Happy new year!

I can not believe it is 2016, where did last year go? I hope you all had fun celebrating New Years Eve last night. Oli and I had a curry, drank prossecco and watched a film. I passed out on the sofa at 11.45 but Oli woke me up in time to see the new year in.

January 1st is usually the day where I write a list of new years resolutions. You know, eat less chocolate, exercise more, be more positive, the usual stuff. I rarely ever stick these though, I eat healthy for a week or two or whatever but it is not long before I just give up and slip back in to my old ways.

So, this year, instead of wasting my time writing a list of resolutions that are doomed from the start, I am going to write a list of what I want to achieve from my blog in 2016.
I think I am more likely to stick to these as I really want my blog to do well this year. I put a lot of my time in to blogging and having this list of goals to achieve will help me focus and make my little blog a success, hopefully.

My 2016 blogging goals…

1. Take better photographs – I love taking pictures for my blog and would love to learn more about framing and other photography techniques. I need to stop using my phone and instead use my camera, there is only so much you can do with a camera phone and sometimes my pictures look a bit blurry. The blogging world is more visual than I first thought and I don’t want my images letting my posts down.

2. Grow my audience – This applies to my page views and followers on my social media channels. My twitter account seems to gain followers with very little effort which is great, one less thing for me to do. However, my Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram and G+ accounts only have a small following and I am struggling to boost my audience here. I need to set time aside each week to focus 100% of my online time on my social media channels. Hopefully, as these accounts start to grow so will my blog page views.

3. Work with other bloggers – I would love to help co-host a linky, collaborate on a series with another blogger or write a guest post on one of the blogs I love. Since starting my blog last March I have got to know so many amazing people and would love the chance to work with some of them this year.

4. Comments – Comments make me so happy. If you have ever commented on any of my posts, thank you, it means so much. I am pretty rubbish at writing back, I always do but sometimes it takes me weeks to get around to it. From now on I am going to write back to someone as soon as I see their comment, that way I won’t have to spend whole evenings trying to catch up.

5, Reach out to brands – So far I have only written two sponsored posts on my blog. This is fine as I don’t desperately want or need my blog to be making money. However, I really enjoyed writing these posts and a bit of extra cash never hurt anyone. The 2 companies I worked with contacted me initially, I am yet to make the first move. This year I plan to put myself out there, reach out to some brands I love and just see what happens. The worst thing they can do is say they are not interested.

6. Be more organised – At the minute I have no real blogging schedule. I blog when I want, sometimes only once a week and other times I blog every day for a week. I have bought myself a diary, specifically for my blog and I am going to plan and write posts in advance and publish posts on the same day each week. I am hoping to manage my online time more effectively so I don’t find myself frantically typing the night away when I realise I haven’t published anything in over a week.

7. Do what makes me happy – My final goal is the most important. Yes I want more people to read my blog and all the rest but I don’t want my blog to take over my whole life. Sometimes I worry I spend too much time on my phone/laptop and that is time taken away from Leo. Although I mostly blog while he is sleeping, sometimes the list of jobs can’t help but overlap with the hours while Leo is awake. I need to know it is ok to take a break, if trying to keep up with social media as well as writing posts is stressing me out and making me unhappy, then I have lost the true reason why I blog. Blogging is a hobby I love because I love to write, if all the other things start to dwindle my passion then I want to make sure I take a break. Yes stats are important to me but keeping my love of writing and spending uninterrupted time with my family is more so.

Do you have any blogging goals for 2016? Or are you happy with your blogging life as it is? I would love to know. I am hoping I will be able to achieve all of mine.