going to keep incorporating other writing work into my schedule (which I already started to do) or maybe take a blogging break completely. I actually applied for an out of the house writing gig the other day; I’m that serious. Yeah, it’s a little extreme, but I’m sick of having low funds and it’s making me cranky, and worse, it’s making me annoyed with blogs. I hate being cranky, and I’d rather adore blogs that not, so for me, this is a good goal. I personally like happily blogging, but if I can only choose happy or blogs, I’d rather be happy than be blogging; you know.
Mini goals attached to this major goal include working more on my own blog projects vs. clients (or at least working on my own projects as much as I do for clients), and switching out my gigs that pay less, in order to spend more time on my higher paying gigs. Working on my own projects more won’t bring in more cash right away though, mostly, I’m doing this mini-goal so that I’m not as cranky.
My medium sized blogging goals include:
More blog surfing – I used to surf like an insane person. Now I don’t. I miss surfing. It’s healthy for my own blog traffic and my soul when I get to surf killer blogs, hence the goal. I’m setting aside time each week on my schedule for this.
Same time of day posts – if I accomplish this goal, it’ll be a miracle. I’m good about posting at various client blogs and most of my own, but I’m so random in my timing. No matter what I write on my darn schedule, I never post at exactly the same time each day. I like regularly timed posts at blogs I visit and I think it’s nice for readers because they know what to expect. I also think clients like it when I post at the same time, none of them say this outright, but I’m guessing they do like it. Lots of great bloggers advocate same time o’ day posting too. How will I do this? Um, well, I guess that’s why it’s a goal. Once I figure out a plan, maybe I’ll post it.
Create reader visually-friendly blogs and content - I’ve been thinking more lately about how blogs look in general. What I like in a blog design vs. what I don’t. How I like posts formatted for an easy read, how I hate lame typos, but sometimes end up with some, and so on. I guess what I’m aiming for is a more delightful look and feel for all my blogs (which sounds funny – but in my head works out). I like visually beautiful blogs and posts that are clean and easy to read, so I’m going to work on this as a personal goal.
You know, my goals seem a little slim. Why don’t you tell me your 2009 blogging goals, and maybe I’ll adopt some.
The easiest way for me to post the same time every day is to write the day before, and post-date it for 6 AM the next morning. That way there is always a post first thing in the morning (that is if I do get it written the night before – it doesn’t always happen).
Hey Robin – Post dating is actually the best way for me to write at the same time too. However, like you, I don’t always get around (or ahead enough) to post date everything. If I had one extra week per year, maybe I would
I need to post date two weeks so I’m double ahead! It’s finding the time that’s harder I think.