Hey everyone! Today I’m going to look and see how my progress towards my 2017 blog goals is going. I wrote these goals at the very end of 2016 and since I’ve seen many others checking in on their progress I thought I’d do the same!

Here we go!

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So my 2017 goals weren’t as well thought out as they could have been I think. I made 5 general goals, but nothing numbers related, or anything. How strange! But let’s look into them! The 2017 goals are:

1. I want to become more active in the blogging community. I don’t often comment on posts I read so I want to do that more, and I hope to make a few blogging friends.
2. I want to continue to consistently post on my scheduled days.
3. I hope to keep up with my categories more evenly or even chose more specific areas of focus for my blog so I don’t feel like I have too many topics to write about.
4. I want to take better photos for my blog. I often do things in my life with the intention of getting photos to share later, but then I forget to take them and then I have nothing to post! I also want to stop recycling so many photos as well.
5. I want to do more reviews and thought-provoking posts. I want to get away from the hauls and the same type of posts that I’ve gotten comfortable with.

Clearly I need to work on creating better goals. That should be a 2018 goal. Let’s see the progress.

Goal #1: Become more active in the community

I’m going to go ahead and say that I’m doing well on this one. I definitely comment way more than I used to and have chats with many bloggers everywhere. Literally everywhere. Not only do we chat on their blog post comments or on my post comments, but also on Twitter, Instagram, and even on FB messenger for one (you know who you are).

Goal #2: Post consistently

I am now posting every weekday and usually one day on a weekend. I’m going to go ahead and say I’m doing wonderfully on this one! I do want to start writing ahead and try to schedule a full week or two ahead of time. This is mostly because we had a scare where we thought that my mom and I would have to make an emergency trip to Mexico for a family member. This could still very well happen unfortunately and we should be more prepared than we are, so I think doing this would help if I did ever have to leave so I wouldn’t have to worry much about my blog while I’m gone.

Goal #3: Limit topics and touch on those consistently

Eh. After some more thought, I decided not to worry about this. I love writing about all sorts of topics and not having to worry about limiting myself to only a few topics. I greatly admire blogs that can be all beauty or all fashion or all books, etc. but that’s just not me. If you’ve followed me for awhile you know that I have many interests and hobbies so my blog really does reflect my life when I write about different topics.

Goal #4: Better photos

Well this is hit or miss I think. Since I stopped using my iPhone for photos and started using my Sony camera (it’s not quite DSLR but not a point and shoot either, it’s like an in-between kind of camera as it’s mirrorless) I think my photos are much better! I just need to edit them a little better. When I take the photos I have to connect my camera to my laptop, import them, email them to myself, download them on my phone, edit with Snapseed, and then upload them to WordPress. It’s such a long process, but I think it pays off! I still use my iPhone for day to day photos though.

Goal #5: More reviews & thought-provoking posts

I think I’ve been doing a better job at reviews, kinda. I was doing better at the beginning of the year, not so well now. I mostly review beauty products and books. Since I haven’t been buying new items, I can’t review new things. And since I’ve been in a reading slump, I haven’t been able to review books. However I have been reviewing musicals and I want to review all the musicals I attend for my Broadway in Chicago subscription.

Thought-provoking has been tougher. I don’t think I’ve done many of these at all. But there’s still the second half of the year I suppose!

Unofficial Goals?

I vaguely remember that I had some other goals written down but I can’t find them anywhere. I should have included them! But here are a few that I remember and some that have been floating through my mind since that post.

I remember one goal was to reach 500 followers by the end of the year, thinking that would be a stretch. I reached 500 earlier this month and even did a YouTube video! I hadn’t expected to be doing that!

Recently I have been looking at going self-hosted and wanted to do so sometime this year. However I think I will be putting this off. While I really want to the fact of the matter is that it’s expensive and if I am going to start graduate school for my MBA I cannot afford it just yet. If I don’t get accepted I will likely go for it though.

I wanted to find a logo for my blog but I haven’t found one that I like just yet. I also had wanted to get “business” cards for it as well but I don’t think that’s necessary!

One goal I still have is to create my own blog award/tag. I see others creating them and I want in on that fun! I just have to find an idea and then research it to make sure it hasn’t been done already.

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So that’s my progress so far on my very vague goals. I’ll have to do a better job next year when I create my blog goals!

How are you doing on your 2017 blog goals?

Thanks for reading!

Pamela

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