A roadmap can help you establish goals while keeping the motivation to build something great. It’s a constant reminder of what you want to do with your brand and the great things that can be done down the line. I built one of these for WriterSanctuary.
It’s one of the many things you can do with Mindomo, the free mind mapping app that I’ve talked about in the past.
Anyway, I’ve arranged the WriterSanctuary roadmap according to priority. And today, I thought it would be kind of fun to share what’s next on the agenda. Essentially, I’m keeping you all in the loop of the things I’m setting up for both the blog and YouTube channel.
Plus, I find that blogging about something helps me keep it in mind so that I don’t forget.
What Is the Next Achievement and When?
First on the list of milestones is setting up community writing challenges. I’m still working out the logistics and details of how these would go, but I believe they would be a great way to engage and interact with those who follow the blog and YouTube channel.
I’m a supporter of challenging oneself as often as possible. It’s a great way to see what you’re truly capable of achieving if you put in maximum effort. And writing challenges are something I’ve been wanting to add to WriterSanctuary for quite some time.
I wanted to do more than just a writing prompt, though. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with writing prompts. They can be exceptionally helpful in stirring the creative juices. But I want to go beyond just writing a story and calling it a day.
Some of the ideas I’ve been toying with lately include:
- Using something like Inkitt for the challenges and then sharing everyone’s links on the blog and YouTube channel.
- Flash fiction for the community tab on YouTube.
- Community stories posted on the blog, or perhaps create a subdomain for creative works with attributions to the author.
- Incorporating the writing sprints with the writing challenges to add engagement.
- Some kind of virtual reward for those who succeed in the challenge.
I’m still trying to figure out the best way to go about the challenges. I want them to be fun, but also want to make sure participants get something for their efforts aside from a pat on the back.
I can do shoutouts on YouTube and the blog for those who complete the challenge. But it feels like there’s more that I can do to help writers build momentum for themselves.
I’m still debating on how to run the writing challenges, but if you have any suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comment section. I’m always open to hearing from visitors.
When Do These Begin and Why?
This first milestone for WriterSanctuary begins as soon as the blog maintains 200 visits and the YouTube channel hits 400 views per day. Essentially, I want to double my traffic before launching the challenges.
Why is that? Wouldn’t the challenges be a way to bring more people to the blog and channel? The traffic requirement will give me plenty of time to hammer out the details of the challenges instead of just tossing them out there willy-nilly.
Besides, the traffic requirement gives me a goal to strive for while potentially increasing the likelihood that others will participate. It may also prompt others to share the blog in hopes of generating word-of-mouth interest in the site to boost traffic.
Everything has a marketing angle to it, I suppose.
I’m debating on adding a sidebar element that shows how close we are to unlocking the next milestone. It might be something fun for those who frequent the blog. Who am I kidding? It might be fun for me to keep track of the numbers.
Anyway, the moment the site has 1,400 visitors and the YouTube channel hits 2,800 views throughout an entire week, we’ll start launching the writing challenges.
Dedicating Weekly Blocks of Time
Since I dialed back the workload on the other sites, I have a 2-hour block of time that I’m dedicating to research and development of each element on the roadmap. In this case, I’m working on how to run the writing challenges.
I want to offer something unique and fun for the participants. So, that means doing quite a bit of research on how everyone else handles them and what I could do that sets WriterSanctuary apart from the others.
That means I’m actively working on the idea before the requirements are met. And since these are “guaranteed” chunks of time, I can get quite a bit done.
Of course, all of this hinges on whether I can increase the traffic to the blog and YouTube channel. Google has a way of burying my content and YouTube can be a fickle mistress. Perhaps if there is a lot of interest in each project, I may forgo the “requirement” and just launch them anyway.
Maybe I should set a time requirement instead. I suppose that’s something to think about, anyway.
What Comes After the Writing Challenges?
Once the writing challenges are in full swing, the next milestone is setting up virtual writing retreats. It was an idea brought up during the After Hours livestream, and it kind of stuck with me.
This one has a bit heavier of a requirement, which should give me plenty of time to figure out its logistics. Since I’ve never attended a writing retreat, let alone set one up, I’ve got a lot of research ahead of me.
The first of these retreats will undoubtedly be free to attend. I just need to figure out how to set them up as well as figure out proper ways to market them.
Much later down the road, I plan on hosting in-person writing retreats. But that is a completely different monster altogether. And the blog would have to be generating around 18,000 visitors per month. So, we’re potentially talking years down the road, here.
But, let’s not put the cart in front of the horse. We’re only focusing on the next milestone, which is hitting 200 blog visits and 400 video views per day. We’ll cross those other bridges when we get to them.
There’s a Lot More to Come…
The roadmap for WriterSanctuary has some pretty lofty goals. But they are all things I would love to implement for the brand and have been thinking about for several years. From setting up online courses to hosting live in-person author events, I have quite a few major plans in the works.
The requirements are there to give me time to figure out the best course of action for each. Instead of trying to do everything all at once, I’ve learned my lesson and am taking it nice and easy.
It’s far less stressful that way.
Nonetheless, these are all things I am working on every day to deliver. Every small accomplishment is but one more step toward something great. And I can’t wait to explore the potential of what’s on this roadmap.
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