An Uncomplicated Life Blog: Friday Favorites: Setting S.M.A.R.T Goals

Friday, October 9, 2015

Friday Favorites: Setting S.M.A.R.T Goals

I'm breaking the rules a little bit with this post. Usually, Friday posts come in lists/groups of 5 so that I can link up with all the other great bloggers out there. Well, I'm giving y'all a "freebie" this week, because this is in fact going to have six things on it. Here it is October 9th already, and I wanted to go over the goals I set last month and set this months! So this Friday Favorites post is dedicated to setting S.M.A.R.T goals.

How to set SMART goals for your #blog or #business
First up! A review and tell-all about September. Here were my three S.M.A.R.T. goals for last month:

1) Reach 1,000 followers on Pinterest.
CHECK! Not only did I reach that goal by September 21, I exceeded it by 35 followers. I wrote this post last week about how I started to rock my Pinterest so you could have all the steps listed out and do them yourself, if you so choose.

2) Optimize AdSense.
Semi-CHECK! I shared with you all a great resource for blocking the lowest paying advertisers so that your price per click immediately jumps up. And I've read a lot about how ad placement and the keywords in your post can affect your ads. The issue is my BlogHer contract. As you can see to the left, I'm a BlogHer Publisher, which puts crazy limitations on where other ads can be placed. So I can't "optimize" in one of the key ways of AdSense (ad placement). I'm a bit fed up with BlogHer to be honest: I've had to chase them down for payments, I'm "supposed" to get publishing/syndication/sponsored post content opportunities from them as a Publisher, and NONE of that has happened.Yet? It's been exactly one year.

3) Get my Young Living Essential Oils distributor info on the blog.
CHECK! I have an ad directly to my YL page on my sidebar ------>
And I worked with my site designer to add a tab at the top of my page too ^^^

And now, for this month. I went to my first blog conference in September and learned some things that shaped the direction I want to go for the remaining quarter of 2015. Q4 starts this month, so here's my October S.M.A.R.T goals:

1) Improve the photography on my Instagram account.
Last quarter I focused on my Pinterest, and this quarter I'm focusing on my Instagram. That starts with putting up better photos! People don't want to follow bad content, nor do they want to follow strictly "marketing heavy" crap, so I'm doing some learnin' on my photography! I already made these photography backdrops, and will continue reading up on lighting, composition, etc etc. I'm participating in the #FallForSYBL challenge to give me a subject everyday to photograph, and hope to hone in on dem skillz.
 
2) Make 4 evergreen blog posts for my "blogging maternity leave."
Blogging with a newborn is HARD. And I wasn't even good at it when I had Henry! So I'm trying to do an extra post per week so that I have some stored content to post when I just don't have it in me to create something.


3) Pitch 4 brands for a collaboration.
I got some great ideas at Blog Elevated! From being in marketing for over a decade, I know that brands plan out 3-6 months in advance, so I want to pitch a few I'm super excited to potentially work with now to get a contract in the new year. Working with companies like Collective Bias and Linquia is awesome, but you have limited options of what brands you get to work with. I want to expand that horizon, so it's pitchin' time!

Linking up with other Friday Favorites gals: Amanda, Karli, April and H54F!

That's what I'm working on this month! You'll see that S.M.A.R.T goals are very specific and measurable - there's an object, an amount and a deadline. Improving my IG photography is a bit subjective, but I've listed out specific areas of improvement, and I know that future IG goals will be more measurable - it's just getting the "quality" in place first that is a bit challenging. Do you set S.M.A.R.T goals? Either for your blog, your life or perhaps your career? Tell me about them!

18 comments:

  1. EXCELLENT goals, sweet girl. Excellent!

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  2. Youve already rocked so many of your goals! I loved the pinterest and ad sense posts you did! xo, Biana -BlovedBoston

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  3. You have been ROCKING it lately. I really need to get my SMART goals in check!

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  4. I want to cold pitch a couple brands but I don't know where to start.

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  5. good luck with your october goals girl! blogher sounds like a headache. i really need to start doing my goals like this (S.M.A.R.T), specific and measurable. i'm far too vague and unrealistic.

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  6. Awesome goals lady! I love that each month you're focusing on something new. Right now I'm just focusing on getting baby girl to sleep through the night again. Hopefully we have that accomplished before #2 comes.

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  7. I need to start using AdSense more! I hav eit, but it's not set up.. I need to take advantage of it!
    www.amemoryofus.com

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  8. Good luck with your goals!! I totally need to start doing these things.

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  9. I love that you nailed all of your goals like this. You have definitely given me a great reminder to step up my instagram pictures. It really makes a huge difference!

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  10. Congratulations on 1,000 followers on Pinterest! Your Pinterest game is awesome! I love all of your tips. I just set up Adsense and need to look at your post! I need to get better about setting concrete goals.

    Annie- All Things Big and Small

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  11. I'm just starting, and a have few goals set! Great job on your goals!

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  12. You have some great goals! And I'm heading over to your adsense post now because that sounds like something I should know :)

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  13. Awesome goals gurlie! I need to educate myself on adsense!

    Happy Friday :)

    Green Fashionista

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  14. Great job on completing a lot of your goals and setting some new ones. I really need to work on my Adsense, as well as pitching to brands too. I always need to improve my photography too. I think yours looks great!

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  15. I keep saying it but I need to get on the Adsense bandwagon and follow your tips to get the spammy ones out and leave room for higher paying clicks, etc. So stupid question, you apply for Adsense and then they approve or deny you?? I'm such a newb lol

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  16. I love this post! SMART goals are something that I have been focusing on this year - I read the book Make it Happen by Lara Casey at the beginning of the year, and she gave me a lot of motivation to get going on goal setting. I like that you shared yours here! Congrats on the pinterest goal :-) I am close to the 1000 mark too!

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  17. I just signed my ass up for AdSense, FINALLY! I'm printing off that link you posted and I may bug you for some tips or pointers. I know you're preggers, so don't worry, I won't inundate you with crap while you're busy with babies.

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