There’s a massive difference between smart goals and regular goals.
Smart goals focus on accomplishing a singular step of a process towards a final destination.
Consider a situation where the goal is to upgrade a blog’s logo. The smart approach is to design an easy-to-recognize logo that is able to convey the brand’s values. Of course that’s easier said than done.
The key is to have a clear perspective of business objectives first. Any marketing activity must be connected to this or it is failing to prioritize what would benefit the blog most.
[bctt tweet=”Smart Goals for Website Marketing & Dividend Investing” username=”reversethecrush”]Smart Goals for Blogging
Publish 5 blog posts minimum
I wrote with emotion rather than with purpose when I began blogging.
Over time I’ve learned that it is possible to maintain creativity while being intentional at the same time. Last month I set a smart goal to publish 7 blog posts and accomplished that when I published this post.
Furthermore, the posts were in line with the purpose of Reverse The Crush. and I was still able to be creative with marketing, photography, colours and words. Best of all the blog traffic improved significantly over June.
Since publishing a schedule worked so well for July, here is the blog schedule for August:
- Forward Dividend Income Projection #8
- Blog Traffic Report for July
- Dividend Income Update #14
- Social Media & Email Subscriber Update for July
- One unique piece of content
Edit and re-publish 10 blog posts
To be honest, some of the early blog posts were really bad. I’m sure I’ll be saying that again one day, but the writing was horrible and lacked a specific purpose. But you know what? It’s been long enough now that reading old content over again is pretty cool. In fact, much of the early content is very relatable to the focus of the blog now.
As such, it’s a great opportunity to edit and re-publish. Although not every post will contribute to the current theme of the blog, there are 251 pieces of content and only 90 of them are published.
By editing and redesigning old content, I gain content to share, I can increase page views, and I have additional images to distribute on social media.
Comment on 50 blogs
As you will read from below, I failed to meet the goal of publishing 100 comments in July. Frankly, I got caught up in re-publishing content and tweaking the blog behind the scenes.
With that said, I still did manage to comment on over 40 blogs during the month. Commenting on blogs is a great way to engage with the community and increase page views. It can also help to improve knowledge on certain topics. At the very least it provides a different perspective.
There are marketing benefits, learning benefits, and relationship building opportunities—check! Sounds like a smart goal if you asked me.
Create Better Pinterest Board Photos
You may have noticed that I tweaked the image that I use to represent the blog on social media recently. The choice was made to benefit the RTC brand in the long run. It is intended to be more memorable and to more appropriately convey the brand. Ideally, you see the logo and you immediately think “Reverse The Crush” because the colours resonate and the “RTC” letters spell out the name. And hopefully, the personality of the social media accounts and blog posts makes you think about financial independence, dividend investing, and blogging. If that’s what you remember then I’ve done my job as a marketer.
As such, the goal is to improve the Pinterest Board Images this month. The intention behind the goal is to make the Pinterest boards more reflective of the brand. It’s been on my to do list for a while now but I keep putting it off.
Update blogroll
I have a blogroll that has not been updated it in over a year.
Blogging tends to run in waves—there are fresh faces every 3 to 6 months that start around the same time. Every 3 to 6 months there are new blogs that should be added to the list, and there are probably a few that stopped blogging.
Since SEO does not take kindly to broken links, and because other blogs out there that deserve a spot, the plan is to update the blog roll by the end of August.
Decide on a Facebook Page
There was a time that RTC did have a Facebook page to visit. But for the last couple years, the main social media networks used have been Twitter and Pinterest.
In the past week I decided to create an Instagram account for RTC. Of course it was created with a specific purpose, though. Twitter is great for connecting with other bloggers and for sharing links to generate page views. Pinterest is great for sharing Pins with links to blog posts, and it’s good for engaging through group boards. While both channels serve their own specific purpose, neither Twitter nor Pinterest are optimal for sharing photography.
Instagram is a channel to connect with a different audience, and it provides an opportunity to show a different side of the brand through style, photography, and blog-branded images.
In regards to Facebook, a friend and occasional reader recently asked if I had a FB page. Even a small number of interested followers can generate a good chunk of page views. For example, Google+ only has 18 followers but it generates high page views per session. In other words it leads to engaged readers. I am considering Facebook as another opportunity to generate page views. However, it would not be a primary social media network of focus. Twitter will continue to be the primary social network followed by Pinterest and Instagram.
Smart Goals for Dividend Investing
Increase Annual Dividend Income by $20
The forward dividend income projection for July has not been published yet for comparison, but I will set the target for August anyways.
There are only 5 months left in the year and I will have to become deliberate with purchases to achieve the target of $650 annually. Further, I am anxious to grow the dividend business past $500 now that $400 has been surpassed.
As such, I am setting the target to add a minimum of $20 annually to the dividend business in August. This is a smart goal because every dollar helps me get closer to financial independence.
Save 15% of Net Income
Although I failed to reach the 15% savings rate set for July, the target was within reach.
To the FI community, I do realize that saving 15% of my net income with not be enough to reach financial independence in the near term. But for the record, there is an escalating plan in place. I plan to increase my savings rate yearly and I’m getting closer to paying off my student loan, which will provide more cash flow to invest.
Ultimately I am working towards a 50% savings rate over the next 5 years.
Review of the Goals set in July 2018
Below is an accountability check of the goals for July 2018: Blog Schedule, Dividend Targets, and Savings Rate for July 2018 | Goal-setting for July 2018
Publish 7 Blog posts: Pass
Focus on relationship building. Comment on 100 blogs: Fail (39 comments were published on other blogs in July)
Increase Dividend Income by at least $10: Pass
Save 15% of net income: Fail
Total: 2/4 = 50%
Concluding Thoughts
In the end all you can do is be better the next day. You can move forward financially every two weeks, and you can come back better the next day.
Sidenote: I realized that even if my personal blog photography does not look as good as using free images, I speculate that it is better for brand awareness because it is unique. It prevents me from sharing the same images as another blog, and the colours and images I choose should ultimately stand out as a personal style. It should be easier to recognize because it is different. Plus it provides an opportunity to improve at photography and creating images. I’ve learned that it is possible to get good at anything with effort over time.
F–K the haters! Pursuing FI by Blogging & Dividend Investing is a Fool Proof Plan
