There are three types of goals a blogger can and should set for their blog. This may not be as easy as it sounds but, for long term success, it’s important that bloggers keep focus. With so many things to keep track of to gain authority, you don’t want to lose sight of what your goals are.

Goals won’t be right for every blogger or every blog. Someone, for example, with a personal online diary probably won’t have many long terms goals but to continue to share their own life online. Can it be more? Of course, but that doesn’t mean it has to be.

When your blogging for a niche, just starting out, monetizing, and building authority creating goals are your stepping stones.

So, what are the three types of goals? They are present, future, and long-term.

Each set being a stepping stone to the next and ultimately success. But other than a stepping stone, each goal for present and future should work to reach the long-term goals.

Present

These goals are things that you can get done today, goals you can work to achieve with specific posts, pages, or contests on your blog.

• Comments per post
• Bookmarked posts
• Networking
• Entrecard
• Forum participation
• Guest Posts
• Post Frequency
• Contests
• Advertising

Each of your goals should help you work to reach your next set of goals within the next category.

Future

Larger than present goals, your future goals are reached through mastering your present goals. Each one of these goals will lead to your long-term goals and enable you to reach those. Again, remember these are stepping stones. Few bloggers can jump into the scene and leap to success.

• Rank for older posts (PageRank or Technorati Authority)
• Residual traffic from bookmarked posts
• Power profiles on networking sites
• Name recognition
• Product recognition
• Backlinks

You’ll notice that future goals are typically lesser in quantity because the majority of your goals are present. These are just items you can work on now for long-term success. But each goal is no more important than the next. Each should be treated with equal importance.

Long-Term

These goals are the ones you’ll reach to get to your place of successful. You don’t have to become one of the biggest bloggers in the blogosphere to be successful. What is determined as successful should be set by you based on your goals and your particular interest in your level of reach.

• Steady income
• Monetization
• Power user on networking sites (more than one place)
• Brand recognition
• Authority
• Blog writers

Your long term goals will dictate to you where you’d like your blog to be. This set of goals will be best reached when your present and future goals are a way for you to reach long term.

Time Management

One of the best reasons, besides reaching your chosen level of success, for setting blogging goals is so that you can manage your time.

It’s not at all uncommon for a blogger to spend hours networking and accomplishing their goals. But have you ever evaluated what exactly it is that you’re doing online to keep you wrapped up for so long?

By sitting down to work on just your goals, you’ll keep your focus and manage your time for efficiently.

Staying Focused

Remind yourself daily what your goals are on all three levels. Write out your goals, print them and hang them next to your primary computer. By having something to visually see, you can ensure that you’re keeping your focus.

There are so many things for bloggers to do that sometimes it’s easy to lose focus of what is working to reach our goals. Make sure that you have your reminders to keep you on track, if only for the moment you’re working.

Final Thoughts

Have you thought about goals for your blog or where you’re looking to go with your blog? Or maybe goals aren’t right for you, have you figured out why?

Each day I sit down and proceed to accomplish my work in a specific order. While sometimes a little redundant and boring, I’m ensuring that I’m staying on track and handling my goals in the best way that I can. Do you have a similar routine that helps you stay efficient and on track?

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