Whenever I set goals for my blog, I set myself for a fail. I’m too ambitious or unrealistic or something. I find myself wanting to do far too much in such a short space of time. I don’t know why I’m in such a hurry, the constant push takes the fun out of blogging. So first things first. LET’S PUT THE FUN BACK IN TO BLOGGING. Ok. What next? What else do I want for my blog in 2016?
My 2016 Goals For Blogging
1. Just Write What’s On Your Mind
When I realise that people actually read my blog, strange things happened. Being aware of this fact made me feel more withdrawn. Writing doesn’t come naturally to me. I started the blog for another reason other than to blog about fashion and beauty, and whilst I wouldn’t change anything for the world, I do sometimes struggle with the writing part and there’s nothing ashamed to admit that. I re-read things 5 or 6 times before posting, I get embarrassed if I make a grammar or spelling error, I worry what other think. The lack of confidence comes from when I was younger and I knew I wasn’t very good at English even though it was one of my favourite subjects at school. When I was sent to get extra lessons with a group of other kids, I got really upset that day because I thought everyone was going to think I was dumb. Obviously, I’m older and wiser now, and I should be able express how I feel through writing without being afraid of how I’m going to be judged or criticised.
2. Know Your Strengths
While I struggle with the writing side, I know my strength in blogging lies within the creative side such as
photography, styling and graphics. I’m not too bad on the technical side of things when it comes to the digital world either. I pick up these skills very easily but I am never complacent, there’s ALWAYS room for improvement. I’ll be reading lots of how to’s, guides, and articles on how to improve, and I will share my knowledge with you guys!
3. Content
I want to be more creative, and put even more effort in to my blogposts. I haven’t really got a plan as to how I want to do this but planning only stifles creativity (ha, that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it). Maybe, in 2016, spontaneity is the key to success for me? Yeah, that’s the one! I’m not going to drive myself mad by overthinking every little thing! I also really want to get back in to outfit posts properly again this year (I know, probably said that last year too). I’ve felt stuck in a style rut in the past 12 months but I asked for money this Christmas so I can buy new clothes. Yay! At the moment, I’m really liking the minimal look, so you may soon see a change of style soon! Another thing I’d like to do more in not only on my blog but in ~real life~ is cook and bake more. The two easy-to-follow cake recipes I posted were popular and I want to do more. I’m obsessed with baking pins on Pinterest and I can’t wait to give those recipe a go! I need to buy some baking equipment first! I don’t have anything other than an oven mitt and a wooden spoon!
4. Blog Design
I was perfectly happy with the blog design I had before but the moment I started browsing, I was itching for a change. New year, new blog design (or something like that?!) On impulse, I bought a new template. The changes are more visible on the landing page of my blog. I need to make tweaks to it and start creating images that fit the format, but… what do you guys think? Do you like it?
5. Themes Schmemes
Have you noticed that people who have a themed social media (mainly Instagram) grows in followers more than those who don’t? By theme, I mean the strategy of having every photo taken in certain style, subject or composition. They look great and Instagram audience LOVE it – me included – which is why I tried having a theme for about 2 weeks and as beautiful as it looked, I just got bored of it. I found it restricting, repetitive and it wasn’t for me at all. I love using the platform to capture and document memories as well as inserting content within that to promote my blog. Maybe I’ll start a new Instagram with a theme to it, but for now, continue to expect a lot of colours and inconsistent random stuff on my Instagram (search for me on there! My username is @tempsec)
6. Forget The Numbers Game
I said this
last year and I can honestly say that I was less obsessed with checking my stats and it made me feel less stressy! Instead, what I found was that the stress came from outside influences. I am not going to be defined by stats or be made to feel inadequate just because I don’t have a million followers. This year, I’m going to take it easy – I am not to try so hard to impress people and I’m not going to set myself a target to reach a certain number at a certain time. It’s too hard and blogging is too unpredictable now. I mean, remember the days when Google Friend Connect was a huge thing for us, and now look what happened to that! And what about Bloglovin’ – how many times have you seen the same old faces pop up on the ‘blogs to follow’ section? Give us small fries a chance, please? And don’t even get me started on how difficult Facebook makes it for us to reach the people we want. I haven’t got hundreds and thousands of pounds to pay to boost the visibility of my post. Basically, what I’m saying is that once upon a time, we were judged on the amount of followers we have. Now people look at engagement, the number of likes, retweets, favourites, comments, the amount of people we reach in a post. On Instagram? Facebook? Twitter? Snapchat? Pinterest? Google Analytics? Argh, my brain. I’m not playing the numbers game this year and see how that plays out.
7. Set Your Own Rules
2015 was all about the rules, but guess what? Rules are made to be broken! Um, ok, well, I mean… let’s not piss Google off or anything! But seriously, set your own rules and let’s just do what we want! YEAH!
8. Who’s Reading?
I’ve been writing my blog as if it’s just bloggers that read it. The truth is, the majority of readers aren’t even bloggers. They are people from all over the world stumbling on to the blog through search engines to seek information, ideas and inspiration. So don’t worry if you want to jump on the bandwagon and blog about the biggest
fashion trend or that must-have
beauty item. It may be seen all over everyone else’s blogs and the fashion magazines but it’s YOUR way of offering YOUR interpretation, opinion, or advice to your readers. The discussion that you strike up will be completely different to another blogger/magazine and that’s what makes the community so unique. Sometimes I feel bad when I write up a beauty sample box because I know hundreds of other bloggers have done the same and I feel like I have start the post by saying ‘eeeeks, I’m so sorry for yet another Glossybox review popping up your blogger dashboard’. Not to say that I won’t write the odd
blogging advice every now and then but I’m going to remind myself to write for everyone, not just for bloggers.
9. Read More Blogs
I read a lot of blogs already but I want to add even more to my list! I’ve been really in to fashion and beauty blogs for the past 5 years, and recently I’ve been reading more lifestyle blogs. I’d like to venture in to all kinds of blogs such as food, DIY, crafts, clean eating, and travel. Basically, ANYTHING! Reading blogs helps me to escape my own boring life for an hour (or two!). So if you have a favourite blog to recommend me, I’d love to know about it!
I cannot stick to a theme of Instagram either. I admire those that can, but like you said it's so restrictive and just all around is super hard to keep up with!
Jodie, xo // Jodie Loue
These are awesome goals and I'm on that new blog new design kind of kick right now too. Hope you achieve these and feel better with blogging.
Jackie | fashionxfairytale |
Very interesting post x
Yey, these are such achievable and great goals to set! I really like Jenny Purr's blog for inspiration on blog motivation. xx
Alice
thesmalldesk.com
Your photos are beautiful, I have just discovered your blog and love it! I really want to work on improve my theme on instagram this year too.
Ottilie | O is for Ottilie
I loved this post, I too set myself some blogging goals and some personal ones too so here's hoping I achieve them, 2015 was the year I took my blog more seriously instead of it being a sideline to my youtube channel and I am thoroughly enjoying blogging, can I be really cheeky please and recommend my own blog to you? If you do check it out, thank you ever so much and apologies for being cheeky 🙂 http://www.mammafulzo.com lots of love, Zoe xxxx
Zoe ♥ MammafulZo
I really enjoy reading your blog Sarah, and I completely agree with your thoughts on concentrating on good, creative content! I look forward to seeing what you post in 2016! x
http://www.yellowbelle.co.uk
I would like to work on my blog design and be more creative too with my content. Good luck with your goals!!
I need to do all these things! I'm the worst at writing and I need to stop the comparison. Let's just do our own thing girl! x
http://www.article21.co.uk
I'm loving your new blog layout! I revamped up the blog around Christmas as I wanted a new look for the new year as well! I found your cake recipes to be amazingly easy to follow and I enjoyed the change in content 🙂
sayyip.blogspot.com.au
Your blog design looks lovely! Hope you achieve all these goals 🙂
This is a great set of goals! For me with writing I need to proof read, I get bored reading over something I've already written and usually give up before proof reading it all but I know things fit together better when I do! And I need to stop looking at stats so much, I dreaded going to my google analytics as I haven't been that active recently and it shouldn't be like that <3
The Quirky Queer
This is so helpful! I definitely need to draw out my blog goals for 2016!
-Olivia
Miss Olivia Says
Great goals! I'm definitely also trying to read more blogs this year – I got really into youtube in 2015, but I thin it was at the expense of reading my faves unfortunately, need to try and find some balance this year!
I'd love to see my baking posts from you – there is no such thing as too much cake! I also need to get back into reading more blogs & leaving comments too. Its always so nice when someone leaves a nice comment on my blog & I should be doing the same more often
https://www.letstalkbeauty.co.uk/