Goals? We’ve Got SMART Ones!

It is so easy to get wrapped up in the day-to-day of running your business and your blog. But what are you working towards? What is the plan? Having goals for your blog isn’t exactly working on your blog, but it is working FOR your blog.

SMART goals for your blog & your business make it easy to decide what to do next! (Tweet this!)

Setting goals that are SMART has been a big thing for me this year. My word of the year is intentional. I’m normally an “I’ve got an idea, I am going to test it out, and if it works – YAY!” sort of person. 10 year plans? Oh goodness, no. 5 year plans? Who knows what I’ll be doing in 5 years! But 1 year plans? Or even better, 6 month plans? I can totally get behind those! Having set them this year has helped me be much more focused. Turns out I needed some SMART goals.

(To those of you that can do 5 and 10 year plans, I bow in respect. Seriously. I wish I could do that!)

Are you setting goals that are SMART?

Specific – target a specific area for improvement. You can’t be vague here! You need to know exactly what you’re working towards. Use the 5 W’s to help you determine this – Who, What, Where, When & Why.
Measurable – quantify or at least suggest an indicator of progress. You need a way to measure or to keep score. Numbers matter here.
Attainable – I am all for big dreams, but when it comes to setting goals? Break it down in to bite-size pieces that you can reach.
Realistic – state what results can realistically be achieved, given available resources.
Time-related – give yourself a deadline to review and readjust.

So lets say you decide that you will get more business. Awesome … but is that a SMART goal? No – it is way too vague! How will you do it? What does “more business” look like? When will you achieve it by? What is the definition of “more business”? When will you know if you’ve hit it?

What if I said that over the next 6 months I will double the number of visitors to my blog – now I have a specific area to focus on, something to measure, it is attainable (with some work), it is realistic (unless you have 1 million visitors a day already), and we have set a time frame for it.

Before you start, you will want to look at what has worked for you in the past. If you tried something already and it had amazing results, how can you continue that? You need to know where you are starting from in order to decide where you are going. Don’t be afraid to take chances though – if you have an idea that you think might just work? Go for it!

Goals to Consider for Your Blog

• How many readers will your blog gain in the next 6 months? How much will your traffic increase?
• How much income will you bring in over the next six months / year?
• What series of blog posts could you start to bring readers back to your blog?
• How many blog posts will you write a week?
• How much will you interact on Social Media?
• How much will you grow your Social Media following on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram & Pinterest?
• How many new clients will you bring in per week/month/year (depending on how your business works)
• Is your site due for a design overhaul? When will you have it done by?
• Is it time to update your static pages on your website? (About, Pricing, Work with Me, Media Kit, etc.)
• Does your business need systems in place to make things run more smoothly? What do you need to do to set those up?
• You’ll go through the 30 Days to Awesomize Your Blog series by a certain date?

Once you decide on your SMART goals, you can start to set up tasks to do to get you there, and before you know it you’ll be zooming right along to achieving them!

I use The Big Picture Planner from Design Aglow to track my blog goals & tasks, and I love it! You can read my full review of it here. It is fully customizable, so you can start it at any time of the year!

Share in the comments what goals you’ll be going for so we can cheer you on! Before you go, be sure to sign up for the email list so that you will get the rest of this series via email!

30 Days to Awesomize Your Blog is a series of posts to help you make sure your blog is as amazing as possible. It is FREE! And bonus? Get on the email list (the link is in the sidebar) and I’ll send them to your email inbox as well! Follow along on social media too with the hashtag #30DAB and leave a comment so we can check your site out!