Friday, July 06, 2007

setting goals for blogging and business

Note: In this article, when I refer to ‘my blog’, I am referring mostly to my motherhood blog, Adventures in Motherhood by Shaz

Back in university, I remember doing some business management courses where we discussed goals at great length, but somehow when I actually started my own blogs and business, it never occurred to me that I should actually define a quantifiable set of goals for myself.

One of the first things that Shoemoney discussed with me was my goals, or lack thereof – it was essential, he said. After that, I set about writing out some goals for my key blogs and my web development business, but still, I think I didn’t do enough. Then, yesterday, I started Wendy’s ecourse and the first assignment were to define goals!

It kind of clicked when I read her instructions –

What is the ultimate outcome you want your blog to achieve? 3 years from now, or even 10 years from now, where do you want your blog to be in terms of traffic, career opportunities created, impact on customers and readers, and/or revenue generated? Are there other results that are important for you to achieve?

I think I was struck most by this statement because it really made me look into the future and think about what I wanted to be, or what I wanted my blog to be, mostly I starting thinking about what kind of impact I wanted to have on my readers.

My motherhood blog started off because, ironically, I was looking for a way to make money at home and I bought into the whole ‘blogging=easy money’ myth. But, as it happened, about a week into it, I realized that I completely adored blogging, and about a month into it, I realized that there was no way that I was going to be making any money! I spent the next 10 months becoming friends with the most unexpected people, and being part of the most amazing communities, and although I didn’t make a $1, I still loved every moment of it!

In the past couple months, I have started getting a tiny income from my motherhood blog, thanks to Text Link Ads and now I am in a position to become a little more business-oriented with the blog – as a first step, I am going to define some of my goals, and really put a lot of thought into what I want my blog to evolve into, or what purpose I would like my blog to serve. What I know for sure is that I want it to be helpful to parents, especially moms, it’s not a place that I rant, but I try to convey my stresses and strategies as a mother, and I know that if even one mother derives some benefit from my words, then all my effort has been worth it.

What makes your blogging efforts worth it?

Saturday, June 23, 2007

more site room with ExpressionEngine multi site manager

I only recently declared that I would not consider moving from textpattern and at the time, I had given some thought to leaving textpattern, but decided against it. I love the control panel, I know that it’s not for everyone, but I completely appreciate the simplicity of it.

I also love how easily I could create new blogs, customize my RSS feeds, and use textile, but I can also do all of these things with expression engine as well, and truth be told, I can do it better! Still, it’s sad.

The main reason that I decided to make the move was the new version of expression engine, with an awesome “multi-site” feature, which allows users to run multiple sites on the same install. I have to say, I am so completely in love with ExpressionEngine 1.6, it is a work of art!

So far, I have imported my motherhood blog articles, thanks to ee community support and Lisa Wess! I have to import my food blog posts still, and then work on the design, and figure out how to setup the domain. I will be also moving this blog, so that all my 3 core web properties would be managed from the same control panel. I think this will save me a lot of time.

I’ll give more details of the move once it is completed.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

advice from the experts

I collected my prize from Wendy last night, it was an hour long conversation with her and Shoemoney aimed at helping me grow my online business. It was eye-opening to say the least.

At some level I felt undeserving of the prize because I am hardly an internet marketer and I think I may have sounded like a complete dork because I really didn’t know what questions to ask! But they were great to speak with, and certainly gave me a lot to think about.

It was a very interesting experience having experts critique my online business strategies, or lack thereof! Some of the projects that I thought could possibly be a good source on online income turned out to be not-so-great ones, and surprisingly the projects that I am doing just out of love were the ones that they both thought had the potential to succeed. I got some really good ideas to make the things that I am already doing more successful, and also a lot of general tips.

The most important things for success, according to Shoemoney are:

• Measurable Goals
  which are essential for any project, a set of quantifiable goals so that you know if you are succeeding
• Plan
  have a strategy, know how to achieve your goals
• Make progress everyday
  this one is key for someone like me, because it’s easy to feel overwhelmed, which can be really counter-productive, so focusing on a little progress everyday makes things seem a bit more manageable

And for online businesses:

• User Acquisition
• Scalable Projects/Technology
• Focus on New & Future Technology

Wendy had awesome ideas for my personal online pursuits, which I will be blogging about in the coming weeks, as I start implementing them. It was a great opportunity, thanks to Wendy!

Saturday, May 05, 2007

to be inspired

A few days ago, I found out that I was the winner of a phone consultation with Wendy Piersall and Jeremy Schoemaker, and it would be an understatement to say I am excited about it!

It’s fitting that I mention Wendy on my first post here, because in only a few short months, her words have been an amazing inspiration to me. She is one of those people that you meet (or read) and you know right away that your life will be changed just because you crossed paths. Wendy is one of those people that gives because she genuinely wants to see others succeed, especially parents who work from home.

Being able to build up my own business is something that I’ve always wanted to do, and although I do feel extremely fortunate to even have this opportunity, it does come with a fair amount of challenges. I don’t have the benefit of working ‘normal’ hours, I don’t have the luxury of a quiet office away from home, I don’t have the security of a regular paycheck, but still, the thing that I miss the most is the support and encouragement of teammates.

I think that the value of working within a team is one of those things that we sometimes don’t really appreciate until we have to do without it, until we spend everyday cheering our self, until we spend countless hours every night working on projects all on our own, until we crave some feedback and realize that the room is empty.

But I am learning now that my ‘team’ is other entrepreneurs like myself, other parents trying to make it work, trying to do what we love while making a better life for our family, I am discovering that my support and encouragement now comes from wonderful friends that I’ve found because I share my life with them, and I am amazed that my inspiration comes from virtual strangers whose care shines through their writing and reaches into my soul.

These past months have been a remarkable experience for me in so many ways, so much that it’s not just about running a business, it’s not just about making money, but about so much more… It’s about learning and teaching, it’s about being someone’s shoulder to cry on, it’s about friendship, and I think that realizing that this world is in fact still full of beauty makes every gut-wrenching moment worth it!