2018 in Review - My Blog and Work goals

And with a blink 2018 is over. It was a busy one for be both professionally and personally with a Summer heatwave to remember thrown in for good measure. This time last year I set 18 work and blogging goals for 2018 and I can hardly believe it is time to look back and see how the past 12mths shifted and shaped my expectations and what I am still working towards in 2019.

1. Get back on Twitter

First goal was a resounding failure. I did start using HootSuite a little but need to actually set up a proper routine to schedule each weeks tweets. I have fallen out of love with social media in general though, kinda enjoying living in the real world a bit more.

2. Reply to comments

Unfortunately I still can't reply to comments from my phone properly so I haven't got much better at this. I have emailed my hosting firm to suggest they look into this though. Must do better in 2019.

3. Start a newsletter

GDPR scared me off this but I now have a GDPR compliant sign up form (whoop whoop!) so I will be launching in 2019!

4. Blog 4 times a week

I did pretty well on this one and blogged 4 times most weeks but during super busy periods at work I didn't put pressure on myself. It should be a fun activity afterall.

5. Master Tailwind

I actually did the opposite and deleted Tailwind after a few months! I was spending loads of time scheduling and sharing content to my feeds but I wasn't seeing any traffic coming back. I couldn't justify the outlay each month.

6. New blog theme

I am still too nervous to press the button to switch my theme over! Just too scared he formatting of my old posts will completely screw up. Perhaps I'll pluck up the courage this year!

7. Vlog

I haven't vlogged yet but I have included some of my own video content within my posts and my new DSLR has video function so I'm good to go on this one!

8. Plan

I nailed this one! I have been planning my posts each month on a calender and have introduced a monthly series where I discuss what I'm watching each month.

9. Schedule

As above this was a hit too! I even went as far as to schedule content and guest posts in advance of our big 10th Wedding Anniversary trip last summer so I didn't have a big break in content.

10. Keep my desk tidy

New office furniture from Ikea helped with this one and I've been super tidy ever since (luckily Husband loves a bit of flat pack).

11. Record my followers

I did this! And I'm pleased to announce all my numbers went up, not drastically but it is all genuine organic growth.

12. Write more about my opinions

I've done a bit more of this including a rant about The Great British Bake Off but I still want to go further and write a monthly feature about something which challenges me.

13. Increase my DA

I was sitting at 26 at the beginning of 2018 and I was aiming for 30 by the end of the year. I smashed it. I now have a DA of 40! This is partly due to joining in with lots of crowdsourcing posts and also looking for opportunities to write guest posts for other people.

14. Stop checking TOTS 100

I've actually been quite good at this BUT my score got much better and I noticed my badge now gives my exact ranking rather than 'in the top 500' so I can now see my position but I still try not to look!

15. Write crowdsourced posts

I did write one crowdsourced post but I plan on making it more regular over 2019.

16. Don't work when the children are home/awake

I got better at this during 2018. There are still times when I have had to sit them down with a movie and some popcorn after school but I felt much better about my work life balance for the majority of the year. I had a very busy December but that work has paid for us to book a trip to Disneyland Paris later on in the year so it has been worth it and the kids will love it.

17. Hitting 1000 followers on Instagram

I hit this goal in June 2018! My numbers haven't grown drastically since then but I've not been as focused on social media the back end of the year as I've tried to keep my phone out of my hand when I'm around the kids.

18. If I'm not enjoying something then stop doing it.

At times during 2018 I was stressed and anxious but that wasn't because I wasn't enjoying what I was doing. I was pushing myself outside of my comfort zone. And I succeeded. 2018 was my most successful year and I hope to make 2019 even better.