Where the heck am I going?
2009 in Review and BHAG for 2010!
June 5, 2009 — a big day for me – new website design (not this current one) is finally launched and I do my first blog post about why I do not like FollowFriday on Twitter.
My Google Analytics prior to blogging were sad, sad, sad….and a bit embarrassing to say the least.
Now six months into it though still not super, duper impressive my Google Analytics have seen a massive improvement and I have two blog posts still showing in several of the Top 10 spots on page one of Google! (pretty darn cool considering I knew way less about SEO back then)
In late July I decided I wanted to rank higher in Google for the phrase “Social Media Virtual Assistant” – Joe Kohli with Kohli Consulting had a major role on moving my ranking from No. 28 to my now No. 6 spot in the SERP’s.
Continuing to increase website visits and conversions to clients for my Bookkeeping, Social Media and WordPress services will continue to remain in the forefront of all I do. Blogging has proven to be quite effective for that therefore it is one of the most important overall aspects of my Marketing Plan for 2010.
I have many things I want to share with my blog visitors and my intent is that each day of the week I will have a particular blog subject.
- Monday: Twitter and other Social Media related posts
- Tuesday: WordPress – though it may be that my WP articles end up on NEW WordPress Workshops website (still up in the air on that one)
- Wednesday: My Weekly Round-Ups
- Thursday: Showcase a Guest Blogger (if you are interested contact me)
- Friday: Excel and / or Bookkeeping
- Saturday: Cool software and / or applications for either Social Media purposes or Small Businesses
- Sunday: Maybe nothing, after all it is supposed to be a day of rest!
Business Goals for Your Virtual Assistant:
- Connect more with my Facebook and LinkedIn connections that are NOT on Twitter (5 per week)
- Submit one article per month on Article Directories
- Maintain and refine my daily Twitter activity
- Become more comfortable with self-promotion without coming across like the proverbial “used car salesman”
- Host my own monthly Social Media How-To webinars – preferably as a joint venture with someone else
- Build my blogging community while taking the time to comment more on other blogs as well as Stumble and Digg the posts that I enjoy (Goal: Minimum of 10 comments and submissions per week)
- My newsletter – meh. I’ve been getting a lot of signups but totally slacked off in November and December by not sending any out. (Goal: Third Wed of every month)
- Update my Wibiya Toolbar on my site daily with a productivity quote and / or ideas on tasks that can be outsourced to Virtual Assistants
- Outsource more of my own tasks to other Virtual Assistants
- Attend at least two local networking events per month
- Joint Venture Partnerships with other Virtual Assistants and individuals who are interested in Social Media and WordPress Websites
- Write another e-book and finish the e-course on online marketing that I set aside several months ago while I invested the majority of my learning time into SEO, backlinking, WordPress, etc.
- Sell my home, Lake Winnebago Vacation Rental by Owner property and move to Florida
- All of the above and much, much more….and I’ve promised myself and my son I will be off the computer by no later than 7 pm each evening….the Wii Fit and us have a standing daily date!
Last but not least my BHAG for my website in 2010 is to have 5,000 website visits per month and rank in the Top 3 positions for Social Media Virtual Assistant by no later than April 1, 2010.
If you’ve made it this far…..do me a favor.
My 2010 Theme is “To Help Others Achieve Their Goals”
How can I assist you in achieving the goals you have set for yourself?
- Are you interested in being a guest blogger?
- Maybe you have questions on how to be more efficient with your Social Media Strategy?
- Do you need a new WordPress site or to have your blog posts submitted to the Social Bookmarking sites?
Feel free to contact me to schedule a free 30 minute consultation.
“You can only get what you want if you help enough other people get what they want” – Zig Ziglar
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Michelle,
You have a wonderful list here. While you may not have wanted to share it here, please make sure you identify your single purpose behind this list.
It may be to help others achieve their goals, or perhaps, to have a laser focus on demonstrating your expertise, or it may be to make money… whatever it is, make sure you know your purpose – activities without purpose are better described as time wasters. I’m not suggesting this is the case, just wanting to make sure you cover that base.
Lastly, you are awesome! I believe everything in this list is attainable for you and you will be better and make others better as a result of it. I admire your fearlessness to share it with the world.
Goodluck! And more imprtantly, “Show me”
Best,
Justin
Justin – first of all – thank you so much for taking the time to write out such a detailed comment. I truly appreciate that in today’s “hurry, hurry” world.
I’m not sure I have a single purpose but now you really have me thinking about it. When I figure it out, you will be the first to know!
Way to go, Michelle, I couldn’t agree more. Priority is so important with family. I don’t want to miss my son growing up because I was too busy. I’ve given myself aggressive goals as well, and look forward to comparing notes with you in April. Zig Ziglar had plenty to say, and I haven’t found anything that I don’t appreciate about his perspective. I enjoy your tone, and can tell you will end up in Florida!
Susan Hamilton´s last blog ..Electrify Your Customer Responses
Susan – I’m totally going to be stopping by your blog when I finish my comment replies.
I’m guessing you found my post through Twitter?
I started by Virtual Assistant business so I could be more present for my son…..sadly that didn’t happen in 2009 but I know that it’s going to be different in 2010 because I’ve now made it a priority (it was before, but….)
So nice to meet you and thank you for commenting here!
People do not plan to fail, they fail to plan and it looks like you have quite the plan here Michelle! Great job putting it out there in the public.
I have no doubts you will not only reach but surpass all of these goals.
Dawn – I’m gonna have to get you to get a Gravatar (I did a blog post on that BTW!) LOL. Thanks for commenting and for RT’ing the post as well. I so appreciate your support and I’m glad I have you as an accountability partner in my life! I can’t wait to meet you IRL.
Your bounce rate blew me away, that is amazing.
That’s also quite a list of goals. I personally don’t do goals as such. I sort of blog in a slap dash way. I do it when I feel like it, which pretty well always. I post about things when they pop into my head and I’m at the computer. I lose so many articles because I’m away from the computer at the time they pop in and when I get there they’re just vague wisps of memory.
Never mind, it’s all good otherwise I’d be tied to the computer 24/7
Sire´s last blog ..Beware Scraped Comments And Fake Trackbacks
Sire – hey there! Thanks for stopping by. I hope to be seeing you around more as I build my blogging community. I also lose a lot of articles because I am not in a place to capture them but even with what I have captured in MS One Note I have more than enough for several months of daily posts!
Pretty awesome bounce rate, huh? I was on Skype with a friend when I saw that come in and I was nearly doing a dance because I was so excited! When I first switched from my “June” theme to Thesis I increased from 6.75 to just over 15% and I was freaking out at the increase. Now that I got Thesis to do my bidding…well, as you can see, it’s pretty darn amazing!
I can’t see how Thesis has caused an improvement in your bounce rate? I would have thought it was more content related than theme related?
Also, have you thought of introducing threaded comments to the blog?
Sire´s last blog ..Beware Scraped Comments And Fake Trackbacks
Yes, I have to get the threaded comments figured out…as awesome as Thesis is I would have thought they would have a box to click! I have to get out to the forums…getting there now!
And there you have it. Isn’t it that much better. I actually use a plugin rather than the one built into WP as I think it looks a whole lot nicer.
Sire@WassupBlog´s last blog ..Beware Scraped Comments And Fake Trackbacks
I had tried Greg’s Nested Comments before with no success. Which plugin are you using?
Twitter: GrowMap
January 12, 2010 at 11:49 am
The WordPress nested comments has probably been improved since Sire tried it. We use it at GrowMap, in our NoBogies Golf Store blog and also for the Gift Affiliate Program blog we write for Executive Gift Shoppe.
You can see how you like it by visiting those blogs and while you’re there feel free to leave comments. All of our blogs have CommentLuv and KeywordLuv installed and are 100% dofollow. Oh, and if you are interested in affiliate programs do consider @ExecGifts.
Gail @ Social Media Marketing´s last blog ..Tools Wanted for Power Bloggers, Social Networkers
Gail – thanks for suggesting @ExceGifts – will def check out as I’m looking to help promote some great affiliate programs in 2010!
I use this one http://blog.2i2j.com/plugins/wordpress-thread-comment
Sire@WassupBlog´s last blog ..Beware Scraped Comments And Fake Trackbacks
LOL – thanks, I’m going to check out that plugin and see how it works for me!
Twitter: freemanlegacy
January 8, 2010 at 3:40 pm
You are so uber organized over here, although I do need an assistant I am not in a position to hire one just yet, but I am definitely subscribing to your feed so I can learn some organizational skills.
Best wishes for your 2010 Goals!
Ms. Freeman´s last blog ..Ode to Akismet
Ms. Freeman – I try to be organized and there are def some things I use on a daily basis that I swear by. Like anything though, it’s a matter of discovering what works, what doesn’t and tweaking processes as you go along!
Twitter: Shekhar_Sahu
January 8, 2010 at 9:36 pm
The list of goals is very big, i hope you succeed.
However, 10 comments per week is not enough!
Shekhar Sahu @ WhiteHatAndroid´s last blog ..Tweet Your Feeds Automatically | Socialize Feedburner
Shekhar – you are right 10 comments a week is probably not enough but to get me started (since the majority of my time right now is spent on Twitter). I can always increase and last week I actually left 17 comments so I did nearly double my original goal. On the other hand I didn’t get a blog post of my own out today. Eccks!
Twitter: FranchiseBuzz
January 12, 2010 at 6:22 am
Your bounce rate is incredible! Congratulations on a successful year.
Tom@McDonalds Careers´s last blog ..McDonalds Careers
Tom – I agree that my bounce rate is incredible! I hope to keep it at less than 1% each month. I just have to keep up bringing new content to my readers.
Wow, that is the lowest bounce rate I’ve ever seen! Great job with that. As a word of advice, I noticed when I searched for Social Media Virtual Assistant that your meta description is too long and doesn’t fit in the search result. It’s not a very big deal, but I think you may see your traffic increase a bit if you have a description that fits within the ~150 character limit.
Mike – thanks for the compliment on my bounce rate! I am hoping to keep it at less than 1% this year. As for your tip on my meta description thank you so much – I had no idea (my SEO guy did it) LOL
Good day, Michelle!
Your list looks a lot like a “New Year’s Resolution”. lol. Or that’s how I see it. I’m telling you this because I’m not really into these list-making activities. But from what I read in your post and the comments here, maybe I’ll begin writing my own to-do notes. I am actually a fan of that saying of Zig Ziglar – I am enlightened by learning all about purpose.
I am interested to be a guest blogger here, but for now, I’m going to re-affirm my purposes in life!
And do I have to mention I’m an instant fan of yours? Keep blogging and helping!
Abraham – you are right – it does read somewhat like New Year’s Resolutions but I try not to think of them that way. More as a re-evaluation of what my annual goals are based on what has happened over the past year. I try not to get too “rigid” when I set my goals so I have the ability to flow with them. Of course, that doesn’t mean that I allow things to just “fall off” because I don’t tend to them. If something “falls off” my list it’s because things have shifted and it’s no longer a priority.
I am a huge fan of Zig Ziglar – have you ever read his auto-biography? It is an amazing book – I always love to hear him refer to his wife as the “redhead”.
Whenever you are ready to be a guest blogger be sure to let me know. I would love to have you!
Twitter: TargetStars
January 16, 2010 at 8:00 pm
Michelle,
There is no doubt in mind that you will achieve all of the goals that you have stated and then some! When you move to Florida can you send some of that warmth back to those of us stuck bearing the winters in ChiTown?
LaTosha Johnson´s last blog ..Let go and grow
LaTosha – LOL – only 1/18 and I’m already behind on my blogging goals…but right after I catch up on all my comments I’m off to write my post for today. Albeit a tad later than I normally publish them.
Indeed when I move to FL I’ll box up warmth and send it to you and you’ll have a place to come and vacation!
Twitter: wchingya
January 17, 2010 at 10:54 pm
Good job,Michelle! Seems to me you have great improvements over the months and that’s exciting to see. You have greatly reduced your bounce rate, which I’m very admired. Besides the theme, building up communities, what other tips you can share in content writing that will help reducing bounce rate? Something practical? Thanks in advance. You did fantastic!
@wchingya
Social/Blogging Tracker
Ching Ya´s last blog ..How Blog Review Can Help to Improve Blog Traffic
Ching – as to why my bounce rate is so low – no idea to be honest but I think it’s possible that having videos in a lot of my posts probably helps as well.
Twitter: goldenkoi
January 18, 2010 at 7:55 pm
Hi Michelle,
Excuse me while I pick up my jaw from the floor – those bounce rates are nothing short of jawdropping! Awesome & Congrats!
Good list too! Don’t worry about always getting everything done on the list, chances are that without the list you would not get as much done and then there are days when you will overachieve!
best………..valentina
Valentina´s last blog ..Golden Nuggets for Your Blog Income
Valentina —- oh thanks so much!!!! Ironic how I just now saw this comment especially when I just mentioned your words of encouragement on Dave’s blog tonight.
I know those words were intended for him but they really were what I needed to read as well!