Blogging Goals You Should Be Setting
I used to never set blogging goals for my business and if I did it was just half-hearted like, “I want to earn X this month.”
Then when I wouldn’t hit those goals it would make me feel like a failure, so I wouldn’t set goals the next month or repeat the same process.
They felt pointless to me.
I always felt like I was missing out on how to “do it right.”
It took me years to realize that I wasn’t setting the right blogging goals, or I wasn’t getting detailed enough with the goals I did set.
Below you will find a list of 4 blogging goals you should be setting especially if you are new to the blogging world.
Why should you set blogging goals?
Honestly, there are so many reasons why you need to be setting blogging goals, but the ultimate one is because it will help you to develop a systemized plan to achieve the goal.
Related: 5 Reasons Why You Need to Set Goal for Your Blog
If you don’t have blogging goals that you are working towards then you won’t know what to work on each day.
You’ll be aimlessly working without ever having a destination or checkpoints.
You may even feel that way right now...
Everyone’s version of success is different.
For you, it might be to quit your 9-5 job, make enough a month to pay for your mortgage or even partner with fun brands.
While others may want to write a book, earn $10k a month or even snag a spot on the local news.
Without setting blogging goals and defining what success means to you, you won’t be able to create a plan to achieve what YOU want.
But… you can’t look elsewhere for this.
It has to be what YOU want to accomplish instead of trying to do what you see every other blogger or online business owner does.
Need help setting goals? Instantly download a free copy of my Goal Setting for Bloggers Workbook!
How to set blogging goals
When I am creating blogging goals I try to simplify it as much as I possibly can. This means breaking goals down from a yearly > quarterly > monthly > weekly
Let’s say I have a blog post goal:
Yearly - 52 posts
Quarterly - 13 posts
Monthly - 4 posts
Weekly - 1 post
Now, I could break down my weekly tasks like this:
Research
Outline
Draft
Edit
Schedule content
Create graphics for the post
When you break it down it makes it much easier to put these items into my calendar instead of looking at an overwhelming number of blog posts (like 52) you’d need to do for the whole year.
When you set blogging goals monthly and weekly it leaves room for changes and adjustments.
Things change frequently with blogging and online business so you want to leave room for yourself to update your goals and keep them aligned with what you want to achieve.
It’s important to find a system that works for you. I personally like to brainstorm goals with pen and paper first and then add them into my Asana account (free project management system).
Related: How to Create an Action Plan to Achieve Your Goals
When you are first getting started (or even if you’ve been doing it a while) I still believe in setting realistic goals.
Yes, I love setting ‘push’ goals for myself, but I also make sure that they are realistic and I have a plan to hit them.
Please don’t think I am trying to crush your dreams or big blogging goals.
If you are a big dreamer then dream your heart out and go big.
I just see so many new bloggers and online business owners give up really fast when they don’t hit their blogging goals.
I don’t want that for you.
#1 - Big Vision Goal
When you are making your blogging goals I want you to take some time to write out big vision goals that you have for yourself and your business.
You may have 1 or you may have 10. These are the big pictures goals that sort of feel out of reach, but they are the reason behind doing what you do.
Maybe these include:
Writing a book
Quitting your job
Being a digital nomad
Buying your dream house
Hiring 5 employees
Starting a non-profit
These are specific to YOUR dreams and what YOU want to achieve. Don’t worry about what other people think about them or all the details of how you will achieve them right now.
These goals can be 5 years out but will help to give you a direction of what you are working towards.
Sometimes it is hard to push through failures in our business or the mundane work, but when you have these big vision goals to reference it will help motivate you to move forward and make progress.
When you start listing all the things you don’t want you’ll start to get clarity around the things you do want for your blog and life. This will help you formulate what you want to accomplish.
Here are a few things to consider:
What kind of impact do you want to make?
What do you want to create?
How can you help and be of service?
What do you want to learn?
What are you passionate about?
What is your definition of success?
Don’t worry if it isn’t all clear right now.
Creating your vision takes time and will change often.
The important part is that you step into the role of being a visionary for your blog.
#2 - Project Goals
Now that we got the big stuff out of the way, let’s talk about project-based blogging goals you can set for yourself right now.
These goals will give you a specific outcome for what you want to achieve RIGHT NOW.
I like to plan these on a quarterly basis.
Related: 90-Day Blog Plan to Achieve Your Goals
I do not recommend planning a year out because trust me when it comes to blogging and business plans changes fast.
To create project goals you need to think about what YOU specifically want to achieve with your blog.
Yes, I know everyone will most likely say earn more money, but you need to get more detailed than and not only figure out how but by when.
How will you earn more money?
Are you launching a new digital product?
Offering a new service?
Maybe right now, you already have an offer so your project goal is to grow your audience.
What specific result are you trying to achieve?
When you know what you are working towards you can then create the projects that need to be complete to hit that goal
I recommend that you write it down, and place it in a spot where you can see it every day. This will reaffirm your goal and push you to keep moving forwards.
Your goal needs to be very clear:
“I want to increase my revenue by 10% with my online course by August 15th.”
When you get specific you can then create a plan with action steps to achieve the goal, and you can hold yourself accountable by creating milestones along the way.
#3 - Revenue Goals
Sometimes these types of blogging goals can be harder to set especially if you are just starting out. You don’t have any data to go off of so it might just feel like a shot in the dark.
I still recommend you take the time to figure out a revenue goal for your blog because again it will motivate you to do the necessary work to accomplish the revenue goal.
To do this, I like to start with a yearly revenue goal as a starting point.
I don’t just pick some random number out of thin air. I try to be more realistic while picking a number that feels good to me and will also be motivating.
As I am doing this, I look at the products and services that I offer and break down how much of that revenue will come from each source of income.
For example, if I want to earn $20,000 next year I might break it down like this (all based on previous data):
Affiliate Income - $5,500
Digital Product #1 - $8,000
Digital Product #2 - $2,500
Services - $4,000
Then, I look at the price point of my products and services and decide how many I need to sell per month.
If I want to make $8,000 from product #1 and it costs $197, I need to sell 40 of those in that year. Which comes to be about 4 per month.
It makes it so much more doable when you break down your revenue goal. Plus, you can then map out your marketing and plan your projects around how many sales you need to make per month.
If you are brand new to blogging I recommend that you start small and plan your blogging revenue goals around the products and services you have to offer.
#4 - Metric-Based Goals
I am a firm believer in NOT worrying too much about vanity metrics to gauge your success off of, but when you are setting blogging goals it’s always nice to track your progress with these types of goals.
I don’t want you to only focus on getting new followers UNLESS those followers directly relate to sales or conversions in your business.
I like to set monthly metric-based goals to motivate me to do the work to hit those goals.
For example, in my business, I will focus some months on just lead generation. In those cases, I would set a lead generation metric goal to push me to complete the projects I need to increase my monthly leads.
Other metrics you can track include social media followers, sales conversions, email subscribers, email open rates, email click-through rates, and website traffic.
If you are picking a metric goal for the month only focus on one or maybe two. That way you can wholeheartedly focus on projects and tasks to hit those goals.
I know setting blogging goals will look different for everyone, but I hope this helps you get a better idea of some of the goals you can set for your blog.