With all the ups and downs on Home with Heather over the last several months, I’ve been really wondering what is the best use of the hours I have available to devote to blogging. A few days ago, I wrote about Daily Posts. Are you Wasting Your time? It’s a question that has really peaked my curiosity.
I’ve decided to do a bit of testing in February, and then share my results at the end of the month.
To date, as I write this post January has shown the following on Home with Heather. Again, please keep in mind that this is my slowest blogging month in a long time but I do need some numbers to start with…
Goal setting is always something good to talk about it January, right? Maybe it’s a topic I’m looking at because it’s what I’m trying to do for my own self right now. I know I’ve posted on it in the past, but I think I need a refresher.
In the first few weeks of the year, everyone always set these very ambitious goals and plans for themselves. We start out all pumped up, motivated, and invincible. We want to reach a PR5 by the next round, or we want an extra 100 RSS subscribers in a month, or we plan to comment on 15 blogs each day…. or whatever the goals may be.
I’m a huge advocate of making goals and plans. Gives us something to work toward. But in reality what happens is that we start out with all of this great momentum and inspiration and then slowly day after day when life starts to get in the way, we start to feel really overwhelmed and many of us in fact give up.
Overall I’m very pleased with the progress of Home with Heather during November. I surpassed some of the goals I had set for traffic.
My goals are always to increase by 25% or more. In November, HWH was 38 unique visitors short of doubling what was done in October. I’m certainly not going to complain about that.
Let’s take a closer look…
……………………
October
November
Unique Visitors
3882
7726
# of Visits
8672
13204
# of Page Views
71140
94833
# of Posts
35
24
Tech Rank
33205
23247
Tech Authority
179
232
Alexa
203674
165051
RSS
97
81
I surpassed my goals on the first 3 items. It will be interesting to see if December will bring the same amount of traffic.
Some of the most popular posts during November were:
It was a tough month to keep up with a blog in October, and my numbers are showing that. This is the fourth week I’ve been out of my home and normal routine. I’m not going to get into telling you all about my renovation woes (again), just enough to say that I hope they are coming to an end and that November will be a better month.
My numbers could actually have been much worse, and so although I’m not doing my happy dance, I can live with it…
I haven’t been slacking… really
Oct. Sept.
Unique Visitors 3882 3802
# of Visits 8672 9196
# of Page Views 71140 73687
# of Posts Written 35 34
Tech Rank 33 205
Tech Auth. 179
Alexa Rank 203 674
RSS Subscribers 97
Page Rank Increase to PR4 (More to come on this)
So, there you have it. Really my numbers are showing very close to the same as they were in September.
Generally, I like to see an increase of 25 - 50% each month, and November will be no different from that.
November Goals:
Uniques - Break the 5000 mark.
# Visits - Over 10 000.
# Page Views - Over 90 000.
RSS Subscribers - 150
Tech Authority - 250
These goals will provide a challenge without making me pull my hair out in frustration.
I love planning and goal setting at the beginning of each month. If you don’t set reasonable goals for yourself, how can you know when and where you have made improvements?
I received this video from a friend on Facebook, and it really has made me take some time this morning to think.
This is a speech given to a graduating class of ‘99. Many of you have probably seen it already.
Do you ever wish that you could be back at that day, just starting out with all those choices and years yet in front of you?
Alright, now indulge me a minute as I get a bit reflective…
Do I wish that I were starting out again at my high school graduation?
Not a chance.
That was a whole other world ago… I didn’t do high school much, in fact I spent as little time actually in the school as I could. I would never want to go back to that portion of my life. Would I have done things differently? Maybe a few things, but nothing substantial to change who or where I am now.
People come in and out of your life, so does opportunity. You either take it or you don’t. Sometimes they come back around again, sometimes they don’t. And I truly think that if it’s a person or an opportunity that you NEED in your life, it will keep coming around again in one form or another until you can NOT ignore it anymore. And when you are ready, you will see it, and take it.
I also believe that when you no longer need them, they will go. They have taught you what they need (like my Dad or old friends). That is part of life…
Maybe I’m being extra reflective because this week is the first anniversary of Home with Heather, maybe it’s because of conversations that I’ve been having with my friends who have been going through some struggles of their own. I’m not sure.
I guess the thing that I’m trying to get across here is that we don’t need to be just starting out to have new experiences… new friends, new opportunity, new life and love.
What I think is that we need to be happy and grateful with who we are, ever changing and growing. Open our eyes and hearts to new things and they will happen.
For me: I am a mom of two high needs boys, who need me greatly. I try and blog to help others and to help myself. I’m happy with that for now. Do I want more for myself? Absolutely, and it will be when it is time.
The people that are in my life are there for a reason and I am truly honored to call them friends.
What about you? Are you happy with where you are in life… do you want to start over? What do you want to change? What are you waiting for?
Love and Peace to you.
This is a blog I posted on myspace this morning… I’m not sure if it’s the right kind of blog to post on HWH. But I wanted to get your thoughts. It does have to do with the Law of Attraction, and I do think that as mom’s, wahm’s or whatever that it is important to reflect at times.
If we don’t know where we are in life and business, how can we know where we’re going?
In Part One, I talked about the difference between having dreams, goals, and action plans.
I am the kind of person that is always striving to move forward. In fact when things from my past come up and want to re-visit me, I really have the attitude of “you can’t go backwards”. It happened just the other day. I had a call from a about a girl that I use to do some work with. They asked me if I’d like to re-visit that opportunity. My answer without hesitation was no. I’ve moved on from there and to go back just would not be feasable for me, my kids, or my business.
September is always an important month. Kids go back to school. Moms get back to routines. Thoughts start to migrate toward the upcoming holidays… Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.
Thought I’d take a minute to ask you what you’ve got planned this month?
Action Plan, blog traffic, Goals and Plans, managing your blogging day, time mangement 
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