Who knows what you’ll get when you ask questions?
Facebook question:I know I know I won’t be having the time to do it every week, but I am just tempted to give it a try. So here we go -
What is your short term goal on blogging? Tell me one goal.
Well that is not a tricky question and I just asked it because I was so curious about what bloggers are after. And I was really amazed by the answers. Here is a snapshot.
The top most answer turned out to be this:
Consistently create more interesting titles
Janet Callaway, Adrienne Smith, Winston Gomez, LaNelle Schwab, Keri Francek Jaehnig, Faisal Ateeq.
Now for a second, you could think that it is weird. Why would most bloggers be worried about headlines and why would they consistently create it and have it as a goal?
But do you know the power of headlines? They are the ones that people look at first either inside or outside your blog.
Outside the blog - it is either from search engine results, or links to your blog posts on other blogs or blog directories and communities (like Blog Engage, Blokuke, SERPd, Blog Interact etc.)
Even if they are already in your blog, they will most probably click through a popular or a relevant post only if the headline makes them decide so.
They decide to click through the link and come to your blog ONLY if the heading is pleasing and interesting to them.
Now, onto the other answers…
To write the next post ASAP
Mohammad Shadab, Samantha Bangayan, Pankaj Gupta, Daniel Sharkov, Alex Whalley.
That is a no-brainer and a trivial goal isn’t? But it is so vital because blog posts are the life of the blog. If a blog is not updated it is dead.
So while the blogger is busy with everything else, he/she should have this code running in the background always “Prepare your next blog post”! That’s so vital.
If your forgot to remember it, you cannot keep up your commitment with your blog. Forgetting once in a while is also not OK. If you think that you will be away for a particular period of time, schedule your posts (use Editorial Calendar).
There is actually no excuse that you fail to keep up with updating your blog. It doesn’t mean that you should be posting 5 times a day.
Choose any frequency that suits you - it can be once per day, three times per week, eight times a month or whatever. But you have to stick to it.
To learn and share new stuff
Shiva Chettri, LaNelle Schwab.
That is so enthusiastic of a blogger. Blogging is about learning. We learn everyday.
We learn to write, we learn to communicate to people from different regions of the world, we learn to use WordPress (or Blogger or any blogging platform for that matter), we learn to cope with criticism, we learn to improvise, we learn to adapt, we learn to endure, we learn to… OK you get the idea.
If a blogger stopped to learn, that won’t be the end of the world but for sure he/she cannot survive for long in the blogosphere.
Get to 100 Subscribers
Bob Rosemary Clarke
I know how that feels, when your subscriber count has not touched the first milestone yet, the century - 100. That is a magical number when it comes to subscribers and reaching it gives a great feeling of achievement and motivation.
That is a reasonable, pretty decent and a vital goal. You have to, of course, provide quality content and use some nifty techniques to get those people on your list.
Other responses
First priority is to earn minimum amount of money - Vivek Parmar.
To schedule enough posts for the upcoming vacation - Justin Germino.
To get my Alexa ranking below 100K - Justin Mazza.
Would you join the conversation and let me know what your short term blogging goal is?
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One of the hardest things about blogging is coming up with quality content ideas. You should blog on a consistent basis, but sometimes writers block sets in. A short term goal is just to have enough to write about!
That’s a perfect and a typical goal of a blogger Nick. The awareness is the key, brilliant!
Awesome tips @Jane
Thanks for featuring me in this post. All the 4 Goals are really important and I am happy to see my “To write the next post ASAP” goal as second most popular short term goal.
And the first one “Consistently create more interesting titles”, It will come only when you have got some experience in blogging. It is really difficult for newbie to understand the effect of TITLE
But this is the most powerful now a days.
Well said Pankaj. Writing titles needs practice and also an understanding of what kind of titles are hilarious, delivering, catches people and also search engines.
I’m a bit surprized with the results you got to your Facebook survey. Anyhow, nice to know what people are after. I got some nice post ideas from it
My short term goal is to build my subscriber list as someone also mentioned in your survy.
Glad that this post could offer you with some post ideas. Do let me know when you publish them!
Glad you made a blog post out of this one and shared for others to see. Thank you so much for including me. I appreciate that!
Interesting answers to your question Jane. So creating more interesting titles topped #1. That’s what catches your eye when you find yourself on someone’s blog. I’ve been doing my best to get better at that. I think I’m getting there, at least at times.
Enjoyed reading what others put too. Great poll and again, thanks for sharing the results with us.
Adrienne
Adrienne recently posted..The Coolest Ad Network I’ve Ever Seen
Ya, great poll isn’t. I really learned some good stuff and also “spied” on what other bloggers are up to. LOL.
Jane, aloha. This post is absolutely brilliant-and not just because I am featured in it for which I thank you.
When you posted the question on facebook I thought it was interesting and I did check back periodically to see other comments.
Jane, what I loved about what you did with this the way you explained why what each of us selected would be so important. Before learning the value of a catchy headline, I was “hung up” on using my keyword in the title and created some incredibly boring headlines. What a difference it made to the traffic on my blog when I learned the headline lesson.
Congratulations to you, my friend, for this terrific post. While once a week by be a bit much, I can see a similar question/post every 2-3 weeks.
Jane, wishing you a fantastic week. Aloha. Janet
Janet, yep. Once in a week is too much for me and my friends. I won’t poke you guys with too many questions. But when I get amazing answers, I simply can’t help it posting on my blog. Thanks for your answer and comment Janet
Since I am not (yet) an avid FaceBook user, I for some reason missed this out. Without doubt though, amongst the possible answers you gave, I would definitely have chosen number 2, consistently creating quality articles. “his is by far my worst “nightmare”, lol. Sometimes I write something and think that it will be “the one”, only to realize after about 5 minutes later, nope.. think again
Very difficult to maintain a good routine on this one… Good poll!
BTW, and off topic, I meant to ask you something. Is that box, right above your author box, the one with the keyword banner, a plugin? How did you do that? I like it
Francisco, yes. Generating great post ideas, and making them as good posts are challenging and we need to do that on a regular basis. I know that nightmare LOL.
About the box, I am writing you an email
I think that headlines are overrated. Yes, it is important to get people to read your posts, but if the content is weak they point and click away in milliseconds.
In the short term I want to increase my readers by 30%.
With headlines, I am sure all bloggers who voted for it meant headline + killer content
Thanks for stopping by Jack.
This is really interesting, especially the amount of people who said that their main priority was to get the next blog post out as quickly as possible! Eeek! Massive mistake! I always feel when I read blogs, I would rather read a blog that updates once a week instead of 7 days a week and updating rubbish!
Hi Harriet, I can understand what you mean. Getting out that next blog post, not out of compulsion, but simply out of commitment and passion is what pays off. Update only when you have great content. Less is always more. But if you have enough time and passion, I don’t think a daily update will harm
Thanks for stopping by.
Lately my goal has been to get my posting schedule up to at least once a week. I know that seems anemic to most bloggers, but some months I only write one or two posts because of how busy I get with my practice.
Starting this month I am going to spend more focused time on my blog and the blogging community. I really do enjoy the time when I have an opportunity to work on the blog so it is time to step it up
It is very reasonable to post less when you don’t have enough time to write. Less is more. It is far better if you write one or two killer posts a month than publishing crap everyday.
But if you can put more time in, it is worth the effort. More content usually equals more traffic and good for SEO.
Whatever frequency you choose, sticking to it is a must.
Yes, I agree. Another thing that it does do is allow me time to build some back links to each of my posts, which is certainly important.
I have found that often times, just getting 5 or 10 solid back links to an individual post can mean the difference between a page 1 or page 2 ranking in google for a well optimized post that I have written.
I would rather have 10 posts on page 1 than 100 on page 2
To find some sort of workable schedule in the madness that is my day!
LOL! I can get it
Dennis, by the way I have contacted you a couple of times regarding the free ad banner (active commenter lucky draw winner, that is), but am not getting any response from you!
Ut-oh, I’ve gotten nothing. I wasn’t aware I was up for a free banner.
I’m downloading today’s email now, if it is there.
Where have you tried to contact me? My direct email is admin @ dennisedell.com
Yep it is the same email I used!
Got it now and replied, thanks!
Dunno what happened before, sorry about that.
nothing in mind, yet to decide!
That is pretty usual, as far as you are aware that you need a goal, you are fine
Hey Jane,
Wow, who would have thought answering a question on FaceBook would get me on your blog. That was fun, let’s do it again.
My Alexa is below 100k and I now have Page Rank which means I can erase two things off of my to do list. I also submitted a guest-post this week.
The new weekly goal for me is to get at least one new consultation subscriber this week.
Things are flowing for me , I just need to keep it going. Thanks again Jane for adding me in your post. You Rock!
Hey Justin,
The pleasure is actually mine. You really seem to have some solid goals - guest posting is a great thing. Hope you will submit more. Let me know if you have an idea to write for Find All Answers (ask and you shall receive; will I? LOL).
Jane.
Give me some time Jane.
To become more popular and make a little money would be nice. I don’t expect to become the next facebook, but some activity and earnings would be nice. Other than that I would like to provide and help others on their quest.
“I don’t expect to become the next facebook” LOL. Some activity is quite essential for blogging success!
Ellen says
I am not still understanding that how can we get traffic through sharing our daily experiences. If we continuously posting our experiences then against which keyword we will get ranking?
Jane, first off — I so appreciate you linking to me here! Thanks for including me in the conversation and I am ecstatic about hearing others’ opinions on this topic! It has me thinking that I should really get a blogging schedule down or at least be one step ahead of the game with one extra blog post, so that I can use my time more effectively, researching stellar headlines like the experts do! =)
Oh that’s a wonderful goal Samantha. To step ahead and make one extra post is surely a worthy stuff to do. That is more value for your readers and more fodder for the bots.
To write the next post asap!!! - that’s about me! But in fact I don’t think that ‘writing a next post’ is a goal. My next goal is to check my comments and delete spam.
My short term goal is the same as of Shiva and Schwab, “to learn and share new stuff” Although there are many goals set for me …. the most important is the one above
write the next asap.
write the next post asap
I would say that the main goal I have when doing blogging is to provide people with valuable information.
That’s a fantastic goal Terje. That should be the primary goal of every blogger/entrepreneur!
Constance N. Gilliam says
.Answering the question I decided to take some time today and surf the Internet for as many women blogging on politics that I could find. ..-.Even though I worked very hard compiling this list of women bloggers I am sure there are still many out there that I did not find.
So…. did you mention about your goal now?
To snap out of my writer’s block… then hurry up and write my next blog post.
My goal is usually on per month basis. Like to increase page views per month and earn monthly income enough for me not to be enslave by an 8 hour job.
This is great! It helps especially when I’m tired of doing things…Thanks Jane for this information
I just want to approve my adsense account .Thats still not approved .other wise my blog is fully accomplished with all the terms of a successful blog
Some really interesting points you have written. Assisted me a lot, just what I was looking for