How do you maintain a blog successfully? You have work to do, clients needs to fulfill on, and a family that demands your attention as well.
So how do you stay on top of your blogging goals and strategies?
First, you need to have a goal for your blog so you know what you want your blog to actually accomplish. Second, you need to create milestones to give yourself measures within a certain time frame so that you give your blog goals momentum.
Now it’s time to put your goals and milestones into action by creating a weekly action plan for your blog, specifically, so you know what you need to do to meet your milestones every single week!
Step 1: Create Your Monthly Timeline
The first step is to write down what action steps you’re going to have accomplished by the end of every month. This shouldn’t be any more than four goals per month. I would highly suggest that you start off with two to three goals per month and see if you are successfully meeting them before adding more goals.
A word of caution: this will either be an overwhelming exercise or a feel-good, exciting exercise. The reason being is because it may look like a lot at first to accomplish.
If you begin feel overwhelmed, immediately think, “Where am I going to find the time to do all of this, run my business, take care of my family, and actually have a life?!” Then that might be a signal that you need to revisit your blog goals and expand the timeline to be more realistic to your life. Then re-strategize your blog strategy plan.
Sometimes we give our things too much to do in little timeframes and freak out. Be realistic throughout your goal and milestone planning.
If you are finding yourself excited, then great! But remember, after the momentum wears off and you get back into the groove of life, that is when the whim-whams will happen. I suggest you look at your goals on a regular basis to remind yourself of the impact that you can create with your blog.
Regardless, this exercise is designed to help you see what you can (or cannot) do during the time frame you have given yourself.
For me, I find the perfect balance is achieving between 3-4 small goals a month where I work one or two goals a week that only take an hour or less.
Step 2: Develop A Weekly Plan
One way to stay on track and getting sh*t done is by planning your work and working your plan!
I was involved in a leadership program where everyone had to create a project and within every classroom, we got a weekly action plan where we wrote down what actions we were going to take to work on our project.
When I had that structure, I got big sh*t done! I was able to see what I needed to do every week and make it happen! I also learned how much I could and how much I couldn’t do. Sometimes, I had to scale back so I could actually accomplish everything I said I was going to do.
That is exactly what you’re going to do. Now that you know exactly what goals you’re going to achieve every single month, you need to plan your work by working your plan with a weekly action plan!
I have created a weekly action plan for you to download so you can start planning your work right away.
Take this seriously. When you know your goals and what you’re up to in your business, then you can create anything you want! And yes, that means running a successful blog, having a thriving business, and spending more time with your family!
Step 3: Work Your Plan
It’s easy to start off strong and then fall off the bandwagon two weeks from now. Prevent that from happening by asking a friend or peer of yours to hold you to account!
Here are suggestions I found to be helpful when I have a weekly action plan:
1. Get an accountability buddy! When you have someone to answer to and who is doing the weekly action plan with you, you are more likely to get it done!
2. Meet with your accountability buddy on a weekly basis (try not to go more than 10 days without a meeting).
3. Be realistic and readjust along the way. There is nothing wrong with that!
What are you waiting for? Download the weekly action plan today and start creating a blog that speaks to your audience, creates community, and makes money because you have a successful goal strategy, milestones for your strategy, and a weekly plan to keep your momentum going!