A Vision for my Blog

/ Sheila

 On my way!

Today’s assignment: consider what you want to accomplish with your blog. Write down three concrete goals you want to achieve. 

I started blogging because I was intrigued with the ability to have a place (even a place among millions) in the digital world. It was an outlet for creativity, for connecting, for self-expression. I was surprised at the community that grew out of blogging. Almost overnight I found kindred spirits I had never known, and re-established connection with friends and family who found their way to my site. Blogging has challenged me and grown an interest in technology and writing that I didn’t have before. It’s turned on the light for me in so many ways I didn’t expect.

So now, a little over three years in, where do I go from here? What’s the point?

My site has and will be free. It’s meant to be a little ray of light and optimism (most days I hope that’s what it is!) Some of my posts are personal, some more philosophical; sometimes I share good things I’ve stumbled across, or recipes I’ve tried. I’ve considered trying to narrow the focus, and maybe that needs to happen. But for today’s assignment, I’ll stick to answering the question. What am I trying to accomplish?

  1. I want to grow my readership. It’s fun to enlarge my circle, and as my readership grows, in turn, that introduces me to other bloggers. So it’s a mutual thing in many ways. I’d like to increase my followers by 50% by the end of the year. I think if I post more regularly that will help. I’ve also tried to keep up with visiting the blogs I follow, because turn about is fair play. So consistent give and take is important as well.
  2. I want to improve my photography skills. I love beautiful photos…well, who doesn’t? And whether the photo is a portrait of one of my grandchildren, or a delicious dish I just pulled out of the oven, or a landscape shot from a floatplane, photos are enticing, they tell their own story, and they make the written word more interesting. I bought a Canon DSLR a few months ago, and I’ve played with it a bit. But I need to own it, claim it, capture the amazing shots it can give me.
  3. I want to improve my titles to make them more interesting. Sometimes I see blog titles that are quirky, or obscure, or draw me in because they sound so curious. I need to find a way to title my posts with more imagination.
  4. And just for a little extra, I’ll go one more. I don’t understand SEO. I understand the concept, but I’m not sure how to translate what I think I know into functional changes for my blog. So that’s on the list too!

I’m sure this isn’t all I need to do, or want to do. But it’s a beginning, and that feels good!

~ Sheila

 

 

 

 

13 thoughts on “A Vision for my Blog”

  1. Good stuff, Sheila. I’m excited about us guest-posting for each other though I have a problem wrapping my head around what that will look like. Have you ever participated in the Five-Minute Friday link-up’s on Lisa-Jo Baker’s blog? I like them, they help me stretch my thought process in regards to writing but I’ll be out of town this Friday and was thinking maybe that could be my personal FMF prompt: guest. Is that too short notice for you? You could send me something, maybe even a past post that is a favorite of yours or your readers and I could schedule it to post this Friday. If not this is not enough notice (and I know it’s really short) then definitely something within the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, I’m touring your site and enjoying the view.

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  2. Goal setting is always good. Just want to say that I always look forward to reading each new post(ing?) of yours. It is inspiring to me to read about how you do life with Grace and Space, both on the giving and receiving ends. While I may relate to some of your writings more than others, I still like the variety in your posts. Thank you for being vunerable and allowing others a peek into your heart and mind.

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    • Thank you Ann! Kind of you to sift through my ramblings! One of my goals with this challenge is to focus a bit more…maybe I can find a way to make this a bit more useful, or entertaining, or something…not sure what! As always, I appreciate your friendship and support. Maybe you should think about creating a blog for yourself…I know you would have a lot of material to pull from! WordPress makes it so easy. And if you do, I promise to be a faithful reader! ~ Sheila

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  4. Sheila, you’re way ahead of me! I had to google SEO! 🙂

    I haven’t even checked in to yesterday’s assignment, but I’m assuming this is it.

    Time to get to work.

    Well done on a great start.

    By the way, I love the image on your header.

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    • Hey, we’re all learning! As I said, I think I understand the concept of SEO, but i don’t understand the practical application. So maybe we can learn together!

      The header…that’s a built in image for the template I’m using. I love it too!

      ~ Sheila

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      • Yes, I discovered your image was from the Theme when I explored Themes again. I’m now using it on my original blog: julitownsend.wordpress,com.

        I love that this course is finally pushing me to learn more about blogging, and make decisions about it that I’ve been putting off,

        Juli

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        • Me too! I’ve poke around and made changes before, but this is a good prompting to update and revisit some things I’ve let become stagnant. Glad you found the theme/header! I think it’s one of the best ones I’ve used. 🙂 ~ Sheila

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