‘’Plan the Next Steps for Your Blog’, Day 31 #31DBBBDay31 with @problogger

– December 1, 2012Posted in: DigiLit

Image purchased from iStockphoto

Take time regularly to step back from you blog, think what you want to achieve and how you want to do it.

Today’s Task

Map out specific tasks that you want to achieve over the next month and add to a calendar (whether paper or e.g. Google Calendar).

Darren’s calendar includes:

six posts a week (Sundays are a day off from posting)
each post day having its own type of post
time on Sundays for determining the specifics of each post (topics, titles etc.)
an administration task each Monday
promotional activities on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays
a day for emailing readers, answering their questions, etc. each Friday
stats analysis on the last day of the month • brainstorming on the first day of the month.

This won’t be what your plan looks like, so think what you need to do. The key is to identify the main things for your blogging… as each day other things will rise, but if you know your particular 2-3 achievements for a day. Look back over the last 31 days and think what you need to continue regularly.

Think whether you need to tell someone – accountability!

Today’s Notes

Darren recognizes that many are writing blogs ‘on the side’, and emphasizes not to bite off more than you can chew… beware ‘blogger burnout’ – find a sustainable level of quality posts, rather than a series of average ones. Find a level of external engagement/commenting that is possible and commit to that.

Planning: Big Picture

Before a new year is a good time to take stock – look back and see what’s worked, and look ahead. Consider a SWOT analysis, think what you might want to focus on, and build a calendar with events/conferences/holidays – and seasonal matters to work around.

Planning: Small Picture

Also need to think in detail – a week or 2 at a time, breaking each into achievable tasks…. Particularly smaller extra projects to build upon everyday activity.