How well did your blog perform in 2021? Did you achieve all your blogging goals you had set for the year? Are you looking at ways to improve your content, be more organised, more productive and more successful in 2022?
In 2021, I managed to have an incredibly good year for my blog for a number of reasons. First of all, I managed to hit my financial goal I had set myself for the year from working on a number of sponsored posts and campaigns with brands and PRs. Secondly, I got to work alongside a number of incredible and well known brands for a number of posts on my blog - some of these brands being Hotel Chocolat, The Poster Store, Parfum London, as well as submitting some recipe posts for the B&M website.
Thirdly, I used my time wisely throughout lockdown and being placed on furlough to really work on ways I can improve and expand all areas of my website. My lifestyle blog now has a total of 10 lifestyle based sub-sections, allowing me to share new articles on a wide range of topics, that can be relatable and engaging for a larger amount of people. Finally, time for some statistics. My lifestyle blogs audience is predominantly UK and US based, but it does currently have influence across many continents across the world, including Europe, Asia and the Americas - crazy right!?!
In 2021 alone, I reached a staggering 550,527 page views, reaching to 210,157 users - these numbers I grabbed from my Google Analytics - making 2021 probably one my of best years to date, and in 2022, I'm looking to top it! The question is.. How can I achieve more and be more productive and more successful? Listed below are some of the ways I'm going to be more productive this year, and hopefully achieve another successful year for my lifestyle blog, and hopefully some advice you can also take on board to grow your own blogs.
- Start Using A Daily Diary -
To be a more productive and organised blogger, you simply need to plan well. This year, I've started to use a daily diary in order for me to keep track of certain tasks I need to complete, emails/invoices I need to send, blog posts I need to write, and being able to plan my week ahead to use my time wisely. Most diaries will have a number of extra pages you can use for note taking and planning ideas - this will help you visually remember any blog posts you wish to write in the future, any brands you hope to work with, and you can also make a note of any goals or targets you wish to reach for the year ahead. You could also use a diary to keep track of your blog's growth over the year, and to track your progress of page views, followers etc.
- Create To-Do Lists -
It's simply impossible to keep up with everything you're thinking about and all of your ideas that are inside your head. The best thing you can do it to write it all down so you can have it all as a visual reminder in front of you. One of the most practical and important reasons that you should start to use a to-do list is that it will help you stay well organised. When you have written all your daily jobs and tasks in a simple list, they seem more achievable and manageable. When you can see a clear outline of what you've got to do for each day or each week, and are able to tick off once you've completed, it helps you stay focused, motivated and on-top of your work. Making to-do lists are an easy, stress-free and effective way of keeping up-to-date with certain tasks and things you need to do throughout your day. As a blogger, this could include things such as sending emails, taking photographs, writing up blog posts and creating invoices, to name a few.
For those who don't currently use a media kit, it can definitely be worth taking a look online to see what you need to include and browsing some media kit templates to give you some inspiration for your own. A media kit gives you the opportunity to showcase your blog and present yourself exactly as you want to be seen - it is simply a digital-based, online portfolio that informs your potential partners, sponsors and clients everything they need to know. You are able to give a brief overview of your blog, about you as a person, the content you write about, and any other information you believe to be relevant - this could typically include recent blog statistics, demographics, social media platforms you use, services you offer with relevant fees and some of the previous brands you have collaborated with. All of these features can allow a brand to gain an in-depth overview of you, your website and what you have to offer in just a few clicks, so it's important to make sure you update this regularly and all information included is correct and up-to-date, for example - DA score, follower count, email address and fees for collaborations.
- Break Bigger Goals into Smaller Goals -
So, you may have set yourself some blog goals for the year ahead, and they may look slightly overwhelming to start with. Maybe you want to earn £10,000 for the year, you want to gain 5,000 new followers or you want to write 200 new blog posts for that year. If you look at them like this, it can be very stressful and cause a lot of anxiety for you, especially if you're working non-stop trying to make this happen. To make things look that little bit more manageable and achievable, why not break these big goals into smaller goals? Instead of looking at your full years overview of your blogging goals, it may be wiser to break these down into weekly or monthly targets - for example, if you are looking to make £10,000 from your blog in 2022, why not break this down to around £800 a month, 200 blog posts a year, it could be around 16 per month - looks much less scary!
On how many occasions do you go to sit down and begin writing a new blog post but manage to get distracted by your social media accounts, phone notifications etc. If you're running your blog or working from the comfort of your own home, there are endless distractions that surround you and your working space. Your mobile phone, TV, pets, children, emails from your favourite fashion or beauty brands - the list is simply endless. As a blogger, it's probably a useful tip of knowing how to try and avoid these distractions, as this will most probably allow you to achieve your goals and become more successful at a faster rate than you otherwise would. Here are a few examples of things you can implement to help you avoid distractions whilst blogging/working;
- Set up a tidy, clutter free working environment
- Use your diary and to-do lists to ensure you complete all tasks
- Switch off your phone and log out of any social media websites
- Work using time frames or set a timer to carry out certain tasks to help avoid distractions and increase your productivity levels
- Keep On Top Of Emails and Admin -
Finally, the dreaded emails and admin tasks that are always left until later or tomorrow. Get them done today! Managing to stay on top of your emails/admin jobs can be extremely overwhelming and time-consuming - especially as a blogger as you could be getting multiple emails through daily regarding things such as collaborations, payments and invoices. In order to keep on top of this, there are a number of things you can do. For example;
- set aside some time each week to go through your all of your emails and respond to them
- empty your junk folder and deleted emails regularly to avoid them piling up
- group your emails in folders for easy access
- update your admin files daily/weekly - e.g. spreadsheets for your blogging income, followers total and your weekly plan for your blog
- make templates for specific emails you send as this can save you time - brand pitches, media kit emails, invoices etc
How successful was your blog in 2021? What other ways are you going to be more organised and productive this year?
