Every blog needs to have goals.  Without goals you are just shooting in the dark, trying to succeed without knowing what success really is.  The problem most bloggers have is that they have very general goals that cannot be quantified.  They say their goals are to make money, to never have to work a 9-5 job again, or to go on a big vacation every year from the money they make on their blog.

But there are 2 problems with that mindset:

1.       Those are not really goals but a result of reaching set goals.

2.       There are no numbers associated with those goals.

In this article I will show you some goals you need to start setting with your blog.  Anything worth doing is worth doing right, and you will never hit a target if you are not aiming at it.  Having no target in your blogging is like using the lottery as a retirement plan.  Yes, some may hit the jackpot, but most will just end up losing money.

So what are some quantitative goals you can start setting?

Remember your goals need to be real numbers– something subjective and not objective.

Your goals can be to reach a certain number of…

1.       RSS feed subscribers

2.       Email subscribers

3.       Twitter followers

4.       Unique visitors in one month

5.       Rank in Google for a given keyword

6.       Indexed backlinks

You will notice that none of these goals have anything to do with money– at least not yet.  You see, when all of our goals have to do with making money we lose focus on how to actually DO it.  But when we focus on getting more email subscribers on our list and getting more targeted traffic to our blog then we will most certainly see a rise in our income levels as well.

One trap bloggers fall into is worrying so much on monetizing their blogs that they forget about the people that will be coming to their sites with the money.  These are the people that will allow you to quite your day job, so your focus needs to be on them.  What content are they looking for?  What questions do they have?  What will make them want to buy a product that you recommend?

Once you have determined what your goals are in real numbers you can set up a game plan.  How can you reach that level of email subscribers?  What do you need to do in order to get more quality backlinks to your site?

Your goals also need to have time frames.

Without a dead line for your goal to be reached you might as well not have a goal at all.  For instance, I can say I want to have 20,000 Twitter followers as my goal.  Then 3 years go by and I am still sitting at 5,000.   There is no urgency to reach that 20,000 goal if I have until the rest of my life to reach it.  The whole point in having goals is to reach them, and to make them a priority.  A dead line will put some fire to your feet to get things done.

You cannot succeed in reaching a goal if you make it impossible to fail.  It’s the chance that you might fail that makes reaching a goal so rewarding.  You may not reach every goal.  You probably won’t.  And if you find you are reaching every goal you set in a short period of time then you are probably not aiming high enough.  Set the bar a little higher and give yourself a challenge.

Set that time frame for those 20,000 followers.  Try to reach that goal in 3 months, 6 months, or a year.  Allow yourself the opportunity for failure, and then work as hard as you can to avoid it.

So to sum it all up:

1.        Set goals with numbers.

2.        Have deadlines with your goals.

3.        Setup yourself for failure.

4.        Will yourself to succeed and avoid that failure.

Guest Post by: Jonathan Souza is owner of CashCoach.net where you can find daily tips on internet marketing, social media, blogging, SEO, and more creative marketing techniques to get more traffic to your website.

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How to Set Goals for your Blog originally appeared on: Crenk
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Google has released a new Android application for Blogger. Users can use the Android application to publish new posts on their blogs.

The Android app lets you easily switch between multiple blog accounts, take a photo directly from the app to use in your post and share your location.

It’s available for free and works with Androi 2.1 +. According to Blogger’s blog post, work is underway on apps for other smartphone platforms. [Blogger via Google Operating System]

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Blogger Now Has an Android Application: Google Finally Sorted Mobile Blogging originally appeared on: Crenk
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“A simple tool for a simple job” says the home page from Stiqr (which BTW was created with the web app under an hour); where you don’t need to code anything just “stick it!” Is currently in a beta period but you can sign up now to start creating your own web apps.

And since is working as a beta for now accessing this online service is completely free. It works perfectly with WordPress, Blogger and Tumblr.

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Tutorial: Create your Own Website with Stiqr originally appeared on: Crenk
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Here are three widgets every professional should have on their blog:

1. A Twitter Feed. A real-time widget featuring your personal twitter account is definitely a good idea; it shows employers that you lead a good, lawful life (if you only tweet the good things, that is!). You can download one here.

2. A Summary Widget. These can be created using the text input features. While they’re not the most flashy – employers always read them. Details listed in a casual manner such as your previous employment, interests and personality are all great topics to summarize here.

3. LinkedInABox. LinkedIn is the professional social networking site which many use to house the best-of-the-best of their portfolios. So why not spread some of that love to your blog? Here is a link to the widget.

So do you think it’s time you gave your online presence a makeover?

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Three Widgets Every Professional Should Have On Their Blogger Blog originally appeared on: Crenk
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There are a lot of bad websites out there. A lot.

Websites with 8-bit graphics seemingly ripped from Atari games, with laughable copy errors that immediately diminish credibility, and with such awful usability that you need a Dr. Phil intervention to calm down after surfing through the third-rate portals.

This is one reason I co-founded VOIS.com (pronounced VOICE), or Virtual Outsourcing is Social. Not only can VOIS’ collaborative approach to completing projects produce superior results – from slickly branded and intuitive websites to fun, traffic-churning widgets – but it can also make it more affordable for businesses.

Don’t get me wrong; this is not the business owners’ faults. As a blogger for a major food website, I can say first hand that these are good people with the best of intentions. But just because someone knows how to make donuts, pizza or surfboards, it doesn’t mean they should know how to create a compelling online storefront. And hiring expensive firms on retainer often isn’t a workable business model for small and medium-sized businesses, or even larger firms that don’t have the bandwidth to handle their current business needs.

That’s why VOIS seeks to connect clients with expert Web professionals – from designers to developers and copywriters – to work on a project basis. What separates us from other business match-making platforms is that we allow and encourage the clients and talent to get to know each other first by exploring robust online profiles and messaging back and forth.

Click-and-mortar, web-driven start-ups have also had to change their game plan, and VOIS was developed for these businesses, too. With start-up capital tougher and tougher to attract, it’s no longer feasible for someone to hire developer and a CTO, build an infrastructure from scratch, then roll out and ramp up a product. I’ve met many people who have burned through $500,000 before looking at a more cost-efficient way of doing things.

And I really feel VOIS is that new way of doing things. We’re keeping VOIS wide open in terms of the scope of projects we accommodate – no niche focus or specialized tunnel vision. This will help us attract more users and offer truly turnkey solutions for our users.

So as the VOIS community grows, fueled by this added interpersonal dimension, I look forward at seeing some truly amazing work forged through the power of online collaboration. In other words, no more bad websites, or half-completed start-ups that could have been the next big thing.

In fact, I think VOIS is the next big thing.

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Stop Dreaming – Start Doing With VOIS originally appeared on: Crenk
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