Be SMART with your New Year Resolutions

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2008 is almost here and it's a good time to set some goals for your blog or website.

But all too often, I see bloggers setting goals that are too vague or too ambitious.  Nobody likes to keep missing their goals.  Ever come across any of these?

• I'm going to make loads of money from my blog.
  
• Currently I have 10 subscribers.  I'd like to get 200 in a month.  Yes, it's ambitious, but it's a good challenge!
  
• I have only posted 3 blog entries this month.  I'm going to write one every single day for the next month.
• I'm going to become bigger than John Chow.
• So far, I have had three failed attempts at blogging.  This time, I'm really going to stick to it.  I'll review the situation in one year and see how I've done.
  

Can you see why those goals are unrealistic and extremely difficult to achieve?  If you don't think carefully about your goals, then you're just setting yourself up for a fall.

About SMART objectives.

In my last job, the head of the IT department attended a training course where she learned about SMART objectives.  So, I have her to thank for introducing me to this concept.  Thank you - I'll link to you if you decide to start a blog!

SMART is an acronym that will help you to set objectives that will get results.  It stands for:

• Specific - Be clear about what you want to achieve.
• Measurable - Make sure that you can measure whether you have been accessing in meeting the objectives you set.
  
• Achievable - Have you set an objective that you can achieve?
  
• Realistic - Is the objective within your capabilities?
  
• Timely - By when do you wish to achieve this objective?
  

There is some crossover between "Achievable" and "Realistic".

Improving poor objectives.

The five example goals I gave at the start are "bad" examples.  Here's how they could be rewritten as SMART objectives.  (These are fictional goals - they do not apply to my blog or any other blog that I know of.  They are just to give you a general idea.)

• In the first three months of my blog's life, I would like to make a minimum of one dollar.
• I currently have 10 subscribers.  In the next month, I would like to double that to 20 subscribers.
• I have only posted 3 blog entries this month.  Next month, I'm going to write one blog entry every Monday.
  
• "I'm going to become bigger than John Chow" - This one is just silly.  I can't suggest a realistic objective here!
  
• So far, I have had three failed attempts at blogging.  This time,I'm going to think about my target audience before I start blogging, write one blog entry a week, and stay on-topic for 7 weeks out of 8.  I'll review the situation every month and make changes if I am starting to slack off.
  

Now, doesn't that look like a much more sensible list of goals?  Could you make them any better?

Setting some goals of my own.

I have quite a few commitments in the first few months of 2008.  We are moving house in mid-January, I'll be participating in FAWM in February, and I'm always busy with Majestic and my day job.

With that in mind, I'm going to set myself a few objectives.

• The number of subscribers on my site has fluctuated between 15 and 21 for the last week or two.  I'd like to get this up to 50 subscribers by the end of March.
• I'm going to start planning my blog entries by assigning topics to specific dates.  I will use this for every blog entry that I write in January and will review my progress at the start of February.
• Add a promotional banner for Majestic at benbarden.com by the end of January.

Whether you're setting objectives for the week, the month, or even the year - remember to make them SMART.  You'll be much more likely to achieve them!


Do you set objectives for your website or blog?  How often do you achieve them?  Are you going to change the way you set objectives as a result of reading this blog entry?

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