This guest post is by Tim Brownson of A Daring Adventure.
I suspect that all the technical information you could ever need to be a successful blogger is out there in the public domain. If that is the case, why do the vast majority of blogs fail when it comes to providing the owner an income they can live comfortably on?
Copyright Mark Aplet - Fotolia.com
Firstly, I think many bloggers grossly underestimate the psychological side of blogging and what is needed to get their heads right in the first place.
Secondly, few bloggers that I speak to start off with any real plan or goal to keep them on track if and when things don't go according to expectations. They simply dive into the process with no real idea of where it will take them.
Today I want to show you a seven-step process for goal setting that will exponentially improve your chances of succeeding with your blog.
You may well be familiar with the SMART method of goal setting because it's been around for decades. Bear with me though as I expand on that process and make it way cooler and more useful for you—and far more likely to help you succeed.
Just in case you aren't familiar with SMART, let me give it a quick run through.
Specific
Is your goal specific enough that somebody else could read it and know exactly what you mean? A goal of having a popular blog misses this aspect because it's too vague and subjective.
I have a popular blog, but if I gave my readers to Darren and took his in return he'd be pretty unhappy with the deal—he has about 40 times more than I do.
“Owning a blog with at least 5,000 subscribers that earns $500 per month from AdSense” is the kind of goal that nails this element.
Measurable
Using the last example, you can see at any point in time where you are in your plan. If you have 2,500 subscribers, you are half-way there. If you are earning $400 per month,...
