If you don’t have a blog plan, now is the time to start. Whether you are just starting off with an idea or are a year or two into blogging already, creating a plan every 6 months is refreshing and can help bring new ideas to the table. We only have 6 months left until the end of the year (scary, I know) so now is the perfect time to create year-end goals for your blog. I’ve created an easy step-by-step guide that will help you achieve your goals.

If you find yourself lacking some motivation on goal setting, I included an example on how to incorporate Instagram growth as your 6 month goal. Considering Instagram is one of the fastest growing social media platforms, this would be a great place to start!

How to create a 6 month plan:

Step 1: Set a goal

Do you have a goal of making a certain amount of money a month? Or maybe you are hoping to increase traffic to your blog? Whatever your goal may be, make sure it’s something you are willing to dedicate the time to so you are able to achieve it.

Example: Increase Instagram followers from 1,000 to 7,000 (6 month period)

Step 2: Create a road-map

Now that you have your goals, you need to determine how you are going to get this done. This is the part of the plan that will really make or break your process. The amount of time you put into this road-map will determine if you achieve your goals.

Examples:

• Partner with brands and other bloggers for monthly giveaways
• Spend an hour each day engaging with other bloggers in my niche, interact with followers, researching hashtags, etc. 
• Research what’s working for other influencers
• Audit your own page– how is your aesthetic? What is your engagement rate? How can you increase engagement and reach? 

Step 3: Investment

Now that you have goals and a plan established, you’ll need to take a look at how much time and money you are willing to invest. The beauty about blogging is that you can spend as little or as much time as you’d like on it. There’s no race, there’s no finish line, so be sure to have fun with the process. Don’t overwhelm yourself and take on more than you can handle so be reasonable with the amount of time you are willing to dedicate!

Example:

• Invest in one giveaway a month = $40
• Sponsor 2 posts a month at $20 each= $40
• Spend 1 hour a day in engaging with followers 

 

Step 4: Monitoring Results

There’s a ton of apps out there that can help monitor results on a variety of levels. Do research and determine what can help you stay on top of your goals, talk to other bloggers and ask them what they are doing, join networks or support groups to help with this as well.

Examples:

• Unfollowers app
• Instagram metrics (only available for business accounts)
• Snug (A great app to help with aesthetics and layout of your photos)

 

Step 5: Evaluating Results

At the end of the year, evaluate your results and determine if you are happy with the outcome. If you are happy with it, then the work you put into your goal has paid off! If you’re not happy with your results, look back at your plan to determine what you should have done different. Was your goal unrealistic? Did you put in the time needed to achieve your expectations?

Always remember that these goals are personal goals, there is no competition or race to get something done, work at your own pace and have fun with the process. If at first you don’t succeed, get up and take a different approach!

 

Before your dive into the fun with the process there’s a few think you need to remember:

1. It takes time and dedication
2. This is not a race; do not compare yourself to others
3. Have fun; if you aren’t having fun– it’s going to feel like a chore

That’s it– you are ready to start your plan!