January 2016 Blogging Goals
The New Year really snuck up on me this year and I’m just now getting to writing about my January 2016 Blogging Goals. Every year I start out writing my blogging goals, home goals and reading goals and somewhere along the way I fizzle out on keeping track of my goals and celebrating my small victories in achieving those goals.
With the help of some fantastic blogging events this month, these event organizers are making sure I get my blogging mojo back and tackle my extensive blog to do list. First, I’ll tell you about the events and then we’ll get to my goals/to do list.
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Blog Staycation: January 14-17, 2016
The hosts send daily emails with tips and resources to help your blog grow and monetize. A dedicated Facebook group to encourage one another and several Twitter chats using the hashtag #blogstaycation throughout the 4 day event. Sign up and get all the details for the Blog Staycation here.
Mini-Bloggiesta: January 16-17, 2016
I’ve loved participating in Bloggiestas ever since I started book blogging. Though the event is not solely for book bloggers, lots of my book blogging friends participate so it’s a great time to get my to do list done and reconnect with friends. Another component I love about Bloggiestas are the fun mini-challenges, check out their extensive list of past mini-challenges if you need some help and ideas of how to improve your blog. There is something for everyone. There is a Bloggiesta Facebook group and several Twitter chats using the #bloggiesta hashtag. Sign up and get all the details for Bloggiesta here.
Biannual Blogathon Bash: January 22-25, 2016
The Biannual Blogathon Bash (BBB) is another one of my favorite blogging events. The hosts gather great challenges, resources and sponsors to help take our blogs to the next level. I participate in the Blogathons twice a year and some of the Blogathon games that Kathleen hosts. I even won Pinning Perfect e-course* during a Blogtahon Games which I took last January and it’s helped Pinterest become my fastest growing social media referral of traffic to my blog. I’ve won other great resources and ad space from the sponsors and fellow bloggers so the BBB is always on my list to join. There is a Biannaul Blogathon Bash Facebook Group and Twitter chats using the #blogathon2 hashtag. Sign up and get all the details for the Biannual Blogathon Bash here.
January 2016 Blogging Goals & To-Do List
Alright, let’s get to the nitty gritty, here are my January 2016 Blogging Goals & To-Do List. This is my comprehensive list, I know this won’t all get done in a couple weeks!
Blog Growth
Update newsletter.Done! You can sign up for my newsletter here and get my Free 2016 blog planner and the newly updated Free Weekly Planner Printable Based on the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.Create a mission statement. Done! I wrote it but haven’t published on the blog yet.Create a media kit. Done! Luckily two Blogathon mini-challenges cover this topic. Now I know what needs to be in the media kit, now time to get the media kit done with this tutorial.- Create another freebie for email subscribers like my Free 2016 blog planner.
- Read the Epic Brand Identity Workbook.
Blog Design
Clean up sidebar. Done! With the help of Design Your Own Blog’s Organize and Prioritize Your Blog’s Sidebar post and printable, I cleaned up my sidebar. I made a more prominent profile picture and info, made the affiliate graphics all the same size, and made new images for my post popular posts that I think better grabs attention.Fix navigation menu and images on mobile site.Done! A quick email to my theme designer Ashley and a simple copy/paste of some coding into a custom CSS box in my theme and all is well on my mobile site. That’s why I love my Tweak Me theme* so much, I didn’t have to dig through complicated files, it took me 10 seconds to implement what Ashley suggested. She always has the answer!Work on inspiration board for new blog design. Well, the style guide is done…- Read Blog Design for Dummies*.
- Fix affiliate links.
Past Blogathon mini-challenge: Add a Little Icon Flare using Font Awesome iconsDone! The little icons next to the headings in this post are Font Awesome icons. So easy to add these Font Awesome icons with this tutorial from GeekStyle and love these icons.
Blog Content
Write a post in a new blog category (planning). Done! My How to Bullet Journal in a Planner post went live with a sneak peek at the new blog redesign underway.- Write a Travel the World in Books Reading challenge post.
- Write a Recipe post.
- Write a Blogging Resource post.
- Write a Rheumatoid Arthritis post.
- Write a Book List post.
- Write a Book Review post.
- I
nvite more guest bloggers for Be Our Guest Fridays series. Done! I’ve got guests lined up until March. If you’re interested in guest blogging for me, leave me a comment! - Update 3 images on old posts and repin.
- Cross post 5 book reviews on Goodreads, Amazon and B&N.
Blogathon How to Use Rafflecopter Mini Challenge. Done! I’ve done plenty of giveaways over the past few years but I really like the very specific and comprehensive Terms & Conditions Kathleen provides and lets us use in her How to Use Rafflecopter Mini Challenge really helps protect bloggers cover our bases.
Blog Maintenance
Clean up email. In progress but made a good dent! I added this goal in because of Guiltless Reading’s Clean Up your Gmail challenge. I deleted about 7,000 email by filtering messages, deleting and turning off notifications from social media since I check those within the apps and moving lots of my blog subscriptions from email to Bloglovin. As you can see, I have a long way to go until Inbox Zero but I did put a dent in it for 2 hours worth of work. I’ve shown you mine, how many email do you have in your inbox? Tell me, I’m not the only one with so many!
Blogathon mini-challenge: Understanding Basic HTML.Done! Helpful if you need to do manual coding of images to get them to link to a particular post. This is what I do in my sidebar to get the buttons to go to the right pages. Posting the answer to the Understanding Basic HTML challenge here since it didn’t work when I tried to add in the comments.
Goals Linkup
If you have a goals post you want to share, link it up with us and get some great ideas from these other bloggers too!
Well there you have the top 20 things I’d like to get done for my blog this month. What are your blogging goals? How do you plan to grow your blog in 2016? Are you joining any blogging events to help you get motivated? Share with us!
Hey Tanya, sidebar is looking good! Thanks for referencing my post about it here. I’m so happy to hear it helped. Now we need to work on your opt-in box! 🙂
Oops hit enter too quickly! Hit me up in the FB group if you’d like some direction on it.
Wow you have really inspired me to revamp my goal list. The more the more I learn the more I am encourage to do more! Stopping by from Biannual Blogathon
Wow, I love your goals! They seem ambitious, but doable. My main goal for blog development is to create some printables for e-mail subscribers myself 🙂
These are great goals! I have to set some blogging goals. I have a running list of ideas but haven’t thought specifically. This is a great way to think through your blog. The new design and side bar look great!
Wow! That’s a long list of goals! I tried to visit and comment during Bloggiesta yesterday (Monday) but couldn’t get your site to load for me, for some reason. Works fine this morning, so good luck with the rest of your monthly goals!
Thanks for coming back by Laurie. My site was down yesterday for a little while, eek! I’m still plugging away on this list!
Wow! That’s quite a list! Good luck on accomplishing all of your goals! 🙂
Your goals are well thought out and it looks like you have a good game plan. I would like to do an inspiration board. I have made some decent goals this year. I have started using a different planner, one that I made myself, so it is perfectly suited for my blogging and planning purposes. Best of luck with your goals. I am off to check out the Blog Design for Dummies book. I have a goal to read at least two blog related books this year.
Thanks Steph, I always have lots of goals and plans, it’s executing that gives me trouble. Hoping the Blog Design for Dummies book helps me focus and pinpoint a design I love. I keep changing it up. What other blogging books have you read and recommend? Thanks for commenting!
These are awesome blogging goals! Thank you so much for sharing them with us at the #SmallVictoriesSundayLinkup! I have been working on cleaning up and streamlining my blog as well.
Thanks for the excellent ideas. I just signed up to participate in the blogathon bash. I didn’t know that groups like this existed. I’m excited to learn and grow with others!
Wow, that’s quite an impressive set of goals you have there! I’m participating in Bloggiesta but I’m nowhere near as organised as you. I’m now off to check out your blog planner! Thanks. X
I love that some of your stuff is already crossed out!
I’m very inspired by your blogging goals! Layout and design is one area that I know I need to focus on, but I’m always intimidated by! Also, I would love to write a guest post. I mentioned this to you back in the summer but then got busy. I’ve always been embarrassed that I didn’t follow up. Sorry! One of my goals this year is to write a guest post each month, and I would be honored to write one for Moms Small Victories. Just let me know! Thanks.
Hope you are enjoying your time with Bloggiesta! Have a wonderful year!
these sound like great goals. I should write mine out like you do!
Some great goals here! You have a good to do list for blog posts and growth. Sounds like a busy month ahead!
I need to up my Pinterest game. And I want to continue to write more content that makes me happy. Not just fluff (this was a goal during NaBloPoMo and I think I succeeded that month. Just need to continue it.)
Oh I love Pinterest. It’s fun and not as high maintenance as Facebook. A post others pinned two years ago still drives half my traffic and had another huge spike in Dec from it too, all time high in pageviews while I was down with the flu. Pinterest is great for passive traffic. I agree with you on writing what makes you happy!! It changes for me depending on my mood, glad my blog name allows for my changes in direction. 🙂 Thanks for commenting Jaime, always good to hear from you!
It looks like your on track to reach your goals! I have a lot of new goals for 2016, but my biggest goal/challenge is always balancing my family and my blog.
Oh blog/family balance is always my biggest challenge too. If you figure out any tips, let me know! I need to get better about scheduling posts ahead so my posting is more consistent. I have lots of ideas, not enough time to write. Thanks for stopping by and commenting Shasta, great to meet you.
Great list! You put me positively to shame, though I know you’d try to argue that point, it’s true! You rock the tweaking your blog thing. So I am doing Bloggiesta this weekend and now I’m signed up for the Biannual Bash, too. First time for the latter so fingers crossed I accomplish something two weekends in a row.
Oh good, glad you’re joining the Blogathon too. Kathleen is a great host and runs 4-5 blogs, one is a nonfiction book review blog. I think you’ll enjoy it. So much to learn and great tips. I’m great at making to do lists, problem is executing and biting off more than I can chew.
What a great list and I really like how you have it organized into different categories. I need to do this – excellent motivation to get things accomplished during the month.
Thanks Sarah, I love events like these. The adrenaline from the hosts and other participants inspires me to get things done. Hope you’ll join us. Thanks for stopping by!