Blogging Goals for 2020

Since my year’s blog-iversary I’ve been thinking hard about setting myself some goals to develop my blog further. Ultimately the end goal (albeit one that’s a very long way off) is to make blogging my full time job, whether I do freelancing or make money from my own blog, but setting that as a goal for 2020 is just stupid, because it’s obviously not going to happen. Instead, I decided to set myself some smaller goals to work towards, with the hope that I can achieve them by the end of the year. This is what I’m going to focus on:

Work on Instagram

Goal: 50 followers by the end of 2020

I don’t currently have a dedicated Instagram page for my blog but it’s something I’d like to start up. I’ve shared a fair few times on my personal account but I don’t want to feel as though I’m spamming people if I post nothing but blog related bits, so I’m debating setting up a separate one to share my posts on. I’ve made a start by putting together some graphics for newer posts and once I’ve got a bit of a collection going my aim is to schedule some regular posts. Ideally, I’d like to gain a decent following by the end of the year. I originally wrote down 100 followers as a goal but I’m wondering if that’s a little too aspirational, so I’m going to say 50. Anything above that is just gravy.

Grow My Facebook Page

Goal: 50 followers by the end of 2020

Towards the end of 2019 I set up a Facebook page for Sassy Cat Lady. Once again my irrational fear that people who I went to school with would read it and think “who the fuck does she think she is?” got in the way, so I decided to create a separate page. Honestly, it hasn’t gone as well as I’d hoped – so I think I need to put a little extra work into it this year. To be honest I think 50 followers is a bit of a stretch, but let’s aim high and maybe it’ll force me to put the work in.

Increase Twitter Followers

Goal: 700 followers by the end of 2020

At the time of writing I have 502 followers on Twitter – like WTF? I’m not entirely sure how that happened but I’ve found that Twitter has had the biggest effect in getting traffic to my blog so I’d love to keep that going. I think given that I’m currently at just over 500, a good goal to set myself is 700. I’m not sure I’ll get there, but I’ll give it a bloody good go.

Work with Brands

Goal: Work with at least three different brands over the year

I’m not sure about this one. I’m a bit of a chicken if I’m honest. I’ve been wanting to work with brands for so long but I’ve wanted to build up a decent enough following before I start reaching out. Which is ridiculous, as believe it or not, part of my job involves reaching out to merchants with the offer of writing posts for their sites. I think perhaps because I’m reaching out on behalf of someone else’s’ site rather than my own, it’s a lot easier, and of course it has much more of a following and much better stats than my little old blog. I think I need to take a pinch of that confident ‘digital marketing exec’ persona I use in my work emails when I start reaching out to brands. I wasn’t really sure on a goal to set myself, so I’ve decided to start small. If I can work with at least 3 different brands this year, then I’ll be happy. If anyone has any tips on reaching out to brands/bigging yourself up to them etc, please feel free to fling them my way!

Increase My DA

Goal: Raise DA to 10 or higher by the end of the year

My job has taught me a fair bit about DA and its importance when it comes to looking for paid opportunities. I’d love to get started on a bit of freelance work on the side, but I think I need to work a little at raising my DA a little more first, which will also be a good idea if I want to start working with brands too. I’m currently at 6, which has actually gone up since the middle of last year, so it’s a step in the right direction. If I can keep progressing and raise it further I’ll be happy.

Create a Media Kit

Goal: Put together a media kit by the end of June this year

I’ve been meaning to do this for a while now but I’ve never got around to it. I think if I can put together a media kit for my blog it’s another step towards getting more opportunities. 

How am I going to work towards these goals? Well, similar to what I’ve been doing now – regular posting, regular sharing, and making use of tips and advice from other bloggers out there. In particular, Jenny in Neverland and New Lune have some fantastic advice and resources for newer bloggers, so I’ll be making use of these over the next few months for sure. This time next year I’ll review and see where I’m at. Or maybe if I’m feeling particularly positive, I’ll review them in six months time. If anyone has any tips in how I can achieve my goals, please feel free to sling them my way and they’ll be greatly appreciated! 

What are your blogging goals for 2020? Let me know in the comments!

Featured image by Arnel Hasanovic on Unsplash