Last Updated on by Michael Brockbank
When setting up a blog, there are all kinds of goals you can make. But, not all of them are realistic. In fact, you could be focusing on the wrong things in general. Today, let’s look at the most prominent goals bloggers should make to drive success.
To be perfectly honest, a lot of these goals are quite simple to maintain. However, they can be the most profound goals to affect everything from visitor traffic to making money.
Don’t Focus on the Actions of Others
A common goal I see from a lot of new creators is trying to make a certain amount of money from their websites. While this might be nice, especially for those who want to bring in a full-time income, it’s not the best goal to have.
This is because it focuses on actions taken by others.
You can’t force someone to click an advertisement or make a purchase through your affiliate link. All you can really do is entice them to take those actions.
When you don’t meet those monetary goals, you may start to feel unaccomplished. It can sap your motivation and leave you feeling discouraged from continuing.
In other words, you’re more likely to give up if you set unrealistic expectations regarding your blog.
Instead, focus more on the goals you set for yourself. The more of these you accomplish, the greater are the chances of attracting an audience who will help you bring in that money.
4 Realistic Goals for Bloggers
First of all, make sure your goals are those that you can achieve through effort. You don’t want something that is too simple, but you don’t want to aim for something you utterly cannot handle.
Strive to surpass your abilities, but don’t set yourself up for failure.
So, what are some goals bloggers can make to improve their chances of success overall?
1. Aim for a Specific Number of Words
Setting word counts are great goals for blogging. And, it’s incredibly flexible depending on your unique situation.
For example, you can set a word count goal of reaching one million words written within a year. Or, you can just focus on producing 5,000 words of content each week.
The most ideal objective will be based on your own abilities to produce content. Perhaps you simply don’t have the time to crank out 1,600 words per day. And that’s fine. But, you still need to find a baseline of your capabilities.
This will help you come up with a plan of action for writing more.
How many words did you write last week? Can you create more this week, even if it’s by just one word?
Why Word Count Goals are Good for Bloggers
A goal for writing a specific number of words can help you maintain productivity. After all, no one is going to come to your site if there’s no content to read.
The more you create, the better are your chances of coming across a topic that drives a ton of traffic.
2. Publish a Set Amount of Posts
Another great goal to have is to make sure you’re publishing a specific number of posts within a set amount of time.
If you can crank out one post per day, then that’s great. Unfortunately, not everyone has that kind of time. Especially if you wind up writing a massive, 3,000-word post on a specific topic.
But like the word count goal above, having a publishing schedule can help keep you productive.
How often should you publish content? That really depends on your target audience and how much time you can put into quality material. Find a good rhythm for yourself and your audience.
Why Publishing Posts is a Great Goal for Bloggers
Every post you create is one more topic that can potentially pique someone’s interest. Plus, it seems Google prioritizes websites that are constantly updated and pushing out content.
It also gives you a chance to acquire fans who subscribe for post updates, especially if they know when to expect a new piece of content.
So, having a schedule for pushing out material is great from both the perspective of readers and search engines.
3. Dedicate Time to Learn More
Set a goal to help you learn more about your niche, industry, search engine optimization, and anything else that will help your blog grow. Because there is a lot you can learn that will ultimately improve the quality of your site.
A great goal to have would be to make sure you set about an hour aside each day to “learn more.”
In fact, this is one of the things that helped me succeed when I began writing professionally back in 2012. Always set aside time to learn everything you can about your topics.
Why Learning is an Excellent Goal for Bloggers
Expanding your knowledge about your website’s niche lends to credibility. It improves your authoritativeness and impresses a sense of professionalism.
Not only does this look great to visitors, but it also improves search engine ranking. This is because Google loves expertise, authority, and trustworthiness (E-A-T).
It also works to improve the user experience, especially if you learn ways to optimize your website.
4. Revamp or Rewrite a Set Number of Posts Each Month
Reworking older posts can do wonders for generating blog traffic. In fact, I see it all the time when working with my clients. In some cases, I’ve seen a simple, 600-word addition boost traffic by more than 2,000%!
The idea behind revamping an older article is to give Google something fresh to crawl while providing current information. Because, let’s face it, information can get obsolete rather quickly in today’s fast-paced world.
By setting a goal to do at least one revamp per week, you can help keep your older content in good graces with search engines and searchers alike.
Why Revamping is an Awesome Goal for Bloggers
There are two distinct reasons why you should consider rewriting old posts. For one, it gives you a chance to spruce up the content and add relevant, current information.
Plus, your skills today are not the same as they were five years ago. This gives you a chance to change the text layout and fix the overall readability of the post.
Secondly, Google loves “freshness.” The more adamant you are about providing current information, the more likely the post will appear in search results.
It’s All About the Content
For the most part, the best goals for bloggers all center around content. Because it’s the words you put together that will make or break your website.
Whether it’s attracting an audience or pleasing the Google algorithm, it all comes down to what you create.
If you want to make money from your blog, content goals will make that happen. Because no amount of advertisements or affiliate links will make a difference if you don’t have stuff people want to read.
Just keep in mind that not all blog posts will perform the same. You’ll have articles that don’t drive interest at all while some may account for one-third of your overall traffic.
But, you won’t know what those articles are until you actually write them.
What Are Some of Your Goals for Blogging?
Personally, I have two primary goals; one is for me in general and the other is for all of my blogs. I am striving to write one million words in 2021, which then helps me create content for all of my sites, clients, and personal projects.
Then, I am also working on making sure all the websites have at least three posts published each week.
My point of this article is that goals for bloggers should center around the creators themselves and not from the actions taken by others.
The only real thing you have control over is your own productivity. And the more productive you are, the more likely everything else will fall into place.
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