Blogging Goals and Achievements

I don't know if anybody has or hasn't noticed, but in May I have really upped my blogging game. 

I have been blogging since February 2014, over two years ago! In that time I've made 86 posts (this is my 87th). My view count has` been up and down and so has my posting frequency! I started the blog as an opportunity to write frequently. I knew hardly anything about blogging apart from the theory of it from my degree, I didn't realise many people still did it! But I got stuck in head first!

Some people grow extremely quickly in blogging, some people are experts before they write their first post. My growth has been slow, as has my learning. Only last year did I make a Twitter page specifically for my blog and put my old Twitter on private. 

So for May I decided I would really sort my blogging-self out, it's about time! I've always wanted to post twice a week, any more and I would run out of things to post, any less and I wouldn't be active enough. So here are a few of the goals I had and how I feel I achieved them, or need to improve still!

1. Frequent posting 

As I have already mentioned, I have chosen to post twice a week, this has been on Mondays and Thursdays. These days fit nicely into my schedule, they have time in between to be able to write the next post if needed and I can advertise my post appropriately that day.  All my May posts are linked below in case you missed any!

Podophobia - 05/05/16
Shoes For Podophobes - 09/05/16 (my most viewed post ever, so pleased!)
Quotes to live by - 12/05/16
NYX Haul - 16/05/16
How I Plan to Save Money - 19/05/16
Where's the World That Doesn't Care? - 23/05/16
Plaits 'R' Us! - 26/05/16
Blogging Goals and Achievements (this one) - 30/05/16

My individual post views have gone up since posting more frequently, I think it's easy to underestimate how much of a difference that makes!

2. Improve online presence 

Social media is essential for blogging, although I don't use it all, Snapchat blogging isn't for me right now! Twitter is the main one that I use @_RachelEllen is my handle. I use it to advertise my blog, to interact with other bloggers and whoever else may want to contact me.

On Twitter there are things called blogger chats, I think there's at least one for every day of the week for every kind of niche and interest. For those of you who don't know, blogger chats are hosted by a particular page and 4/5 questions are asked over an hour to engage bloggers and get us talking to each other! It's a great way to talk to people, to find new blogs and to get more traffic to your blog. Below is a screen shot of the Tweet Activity from one of my tweets in a blogger chat

Of course not enormous amounts of people but I was so excited by this!

Along with blogger chats, I've tried to interact with more bloggers on Twitter, something that can be difficult when I work so much but I'm trying to get better! My twitter followers have gone up quite a lot this month which is really encouraging!

3. Highest viewed month

Now, as we always say in blogging, numbers don't matter so I won't be posting any numbers of views (it's definitely not high don't worry!)

I decided not to aim for a particular number but to just aim to have the highest amount of views in a month that I've ever had, which I've more than managed! The below graph shows the amount of views each month since I started blogging, as you can see, May 2016 is by far the highest! This is accurate as of 26/05/16 evening.

Through the month my views varied, the last day I had zero days was 11th May so I feel like I've had quite a good run for views! I've used Google Analytics below as I've been told the views are much more accurate. (still no actual numbers though, nosy!)

I'm really pleased overall with this months views!

4. Improve photography

My forever goal! So many bloggers are really incredible at photography, but also have access to really great equipment! I do feel like my pictures have slightly improved, I have upgraded from Samsung S4 mini to an IPhone SE, the quality of pictures is so much better, now I just need to remember to block take at weekends when I get daylight! Here's a few that I have taken this month, my best photos are in my NYX Haul Post, so proud of some of those!

So overall I'm really pleased with how May has gone blogging wise, now onto June and let's see if I can further improve!

What do you aim for each month with your blog?

Have you learnt anything from this post?

Thanks for reading,

Rachel xx