A Call to Action: GOALS
7 December 07As site owners, we all want our blogs to grow. But in order for this to happen, we need to define a purpose and set specific goals. Defining these will give us the motivation and focus that is necessary to find the road to growth and progress.
Photo by gutter
Goal-Forming Method
First, think of your major purpose. What do you expect to get out of your blog? What do you want your outcome to be? The answer(s) to those questions will be your major goals also known as end goals.
Second, what is your plan of action? What measures are you going to take to make these goals a reality? Your answers to these questions will be your immediate goals or means goals - the steps you take to work towards fulfilling your end goals.
Steve Pavlina wrote an excellent article entitled End Goals vs. Means Goals. In fact, he has a series of articles about setting Goals that are quite motivating. If you need more help for setting goals, I recommend you check his site out.
I’m embarrassed to admit that I have not, until now, defined my specific goals for Fresh Geeks. If you haven’t yet done so yourself, please join me.
Fresh Geeks’ Blogging [End] Goals
1. Develop a Supportive Core Audience Through Community
I mentioned in a previous post that in order to be successful, you cannot think of yourself as a one-man army. You need a supportive core audience, as Maki from Dosh Dosh stressed in a recent article. You can achieve this by creating a sense of community and networking with your fellow bloggers. In turn, this can be done by developing systems in which loyalty is rewarded and all parties receive benefit in one way or another.
2. Become a Reputable and Contributive Inflencer
Successful blogs become a success because they have something relevant and useful to offer their audience. Figuring this out requires a little innovative thinking, creative juice, and tons of research and elbow grease. When you contribute in a positive manner to a community, you start to build a good reputation.
When you have built a reputation, people will be more inclined to listen to you, and you will be better equipped to sway people into believing and welcoming your thoughts and ideas. In effect, you will become a reputable and contributive influencer.
3. Monetization
Unfortunately, websites do not run off of passion and love. Money is a necessary evil, and I would like to generate enough income from Fresh Geeks to pay the bills. There are a lot of options as regards blog monetization, and I will be conducting experiments and case studies with a few of those options.
Come and Hop on the Blogging Goals Band Wagon
Now that I’ve set my end goals, I’ve certainly got my work cut out ahead of me. They are not uncommon goals, yet it’s definitely a journey in a half. However, if goals are not set, this will allow complacency to set in. If we remain complacent, this is in itself a failure.
It’s not always a good idea to hop on a band wagon, but I believe goals are all something we should prioritize, and also something that we all can relate to.
In working to create means goals for end goal number 1, I will be posting ideas about networking and community development in the near future, so stay tuned for it.
If you have similar goals and are interested in the above, please don’t hesitate to contact me. If you have not yet set yours, do so and join us. What say you?
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19 Responses to “A Call to Action: GOALS”
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Very good points. I’m new to blogging so I’m working on networking as much as I can. Time is a valuable commodity for me right now, so I do what I can.
Yes, blogging is very time consuming. If goals are made, perhaps our time would be proportioned more efficiently. But everyone’s circumstances are different.
Thats an interesting article, think i will bookmark it for future reference.
I’ve always struggled to set specific goals but i agree that it could help my site grow if i had goals in place.
I totally agree. I’m a goals oriented guy. Unfortunately, because of some other goals like trying to finish my degree, supporting my family, trying to be there to support my wife’s pregnancy, my goals for my website are fairly low on the priority list.
But I feel if I just keep chugging along, little by little, I will get there. Thanks!
@Shaun
Thanks for you thoughts
@Jeff
Yup, just keep chuggin’!
I’m in the process of building my community - it’s a slow process, but I’ve seen more progress in the last month than I could have imagined.
Getting the RSS subscriber count is the goal till year’s end and once the traffic levels are there, more serious monetization. I’m going to have to find myself an SEO and design consultant at some point.
Hi J.Blu,
Nice article, you wrote very good points.
The number one reminded me of my post that I wrote just recently: Learn To Accept A Helping Hand. Once a blogger has built a community or a network, s/he should never be shy or egoistic in accepting help. Any kind of offer to boost traffic and popularity is good.
Regarding number 2, I must say that a blogger should write about something s/he loves or really interested in. He should choose a subject that he is passionate about. Otherwise, posting about something you’re not familiar of is like walking in an untrodden forest. You’ll get lost along the way and get frustrated. I have friends who ended up like that in terms of blogging.
@Jeff
You might like this post: Don’t Let Diversions Take Over Your Job… it’s one of my highest commented articles. It’s about self-discipline and priorities to achieve our goals.
@Rod
Nice. My first concern is for content and community when it comes to my site. Thinking about it all at once, which I sometimes tend to do, can be overwhelming.
@Saedel…as for number 2, I believe in finding a niche that you can have a fair balance of passion and knowledge. Thanks for your thoughts.
Goals are extremely important, especially for independent Internet webmasters and bloggers who don’t have bosses to order them around. Calls to action are great too to spur on initiative. Man, jblu you’re on a roll.
@Gyutae
Thanks for your thoughts. Calls to action are also great for adding to a confident image.
Great article. I’m runnin’ on passion and love, man!
I haven’t set out any goals for my site. I’ll have to research it a bit more. I know what I want to do with my site but I haven’t set out on paper what I want.
@Tim E.
Passion and love is a great thing to have
@Mike
It’s great that you have a plan. Research and a written our strategy will motivate one to work towards it…and I’m speaking about myself also.
Thanks for your thoughts!
First of all, I would like to thank you for dropping your card on mine. Now that’s #1 Develop a Supportive Core Audience Through Community, in action.
That’s the main reason I joined Entrecard, that’s to build networks. It’s not about card dropping only. For starters, I meet and read new posts daily, such as this one,
I would leave a comment or two whenever possible. And I believe that come under your no. 2 Become a Reputable and Contributive Inflencer.
Yeah, I got similar goals with you. Thanks for the great post. See you around.
Greetings and lotta loves from Malaysia.
@ArahMan7
Thanks for your thoughts. It does seem that we have similar goals. Great minds think alike.
You are right. One must have a specific goal in order to achieve success. But of course along with sucess, you should keep your reputation
One who wants to be succesful should have a defined goal.He should be definite with what he wants.At the same time, he should be willing to give his time and effort to achieve it.
@ettle
Nicely said. Thanks for the input.
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