What Is Your Daily Routine?

Get Into A Routine

As humans we are creatures of habit.  We tend to like to stick to pre-established routines and straying from that routine can cause unwanted stress.  Having a routine helps to keep you focused and in tune with your work.  Conversely, not having a routine or set pattern can lead to chaos, missed deadlines, and panic.

Sticking to a routine can help you build your blogging consistency and is also a great way to stay on track towards meeting the goals you have set.

My Daily Routine

1. Log onto my blogs and check to make sure that they posted without issue.
2. Check the traffic to the blogs from the day before.
3. Check referral data to find any incoming links from fellow bloggers.
4. Read any comments that I have not already seen.
5. Reply to comments as needed.
6. View all the blog posts of blogs in my blogroll.
7. Leave relevant comments on these blogs and any links to similar posts I have written.
8. Send out a Twitter tweet on new posts 3 times a day.  Auto-tweet in morning when posts go live, then manually in the afternoon and evening (to reach more foreign traffic).  Follow me at @SSmith0911
9. Research and work up new posts as needed and set to auto-post.
10. Engage comments left throughout the rest of the day.
11. Submit excellent cornerstone posts to article marketing sites as needed.
12. Comment on forums on relevant topics leaving links as appropriate.
13. Make sure to have a pad of paper in my back pocket throughout the day for making notes and saving post ideas.

Sticking to this routine daily does pay off in the long run, as I am engaging my comments and leaving comments on other blogs and forums to help drive new traffic to my sites.

Do you have a routine that you follow daily?

What Are The Goals Of Your Blog?

Setting Goals

Every blogger, whether old or new, should always be setting goals.  Setting goals will help to keep you focused and on track.  There is also a feeling of accomplishment once you reach one of these goals.  As one goal is reached, another goal should be set for a new objective.

Very few blogs explode out of the gate.  Many times it will take you 6 months to a year to get the ball rolling and drive traffic, subscribers, and interest in your blog.  Be patient and focus on providing engaging content and you will eventually find your followers.  When setting goals for your blog, give yourself a 6 month or longer timeframe to reach your goals.  Nothing will be reached overnight.  With a good blog topic, consistency, dedication, and passion your blog will blossom. 

Goals Need To Be Reachable

Any goal you set needs to be reachable and measurable.  Setting too high of an expectation will result in failure, let down, or could even lead to discouragement.  You want to set yourself up to succeed, then set another goal.  Once you reach one goal you will feel motivated to work towards your new goal. 

The goal of your blog needs to be measurable in some way.  If it is too objective and unmeasurable, how will you know when you reach it?  A poor goal choice would be: "I want to be the most well known blogger in my blog topic."  How would you measure that?  A better goal for your blog that would be measurable and attainable could be:  "I want to have 500 subscribers within 1 year."  This is reachable and is measurable.  After that 1 year interval you will know whether you succeeded or not.  You also will be able to tell how far you were from your goal or how much farther over your goal you performed.

Some Example Six Month Goals

1. Write 60 posts.
2. Find 4 potential clients through your blog.
3. Sell 50 items on your site.
4. Get 300 Subscribers.
5. Have a bounce rate under 60%.
6. Get 1 guest post published per month.

These goals are attainable and measurable.  Some examples of poor goals would be:

1. Earn 6 figures from blogging alone.
2. Rank #1 for your sites key topics.
3. Steal all the traffic from a competitor.

While these could technically be attained, these are very challenging goals to set for your blog.  So make sure to have some solid goals set for you to help keep you focused and striving towards your goals.