Five Blogging Goals for the New Year

It’s a new year filled with new goals and a fresh start.  Looking back, 2014 was a successful blogging year.  I was able to accomplish the goals I had set for both myself and this blog.  My blog grew in all the directions I had hoped for and I’ve gotten to experience things I never thought possible, but did because of this blog.

Like all things though, there’s always room for improvement.  I believe the best way to hold yourself accountable is to write it down and the good thing about that is when you’re a blogger, you have the option to write them down for the whole world to see, that is, if the whole world is reading.  Now you have thousands watching and wondering if you’re going to achieve said goals (there’s no turning back now)!  There are a few things I know for sure I’d like to see happen in relation to blogging this year.

1.  Transfer from Blogger to WordPress
I’ve been toying with this idea for some time now.  Usually once I get an idea in my head, I think about it for a few, then when I decide in favor of it, it’s all I think about.  After much research, I’ve decided I want to make the transfer and I can’t stop thinking about it.  Now it’s just a matter of when I will schedule to get it done, who will do it, and choosing a blog design.   If you’ve made the switch, I would really love to hear your input on this.  Any info is appreciated.

2.  Ditch the iPhone and use the DSLR
I know I’ve said this many times, and many times I’ve failed.  But for real this time.  I really want to start using my DSLR to take blog photos.  Realistically speaking, when I’m out on weekends I know this won’t happen because I refuse to carry that big camera around, but when I do have access to the DSLR, I’m going to make an extra effort to use it.

3.  Check blog stats regularly
If there’s one thing I do the least of when it comes to this blog, it’s check my stats.  Every now and then I’ll check my pageviews when it’s necessary for sponsors, but that’s about it.  I couldn’t tell you where majority of my readers are from, what device they use, how they landed on my blog, or the most popular keyword searches.  I’m sure some bloggers could rehearse those numbers at the snap of a finger, but I somehow missed my invitation to the numbers club.

4.  Comment & Engage more
Lately I’ve been reading blog posts and quickly jumping over to the next one without leaving a comment.  It doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy your post, I’m just trying to get through my feed as fast as I can.  I can’t think of any bloggers that dislike receiving comments, myself included, so I’m going to focus on stopping by and saying hi more often.  A lot of times I read blog posts from a mobile device and anyone that’s ever done that before will agree with me when I say commenting on blog posts from your phone is the least pleasurable thing to do, but I’m going to try.  I’d also like to engage in the community more, meaning being more involved in the conversation of twitter and even a blogger meet up!  There’s so many bloggers in Dallas, now I just need to make it happen!

5.  Schedule posts for the week
When I first starting blogging I wouldn’t dare post something mid day, like I’m doing right now.  It was 9am or wait until the next day.  I like to think most people read their feed for the day in the morning, but then again I don’t check my stats so I wouldn’t really know.  I do know being consistent is better than being inconsistent, so it won’t hurt.  I’ve also never gotten into the routine of dedicating one day of the week for blog writing.  I’d imagine blogging being a lot less time consuming if I just put aside a few hours a week and got it all done as opposed to planning and writing a post day by day as I usually do.  This is the hardest goal yet, so we’ll see how it goes.