Blogging Goals for 2012
I haven’t spoken too much about specific blogging goals for this year in numerical terms despite having put together a few SMART goals at the beginning of the year and mentioning that I wanted to make $30,000 this year by blogging. In order to get that accomplished, though, I figure that I should have some targets as far as traffic and other types of measures.
Number of Posts
This will be the easy one since it is something that I can directly control. I feel that my blog has done better since going to a regular posting schedule. I was inspired by Derek at Life and My Finances for this and plan on keeping a Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule here at Cash Flow Mantra throughout the year. That should put me at close to 250 posts total by the end of the year.
I also plan to do the same with Grand Per Month using a Monday, Thursday, Saturday posting schedule. I would then expect to have just over 150 posts on that blog by the end of the year, giving me a total library of over 400 posts between the two blogs. That is about 4 times the number that I would have had at the beginning of the year.
Visitors and Subscribers
I also have some goals for visitors that I would like to achieve by the end of the year. I am deriving these from Mike at The Financial Blogger. He considers a blog significant when it has 5,000 monthly visitors with 10,000 page views. So that will be my goal for each of my two blogs this year. Between the 2 blogs, I am at just about 5,000 visitors and 8,300 page views, so I am half way with the visits but will need more page view growth. Ultimately to get to 20,000 monthly page views between the two sites, I will probably need more than 10,000 visitors.
As far as subscribers go, I would like to have 250 at CFM and 100 at GPM. Currently the numbers are 116 and 32 respectively. I think that this is a reasonable goal which should be achievable provided I can grow the blog like I would like this year. If I am more than doubling the amount of traffic, I figure I could do the same with subscribers.
I will keep you updated from time to time on the progress of these goals.
Earnings
As mentioned, I have a goal of making $30,000 this year with blogging as part of the Online Money Bloggers Challenge. With that, I will be making earnings more public so on the first Saturday of each month, I will be posting an earnings report over at Grand Per Month. Be sure to check that out. I will be reporting only that money which I actually receive so that it is like reporting income for tax purposes.
In order to make $30,000 for the year, I have monthly targets that need to be met corresponding to some expected growth in the two blogs. I will then be able to report whether or not I am on target and how much ahead or behind I am. January has seemed like a slow month, but I might actually not be that far off.
Another Blog?
I also have an idea for another blog. Unfortunately, I don’t have the time to write but could get it set up, do the editing and managing. I would need to partner with several writers and would use an innovative compensation scheme that I believe would prove to be potentially lucrative for everyone involved. Ultimately, I would need between 10 and 20 writers who could commit to one or two articles per month.
If you have an interest in financial topics and might be interested, send me an email at pleben.com@gmail.com. If I do get enough writer interest, it would still be March or April at the earliest before getting up and running.
Looks like you have a plan CFM! It was certainly exciting when I hit those numbers and currently at about 1000 visitors a day.
But then on the down side the pressure builds up to keep those numbers and to produce winning posts every single time!
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I can only imagine that type of pressure. A thousand per day is amazing. At this point it seems impossible for me, but I will see what happens.
I just got my blog goals up as well.
http://retireby40.org/blog-rank/
My target is 100,000 page views/month. That’s a huge number, but I have 11 months to do it.
retirebyforty recently posted..Carnival of Retirement – 4th Edition
Incredible target number. I can’t possibly imagine. I will be checking out that link in a few minutes.
Those are great targets and definitely achievable.
Im sure you’ll start hitting them by mid year.
Marissa @ Thirtsyixmonths recently posted..What is a credit union, and how it can benefit you?
I think they are achievable. Hard to say what the timing will be.
Great goals! I increased my traffic 50% in one month thanks to a little more exposure. I am trying to increase my blogging income too, I want to see a consistent run rate before I reveal it. Best of luck.
krantcents recently posted..The 3 C’s of Success
Awesome growth, krantcents. Best of luck to you as well on earnings.
Fantastic goals! Whenever a blogger asks me if they should start a second goal I always ask if their primary blog is where they want it to be? Inevitably the answer is no, so even though I am all about multiple streams of income I feel like they end up letting that initial (and usually most profitable) blog die off.
Long winded comment to say good luck and I think you made the right decision keeping it to 2
Evan recently posted..You Have Absolutely No Patriotic Duty To Pay High Taxes
Not going to let this one die off. It is totally my pride and joy, like a baby.
I think the goals are good, financially wise, for yourself.
But being a reader I am curious – where do my interests are come in?
I think the whole idea of blogging is somehow re-oriented from fun and what is interesting, towards earning money.
Can you imagine a newspaper publishing its goals for subscribers and readers at the begging of the year?
Otherwise – it is great!
Financial Independence recently posted..Energy stocks screening
Interesting question regarding the newspaper. I suppose they do have targets but just aren’t publishing. It seems to me that bloggers are allowing a more in-depth look at the operations and reality of publishing content and building business at the same time. There is nothing wrong with writing for fun. There is nothing wrong with writing for a side income or as a full-time income either. Keep in mind that newspapers are dying and blogs are growing.
Looks like a great plan. I think all of these are doable which is important. No sense in setting yourself up to fail. You new venture sounds interesting. I might just be interested.
Miss T @ Prairie Eco-Thrifter recently posted..How to Shop for Furniture at Thrift Stores
I will send you an email.
Worthy goals all of these. Go for it! I firmly believe that the best way to make money is to have fun.
maria@moneyprinciple recently posted..Could I say ‘no’ to 2 million dollars?
Great outlook and plan. I like it.
CFM, Awesome goals! Very inspriring. I’m just getting started but already have a few visitors. Hitting numbers like you have seem so far off, but I’m enjoying writing from my point of view. Can’t wait to see how you progress this year.
BE @ BusyExecutiveMoneyBlog recently posted..My top 5 pitfalls for high income earners
You are always in the same boat when just starting off. It is amazing how things just grow over time, but you have to stick with it.