Our Blogging Goals for 2014

Hi everyone! I’ve just returned from a week-long vacation with Hanna and am already looking forward to our next one! We always have so much fun together and it is as though we’ve never been apart. With a whole week together we had so much that we wanted to do, but it only took us a day to realize that not all of it was going to get done. With having three little girls under the age of 3 there was just no way that we were going to be able to care for them, complete all the projects we had planned, and go everywhere we wanted to go while still keeping our sanity at the same time. When it came right down to it we decided to set aside our blog and all of our projects for the week and enjoy the time we had together. Instead, we had a blast chatting away the days, eating way too much food, and watching our girls play together—while having to play referee on occasion. We even found the courage to pack the three girls in the back seat and travel out to our parent’s house for a few days. With it being about a four hour drive each way, Hanna and I utilized the time to talk about our future progress and goals for the blog. Since many of our blogging goals are geared around our readers, we thought we’d share them with you.

BLOGGING GOALS

1.   Get more personal in our posts. We want our readers to come to know the real us. While some of our pictures may suggest otherwise, we have bad days too where our hair and makeup doesn’t get done, our house is a disaster, we lose our patience with our children and the laundry is pilled high. We make mistakes and we are always striving to be better than we are. We’re not blogging to imply that we are above anyone else, but rather to share our ideas, experiences, and inspirations to help and inspire others.
2.   Stay true to ourselves. We have both found a lot of joy in blogging and the opportunity it gives us to stay more connected with one another. In continuing to blog, our overall goal is to remain true to what is important to us, what we believe in, and who we are. We will never post anything on the blog for the mere sake of posting something or to get gain.
3.   Comment more on other blogs and connect more with other bloggers. We are constantly overwhelmed by the support of other bloggers and our readers. We are delightfully gitty with each new follower and with every comment. Our goal is to continue to pay-it-forward by supporting other bloggers and to make new friends by reaching out. After making this goal we have rounded up a great group of other bloggers for a surprise blog series we will be starting in March– stay tuned! 
4.   Start an editorial calendar to organize our tasks and improve our time management. I know I am not alone when I say that time management can often be a struggle, but it is something we are constantly trying to master (without success). We started using an editorial calendar (both a hard copy and an online version) so that we can more easily keep track of the tasks that need to get done and hopeful become more organized with our time. If anyone has more ideas or suggestions on the matter please feel free to share!
5.   Post more regularly on our social media sites. This is really something that we have both struggled with since starting our blog. Neither one of us are the type that updates our Facebook status everyday (barely every month) or posts a new picture on Instagram on a daily basis but we are beginning to realized the importance of social media use in growing our blog. And, since we only post three times a week we hope to stay more in touch with you and fill you in on daily happenings through the use of social media. Wish us luck!
6.   Make our blog more easy to navigate and more easy to connect with. It has been less than two months since we started up Stripes and Polka Dots and we are already finding many new ways to make it better. Unfortunately, we feel rather limited at the moment as to where we’d eventually like the design of our blog to be, but it is our goal to save our pennies and do our research so by this summer we can make our blog more user friendly. With some of the changes we hope to incorporated in the coming months we hope it will enable our readers to become more engaged as we wish to get to know you better. 

5 thoughts on “Our Blogging Goals for 2014

  • Commented 8 years ago

    I love this post! I definitely have to get organized! I just started my blog about a month ago and trying to post, but learn about everything at the same time, I find very over whelming. But you’re right, I have to “Start an editorial calendar to organize our tasks and improve our time management”! That way I will be able to see when I have time to work on my blog, instead of starting and stopping in the middle of something!! Thank you!

  • Commented 10 years ago

    I know, I was anticipating it for months before. As much as Collin and I love Oregon, we sure do miss living so close to our family.

  • Commented 10 years ago

    Thanks for your sweet comment Amy. I completely agree! It is definitely a struggle sometimes, which is why I love the quote, “you can’t compare your beginnings with someone else’s middle”.

  • Commented 10 years ago

    So fun that you guys had a week together! What a great trip. Loved the pictures. Can’t wait to see what is coming up in March!

  • Commented 10 years ago

    *snap snap snap* Yes to everything! I have all the same goals, especially #1 and #2. I think what makes those more difficult is always comparing myself to others, which is SO hard not to do.
    That’s crazy how this blog was only started less than two months ago. You guys are off to an amazing start!

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