Hi and Happy New Year! In what I'm hoping will be the first in a weekly series of "Things" posts that I wanted to do for the blog this year, I wanted to share the goals that I have for RRNT. I come up with a list every year, but last year I was on timeout and wasn't sure when I'd come back, so I didn't really have any goals except to come back. I wanted to make some goals this year though, both to make up for last year and to keep me in line. I don't know about you, but goals help keep me structured because they serve as a constant reminder of what I'd like to improve. I already did a similar post for my goals concerning ATV, but here are my goals for RRNT this year:
1. Be more active on social media
2. Stick to blog schedule
3. Sharpen my reviewing skills
4. Strengthen my photography skills
5. Apply for more reviewing positions
6. Be more consistent with posts!
7. Build up posts in all of the site categories & resume series
8. Grow my audience!
1. Be more active on social media
Even though I have a few social media accounts, I don't often use them for myself. My lurker status is on point, but my actual use of these sites is not. Due to a number of reasons, I don't post nearly as often as I should, and this affects my ability to properly promote myself. Most bloggers worth their salt have a consistent social media presence and I know that I'll need to have the same, in some fashion, if I expect to grow my audience at some point during my blogging career. I want to be taken seriously as a review blogger and get my name out there, but I know I'll have to get over my insecurities in order to feel comfortable enough to do so.
2. Stick to blog schedule
I decided to make a blog schedule so I could keep track of the things I wanted to review and try to establish some sort of posting schedule for myself. Since I run two blogs, I try to schedule things throughout the week, so I can post on each blog separately rather than trying to toss together two posts to go live on the same day. A schedule helps me keep everything on track, but I didn't stick to it this year. If I stick to it and remain consistent, I think I'll be able to put out more content that I'm satisfied with and make sure that things don't just suddenly drop off, which is another of my main concerns with this blog.
3. Sharpen my reviewing skills
Last year, I was able to figure out exactly how I wanted to review the majority of the products that I review on the site, but in most cases I ended up not doing it. I try to remain aware of what types of reviews I like seeing as a consumer and mix them with a thorough, first-hand account of what I thought as a reviewer. I've figured out what works for me, but I still have some tweaking to do, mainly in terms of length and the photos I include, and this year I'd like to improve both of them to provide a better reading experience.
4. Strengthen my photography skills
For the longest time, I assumed that I wouldn't be able to put up decent product photos on here because all I had was my phone. I kept comparing myself to more established bloggers and their photography skills, beating myself up when I came up short. You can't really be a review blogger if you don't show off the product, but you also don't need an expensive DSLR to give the audience an objective, accurate visual of a product. Last year was about learning how to get around the obstacles I had and working with what I had, and this year is about putting the things I learned to use. There's no reason why I can't put out good photos of the products I review; I just have to fully utilize the resources that I do have at my disposal.
5. Apply for more reviewing positions
A lot of the reason why I don't apply for more reviewing positions now is because I don't want to direct traffic to a site that I feel isn't up to par in terms of its design. The new design is done completely by me so it probably still won't be the epitome of professional chic that I'd like, but it'd certainly be better than the half-finished design I've been rocking for awhile. If the design issue is taken care of, at least for now, then I'd feel more comfortable and confident when looking for reviewing jobs and more prone to apply for them.
I've struggled with post consistency since I changed the focus of this blog from soap operas to reviews. Finances do a lot for the consistency of a blog, and while at one time I figured I could keep reviews going based on products I already had, most people don't want to read a series of old reviews. So I scrapped that idea and tried to allot a monthly budget for me to try new things. That hasn't worked quite so well either, so sometimes weeks will go by without a peep from me. I'd like to be more consistent this year with the frequency of my postings.
7. Build up posts in all of the site categories and revive old series
Since I decided to combine a couple of the site's categories, I've had to go through the others and was able to see which categories need more of my attention. I'd like to balance out the numbers a bit and give people more to go through than just the categories with more than a couple of reviews. That brings me to the DIY section of the blog, which is so dry right now it's not even funny. I really enjoyed the Pinterest Project when I started it a couple of years ago, but I discontinued it when my finances didn't allow me to buy enough supplies for a monthly project. If I brought it back with the challenge that the project must be something I can afford, I think I could build that section of the site up rather quickly. I would also like to bring back the SBS, which I'm working on. I like that there's a bit of everything on this site, and I'd like to make sure I keep it that way rather than only focusing on a couple of review categories and ignoring the others.
8. Grow my audience!
I've been a review blogger for nearly 5 years now, but I only started to look at this as a serious thing 3 years ago. Even after I started to take blogging more seriously though, I never did anything to promote myself. I eventually bit the bullet on ATV and there's a steady number of views on there now, but it hasn't trickled over here yet so I guess I'll have to bite another bullet. lol I'd love to have more readers, mainly so I can start mixing in review requests with what I choose to do on my own. There are many review jobs that I don't qualify for because of my low audience, so if I grow the audience, I can get more jobs, which results in more reviews that I get to post. It'd also be superb if I could finally talk to someone else on here for a change. lol
So those are my goals for the year. Originally, there were 5 goals but while writing, I ended up adding on 3 more, so now there are 8 goals for both blogs. Many of them are the same goals, though, so if I buckle down and keep a fire under my ass, I think I can accomplish them this year. Here's hoping that I can. I'm going to try to keep this series going; I've already got a few months' worth of post ideas in my notebook. I figured if there's a week where there isn't a new review, I could still post something so the blog doesn't die off. They're on an array of subjects, but they're all geared to help you get to know me a bit better so I hope you enjoy them. See you soon!
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