Blogging Tips

Many blogs I read regularly have been quiet in the last week due to the holidays though there have been some great reviews of 2008. Many have also set out their goals for 2009.

In particular I enjoyed Tyler Cruz’s revisit of 2008 and his look forward to 2009. Daniel Scocco also posted a great summary yesterday when he posted the goals for 2009 of 56 of his readers.

I never publicly stated any goals for BloggingTips last year however I did have an idea of where I wanted the site to go so I thought I would have a quick look back at how the site has developed in the last year.

A quick look back at the steps BloggingTips.com has made in 2008

• Subscribers – I was hoping that the blog would reach 5,000 subscribers by the end of the year. Growth has been slow but it has been steady and we are currently hovering around 3,500 subscribers every day. The blog broke the 1,000 mark last October so perhaps I shouldn’t be too disappointed.
• To acquire a reliable writing team – In the first year of BloggingTips the posts came from a large number of bloggers. Most weekly bloggers only lasted a few months before we parted ways. Thankfully, in 2008 this did not happen.
  The current writing team has been in place for several months and continue to write great posts week in week out, focusing on their own type of posts. I cannot stress enough how much they have played a part in the sites success.
• Blog Income – This time last year the blog was making a loss every month due to author wages. My aim in 2008 was to try and break even however I went one better. The blog is now turning a profit every month and I will soon be able to reinvest profits into other areas of the site.
• Blogging Forums – I have wanted to create a forum community at BloggingTips for some time. In the last few months the forums have got a lot busier and new members are signing up every today. The $1,500 forum competition in November definately helped this happen.

One of my main goals of BloggingTips was to write great posts day in day out. Posts which I would like to read myself. It’s impossible to write Grade A posts every day of the week however I have been very pleased with some of the posts this year, particularly from our regular authors.

According to FeedBurner, the top 15 posts in the last year were :

1. The Ultimate Free RSS Icon List
2. Create a Magazine Style Theme
3. Create a Magazine Style Theme II
4. Using WordPress To Create Mini Sites
5. 100 Great Blog Logos
6. 3 Surefire Ways To Get Tons Of Content
7. Five wordpress plugins to attract more traffic
8. 3 Different Ways To Brand Yourself And Be Known For It
9. Create a Contact Page Part III
10. Create a Contact Page Part II
11. Top 10 Blogger Customizations
12. 3 Best Free Ways To Get Quick Visibility To Your Blog
13. Accessible Comment Form
14. Create a Contact Page Part I
15. Do you write positive paid reviews on your blog?

Goals for BloggingTips in 2009

• Subscribers – I would love to break the 10,000 subscriber mark by the end of 2009 but I would be happy with anything over 7,500.
• Writing Team – I am looking into hiring some more authors however my main concern is to keep the great writers I have and make sure the blog is still updated every day with quality, revelant posts.
• Blog Income – I believe one of the reasons advertisements are selling out every month is because I have kept prices competitive. There are many blogs with just a few hundred subscribers charging the same amount as me so I’m sure this is why I am getting so many emails about it. Once I reach 5,000 subscribers I plan on increasing advertising costs a little however I want to make sure advertisers still get a good deal.
  In 2009 I want to cement the relationship I have developed with my advertisers so that income remains stable every month and doesn’t fluctuate too much. This will allow me to better plan where profits should be reinvested (i.e. more authors, promotion, prizes etc).
• Blogging Forums – In 2009 I want to increase the sign up rate to the forums and increase the number of active members. The more the main blog grows the more this should happen though I may hire 4 or 5 bloggers as moderators to help things tick along. At the very least I would love regular readers of the blog to hang out there and post any problems they have etc.
• More for Readers – Readers love prizes however in 2009 I would prefer to spend money on theme and plugin development for you guys. Hopefully I will be able to develop at least 5 new original themes for you all this year.

In a nutshell, I want the blog to continue to grow and progress in 2009.

What are your goals for 2009?

I don’t think you have to necessarily publish your goals online however I think it’s important to revaluate where you and your blog are every now and then and where you want to be.

I’d love to hear about your goals for 2009 and your opinion on how 2008 was for you and your blog