According To Gem

It’s a new year which means only one thing, New Years Resolutions, so I’ve decided to jot down my 10 Blogging Resolutions for The World According to Gem.

1. Continue to grow my readership. When 2012 started my blog was merely a blip on the Bloggersphere but with a lot of hard work my blog has grown to have a steady readership and I will be doing all I can this year to ensure it continues to grow.

2. Set realistic goals. For the last few months I’ve been using Google Calendars to schedule my posts. This has been great at helping me manage what to write about and when but I’ve felt stressed when real life has taken over and I’ve not been able to write up or post my scheduled posts. This year I plan to be a little more realistic about how many posts I can write in a week as at the end of the day I’d rather  have solid, quality posts than heaps of half-arsed ones.

3. Take Facebook more seriously. In my personal life I’m not a huge fan of Facebook and it wasn’t until recently that I even thought about making a blog page on Facebook. Since making one though I have to admit it’s kinda fallen by the wayside, always being the one social network I forget to update when I write  a new post. This year I’m going to make more of an effort to engage with my followers on Facebook.

4. Develop my brand. 2012 was when I made a conscious effort to develop a blog layout that really reflects me, and I think I’ve almost got there. There’s still a few tweaks to be made, but this year I really want to focus on making The World According to Gem a brand that reflects me. This probably means I’ll be looking to hire a designer to work on Social Media buttons and a better header so if you have any recommendations please let me know.

5. Show my face more. This last year, I’ve been rather shy and kept myself firmly behind the camera. I’m determined that 2013 will be the year I show my face a bit more, no matter how scary that seems right now!

6. Learn to code. This time last year I signed up to Codecademy read a few emails and then felt guilty as I left each email sitting in my inbox waiting for the time to come when I finally got round to learning to code. This year I’m really going to put the time in to learn to code properly. No excuses!

7. Attend more blogger events. Last year I never managed to attend any blogger events, but this year I’m determined to change that and get out and meet all my fellow bloggers as much as possible.

8. Find my blogging sanctuary. A few months back Mike bought me a little desk from Ikea that was going to sit under the stairs and be my blogging area. I had such high hopes for this blogging area, but three months on and it’s piled high with books and other random bits and bobs and I’m sat blogging from the dining room table. This year I’m going to make a conscious effort to find a blogging area and use it, unless there’s something really good on the TV in which case you’ll find me blogging from the sofa again ;)

9. Write more series features. I’ve had a few ideas for series features going around my head for a while but haven’t yet put them down on paper. I didn’t realise this was a problem until I spent the first few days post-Christmas sulking as I hadn’t taken any pictures for my Living off Leftovers series I’d planned to write. Consequently I never wrote any Living off Leftovers posts despite only finishing up our leftovers yesterday. This year I’m going to work hard to commit to these features and be a bit more organised so they don’t get lost in the craziness of real life.

10. Look into self-hosting my blog. As much as I love the freedom WordPress allows me, there’s come a time where I feel that self-hosting my blog might be the way to go. Frankly self-hosting scares the hell out of me, so I think it’s time I looked into it a bit more and decided whether it was the right move for me.

Have you made any blogging resolutions yet? I’d love to hear what you’re planning to do with 2013.