Hi everyone! I wanted to do a blog goals check in as we’re way past the mid-year point! I’m so bad at this, checking in on my 2018 blog goals. We have goals at work as well that we were um, “strongly encouraged” (forced) to make. My manager will ask how I’m doing on those and I’m always like “uhhhhhhh, what were they again?” Yup, that bad!

So I was struggling to find a post for today, especially since the AC broke in my house on this lovely 90 degree Fahrenheit day (32 Celsius according to Google). However I thought back on my blog and realized – I probably made goals for 2018 and never thought of them again! A quick check revealed this was indeed the case.

Now, to be honest it’s not that I didn’t think of them. It’s just that I suppose goals come naturally so they’re always in the back of my mind. I have both an overabundance of goals and an overly active mind so I suppose they’re always somewhere in my thoughts, but never at the forefront which is what I’d like to work on.

Any tips on that? Let me know!

So anyway, we should get onto the 2018 blog goals I have for Starring Pamela. I should say I already read through them and they were, um, ambitious to say the least. I swear I’m at least a quarter Slytherin (but Ravenclaw ultimately). So I’ll also be adjusting them as needed. Here we go! (Original goals in bold.)

1. Reach 50,000 views in 2018. This would essentially be double of what I received in 2017 but I think we can do it!
   Well I’m sitting at about 10,000 view this year so far soooooo highly doubtful I’ll reach 50,000. I think I fell into the “more is better” mentality and so when my school work really kicked in I couldn’t keep up. Also, my BlogMay was a huge portion of my views last year, as were June, July, and August, but this year my views have not followed that trend. BirthMay was pretty close in numbers but the summer months didn’t see the same numbers they did last year, instead they’ve done about a third as well. I suppose at this point I’ll need a miracle to reach 50,000 so I think I’ll “settle” for a nice 20,000. I’d much rather focus on the content than the number though.
2. Adjust my schedule as needed. In 2017 my goal to blog consistently meant that I was stressing to post 5 times a week in the second half of the year and I think that lead to a blend of topics within the posts. Now that I’ve been through my first semester and better understand what my time looks like, I’ll plan accordingly so that I’m posting less when school work picks up.
   I think I’ve done rather well at this actually! I adjusted to three posts a week this summer and did so a lot during the spring as well. What I haven’t liked is that I keep going back to the “POST POST POST POST POST” mentality I mentioned and so I kept missing posts in the beginning of the year. Now I’m doing two blog posts a week and that’s so much better for me. An added bonus is that I’m really feeling the pressure of making better and more meaningful posts rather than relying on the number of posts to drive the rest of my numbers. I want to stick to two blog posts for now and see how that goes. I remember I started with two posts and gradually increased as it wasn’t enough for my creative mind but at the time I didn’t have grad school or really any other hobby to keep myself entertained. Now I do!
3. Post at least one video per month. I’m sticking to one because of the school thing so hopefully I can do it!
   Well… Do my One Second a Day videos count? Because if so then I’ve been doing great since May! I admit, I haven’t been great at this one at all. I think while I love videos and enjoy content on YouTube with all my heart I just don’t have the time for it and I’m really self conscious about it too! All I can promise is that I’ll try my best. Maybe I should try vlogging rather than doing sit down videos? Ideas are welcome!
4. Revamp my blog. I want to make specific blog goals but I’m not quite sure what this one means yet. I’m considering going self-hosted in the summer but if not, I would like to upgrade to the premium plan on WordPress (I’m on the personal plan now). After that I can decide on a new layout, possibly colors, etc. The possibilities are endless!
   This is one that has been at the forefront of my mind recently! So I am already making changes to how I approach my content but it’s still not enough so I’ll keep working at it. I’m considering going self-hosted next month but I am just about to have a few big expenses coming up this month. I’m going to wait a bit and see how everything falls before making the final decision. I think I’d like to but it does sound daunting. And as I said, my blog numbers haven’t been great so it almost feels like self-sabotage in a way? So much to consider! If I don’t I’ll stay on the personal plan on WordPress and keep my current layout. It’s cute!
5. Look into creating a subscription box! I love subscription boxes and I’d like to create my own. Even if I never actually do it I think it would be fun to go through the process of planning my own box in any case.
   Fun story, I convinced my marketing group in the spring to do a subscription box for our final project. We put together the concept and everything. Honestly I love the idea so much and I think I want to do a post pretending that I was putting one together kinda like If We Were Having Coffee. I think I’d call it If I Was Putting Together A Lifestyle Subscription Box For You but that seems rather long. Ultimately I don’t think this is the business I would pick as I think my boxes would look a lot like the FabFitFun boxes that I love so much (not sponsored). However I am thinking of starting a tequila company so there’s that to look into next.
6. Look into creating something. Again, I don’t know what this looks like yet but I do want to make something. Maybe an ebook? Or some sort of printables? Sooooo many possibilities!
   Oooooo this one I nearly forgot about! I don’t think I’m quite an expert at blogging or anything really so I’m not sure what this ebook would be about. And then I’d have to figure out how to distribute it. I think I didn’t think this one out enough.
7. Collaborate with other bloggers more! I’ve done a few collabs but not nearly as many as I’d like. I think the problem I have most of the time is that I’m so terrified that I’ll write something terrible or the person I’m writing with will think I’ve done a horrible post that doesn’t do their post justice. Somehow I don’t think that would actually be the case, not because I’m full of myself or anything but because all the bloggers I’ve known are so incredibly nice and kind.
   I did get a few interested bloggers in collabs! I ultimately did not reach out as I was worried I wouldn’t be able to follow through with those commitments due to school and didn’t want to disappoint them. And the “what if they hate my post” worry. Hmmmm, this is one I’ll have reconsider for Blogmas though, which I do want to try to do!
8. And lastly I want to reach 4,000 followers! This seems like such an impossible number, especially since it’s double what I have now. So we shall see what happens!
   Well, we just reached 1,600! I’m not quite sure how I did math on that number as I haven’t reached 2,000 and I said 4,000 was double? I mean, I knew doing math in my brain usually didn’t go well but still. Either way, I think I’ve been getting a slow but steady flow of new followers, so I think I’ll make the goal 2,500. I want it to be a reach after all. As I said though, I’m not going to worry much about numbers.

So that’s my blog goals check in! Let me know how you’re doing on your 2018 blog goals. And what’s your best goal reaching tips? I’d love to know!

Thanks for reading!

Pamela

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