Blog Review and Plan

2.8.16


A couple of days ago, my blog turned three months! I thought this would be the perfect time to review the first few weeks.

At first, I'll review and adapt my goals, second, I'll show you how I plan my posts and in the last part I'll give an outlook on what's to come in the following weeks/months.

Blog goals 

Before I launched my blog, I wrote down my goals:

  • I wanted to post at least twice a week to consistently build content (= my online project gallery).
  • I intended to always plan and schedule two posts ahead of time in order to maintain the first goal in busier weeks.
  • I wanted to quickly reply to comments in order to show that I appreciate that people take the time to read my post and even check back regularly.
Looking back now, I have to admit that I had high expectation towards myself. In the end, hardly any of my goals worked out the way I hoped:

In May (the first month), I published 7 blog posts, but I didn't spread them out evenly, in June I actually posted twice a week as I planned, but in July, I only wrote 6 blog posts and took two breaks from blogging (and I even don't know why exactly).
  • Adapted goal: In the future, I intent to write 6 blog posts a month, with one every Friday plus two others on a Tuesday.
  • How I can make it work: Define the Friday topics at the beginning of the month and set aside time in my regular schedule to work on these four posts primarily.
My second goal hardly ever worked. Sometimes, I would plan one post ahead of time, but most of the time, I just wrote something and hit publish.
  • Adapted goal: I still think that planning ahead of time is the key to consistent blogging, so I'll have to work on this.
  • How I can make it work: I'll try to start with one Friday post planned ahead and then see how this will go.
In terms of the third goal, I sometimes managed to quickly reply to a comment on my blog. But sometimes, I get distracted when someone writes a comment in another time zone and I later forget to get back to it.
  • Adapted goal: This goal stays the same. I want to remember that a short thank you is better than no reply.
  • How I can make it work: Stop thinking that I have to reply with something clever/interesting and just reply like I do on instagram.

Blog post planning 


I created a blog section in my Midori Traveler's Notebook and dedicated a double page to each month. First, I brainstormed possible blog posts and any new ideas. Second, I created a list with the specific titles of the blog posts and a table in which I would tick off after I made/created the project of the post (M), took photos of it (P), edited the photos (E), wrote the text (T), published it (P) and finally added it to the archives (A).

Once a project is made and I took the photos, I'll schedule the post in a calendar on the right side of the page and start writing the text. After I published a post, I would highlight the title in the calendar to visualize progress.

This system works well for me because I quickly see which blog post can be published next, for example when I already marked with a cross that I created it, took photos of it and edited the photos.


Outlook

When I started blogging, I had so many ideas to blog about! I'm a little more realistic now because not every idea still felt like a great one once I started writing the actual post. 

Another thing I came to realize is that my creative time - be it for project life, watercolour painting or blogging - is obviously limited. If I spend more time on blogging (which I really enjoy), I have less time and energy to create and in the long run less to blog about. I'm working now on finding a good balance for me.


So, what's planned for August? I want to share with you a mini album I created two weeks ago about my final exams, I have to completed travel mini albums from 2015 that could be nice to add to my gallery, then there is a Day In The Life album that's waiting to be made and hopefully I'll get to assemble my April Project Life pages (pictures already printed out). 

My plans for September include two travel albums about trips I'm taking in the next weeks (England and Vienna) and I hope to catch up on my monthly Project Life with you (May through August).

In October, I'd like to share my process on creating a travel album for a larger/longer trip with many photos and many stories, alongside my then hopefully finished Florida album from 2014... (oh my, so long ago!!)

November is still a little vague, but it'll definitely include some December Daily memories and pre-planning (honestly can't wait for another year of DD). 


So now I'm curious, what are your strategies to consistent blogging and what topics would you like to read (more) about here?

- Kathi xxx

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6 comments

  1. It can be tricky to get into the groove, but you are doing better than you think after only 3 months! Be kind to yourself! I find that I spend spurts of time creating, and then you can store up a couple of blog posts with your creations, it just sometimes requires being patient and having something in draft stage for longer than you are used to! I often just hit publish too, but have leaned to balance it about 50/50.

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    1. Thanks Amy for sharing your insights! I think it's a good idea to thrive with your creations when you feel like it and then store some blog posts.

      PS: I just checked out your blog and I love your DITL insert!! So cool what you have created... 3x3 squares and these lovely LLP cards.

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  2. You're doing great! I always enjoy coming here to read and I'm looking forward to much more to come!

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    1. Thank you Mandy! I'm so happy to always see you here!

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  3. Anonymous3.8.16

    I've been enjoying seeing and reading more in depth about your projects, Kathi, and look forward to what more you have in store! Being organized definitely helps so that you can balance creative time with posting. :)

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    1. Thank you Elise for always supporting me and my craft!
      And yes, keeing some kind of schedule seems to be very helpful.

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