For this week’s blogging chat, I thought it would be interesting to talk about people’s blogging goals. That’s not to say that you need to have goals; there’s nothing the least bit wrong with cruising along at status quo.
Posting frequency might be one area where people have goals for their blog. My plan is posting 6 days a week, but it’s not a goal in the sense that I care whether or not I stick to it. If it happens, it happens, but if it doesn’t, I’m fine with that too.
Stats is another area where people may have goals. This is tough, though, because your control over stats is very limited. In addition, a lot of stats aren’t very meaningful. Follower count is a good example of a stat with limited meaning; less than 1% of my “followers” actually follow my blog. I used to come up with an estimate at the beginning of each year as to how many followers I’d have by the end of the year. My guesses were actually fairly accurate, but I’ve stopped doing that because I just don’t care at all about the follower number anymore.
I have a very vague goal of increasing the search engine traffic to my site. I say vague because I don’t have any numbers or timeframe in mind. Rather than caring about it as a vanity thing, this is primarily about sticking to one of my core purposes for blogging, which is getting the word out about mental health-related issues.
Another potential goal area I can think of is learning new things. Ever since I started blogging it’s been my goal to keep learning more about blogging. Search engine optimization (SEO) was my focus for a while, and now I’ve shifted my learning focus to coding. I would eventually like to be able to create a child theme of the blog theme I’m using and customize it to do what I want it to do. That’s not going to happen anytime soon, though.
Now it’s your turn. Do you have any blogging goals, and if so, what are they?
The blogging toolbox series has tips to support you in your blogging journey. It includes these posts:
I have one goal…to post everyday. Not always easy but..so far so good.😊
You’re doing great at it!
Thank you!
And Happy Sunday, Ashley Leia. May your day be bliss! Cheers
Thank you! Happy Sunday!
Our goal is to share and get parenting ideas💡 😀 tha ks for the post very meaningfull also true that its not easy to understand or keep track of goals sometimes,days just go by too quick!
Thanks for sharing!
Not so much goals as wistful wishes 🙂
Like you, I care less about the “followers” and more about the people who actually leave comments.
Unlike you, I don’t have a purpose for my blog. Originally, I started it because that’s what they tell authors to do. October will make 8 years on WordPress, and I’m thinking about ending it then, maybe, possibly…
8 years is a long time to keep going without having a purpose!
LOL! Yes, it is 🙂
My goal is to just keep blogging as long as I can and at least 3 times a month. But if I don’t do 3 posts a month, it doesn’t matter.
I would also like to keep blogging as long as I can.
I will keep reading as long as you keep blogging. 🙂
Ditto! 😊
I will use your post to inspire me to set a goal. Usually I just write when the mood strikes me, but I am finding I have more to share in the realm of educational areas of bipolar, so my goal will be to post about something educational at least once a month. I will still continue to write about my personal journey as the mood strikes, with a goal of three per month. Thanks for the motivation!
That’s a great goal!
When I started I thought it would be more interactive with more followers. I posted more educational posts from my experience with a mental illness, Now, I post mainly for me, they are more personal. I don’t really have goals. I try not to go a month between posts, but things happen.
Do you spend more time on Tiktok than on WordPress now? I’ve set various goals for myself in the past to try out other platforms, but then ended up giving up and just sticking with WordPress.
I watch more on TikTok than read wordpress. If I were to stick with one it would be writing. I am checking out this website called sharewell that is for peer support online. I like to try new things. I have a question if you have an opinion. Do you think my background is too busy. It is crayons but it can be harder to read.
The background does make reading harder. One option would be to modify the image you’re using for the background and add a rectangle of solid yellow colour covering the area where the text is between the red crayon and the left and the blue crayon on the right.
When I first read your post, I thought I did not have any goals, but I guess I do try to make sure one post is published each day. I also try to stick to reading regularly. The responding to comments part of blogging is very very hit and miss, which makes me feel bad. But I think that reading other people’s work has to be more of a priority than responding to comments.
That seems very reasonable.
My blog goal is to make writing a daily habit. Writing reduces my anxiety.💞
I’m glad it helps! 💕
Thank you, Ashley.💖
My blogging goals are post a minimum of 3 times a week. I have different things for each day and what i’d like to do each week is some sort of post Tuesdays and Saturdays along with WWW Wedneday. The other days have potential things but necessarily every week things. Right now though wordpress tells me i’m on a 16 day streak and I have a lot planned for this month! But after this month it should calm down a bit lol.
I’d like to increase traffic to my blog and all that but I don’t have any strict numbers because I know that’s out of my control. I’ll just continue to post consistently, promote my blog and do my best and see what happens. I’m happy for whatever I get and it gives me a place to blog about things, about my thoughts etc.
Also goal: Read more blog posts by others.
not necessarily every week*
Well done with the streak!
Since I’ve decided to continue blogging, after a questioning time, I’ lose myself in writing and I love it. My goal is to post every other day on average. If I exceed that goal, that’s all right by me.
Sounds good!
Thank you! And I missed a “not”. I meant “not necessarily every week things”.
I used to have goals. I wanted to get 5000 followers. Dunno why, just thought it’d be cool, plus I figured it would translate into a steady amount of book sales, a few per month. Hardly anyone bought my books though and I decided I would quit worrying about it because it was too upsetting. So before I hit 3K, I began dumping most followers for not being “real” followers, interacting, and/or posting frequently. Still do that daily by purging most new ones. Now? I just like posting what I want when I want. I haven’t missed a day in years, but some days there is only one post up…
Not caring about the numbers and doing what you want really is the way to go.
Right now my main goal is to spread the word on ocd, what ocd really is.
As long as people are still saying “I’m so OCD”, spreading the word is such a necessary thing.
I enjoy writing and sharing. So my goal is to share something every day. Be it a long journal post, a quote, some pictures, my experience with my health issues… I of course love it when my posts get positive interaction, like likes and comments. New followers are nice too but I feel many don’t really follow nor read my posts. I try to read all posts by people I find interesting, many of those also follow me, which is very nice. 😊
It’s nice to have that sense of community and mutual connection. That’s definitely one of the most valuable parts of blogging for me.
It sure is! And for me as well, I really enjoy the connection with other bloggers out there. 😊
Thanks for sharing this Ashley, and your goals. You have inspired me to try and focus on my goals for my own blog. The initial purpose was to hold accountability for myself, and it transformed into wanting to share my experiences. I think I want to make it a place to share resources and beneficial information that I think can serve a purpose.
I think you’re doing a great job of that! 💕
Thanks Ashley, I really appreciate that <3