Having planning goals for your blog is a must-do. They may be different throughout the year but they should still be carried out consistently.
The goals set each month are for the express purpose of continually growing the blog itself and making it sustainable for years to come. This is not always an easy task but a very necessary one.
Has any of this even entered your head yet? There is a lot more to blogging than meets the eye. Who knew about setting goals as well?
I certainly didn’t!
When I started my first ever blog I actually didn’t have a plan basically because I was green and just didn’t know it was required.
I just wanted to write blog posts about being an affiliate marketer in the health and wellness niche But, then I realized after speaking to other bloggers that I needed plans and goals in order to grow and become successful.
Then plans were made for each month of the year, then broken down into weeks. These goals have helped to keep everything on track and for me to stay focused.
The goals I’m going to share with you will work for any niche that you choose to write about.
So let’s get started!
This post may contain Affiliate Links which means I may receive a small commission if you purchase anything through the links. The price you pay will not be affected. This helps to keep me in coffee when I’m writing for you!
If you have not started your blog yet check out my tutorial on how to go about getting started!
How Are You Going To Grow Your Traffic
When starting a blog you probably won’t have very much experience with growing your blog traffic but we need the traffic to sustain the blog and to be able to make an income from it along the way.
In order for things to progress further, we need to set attainable goals
A few ideas of goals can be things like:
- I want to be able to run ads on my site so I need 2,000 visitors before starting with AdSense that will take me 3 months
- In order to be able to use mediavine I need 50,000 Impressions measured on Google that will take 9-12 months
- By the end of the first year, I want to have 100,000 monthly viewers to Pinterest and 1,000 clicks through to my blogs
Using Google analytics and selecting the pageviews option you can see exactly what’s happening on a daily or even hourly basis. As the page views figure goes up it is showing you that your traffic is growing. It’s exciting when this starts to occur!
Having goals like this is imperative as well as knowing how you are going to make this all happen.
When starting my first blog I chose to master Facebook for traffic. With this one, I still use Facebook a small amount but my main marketing focus has been centered around Pinterest because I wanted the challenge of learning something new.
My other blogger friends in the community I’m a part of all raved about how successful they were being with Pinterest this was also a big factor in the decision to master it.
After using Pinterest for a few weeks I discovered I needed help so I Invested in the Tailwind Program
Traffic Goals For Pinterest:
- Opening a business account and getting to 1,000 views by the end of the first month
- Creating a branded blog board that only contains (my pins) mine is a (mistakes bloggers make blog board)
- Create niched down keyworded board topics/ keyworded Pins
- Create 5 pins for each blog post in order to stay within the Pinterest Best Practises Rules
Have you heard the buzz about Guest Posting?
If you write a post for another blogger who is established then you are getting your articles in front of a whole new audience.
This can really gain you so much traffic!
Can you imagine the potential if they stick around on your site?
Goals for Guest Blogging:
- Contact some big bloggers in your niche and apply to do a post or two you can find these options on Social media channels.
- We have a thread where we can set up schedules to do podcasts and interview other bloggers In Wealthy Affiliate
- Apply to do a guest video with a YouTuber
Making Money Goals
When starting with a blog we have to decide pretty quickly whether it’s going to be a hobby or it’s going to pay for itself.
After being burned with MLM opportunities in the past I knew I could do affiliate marketing with or without a blog, I love writing so I chose the with option.
When I received my first sale through Affiliate Marketing I knew the feeling would never grow old.
A lot of bloggers rely only on Ads to earn money this is solely a choice. There is definitely a Yes or No camp for Ads for me I’m still undecided.
Affiliate Marketing is one of the easiest to master:
- You can either do 1 post per week on a single item or multiple products
- You can make a video explaining the benefits of the product
- You can interview a group of people who use the product you are reviewing
How To Grow Your Brand
who knows anything about your blog?
How are you going to change this?
Using social media channels are by far the best options but don’t just stick to one.
I share all posts across Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, and Linked In. I’m also looking at something called Medium and these channels are what has helped to grow the traffic to this blog
on Pinterest, Linked In and Facebook, I connect with people and actively have conversations with them where we help each other out by asking and answering questions.
Use lots of avenues that are open to you.
Other ideas you can adopt:
- Go To Linked In and follow 4 new bloggers a week
- Message other bloggers on Pinterest you will find lots of them are not using the platform properly and you can help them.
- Join blogging Facebook groups and share your blog on the sharing days and do the same for 5 others
- write a couple of small articles on medium to get your name in a public domain setting
- Set up an account on Quora and answer questions to show authority
This will help to get you noticed!
List Building Goals
So many bloggers put off starting an email list. With the first blog I did it as well and it’s not a good idea because These are people that actually WANT to join you and connect with you. They join because they really need the advice and experience you can share with them.
Do Not start an email list until You feel you are ready to deal with it.
Having an email list is like having a second blog.
When you are ready for this step search for autoresponder suppliers. I’m with Aweber but there are many others. This will depend on how good you are with setting things up. Some can be difficult in that respect.
The quickest way to get some subscribers is to offer a freebie of some description.
List Building Goal Ideas:
- Create a video so you can share your freebie in detail
- Create a Pinterest Pin explaining the Freebie
- Grow the list by 50 new subscribers in a month
- Set the goal to grow your list by 450 subscribers in 5 months
Helping Your Audience
The whole reason to have a blog is to help out the people that visit it. They come and read what you write so it can help them by answering their most burning questions.
Doing this in the correct way will keep them coming back for more and bringing their friends. These are the visitors that will sign up for your offers and help you to earn money in the process.
Just to help you out further here are a few bonus suggestions:
- Be yourself when you are writing
- Have an about you page that tells them about you and how you can help them with your blog
- Be persistent and consistent in every action you take doing this will take you far
- Take part in activities where your audience can be found
- Above anything else, remember the blog is not written for you it is written to serve your audience!
Always Plan For Success
Setting goals can be a way to help you to keep going when it gets hard and I can promise you there will be points along this journey that, that will happen. What defines you is how you deal with it all. Do Not Give Up I Believe In You.
If you don’t quite reach the goals you have set don’t be hard on yourself.
Always celebrate the wins no matter how small they may be!
I would love to hear about the goals you have set for yourself you can share them in the comments below.
Please Remember to pin me!
Wow! So much valuable information on blogging! I love the fact that you actually went into Pinterest. And you explained the intricacies of how it works and how you can use it to your advantage. Most articles, even on blogs, don’t go over this vital part of blogging. It pains me That bloggers don’t go into it because it is so important! Thank you for this information
You are very welcome, thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment.
You are very welcome!
OMG… this is gold. Thank you for this information. I have already started with Pinterest and moving on to other platforms as well. one thing I have learned that engaging others gets you noticed. on all social media platforms. I totally love this and will take huge pointers from this page. thank you so much for your honest and genuine lesson for people like us who are just beginners in the process. thanks again.
You are so welcome, I appreciate the encouragement!
Makes me happy that the post helped you 🙂
Hi. I love the way how you describe this and you provide so much helpful information. . And you are right, you have to set you goals and to know what you want. I am beginner, and I just start my websites, and I looking for new tips, this is very helpful. I will sure make my goals and write it.
I wish you much success!
Lisa.