SMART Blogging Goals are specific, measurable, attainable, results-focused, and time-bound. Learn about how to set them below and then try it yourself with a free printable!
When I worked as an advisor at a university here in Denver, I would often ask my students what their semester goals were. In response I’d typically get answers like: get good grades, get my degree, have a social life, spend more time with my kids, get my dream job, etc. All of these are great things to aspire to, but when I’d check in with them at the end of the semester, they wouldn’t have made much progress on these goals because they were too general or vague. I started implementing these SMART goals with them and everything changed. They finally had a plan, they were meeting and exceeding their personal goals, and they started teaching their friends how to set SMART goals as well. I’ve been using this method in my own life ever since and it’s made a world of difference in how much progress I’ve made towards my various personal and blogging goals!
So what is a smart blogging goal you ask? It’s an acronym for the 5 things you should think about when you decide to set a goal.
S – Specific: Your goal should clearly define what you want to accomplish. Ask yourself who, what, when, where, why, and how as it applies to your goal.
Original goal: I want to blog more.
What: Write 5 posts per week.
When:
Monday – Recipe and weekly meal plan
Tuesday – The Retro Re-pin Party weekly link party
Wednesday: Recipe
Thursday: Tech Tip Thursday – a series on blogging technology
Friday: Food Photography Friday – a series on food photography
Why: To increase weekly traffic to my blog and keep a consistent posting schedule.
Made more specific: I want to write 5 posts per week: M – recipe & meal plan, T- Retro Re-pin Party, W- Recipe, Th-Tech Tips, F- Photography to increase weekly traffic on my blog.
M – Measurable: What can you measure to see if you’ve accomplished your goal? Numbers, dates, deadlines, rubrics, etc. are great here.
My goal: I want to write 5 posts per week (see schedule above) to increase weekly traffic on my blog.
Metrics to Measure:
Starting on January 1st
Number of monthly page views increase from 8,000/month to 15,000/month
5 posts weekly
1 post for each of the above daily categories per week
check page view growth on March 1st, 2015 to re-evaluate
Made more Measurable: Starting 1/1/2015, I will write 5 posts per week on my blog (see schedule above) to increase weekly traffic from 8,000 monthly page views to 15,000 monthly page views by the end of 2015.
A- Attainable: Is your goal something that’s realistic for you? It should be a stretch to get out of your regular comfort zone, but not something that will be impossible or leave you feeling defeated. Do you have the time and skills to accomplish it?
My goal: Starting 1/1/2015, I will write 5 posts per week on my blog (see schedule above) to increase weekly traffic from 8,000 monthly page views to 15,000 monthly page views by the end of 2015.
Attainability: You’ll notice that I chose 15,000 monthly page views by the end of December 2015. I chose this number because it seems to be relatively attainable based on my previous patterns of blog growth to almost double my page views over the course of a year. I also did not choose to post 5 new recipes per week. It takes me a very long time to develop a recipe, cook, stage, photograph, and edit each recipe post. I think I can handle 2 recipes per week, but I wouldn’t be able to handle more than that per week.
R-Results-focused: Goals should focus on the outcomes, not the activities.
[Tweet ” Goals should focus on the outcomes, not the activities.”]
My Goal: Starting 1/1/2015, I will write 5 posts per week on my blog (see schedule above) to increase weekly traffic from 8,000 monthly page views to 15,000 monthly page views by the end of 2015.
Results/Outcomes: I said at first that I wanted to blog more, but really that’s because I’d like to increase my monthly page views (and more page views really means more ad revenue and blog income.) The page views are more important than the activity, writing more, that I will do to get those results.
T- Time-bound: Your goal needs a sense of urgency in order for you to be successful. Putting a deadline on something helps give you a push to avoid procrastinating indefinitely.
My Goal: Starting 1/1/2015, I will write 5 posts per week on my blog (see schedule above) to increase weekly traffic from 8,000 monthly page views to 15,000 monthly page views by the end of 2015.
Time-bound Components: I’ll be starting 1/1/2015, have a daily posting schedule, making 5 posts per week, and want to have met my page view numbers by the end of 2015. I did 4 things there: I have a start date, an end date, a daily goal, and a weekly goal. This gives me some flexibility because if I miss a daily post I can still make my weekly goal and not feel awful, and I have a little push each day to get things done because it’s “due” on a certain day. (Anyone else procrastinate their way through writing papers in college?)
To review:
Original Goal: I want to blog more.
SMART Blogging Goal: Starting 1/1/2015, I will write 5 posts per week on my blog:
Monday – Recipe and weekly meal plan
Tuesday – The Retro Re-pin Party weekly link party
Wednesday: Recipe
Thursday: Tech Tip Thursday – a series on blogging technology
Friday: Food Photography Friday – a series on food photography
to increase weekly traffic from 8,000 monthly page views to 15,000 monthly page views by the end of 2015.
See how much better that is? I know exactly what I plan to do to increase my page views and what my daily, weekly, and long term steps are. I’ll probably set up an editorial calendar each month to fill in the topics for each post in advance and arrange my blogging time on my daily schedule to accommodate writing more frequently.
Your turn! I’ve got a printable for you to help you construct your own SMART blogging goals:
[Tweet “Are you setting SMART blogging goals this year?”]
Looking for some ideas for your goals? Check out this awesome list of blogging goals you might want to think about by Jenna over at A Savory Feast
I’d love to hear what your SMART goals are for 2015, blogging or otherwise, in the comments below!
This is awesome! I’m a big fan of writing down your goals – this worksheet is so useful! I will definitely be printing it; thank you!
I’m so glad it can be helpful to you! I have seen such a big change since starting to work through my goals this way.
Hey Stephanie! I have nothing more to say than WOW. It’s so beautifully written and explained with examples. And I find warmth in your writing that I don’t elsewhere. Thank you for sharing this. Cheers!