You get a real sense of time when you blog and to have had this blog now since 2014, so much has changed. To be honest, when I started blogging, I thought I was late to the party but it turned out that I was fairly early in comparison to many in today’s blogging world. I took a break from blogging on my blog, just accepting every paid guest blog and odd sponsored collaboration that came in. I spent more time focusing on my freelance writing career which remains the bread and butter of my income.
However, after financing our wedding and now looking towards the future without the extreme expense of paying for a wedding, it got me thinking. I want to spend my time wisely now, working on my blog, my social media feeds and more importantly, spending time offline. I have spent years working evenings and weekends, building up my presence and business online. Whilst, I’m still not ready to have that 9-5 lifestyle (and I don’t think I’ll ever be), I want to create myself that flexibility of being able to pick and choose when I switch off.
Blogging at one point was earning me a sizeable income that earnt more than my freelance writing. So with that in mind, I want to refocus, and blog for the passion, rather than just for the money. But hopefully, I’ll be able to find some success from what comes next in this chapter of my life.
With that said, I wanted to put together my blogging goals for the rest of 2022. If anyone reading this has been an avid reader of my blog, then you’ll know I usually do these at the end of the year just before the new year comes around. However, I’ve got so much that I’d like to do for the rest of this year, that I need to write a blog goals post now!
- Take more photos.
One of the biggest habits I need to get back into is taking photos. Photos are content, not just for my blogging platform but for all of my social media. In comparison to video content, it’s not as difficult to take photos or edit them. I think time was one of the major issues with trying to take photos, especially as my partner in crime for photos, is always busy with work. It means that I’ll have to look at getting my camera and phone out on the weekends to capture as much content as I possibly can. Bulk photos baby!
I love taking photos and it’s great to see that my blog has become a photo album in a way. All of the memories I’ve made over the years since I started the blog, still exist on this site. I’ve got plenty of memories captured, to look back on as and when I want to. My Canon G7X is my favourite of all the cameras I’ve ever owned and it’s a great one for taking good, quality blog photos. For most social media content, I currently have the iPhone 11 but think I’m going to upgrade this October to an iPhone 13 or 14.
- Build up my marketing agency/partnerships mailing list.
One of the great ways in which I managed to create an income through blogging was by working with so many different marketing agencies and partnering regularly with brands. It’s always good to create a good first impression but to also stay in touch. I literally badger these people every month to remind them ‘hey I’m still here, fancy collabing?‘ Sometimes it doesn’t get much and other months, I’ll get plenty of opportunities.
However, since COVID and not blogging as much, a lot of people have left the companies they were in. As a result, I need to spend a day, going through Google, cold pitching to marketing agencies and blog-friendly organisations that work with various brands on blogger outreach. That way, I can start to use this as an opportunity to get more work through my blog, as I used to.
It’s really important for a blogger, especially if you’re starting out, to be the one going out and getting the work. So many people who asked me about blogging and setting themselves up didn’t stay consistent with their platforms and didn’t take the initiative to start reaching out to companies to work with them on their blogs. You’ve got to see your blog as a business if you want it to become a money-maker.
- Focus on more organic content across my blog and social media channels.
Whilst guest posts and sponsored posts may pay the bills, having too much paid-for content can end up hindering your blog. The personality gets sort of sucked away and you lose some originality with it. Well, that’s how I’ve felt with my blog recently and I’m itching now to get out all this pre-scheduled content that I’ve been working on over the past month to get ready to schedule and do it properly.
I’ve set myself the impossible challenge of blogging daily again but it’s all about getting ahead when it comes to these so I’m looking forward to producing more organic content for my platform and building up my audience again. It’s also important to do the same with my social media feeds from my Tiktok platform to my Instagram feed.
- Create a section on UpYourVlog for featuring Crime Vlogs Weekly.
One of my real passion projects that I started up last year was a crime vlog channel. I love real crime and anyone who knows me will know I’m obsessed with all things crime-related. Whether it’s serial killers, unsolved and solved crime cases, to mystery disappearance. As you can see below, I’ve already made a good start to the channel but slowed and stopped when I was building up to the wedding. I’m going to create a section on UpYourVlog that’s going to be dedicated to featuring all my videos and talking about the cases on here too. I’ve also started a Twitch to cover crime cases too, so check it out here.
In the mean time, feel free to check out the videos on my channel already and if you haven’t done so, subscribe!
- Start interacting with other bloggers again.
I wouldn’t say I’ve felt like part of the blogging community. However, there was a point when I started to join Facebook Groups and be part of Twitter chats where we could share our blogs and chat about anything blog-related. I want to get back into that as I’ve slipped behind with it all. It’s also good for promotion by getting your links out there as much as possible. It’s nice to feel part of something and when you’re a blogger, especially a new one, it can feel like you are navigating in the dark sometimes.
Supporting other bloggers is also very satisfying. It’s good to show your appreciation for others who are in the same boat and are working hard to get themselves seen.
- Avoid setting financial goals.
Whilst I’m highly driven by numbers, especially when it comes to the finances, I want to focus on creating content more for the passion of it all if anything. Whilst I would like to expand my blog and run it a bit more as a business by creating webinars and ebooks on blogging, I need to do blogging for me first. So, as I would typically do in previous blogging goal blogs, I’m no longer going to set a financial target.
What do you think of these blogging targets? Let me know in the comments below!
