what is the state of your blog?
Every year the President offers a State of the Union address to Congress. He provides them with information about where we are and where he would like to lead us in the year ahead. Prior to that speech, the President and his staff spend weeks gathering information, asking questions, and evaluating current programs. I’ve noticed several bloggers have offered “state of the blog” posts to help their readers understand what direction the blog is headed and why the writer is doing what he or she does. I love it!
And since it takes time to do a thorough evaluation, now is a great time to begin considering the question: What is the state of your blog?
In January I wrote about making 2014 your best blogging year yet. In those posts we looked at planning, social media, and all those “little things.” In January 2013, I shared 10 blogging goals and tips for achieving them. Perhaps you read one or all of those posts and mapped out a plan for the goals you wanted to reach.
Look over your list and see where you stand.
- What have you completed?
- What have you not done?
- Are there steps you can still take toward your 2014 goals? {The answer to this one is yes! You can still move toward those goals you set, even if you don’t think you will be able to fully attain them this calendar year.}
Now evaluate yourself honestly. Ask questions like these:
- Did I clearly identify my goals?
- Did I allocate enough time to reach the goals I set?
- Were my goals reasonable and attainable?
- If so, did I reach them? And if I didn’t, what remains to be done?
- What happened in 2014 that impacted my ability to reach my goals?
The truth is, life can bring situations that will keep us from doing all that we had dreamed and planned. Someone gets sick or loses their job. Crises happen, and we have to adjust our time allocations. It’s okay!! But here’s what I want to say to you — don’t give up. Look at your list and see what’s left. Be honest with yourself about the time you have and what you can really do. Reaching our goals can be hard. Blogging isn’t always easy, and it isn’t always fun. And, it may be that you need a break. Perhaps you have pushed yourself too hard and tried to do too much. Rest! The blog will still be there. Maybe you need to be willing to stretch yourself. Maybe you can’t write that 31 days series you had planned — but maybe you can. Sometimes we set the bar too low. Or maybe we get lazy.
Now is the time to review where you wanted to be at the end of 2014 and make the adjustments necessary to reach the goals you set. You may need to push some of those goals to 2015. Just do it and move forward from where you are today. Look ahead to 2015 and ask yourself where you want to be. Take time to consider some or all of these:
- Does my design reflect my brand?
- Are my categories a true reflection of the posts I write?
- Have I built {or begun to build} an effective social media strategy?
- Am I creating consistent evergreen content?
- Is my about page up-to-date?
- What direction am I heading with my blog and is this the direction I want to go?
- What are 3 small steps I can take to improve my blog?
It’s been said when we fail to plan we plan to fail. I absolutely believe this is true for blogging. We need to cast a vision for our blogs and know why we write, what we write, and who we write to. Take the time to evaluate the state of your blog and begin mapping out the dreams and plans and goals you have for the rest of this year and next year as well.
