Blog Goals for 2016

Blogging has been a part of my life since early 2012. Throughout college I spent my time brainstorming article ideas and falling in love with the feeling of my posts gaining recognition. I knew that after college I would no longer able to write for many of the websites I was featured on, which led me to start this blog the last semester of school.

Graduating college, moving across the country and entering the workforce were all major milestones in my life, all of which went undocumented on this space because of the overwhelming feeling of not knowing what the hell I was doing.

This past fall I realized I was really unhappy with my life, at least with certain pieces of it. My lack of friends in the city and busy work schedule were causing problems in my relationship, and after a year of taking the time to adjust to life on the east coast I was seriously considering packing up and moving home to California.

Instead I went back to the one thing that always lifted my spirits during those tough days in college, blogging.

By posting more consistently, being active on social media and reaching out to other people in my niche I was able to increase my pageviews, reader engagement and fall back in love with the feeling of hitting publish.

2016 is the year I want to take a passion I've had since I was 19 and turn it into something I am proud to bring up to total strangers. Currently none of my real life friends know I am blogging again, including my boyfriend. With so many failed attempts in the past to create an online space that helps other twenty somethings figure out life, this time I've decided to set goals to keep me motivated throughout the new year.

Reach 15,000 monthly pageviews. 

For the month of November I was able to increase my pageviews to 1208, followed by 6837 in December. With the growth I am experiencing on a weekly basis, my initial goal is to reach 15,000 pageviews in a month, and if reached, up that number to 20,000 by the end of the year.

Create an easy to navigate website. 

People judge your blog by their first visit, and I am definitely guilty of not wanting to read someone's post because of their font size or color choice. Having already purchased a new blog design that I believe will make finding content so much simpler, 2016 will be the year you know exactly what my blog has to offer the second the page loads.

Prepare content ahead of time. 

I consider myself a pretty organized person, at least when it comes to my blog. Where I'm lacking is staying on top of things during busy seasons, like the holidays or finals time. Ideally I would like to have a bank of posts that I can use during weeks when I'm too busy to write a new post but don't want to go days without publishing new content. Having the security of ready to publish posts during these busy periods will  keep me motivated and hopefully continue to increase my pageviews.

Consistency on social media. 

My relationship with social media can be described as on and off again. I'm either on it all the time, updating constantly and pushing out great content, or I haven't logged on in weeks and I may have forgotten my password again. Using the information I've learned about how to increase my Instagram following and gain blog readers through Twitter, my goal for 2016 is not only to be more active, but to develop a consistent brand with social media. There's nothing I love more than a blogger who is recognizable purely through her Instagrams, so without sticking to a "theme," I'd like to develop a personal style that I can carry throughout all my social media accounts.

Start monetizing. 

Even though I've read about everything there is to know about earning money through your blog, this is definitely my biggest and scariest goal. Even though I'm not trying to earn a full time income through my blog, I'd like to use this platform to earn money if possible. Because I have a job that I'm completely happy with, I want to only partner up with companies that I believe are beneficial to my audience, not just my bank statement. Once my pageviews reach ten thousand, I will begin the process of applying to groups that present bloggers with sponsored post opportunities.



I'd love to hear if you have any advice to help me reach my goals in 2016, plus share some of your own in the comments below!