Goal Setting for my Blog – update June 20th, 2010
About a month ago (05/22/2010) I posted and update on my goals for my blog. At that time my Alexa ranking was 732,226 and yesterday it was 227,642. Still quite a way to go, but it is getting better. Of course, I don’t really know if it matters much at all. But, being that it was at 13,379,819 in April, it does help me to keep a good outlook.
Having said that, I only posted once last week (which surely did not help) and I don’t know if I will have too much time for web stuff this week either. 
Anyway, here is an update on the goals I set.
Focus on content
- Last month, the category that I was using as my primary focus was productivity. The subcategories that I had selected were blogging, business, culture, technology, and opinions. Since then I have determined that, while the subcategories will remain for the most part, my primary focus needs to change. Really, how many times can you talk about productivity tools and spreadsheets and other boring stuff like that? At least for this month, I am going to attempt to focus on how we (humans) relate in different settings. How we work, how we deal with change, and who we follow and why will all be recurring themes. I would like to really examine some of these topics and learn what other people think about them.
- The comments posted in the articles so far have continued to be better than I could have expected. I am still just beginning to build this community, and to have the really impressive people post considerate, thoughtful comments here is really amazing. I am looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with this month!
Increase the number of daily visitors
By the end of the month, I wanted to have -
- Blog posts – I wanted to consistently post 4 to 6 articles each week. Well, again I did about 2 to 3 a week. I am not bothered by this considering that traffic has continued to increase. I am going to set a goal of 4 posts per week for this month.
- Blog traffic – an increase of 3,000 visitors was my goal for this month. I did not quite achieve that. For this next month, I am setting a goal for an additional 750 unique visitors, which would place me well into my target range for some of my longer-term goals.
- RSS feed – an increase of 50 subscribers was my goal for last month. As the time before, I did not quite get to my goal on this one. I am not very bothered by this as I don’t seem to be getting a ton of traffic through this method. I am not going to worry about this for a while. Perhaps I will focus on it in the future.
- Post comments – an increase of 10 comments per day was my goal. This varied, but was generally well below 10 per day, especially if you count this past week when I commented on almost no blogs. I am going to work to get about 15 per day this next month.
- Twitter – my goals was an increase of 50 followers for icebluebanana. This one was far exceeded again. I have continued to meet so many really great people through Twitter. I would like this to continue, but am going to leave the goal as 50 for this month.
Set a Date to Check My Stats
I will check back on this in a month.
Like I said last month and the one before it – setting these goals was really just a way of putting together the initial plan for this blog. There is no way to know what is going to happen, but beginning with a measurable set of goals in mind will make it easier to determine if the steps I am taking are successful.
This week may turn out to be a great one @icebluebanana, so please drop by!
Your Turn
Related posts
- icebluebanana.com Grand Opening - 04/19/2010
- These Are My Goals For the Week. What Are Yours?
- We Wish You Well James
- Goal Setting for my Blog - update May 22nd, 2010
- Online Questions and Conversation with Hulbert
Twitter: jeansarauer
said:
You’re making great progress and building an excellent blog here, Mark. I think your change in focus is good though, as it gives you lots of room for creativity and exploration while providing value to a broad audience. I also see more room for product potential if you want to go that route at some point.
In any event, you’re doing a great job, I enjoy your blog, and I’m happy as heck to know you.
Well Jean,
I am happier than heck to know you! This has been a very rewarding experience so far, mostly due to the ability to get to know so many new people.
The change in focus also comes with a change in schedule, though I am still working that out.
Thanks for stopping by & have a great day!
Twitter: anna_haller
said:
Looks like you definitely have a good plan in place and will no doubt exceed them as you’ve really increased your Alexa ranking, which is awesome.
It’s always good to set targets for what you want to accomplish as they will drive you to not only hit them but exceed them as well. Good luck with hitting your goals next month!
Anna
Anna Haller´s last [type] ..Planning – The key to your success
Thanks Anna. I really appreciate it. This month should be a great one!
Have a good day!
My goal for the week is to only check email & twitter 2X per day, once in the late morning and once in the late afternoon. It is my general habit to keep both email and twitter open while I am doing other things and check in “periodically”. Some days I feel like I live in my in-box. I end up just reacting to things all day instead of doing and creating. I think it will be a hard habit to change but I am up for the challenge.
Thanks for sharing your challenges and goals and inspiring me to step up to mine!
Courtney Carver´s last [type] ..Shoot your Stuff
Hi Courtney,
That is really a great idea! I tend to get caught up in email & twitter a bit myself. Twitter in particular can be really fun, but it does not exactly help me to get stuff written.
Thanks for your thoughts!
Twitter: kruby
said:
Wow, you’ve come a long way in such a short amount of time, Mark.
Congrats on the Alexa ranking – it’s really jumped quite a bit from last month and shows how useful your site is. A lot of returning and new visitors, too.
Great job!
Karen
Karen´s last [type] ..Life Is Short, But Not That Short
Hi Karen,
I do hope that this blog will end up being very useful to many people. I suppose that is another goal…
I have to say, the people who have commented here and sent me emails have been generally incredible, thoughtful and very kind (you certainly fit in there).
Have a great day!
Twitter: Nuwomb
said:
I enjoy seeing the goals and the follow up on them. It really looks like it helps put things into perspective and improve focus.
I’m going to draw out a serious plan for my sites. Woop!
Question for you though:
Do you have a reason for some of the goals? I guess I should try and find hhe longer term goals but from reading this I am left wondering. Knowing the long term goals or not, I start to ask what would you do want the increased traffic to do? Subscribe? Comment? Just looking at your blog, I’m not sure the long term goals are evident on the surface.
Just some stuff to think about. I’m going to plan some stuff for my blogs now. I’ll for sure check back on your progress
Scott Webb´s last [type] ..The Case Against Affiliate Marketing
Hi Scott,
My long term goals are a bit of a work in progress. At this point I am only focusing on learning about traffic and meeting people. I don’t really see this site as a business, but will be adding an email list in the near future.
I appreciate your thoughts! I am going to think on how to answer those questions for next month.
Have a great day!
Twitter: Brandon_Connell
said:
I like to keep my goals broad. An example would be the fact that I am currently in the 150s for Alexa, and my latest goal is the top 100k. Shouldn’t be too long now. Before that it was 500k, and before that 1 million.
Brandon Connell´s last [type] ..The blog family
That is awesome Brandon! It makes sense. I am constantly surprised by the great ideas you write about. Really great stuff. Have a good week!
Twitter: SocialSammy
said:
Hi Mark
Great post, love the the way you’ve set such measurable goals. They’re straight forward simple and seem very achievable.
I guess your post makes me curious about what the ultimate plan for all this attention is? At the moment I see no eBook, service offering etc Is it just to build a community around your content and generate a bit of ad revenue or are you planing to unleash something a bit more spectacular?
I’m not sure if monitization is one of your ambitions for IceBlueBanana but if it is perhaps there needs be another goal added to the list?
Sam Schuurman´s last [type] ..Managing Commenting Energy – An Experiment
Hi Sam,
Ha. Yes, I actually do have some larger goals as well as some dreams for this site. But, I hesitate to mention them in a post as they have continued to change as I have learned more. At this point, I would say that my main larger goal is simply to understand how to drive traffic to this site.
Great question Sam. I am sure that life for me will settle a bit after this week (or perhaps I just really want it to), so I should be able to move forward a bit next week on defining my goals for this site.
Have a great week!
Twitter: bigredtomato
said:
Excellent results here Mark. That’s amazing progress in such a short period of time.
Thanks for sharing these stats! Go Mark!
Matthew Needham´s last [type] ..How to achieve big results with small steps
Thanks Matthew! I am hoping to be able to share more granular stats and the larger goals in a couple of months. Right now I am just trying to focus on the smaller, easier to see things.
Have a great day!
Twitter: sallyneill
said:
Hey Mark,
How on earth you even manage that amount of blog posts in one week is beyond me, I struggle to do one ha ha.
I think it’s great you have set goals, even if you don’t achieve them all right away, you still know what you are aiming for.
Your blog following is increasing really quickly and you should be very proud of what you have achieved so far, I would be!
Sally
Sally´s last [type] ..Alex Jeffreys, George Brown And A Busy Beaver…
Hey Sally -
Even if you only post once a week, it is always really entertaining and/or useful!
More than the number of people reading, I am really happy that the people who do read have been so thoughtful in comments, emails, tweets, etc. This has really been a great experience so far.
Have a good week Sally!
Twitter: buildrankprofit
said:
Nice one Mark! It has been a pleasure to share the growth with you and be a part of the amazing community you are fostering here at the blue banana.
How good is it to write those goals down!? Makes so much difference.
OK For me the goals are weird. At the moment my goal is to finish another 5 mini sites and promote them, finish my ebook and promote (will send you advanced copy to help market if you are willing?!) and build a mailing list and email followup series.
All this means I should NOT BE BLOGGING as it detracts from the tasks at hand, but ironically if i stop blogging then I lose the ablity to leverage all these amazing people I have met – what a quandary – or even a dichotomy, maybe?
Thanks for sharing your goals and progress, and well done too
Alex´s last [type] ..Keywords 101: The Keyword Thesaurus.
Hey Alex,
I agree that writing goals down really helps; it keeps me a bit more focused.
I will definitely help with your ebook in any way you like. I am really looking forward to it!
I know what you mean about goals vs. blogging too. It is likely much more of a balancing act for you than me, but I find myself thinking that I should be working on X rather than writing or commenting. It is fun though.
Have a great week!
Twitter: rick_byrd
said:
Mark:
You are making some awesome progress.
I think your goals are fine and within your reach. However I am okay with less than 4 to 6 posts per week.
I have really enjoyed reading your blog and I look forward to continuing to participate in discussions here.
Good luck!
- Rick
Rick Byrd´s last [type] ..What is your favorite social bookmarking site?
Ha! Well, I have not met the 4 to 6 goal yet. That one may take a while to achieve, which is ok because I am mostly concerned with feeling balance in this. That is, I want this experience to be fun and social first. All of the other goals are really just to help make it fun.
Have a great day Rick!
Twitter: darrenlcarter
said:
Good job on doing so well with your blog! And you really do have a good community of people built up around you which is quite an accomplishment. I’m always impressed by the content you post so good job on that too!
Peace,
Darren L Carter
Darren L Carter´s last [type] ..Progress Report: Day 39 – Traffic
Thanks Darren. I think that is really meaningful coming from you. I am a big fan of your writing.
The people who stop by here are really great! I will be writing again soon. Have a great week!
Twitter: websitebegin
said:
When it comes to commenting on blogs, I don’t hold back! I am actually disappointed that I only commented on 42 blogs in one day. It may seem strange to want so many comments, when I only put out one article a day, but I bring in a large amount of traffic for doing so.
Great post
Jeez Joe. Your fingers must be exhausted.
Thanks for reading & have a great day!
Twitter: jblack2012
said:
Keep at it Mark. It takes some guts to tell the world your stats etc. All of this takes some serious effort and time. Even those of us who promote ourselves everywhere we can possibly think of, can still come up short.
Just think, there are only one or two people on earth for every business web page out there. There is some stiff competition for eyeballs, so don’t get too hard on yourself if you are not making your goals. The trick is to keep going and get past that 1 year point with your blog.
Most blogs fail within 3 months, because the owner burned out from lack of content. Don’t let that happen to you. Just keep bashing away at it and the customers will follow.
Joshua Black | The Underdog Millionaire´s last [type] ..Pea-ing on Your Small Business… Part 2
Hi Joshua,
Thanks for the encouragement! I just passed 3 months, and I have plenty of ideas, so I feel good about this still.
Those are some amazing stats you mentioned. I am constantly amazed by the number of blogs out there. Normally I think of that as a good thing but I suppose you are right – there are only so many pages that the limited supply of blog readers can view in a day.
Great thoughts! Have a great weekend!
Wow! You’ve gone a long way already! Congratulations! it just means you’re doing the right thing. And good luck with your goals as well!
Thanks Martin. I do appreciate it!
Have a great day!
Twitter: nathanrufus
said:
Mark,
The community you have here is strong.
The thing is as you’ve set such specific goals, I know that not only are you going to achieve them, you’re going to surpass them.
I love the branding “icebluebanana”. That sticks in the brain and no one is going to forget that. (…I’m certainly not…)
Well done on the success that you’ve had so far.
Reach new heights,
Nathan
Nathan Rufus´s last [type] ..The 60 Day Challenge…
Hi Nathan,
Thank you so much for the visit as well as the encouraging words! I had to take a couple of days away from blogging, but will be back at it very soon.
The people who visit here are great. Usually very insightful, intelligent and witty. The comments here are what I have missed the most over the past few days.
Have a great weekend!
Twitter: baileying
said:
Hey Mark,
You’re a brave man to put the goals up there in public. This gives accountability for sure! I definitely need to learn from you and put my goals up there too.
No way could I tell you’ve only had this blog for 3 months. It’s so pro, I know it will go much much further in the near future.
I’ve enjoyed your productivity related posts by the way! But I’ll be looking forward to your future posts
Bailey
Bailey Ing´s last [type] ..Response cached until Sat 26 @ 1:13 GMT (Refreshes in 46 Minutes)
Ha! Brave! Yeah, I guess. Or stupid.
The thing about goals is that after a while they become very easy to ignore. I find that it helps me to stay focused and motivated if my goals are (semi) public.
There is much more on the way. Thank you for stopping by Bailey & have a great weekend!
Twitter: markbell10
said:
Hey Mark, I really like this idea of blogging your goals! I may follow suit. For now, until I really find my feet with blogging, I have a short set of goals for my blog and life (I suppose) – on my page, just to remind me. Hopefully it works out!
Cheers!
Mark Bell´s last [type] ..Developing web traffic
Hey Mr. Bell,
I know what you mean. Until I have done enough to really understand the possibilities of something I tend to hold back a bit. Actually, I have been receiving emails from vendors wanting to advertise here and a few messages from friends asking when I will monetize this site. Truth be told, I just do not feel ready yet. I have learned a ton in the past few months, but I want to provide truly worthy content before I think about placing more ads or whatever.
Thank you very much for reading!
Hey Mark!
Congratulations on your progress! It’s great that you acknowledge your weak points and resolve to do better. Keep your eye on the prize – I can’t wait to see how you do next month
Jillian´s last [type] ..“4 Hour Sleep Week” Book Review
Hi Jillian,
I think it is important to talk about weaknesses openly. At least for me, it helps to keep me accountable and driven. I appreciate the comment. Have a great day!
It’s awesome that you write everything down, Mark. It’s true that you are able to achieve your goals faster this way because writing them down brings them closer to reality.
I hope you surpass them, and if not, keep rocking. I thought my blog was way bigger in the future, but that was just my mind riding the delusional lane. It’s tiny goals and steps every single day that bring you closer to the top.
Let’s rock together ,)
Mars Dorian´s last [type] ..The Little Line That Makes or Breaks Your Blog
Writing them down helps me to focus on the right things while I work. I really agree with you about taking steps every day. People usually recognize each other for the things they have in common, especially the things that are not common among most people. But I believe that it is our individual habits that define us (professionally anyway). Those habits are what allow us to be good in our jobs and in our personal lives.
Have a great day Mars!
I love to read these posts with the objectives of the bloggers… They are always different and interesting…
Either way, do not be too harsh on yourself, the goals are guidelines, sometimes we achieve them, sometimes not… More important is what you can learn from these goals.
I’m curious, do you have a long-term goals for your blog Mark?
I wish you luck with the goals. And even more than luck, I wish you hard work, willpower and great self-discipline.
Marko — Calm Growth´s last [type] ..What Everybody Ought to Know About Self-Confidence – Part 3
This blog was really started as an experiment, so I tend to not be very harsh on myself
Really, I only set goals here so that I have something to measure against. My ‘bigger’ goals will probably be integrated into one of these posts at some point, but they are currently a little too uncertain. So, to answer your question, I do have long-term goals, but they change a bit every week.
Hard work, willpower and great self-discipline – yeah, that sounds about right.
Thanks for visiting and have a great day Marko!
Twitter: Murlu
said:
I think they’re very appropriate and very admirable. It’s good to see you’re setting realistic goals and not like “I want 10,000 visitors from a single post I write in 10 minutes” – the gradual build up will not only let you adjust, build a better relationship with your commentors but also keep track of what works each time it goes up.
Murlu´s last [type] ..If You’re Comfortable- You Won’t Be Successful
Ha, well, I do want 10,000 visitors from a post I write in 10 minutes, but it is more likely to get 10 visitors from a post that I wrote in 1000 minutes. Great point about the natural evolution of a blog’s life-cycle. It surely helps to not have things happen overnight (even if we do sometimes dream it to be).
Thanks for the comment!