My August 2016 Monthly Goals

Hello peeps. I’m here with my blog + biz goals for the month!

It’s hard enough to set goals by myself, let alone put them into writing! I figured I might as well blog about it to share my August goals with y’all if I’m already writing these bad boys out 🙂

So yeah, this isn’t a “proper post” per say, but more of a post to consolidate my thoughts!

I only have 2 big objectives for this blog + biz, which is to GROW and SELL.

Grow

Increase my rankings with Google

My first priority would be to increase my site speed (currently, it’s sooo slow, because I insist on creating so many pretty graphics to make your experience so much better)! Slow sites are dinged down by Google.

You can check your own site speed here. Mine ranges from 5 seconds to 9 seconds.. it’s driving me nuts.

To do this, I would have to:

• Compress all my images to the appropriate size, especially those on my home page
• Delete any images not in use on my site
• Look into deleting wordpress plugins that are slowing my site down

I also have to write more well-optimized articles, of course. I aim to write another 8 posts next month. Currently, I am writing 1 post every week – so this would be a significant jump!

Due to my OCD perfectionistic nature and a commitment to only publish high quality articles (you’ve no idea how many articles are currently rotting in my drafts because they failed to make the cut), I’ve been writing stuff really slowly.

Of these 8 articles, 4 will be related to my launch in August (more information below), 1 about SEO for newbies, 2 will be more personal posts (you’re reading 1 of them now), and probably another 1 will be on finding a profitable niche.

Tentatively, these are the dates that I hope to publish my blogposts:

• 1st Aug (this post), 4th (email marketing 101, my experience with email service providers)
• 8th (reasons why you need traffic + a list), 10th (how to get traffic – 3Bs), 12th (what to send your subscribers), 17th (myths that are stopping you from building traffic and subscribers)
• 24th (SEO 101)
• 30th (Finding your niche)

(Update on May ’17: You can read the above-mentioned blog posts that I managed to write here: Email marketing 101 | My experience with email service providers | What to send your subscribers | SEO 101 | Finding a profitable niche)

I would also have to continue sourcing for backlinks from more authoritative sources – already on it, but one step at a time.

Get more love from Pinterest

I’ve been getting a lot of Pinterest love! My posts about the 101 best blogging tools (3.76k 10.5k repins currently) & how to write an about me page (2k 28.1k repins) are doing fantastically well on Pinterest. There are also many other posts of mine with hundreds and thousands of repins.

This month, my goal is to find 2-3 Pinterest warrior buddies so that we can pin each other’s stuff and give each other more Pinterest love.

Although I use tailwind (aff link) (update May ’17: I’ve since switched to Boardbooster (aff) and have gotten amazing results from it) (Update Mar ’21: I’ve since switched back to Tailwind, LOL… Boardbooster closed down and Tailwind is now the best) to schedule my pins (thank God for it!), I do pin random stuff periodically, so committing to pin someone else’s stuff regularly may pose to be a problem.

To combat this, I would start the partnerships really small – I am hoping to get them to agree to pinning my stuff 10 times (can be the same article or multiple articles) per day.

If I find 3 buddies, that would mean that on 3 days of the week I have to pin their stuff 10 times each. I think that’s doable for me.

Y’know, the phrase I scratch your back, you scratch mine comes to mind… This is because I can’t be pinning my stuff all the time – Pinterest likes it when you pin other people’s stuff too!

Turn more random browsers into loving community members

If you’ve been around long enough, you might have noticed that I’ve made some changes to how things are arranged on my blog.

Some examples:

• Removing that SumoMe social sharing plugin (I use Social Warfare (aff) now) that was causing my images to become really tiny and blurry on Pinterest (the plugin was also slowing down my site)
• Adding a more obvious social sharing plugin that looks good (check it out, it’s on the left, if you’re on desktop!)
• Adding mobile social sharing buttons
• Changing the layout of how excerpts are displayed on my home page
• Adding horizontal images to all posts (check it out, it’s nice right? *sheepish face*)
• Changing things up on my sidebar to make my website less cluttered, such as removing my “as seen on” logos (basically logos from getting published on sites like The Huffington Post that I’ve wrote in/ been mentioned on)

User experience is very important for me, and should be for you too.

Another thing: My articles as of now may verge on being boring and being too informative. I have to look into creating more engaging content with more personality.

While having a few information-filled posts like my latest post (101 Tips From Top Experts On How To Start A Successful Blog) is good, having too many of such posts will turn my blog into an encyclopedia.

To combat this issue, I would have to:

• Edit my last 5 posts to make them sound more interesting (currently they sound a tad too boring for my liking, although the tips are good)
• Write more personal posts (like this one!) – perhaps write about more personal topics like mindset and confidence. Basically, to add more soul into my writing.

Sell

This August, I will be launching a new digital course (Traffic, Subscribers, Yours Update Mar ’21: It’s now been upgraded and you can get List Building Incubator instead), which is a combined traffic and list building course for beginner bloggers & business owners.

I’m creating this digital course because I’ve spotted a problem that most bloggers face in the market.

They are invisible and don’t have a thriving community to sell to.

We all know how important it is to build a list of potential buyers.

However, most list building courses assume that you already have a blog with tons of traffic and engagement. Obviously, the list building strategies taught would not work for people that don’t already have a ton of readers.

Traffic, Subscribers, Yours will cover BOTH – how to get more traffic via various strategies I’ve tried myself AND how to get more subscribers because they come together.

My course will be about the exact strategies that took me from 0 to 1000 subscribers in a few months… from 0 eyeballs!

VIP pricing will start at $97, and by the end of the launch it will be $197. The next launch, I will be increasing the price even more because it’s worth so much more! A Pinterest course alone is already $197, LOL. And that’s just ONE of the modules in my course.

Well, I intend to keep prices relatively low for this course because I want it to make a big splash and generate big results for a ton of people – that’ll give me sufficient word of mouth power for my next launch.

If that sounds like something that you need, keep your ears peeled here! (or check your inbox if you’re subscribed to my newsletter).

Alright, back to those goals…

Sales Page

For this launch, I will have to get the sales page ready. This includes:

• Crafting compelling copy
• Designing my sales page

Bonuses

I will be offering some awesome bonuses for people that sign up as an early bird this launch. I already have some idea of what they would be – but I won’t be mentioning them here as it’ll be a surprise!

• Finalize and create 3-4 amazing bonuses

Webinar

As part of the launch, I’ll be hosting an online webinar (topic not confirmed – but I’ll be serving out some of the best content I have).

• Prepare webinar slides
• Test out webinar set up beforehand
• Write out webinar reminder emails

Marketing my course

Obviously, I’ll have to get the word out for my new digital course.

• 9x emails and social media posts

The actual course

Class does not start until the 22nd of August, but I will be preparing the course content from like, next week. Lol. From past experience, those modules will take a heck load of time to create and prepare… so I’d better start early.

• Tidy up my course platform
• Create the actual product
• Create accompanying workbook and progress tracker

And that’s all folks. Sounds like a TON of stuff to do.. heading off to compress those pictures on my homepage now!

P.S. Want to get more subscribers? Sign up for my newly updated list building workshop now: