Monthly Blogging Goals for February
I was a little nervous to check up on how I did on my blogging goals last month. I know I didn’t read enough middle grade chapter books. I am posting daily instead of 4 times a week too. Ah well!
This month, I am revising my goals since I clearly am having trouble hitting them.
1) Focusing on 1 social network
This hit home:
Copyblogger suggests picking just one social network where your audience seems to congregate and then putting in the time and energy to really do it right. You can focus on others later.
That makes sense to me. I am punting all other social media networks with the exception of Pinterest. No more messing around on Sulia or trying to learn Instagram. And I’m on maintenance mode on Twitter in terms of growing my following.
2) Frequency of posts
I was posting 7x a week on Pragmatic Mom and it was way too much. I find I need the discipline to post less frequently. My goal is 4x a week. 3x a week on ILoveNewton.com and only when I feel like it on JadeLuckClub.com. That takes me to 7 posts a week.
A big shout out to my SEO consultant Vanita Cyril who is the voice of sanity. She said, “Girl, your Alexa is at a point where u don’t need to blog every day. You’ll do better if u promote more than u blog. It will help you break the 100k mark. You’ve got enough content to make google happy.”
And just like that I got my sanity back. Thanks Vanita! Back on track again!
3) Posting themes
Financial literacy for kids, getting kids to love reading, helping kids discover their passion, art projects for kids, STEM/STEAM, and life skills for kids. Continue to do this.
4) Collaboration
One big reason why I ended up posting more than 4x a week on PragmaticMom is that I did more collaboration group posts. This has been great for me so I am ok with more frequency of posts in order to fit everything in.
I am doing Picture Book of the Day with Bethany of No Twiddle Twaddle‘s group and now am going to post every other Friday.
I did Mari of Inspired by Family Magazine‘s Dating Your Husband series.
ABCS of [fill in the blank] through Kids Blogger Network kicked off my January.
Toddler Approved also is doing 100 Acts of Kindness Project which I was thrilled to be a part of.
Mother Daughter Book Club let me host their link up as well as post on a graphic novel my son and I enjoyed.
I was also thrilled to be included in the Parenting with Purpose series by The Educators’ Spin on It.
5) Read more
I did read more this past month than usual. I did two mornings of weekend reading in bed to finish The Great Unexpected and See Me at Harry’s because binge reading works best for me. To get more chapter books in though I had to change my habits. I now carry my book around everywhere I go in order to read a few pages here, and a chapter there. It’s less smooth of a read but keeps me plugging away. I’m half-way through Precious Bones.
My son and I finished the 5 book Percy Jackson series together, a 3 month endeavor, as well as the The Lightening Thief graphic novel. We are starting The Lost Hero now.
I read a pile of picture books as well. I was excited to pair up action-adventure chapter book (think Percy Jackson and India!) Zoe and Zak and the Ghost Leopard with picture book The Fantastic Adventures of Krishna by Demi which I will be posting on soon.
Finally, PickyKidPix and I saw Newbery award-winning authors Clare Vanderpool and Jerry Spinelli together at a local author visit. I’ll post on that soon too. We got signed copies of their latest books so I hope to read these books too to post on them.
I also ordered a pile of recent Newbery-winning books that I want to read asap!
So many good books. So little time!
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My books:
Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Food for the Future: Sustainable Farms Around the World
- Junior Library Guild Gold selection
- Massachusetts Book Award Long List
- Selected as one of 100 Outstanding Picture Books of 2023 by dPICTUS and featured at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair
- Starred review from School Library Journal
- Chicago Library’s Best of the Best
- 2023 INDIES Book of the Year Awards Finalist
- Green Earth Book Award Long List
- Imagination Soup’s 35 Best Nonfiction Books of 2023 for Kids
Amazon / Barefoot Books / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Amazon / Scholastic / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Posting too much? Tell me how you do it, I have the problem to find enough time to post one post a week! 🙁
Ha! I was wondering if you were going to pull off cutting back your posting that drastically, you nut. I’ve shunned Sulia bc it confuses me and I don’t enjoy using it, and I’m trying to focus on Pinterest and Facebook mostly now. It just gets to be too much, flying all over the internet, trying to be everywhere.
Also? Vanita is the voice of reason! Love the quote- and she’s such a good blogging mom to us. You’ve inspired me to write down some goals- maybe not post them for the world to see; that’s far too scary.
don’t laugh…I am all smiles here and choked up at the same time. 😀 you guys are awesome.
Hi Vanita,
You make us laugh so I am glad you are laughing too! You totally rock!
Mia, thank you so much for the shout out and the continued support. I’m so lucky to have you in my corner. 😀
Hi Vanita,
OMG, whatever would we do without you?!!!
by the way, as for blogging goals, i’m trying to build the strategic mama’s presence, so i’ll be blogging twice a week (after i leave bluehost hopefully this week) and i’m spending as much time as i can on Google +. I’ve found my traffic increased by 20% during the two weeks I was really active there, and then dropped this past two weeks while i’ve been sick and barely on Google Plus. So google+ and maybe sverve.com. I do so love pinterest though. and that’s it. 😀 i hope.
Hi Vanita,
I hope you are feeling better and sorry to hear about your teeth issue. Where are you going to go for hosting? I’m at Stable Host and it’s been great.
Google Plus does seem great! I joined some KidLit communities and I’ve been loving meeting more kindred spirits. I am sure it helps with traffic but I’m getting more referral traffic from Pinterest.
There are just too many social media platforms out there. I’m going to focus on 1 (Pinterest) for the year and see what happens.
Way to go on having a plan! Your approach is awesome. I wish I could put more info my blog and have a real plan for it, but for now I have had to realize that just blogging when I can is what I can do now. That may change in the future and when it does I have a place ready for it.
Hi Dee,
Kudos to you for even having a blog since you work full time, and parent in such a dedicated way. How is the RetroFit going? I’m enjoying your posts!
Great goals – and so glad you’re joining me in setting monthly goals!
I really have to discipline myself to not blog every day, too. Not sure why it’s so hard to miss a day, but it is!
Hi MaryAnne,
I’m glad you said that because I am the same. It would seem like it’s easier to blog 3x a week or 4x a week but I am always knee-jerk returning to 7x a week if I don’t really discipline myself. It’s better to use that time to promote the blog and/or old posts, Vanita Cyril tells me. Totally makes sense too! I’m trying to work a little smarter this year!
Sounds like you are sticking fairly close to your goals. It really is a balancing act isn’t it – between posting, social media, collaboration, reading, breathing, etc… lol
Hi Renee,
YES! You totally understand because I am sure you are juggling like crazy too! I need to remember the breathing part! LOL!
Hi Mia,
I am really impressed – how do you find time to do all these!? and a blog question – how many posts are considered enough? Is it all based on Alexa score?
Hi iGameMom,
I think 3x a week is enough posting in general, but I’m not sure. I also have over 1000 posts so that may also be a factor. Ask Vanita at AfterBedTimeBlog.com and she’ll tell you why. She’s my SEO consultant.