March Blog Update & April Goals

March Blog Update & April Goals

I seem to have gotten lazy on my blog posts and decided I need to keep up with my monthly updates and set goals for myself for the next month. This will help keep me accountable and track my progress. Much like a written budget, it keeps me motivated and accountable.

The last update I did was for January which was my first month blogging and it wasn’t a full month. February was still a good month for growth even though it was a short month also. I saw an increase in views, Pinterest followers, and Facebook followers.

March was my best month yet but also had the most days. I hope that April continues the upward trend. I think March would have been better if I hadn’t been sick and would have been more motivated to focus more on my blog. I had a goal of 5,000 views for March but missed getting some extra posts completed and didn’t quite reach that goal.

This post may contain affiliate links. for more information see my disclosure page.

So, March in review….

Site Views: 3,743

Site Visitors: 1514

Facebook Likes: 810

Facebook Followers: 812 not really sure why I have people following that don’t like the page

Pinterest Followers: 666 interesting number…need to get a couple more quick!

Twitter Followers: 175 I have not had time to devote to this platform and frankly I don’t understand most of it!

Email Subscribers: 59, an increase of 14 for March

My Top Referrers:

Facebook: 738

Pinterest: 513

The biggest increase in my traffic has been from Pinterest. I have seen a 850% increase in views from Pinterest. I went from 54 views in January to 513 views from Pinterest in March. This is fantastic since Pinterest is basically Google with pictures. This give me hope for my organic traffic. The majority of my views from Facebook are from blogging groups and not always people who are interested in my blog.

The increase from Pinterest has been from a couple of courses I have taken. I took Jen Snyder’s online class Find Your Tribe Online and I read Elise at House of Brazen’s How To Make Your First Affiliate Sale e-book.

I have implemented their strategies using Viraltag. Viraltag is awesome because I can schedule all of my posts for Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter all in one place. It helps save time and my sanity by being able to get a weeks worth of work done in one day, usually takes me an hour or so to do it all.

If you use my Viraltag link, you get a $15 credit! Plus the blogger rate has been reduced to $7 a month! I paid $9 a month for it so, I’m a little jealous about the new rate! If you have any questions about using Viraltag, let me know. It is very easy to use and they are very helpful if you have any questions.

Now my goals for April….

I want to hit 5,000 views and 2,000 visitors. I think this is definitely doable this month as long as I keep up my schedule of posts.

I want to get at least 5 posts ahead. This will help me not stress last-minute on Saturday night to get one done. I have started a spreadsheet of post ideas and then once they are done, I will start a list for that.

I also want to get 2 weeks ahead on my Pinterest scheduling. I have been scheduling pins on Saturday for Sunday through the following Saturday. Then I scramble to put a post together for Sunday morning. Sunday is my biggest day for views so I have been consistent with that but waiting until Saturday night to throw a post together isn’t working. It has not produced my best work and I’m half asleep while I’m trying to put it together and then create graphics for it. It’s just not a good plan.

Social Media goals:

Increase Facebook Followers to 1000

Increase Pinterest Followers to 1000

Increase Blog Subscriptions to 75

I would like more blog subscriptions but I don’t have a plan for increasing it yet. So maybe I will work on that for May. for now, I need to get in a better routine for posts and Facebook. My engagement on Facebook has dropped dramatically and I need to work on that.

I have taken a course and am part of 2 groups that work on Facebook strategies. So, for April I will be working on being more consistent and posting the right content on Facebook to get more engagement.

One other thing I want to do for April is to get a few guest posts for my site. I think this will help with my scheduling and making sure I have posts ready to promote.

I should also work on getting a couple more guest posts. I have done two already but have only had a couple of views on my site from them. It has still been good to network with other bloggers so, I will keep trying.

I may try to focus on this more in May when I plan to focus more on my email list. I am still figuring our how to set up the emails and landing pages and creating things. It is overwhelming with everything else I have to do.

So, for April I am going to focus on these few things and get in a good routine then move on to my email list in May.

What are your goals for April and how do you plan to achieve them?