5 Blogging Goals to Set for Yourself

What blogging goals have you set for yourself in 2020? Do you want to earn a specific amount of money? Do you want to grow to a specific audience size?

In 2020, I’m proud to say that I achieved one of my blogging and content creation goals early. I was able to take my blog and Instagram full-time! While it was originally my goal to wait another year, a lay-off notice from my former company pushed me to take that leap.

I could have stayed at my former aerospace company of 6 years, but I decided to turn down my other job opportunities because I had been preparing to take Emma’s Edition full-time since winter of 2018. I wouldn’t have left my corporate job if I hadn’t met my blogging goals and financial targets these last two years.

Setting and achieving blogging goals for myself was an integral part in giving me the confidence and the experience to take Emma’s Edition full-time. Today, I wanted to share a few blogging goals that you could personally set for yourself.

Whether it’s your goal to take content creation full-time in a few years or it’s your goal to keep it a side-hustle, setting blogging goals for yourself will help you clarify what you’re working towards.

Blogging Goal #1: What do you want to do for your audience?

How are you going to deliver value to them? How are you going to inspire them, motivate them, or educate them?

If you have hopes of turning your blog or Instagram into your full-time career, you have to put your audience at the forefront. A lot of people miss that a lot of content creators solve a problem, provide information, or entertain their audiences. If you haven’t defined what you’re doing to do for your audience, that should be your first blogging goal you set.

If you’ve already defined your mission statement or your purpose on why you create content, then awesome! You can get even more clear on how you want to help or connect with your audience.

Blogging Goal #2: What skills do you want to learn as a blogger?

Content creators, bloggers, Instagram/TikTokers, YouTubers, and more wear many different hats. As a blogger/content creator, I had to learn SEO, how to use Pinterest, how to edit photos using Lightroom, how to edit videos on Adobe Premier Pro, and more.

I’ve learned how to be a content creator little by little and year by year. I first learned how to be comfortable in front of the camera. And then a few years went by and a focused on setting my SEO strategy. And then I figured out how to negotiate and get paid for brand collaborations.

If it’s truly your long-term goal to take content creation full-time, what skills do you need to learn to get there? What skills do you want to learn?

Here are a few skills you might want to set goals for:

• How to negotiate with brands
• How to edit photos using photo shop or Adobe Lightroom
• How to edit videos
• The basics of SEO
• How to utilize Pinterest
• Writing/editing skills

Blogging Goal #3: What habits or routines to do you want to set as a content creator?

• Do you want to show up on Instagram stories everyday?
• Do you want to pose on Instagram 5 times a week?
• Do you want to publish one blog post a week?
• Do you want to send an email newsletter once a month?

Whether your goal is to take content creation full-time or make it a lucrative side hustle alongside your 9-5, setting good habits will help get you there.

If there’s a channel or a space online that you want to be more consistent on, set a goal to be more present. Also remember that you can set a small, achievable goal first. Once you accomplish a goal, you can set an even bigger goal.

I’ll use learning how to use Pinterest as an example. Setting a goal to drive a million monthly impressions by the first 3 months of 2019 would NOT have been achievable. I needed to spend the first 3-6 months of the year learning as much as I could about Pinterest. Setting a goal to drive a million monthly impressions by the end of the year, was a stretch goal but it was more achievable. By 6-7 months into using the platform, I’m pinning consistently and am able to refine my Pinterest strategy since I understand the platform better.

Blogging Goal #4: What metrics are you focused on?

If you truly want to take content creation to the next level, you have to understand your metrics. Content creators might look at:

Google Analytics:

• Number of pageviews
• Number of visitors

Instagram:

• Number of impressions
• Number of followers
• Engagement rate

A lot of influencers get frustrated when “they aren’t growing”. But if you haven’t defined what growing means to you, you might feel stuck in this space. Don’t be afraid to set a target of driving a specific amount of pageviews each month on your blog or maintain a specific engagement rate on Instagram. Setting a goal will give you clarity on what actions you need to take next.

In 2018, I set a goal to drive 10,000 monthly page views to Emma’s Edition. I switched over from Blogger to WordPress.org so I could download the Yoast plugin for SEO. I started networking and learning from other bloggers what they do to drive pageviews to their blog. I also started listening to podcast like ProBlogger so I could learn how to improve readability and other types of blog content I could experiment with. I was so excited when I got to the end of the year and I met my goal!

Blogging Goal #5: What are your financial goals?

A lot of influencers want to make content creation their full-time careers. But a lot of influencers also haven’t set financial targets for their business. Content creation/blogging/Instagram – are all businesses. If you want to make a livable income off your passion, you need to outline what your financial goals are.

• How much money do you want to make from brand collaborations this year?
• How much money do you want to make from your Etsy or Poshmark shop?
• How much money do you want to make from preset sales?

Once you’ve outlined your money goals, you can break that down to quarterly or monthly goals.

Here’s an example:

“I want to make $10,000 off content creation by the end of the year”

Quarterly: You need to earn $2,500

Monthly: You need to earn $833.33

So how much are your charging per Instagram post? If you’re charging $300 per Instagram post, you need to do at least 3 brand collaborations to earn $900/month.

Personally, setting a financial target is one of the most important blogging goals to set for yourself. Writing down those money goals will put them in reach!

What other blogging goals have you set for yourself?

Thank you for reading!

Love,

Emma

Photos: Holly Phan