Keeping Realistic and Adaptable Blogging Goals
Posted June 5th, 2006Categories: Writing, Blogging
Another project has surfaced at Problogger.net this week. Darren challenges everyone to come up with their blogging goals and post about them for all to see. I enjoyed participating in the last project (Habits of Effective Blogging) and look forward to the results of this project as well.
Keeping goals dynamic
Blogging goals for me may not be as aspiring as the many others that read Problogger. Perhaps it’s because I have no trouble changing my goals over time as circumstances change. The following are my current goals, but over time if opportunities present themselves I wouldn’t be afraid to modify them into more aggressive goals.
These are very realistic to me for now as I’m currently a very busy with my family and career. Being realistic is one of the most important parts about setting goals with blogging. Those setting goals without a sense of reality are more likely to give up. Sure, I’d like to be a six-figure blogger…but a more realistic (perhaps short-term is a better word) goal is to just not lose money.
Current Blog Goals:
1. Means of communication
With a blog, I can encapsulate many methods of communicating into one medium. Not only can I include the people that I normally chat with on the subjects, but I can get new perspectives from a much larger audience that might be interested as well. I’m usually much more interested in the topic I’m writing about than to whom I’m writing it for, but I simply can’t deny how inspired I get when others show a passion for the topic as well. The collaboration that can take place through blogging just amazes me.
2. Collection/Journal of my thoughts for future reference
There are many times that I just can’t seem to remember why I have a strong opinion about some topics…just that I remember there was SOME reason. One goal with having a blog is to be able to refer back to it over and over again, even update it with my opinions, thoughts, and reasons for those times when I want to revisit a topic.
3. $$$ - Avoid costs
I can safely say by now that I enjoy blogging. I think I enjoy it on my own domain, under my own circumstances even more. Doing so is not free, however, and covering all costs associated with such an environment is definitely a goal. I don’t want to spend any money. In fact I wouldn’t mind a surplus to apply to future hosting expenses. I don’t think pro-blogging is something I have in mind for a goal right now so much as just not spending money, though with time we’ll see how things work out. Already I’m coming up with other niches where I believe I’d be a good contributor.
4. Increase content base/readership
This is a fairly new venture for me. I’ve got a lot of thoughts and years of experience to catch up on. However, in order to make money from a blog in the future, increasing the amount of content on my site is a necessity. I don’t intend on using gimmicks to build a community with my blog. My goal is to just get more content out there for all to see, and relate to others that are interested.
So, to wrap things up I’ll state that blogging has been a neat experiment for me that’s working out just fine for the goals I’ve stated. I’ve enjoyed posting on a variety of lessons learned so far following the very plan I first created almost to the letter. (Some of my plan was summarized in my previous pro-blogger-related post via the first two habits.)
Thanks for the opportunity to participate in another project, Darren! I again look forward to reading through the many submissions.
Related Posts:
- If I Could Turn Back Time… (Problogger Group Writing Project)
- How I made $89.69 in my first month of blogging
- The 50 Habits of Highly Effective Blogging (ProBlogger Project Submissions Examined)
- Top 10 Things I’ve Learned From Problogger
- What Free Magazines Can Do For You
Explore posts in the same categories: Writing, Blogging
June 5th, 2006 at 8:16 pm
[…] Keeping Realistic and Adaptable Blogging Goals by Rob […]
June 5th, 2006 at 10:58 pm
I like your point about avoiding costs. So many people complain that people are blogging for profit, when many people simply want to offset their hosting fees. I suppose we don’t expect to get paid out when we buy a java at the coffee house or throw some coins in the meter outside the free public lecture hall, but blogging really does carry costs and I think it’s reasonable to try to offset them.
June 6th, 2006 at 4:07 am
I find your second point very interesting; I mentioned something similar in my post about blog goals, which was about keeping tracks of what I’ve done so far, but what you describe there is probably more interesting, as it’s all about being consistent.
I used to keep my ideas in various shapes and places, but gathering them on a blog is much better in two ways: make them available to other people and generate discussion, and keep them all in the same place. It’s a much more dynamic way of managing ideas and thoughts, instead of letting them sit in a paper book.
June 6th, 2006 at 5:59 am
Yes, for getting readers, blogging is ideal. “Collection/Journal of my thoughts for future reference” is an interesting concept. I believe that blogging can help to improve our career too.
June 6th, 2006 at 8:42 am
I think that being able to pay off blogging (future blogging) expenses is a huge leap.
Once you have enough to reinvest its like a fire that is fueling itself. Might I suggest
using expenses as a tax write off.
happy blogging
June 6th, 2006 at 8:59 am
Thanks for stopping by everyone! It’s nice to see I’ve brought something new to the table. The first two posts are really what got me looking into blogging. Finding out I could recover costs and gain readership over time for a possible profit made me dive in and never look back.
Thanks for the tax suggestion rob, I’ll definitely look into that come tax time.
June 6th, 2006 at 10:58 am
Paying off blogging expenses, I love that idea (more than just the normal “I want to make loads of money” which is seldom realized).
Collection of thoughts is also great, and especially as I blog about my child and his adventures, it serves as a journal for him in future as well.
Nice, fresh ideas, it is great getting to see everyone else’s goals, it gives me great ideas and motivations
.
June 6th, 2006 at 11:04 am
I like your dynamic and adaptable approach. I always believed that keeping it real and with the times, such as they may be, is very important.
June 8th, 2006 at 3:40 pm
I also found the second point interesting. Not because I have also written about it, but because I have not written about it. Yes, it is clear that my thoughts are going to be stored for future reference. Maybe I should occasionally remind myself to give great advices for the future me.
June 9th, 2006 at 10:47 am
I really like the idea of remaining flexible. You’re right, circumstances change over time, so goals must too.
One just has to be careful not to be too flexible, or no goal will ever be met. (I chronic problem I have.)
June 9th, 2006 at 11:39 am
intereting point 4, but for me sometimes is hard to write if my mind is lot of stuff
June 10th, 2006 at 3:55 pm
I like that.. being dynamic; its very Bruce Lee/Art of War-ish.
June 16th, 2006 at 8:06 am
[…] Funny thing this is. About one month ago I decided to start this blog. I’ve got some pretty reasonable goals in mind from what I can tell by the feedback in the group writing project I participated in on blogging goals. I certainly didn’t expect the kind of results that I had, and I’ll probably be the next edge case that has a little more attention for awhile before everyone moves on to the next flavor of the day that made more money than it should have. […]