You are probably sick of all the best of articles that have been written the last week around the web though I do think that this is a great time to look at your blog and think about what you would like to improve in 2010. I personally believe that the goals you set should motivate you to work your butt off, though they need to be achievable too. There’s no point setting a goal to reach 10,000 subscribers if you only have 100 just now as you may feel disappointed if you don’t get there.
Set Your Blogging Goals
Some of you may not even be sure where to start when it comes to setting your targets for 2010. I think the best way is to break the targets into specific goals and non specific goals. The list below is not a complete list, nor will these targets be applicable to all bloggers, though it should point you in the right direction of how you want your blog to progress in the coming year.
Specific Goals
- RSS Subscribers: The most obvious target to aim for is RSS subscribers, which is in my opinion still the most reliable way to measure the popularity of a blog (even if Feedburner counts do go up and down all the time). As I mentioned before, I think you should set a high target but make sure it can be attained. If you are starting a new blog then reaching 2,000+ subscribers within a year is great. If you have 2,000 subscribers already you may be looking to break the 5,000 mark.
There is no right or wrong way to set a target, the whole point of the target is to give you something to aim for in the long term, something to keep driving you on to blog.
- More comments: Increasing discussions on your blog is something which you may want to target. Blogs with regular discussions may not always be the most popular though their readers are usually more loyal.
- Income: Most bloggers are looking to make money though their blog. If you are not making any money just now then you should set your targets low and aim to bring in regular advertisers to cover your costs with a little left for yourself. If you are already making money through your blog then may be looking to significantly increase it in 2010.
If money is something that motivates you then this will be an important target for you.
Non Specific Goals
- Build relationships with other bloggers
- Raise your profile in your niche
- Get to know your readers more
- Improve the quality of articles on your blog
- Manage your time more effectively
I think the whole reason for setting targets is to give you something to aim for, something to drive you on to write great articles when you’re wondering if it’s all worth it, something to help you focus when you’re feeling lazy.
How To Achieve Your Goals
Once you know what your goals are, you should develop a plan of action in order to achieve them. If you are a visual type of person then I recommend having your goals posted above your computer at all times, and next to them you should have a list of things you can do to reach them.
Here are some ideas of how you can develop your blog in 2010:
- Spend more time on your blog posts and do more for research them.
- Make sure the quality of your articles are always high by spending time proofreading them.
- Interact with your readers more often by replying to their comments on your blog and theirs.
- Do guest posts on more popular blogs to bring in traffic and raise your profile.
- Write at least two long detailed articles a month in which you answer a question or address a problem which your readers may have.
- Write at least two high quality link bait articles a month which link heavily to related blogs and websites.
- Change your blog design or improve it in some way.
- Look for suitable advertisers on your niche and build a good relationship between them and your readers.
- Spend more time on your blog and less time reading and commenting on others.
The above list is far from being comprehensive though it should help you understand how short term action can achieve long term goals.
Overview
I hope you have all had a fantastic Christmas and I hope you have a great new year too. Have a few days and spend some quality time with your family. I encourage you all to a have a think about how you will improve your blog over the next few days when you are relaxing. Once you get back to your computer you should hopefully have lots of great ideas to put into action.
Let’s start 2010 with a bang!
Good luck 
Kevin
This is the first year in the six years of blogging I have done – that I am sitting down to set some goals. Thanks for the timely post – I found it helpful as it relates to picking some specific areas to focus on.
thanks for the good post kevin sir, and its a really nice post to kick start our blog this year. thanks for the boost. my friends are my supporters of my blog and i do have very low subscribers, have to increase that @ first. try to give more elegant way of articles and do more tutorials and freebies than before.
Have to learn more stuff about the blog " how to promote it ? "
thank you once again and happy new year
Great Post.
I am also going to sit down and think about my upcoming goals I want to achieve this year.
Hey, its so happen that I did not really setting up my own goals in writing. But after reading your post, I am going to have one. Its really nice to set up goals, to know that you are achieving something with your writing work.thanks.
Dear Mr. Kevin,
All I want to say… it is wonderful post. You have summarized the core facts of making a good blog. I will try to follow the guidelines you mentioned in this post and will make my goals for blogging.
Thank you,
With regards
Pratap
My recent post Visbon first post