2016 New Year Resolution for Bloggers

That is right, it's about time to set resolutions for next year. These are goals that we ignore and forget sometimes we just let it pass by until it's too late to change. On this blog post, I will recommend some goals we (bloggers) must consider that will help our blogs grow and accomplish them without hesitation.

1. Review your blog's overall traffic, visitors and bounce rate
This is the best time to start reviewing your monthly or yearly traffic stat and how many visitors normally stay to read your blog. If you got below 50% below the fold bounce rate, you're in the right track but if the blog's bounce rate was above 50%, then, that means your visitors don't stay long and just leave immediately.



How to fix: Go to Google Analytics and check your page load time. Look for the high bounce rate pages and check your keywords. Those were the key items you need to improve your content. What went wrong? Maybe the keywords you used were attractive but not with your content. If the page/s got less than 3 seconds visit, that is very bad indication that the visitors ignore your content. So, write efficiently.

2. Annual check up with Google Webmaster Tools (Console)
This time, review your internal blog criteria like crawl errors, indexing, links to your page and keyword frequency.


If you overhaul your blog like reformatting or moving to a new domain or platform (example: moving from Blogger to Wordpress), make sure that all pages were perfectly redirected otherwise, "crawl errors" and "not found" will show up on your diagnostics.

How to fix: Contact your webmaster / hosting provider to perform redirection. Or if you are using Wordpress, there is a redirection tab in the settings. If you are not sure what are you doing, call a friend who has knowledge in SEO.

For indexing, check if Google or search spider crawls your website. Simply go to search box in Google and type site:www.yourwebsite.com if results show your pages, you're fine. If not, then, investigate. You are not aware that your blog si banned by Google. For remedies, ask a help from any of your friend who knows SEO (like me - free of charge!).

Too many unnecessary link friends. If you noticed that your blog was linked to those stupid useless links like spam referrals (social sharing icons got many of these). Then, your blog is in great danger! Report these links and remove them from your site. Also, if there are links not related to you or reason why your blog is not performing well - be aware and immediately kick them out on your system.



How to remove unwanted links: Use Google's Disavow
https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/disavow-links-main

3. Improving images, videos and design
Start creating a visual content. You'll need to learn few things: Uploading videos to Youtube, Infographics, story boards, or movie makers.



4. Improving blog topics
I know it's hard but the only solution is to write something on your blog. It can be anything you wanted like any events you'll love to attend, recent purchases or product reviews, opinions about social issues, or place you have been to.

Don't commit if you can't blog consistently. You may publish once in every few weeks or develop a series of blog post that will make your readers go back from time to time.

5. Make friends become guest bloggers
I know it's difficult but if you find someone who can be a solid teammate to write for your blog then go for it. Ask some friends to contribute on certain topics that they excel. You may assign him/her on certain projects. I have my correspondents in the Philippines to attend some events on my behalf.

6. Opportunities and Networking
Push yourself to become more confident to introduce your blog and gain opportunities to some brands. Consider attending conferences or events to learn more about blogging, networking and branding.



7. Monitor your Social Media Accounts
When was the last time you post something on your wall without linking them to your blog? Post a question and let your followers answer. Sometimes, we are too lazy to post on our page walls instead we just share links. Boosting our blog is good, but make sure you engage with your followers.

8. Go mobile
Make your blog readable in mobile. Having not-friendly mobile sites will hurt your blog's performance. Ask Google how.



https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/


9. Make more money $$$$  
I know blogging is fun and some consider it as a passion but if you think of how you can monetize through blogging then this is the best timing for you to think about it. Review your previous proposals and think of a new strategies on how you can get more sponsorships, rewards and seasonal projects.

If you are not selected by brands, review my blog post again and make room for improvements.

Btw, avoid keyword spamming projects. Paid keywords through blog posts linking to unknown client websites are considered a violation. Even linking with them around your blog, so investigate first before accepting the project.

10. Be yourself and start 2016 with a blast!
This year create more strategies and share what your audience enjoys most. I know that we have too many ideas that would like to publish but start conducting test posts and monitor the progress. Never stop learning and spend time for improvement.

11. Back Up your Files (Update)
I forgot to include that it is a must for you to back up your blog (regularly), simply go to your FTP and back up your database. Also, consider transferring files from your laptop to hard drive (or cloud, if you have any). Or buy a new external hard drive if you don't own one.

Have a wonderful new year!



Feel free to comment if you have additional suggestions (or questions) on how to improve your skills in blogging for 2016.