4th Quarter Planning & Gearing Up for 2019!

4th quarter is here!!!  As the end of the year is approaching us (can you believe it?!) it’s time to plan for 4th quarter and for 2019!

Personally I love 4th quarter because it gives you a chance to look back on what you have accomplished.  For me starting this new blog, it really gives me a chance to see how far I’ve grown and what I can work on for next year.

If you’re starting to plan for 4th quarter, that’s great!  If you don’t-don’t fret! Here are some things you can do in order to prep yourself to accomplish your 4th quarter goals and for the upcoming year:

review your most popular posts throughout the year

          reviewing your blog posts helps determine what content is the most popular among your readers.  If you profit off of your blog or offer services centered around your posts, this will help gauge what posts to do in order to increase blog traffic, engagement, and monetization.

review analytic information and make sure the service you use to collect your blog’s information is running properly

          reviewing your blog posts helps determine what content is the most popular among your readers.  If you profit off of your blog or offer services centered around your posts, this will help gauge what posts to do in order to increase blog traffic, engagement, and monetization.

review your blog’s website and maintenance measures to ensure everything is running and working properly

          sometimes we’re unaware when a link is broken or when a button has mysteriously stopped working.  Don’t lose out on blog traffic or potential customers by leaving these problems unfixed.  4th quarter is the perfect time to make sure all of your links, buttons, opt in forms, and call to action redirects are working.

review your social media platforms and rank them based on the most followers + most engagement you receive on each platform

          contrary to believe, you don’t have to be on every social media platform.  4th quarter is the opportunity to review the platforms you are on and determine which platforms you should remain active on based on how much engagement and conversion you receive from each platform.

review blog tools and their effectiveness based on your current goals and future goals for 2019

          creating a rolodex of go to tools is great to have as a blogger, and with 4th quarter among us, it’s good to review those tools to make sure they still align with your blog practices, goals, and desired results.

delete blog and social media drafts older than 3 months

          if you haven’t touched that draft in over 3 months, chances are you aren’t going to in the future.  Delete any drafts older than 3 months.  If the idea is that great, it will present itself again.

clean out your email

          I am notorious for having a large inbox, and most of the emails in my inbox are spam, or emails I could care less about.  Go through your email, unsubscribe to lists you are active with, and sweep your folder clean to get rid of unnecessary clutter.

clean out your subscriber list

          don’t pay for subscribers who aren’t active with your content.  It may suck because you are losing followers, but it’s better to have a smaller, active, engaging following than a following that doesn’t convert into blog traffic and monetization.  With your newsletter provider, send out an email giving your non active subscribers a deadline to stay on your list.  If they do not reply by a certain date, remove them.

unfollow who’s not engaging with you

          most social media platforms have apps that let you pull analytic information if they. don’t provide it to you themselves.  Certain apps let you see who follows you and who doesn’t, which of your followers engages wit your content the most, etc.  For followers who don’t follow you back that are big brands or celebrities, unfollow them.

declutter home office (physically + virtually)

          this is probably the biggest task for me as I am a true hoarder, so 4th quarter gives me the chance to clean and declutter.  If you utilize a home office establish a filing system and throw away anything that doesn’t meet the criteria of your filing system.  If you use a cloud service like iCloud or Google Drive, go through your files and delete what you do not need.

set an end goal for 2019

          it’s important to have an overall goal for the end of the year, something like ‘I want to increase blog traffic by 33%” or “I want to have 1000 new followers on Instagram”.  By setting an overall goal, you can plan your quarter goals to help you achieve your overall goal.

plan your quarter goals for 2019

          based on your overall goal, set at least 3 goals per quarter to help you achieve your overall goal.  If you are looking to gain a consistent following on Youtube, some of your quarter goals might be to create a consistent posting schedule for Youtube.

make sure your promotional + branding material are up to date

          business cards, media kits, promotional videos, and headshots should all be up to date.  If they aren’t, take the time in 4th quarter to get them up to date before the year is over.

make sure your contact list is up to date

          make sure you have your rolodex of contacts for both bloggers and brands up to date.  it may not be a bad idea to send them a friendly email wishing them the best in the new year to come and open up the opportunity for collaboration in the future.

TAKE A BREATHER!

          we, as bloggers, often forget that what we do is a business, and we have to give ourselves a break and mentally clock out.  Once you’re in a good place with your 4th quarter goals and how you will move forward for 2019 take some time for yourself and relax!!!  

FREEBIE ALERT!

Download my free 4th quarter planning checklist to help you stay on track! If you are a Hustle the Blog member, click below to login.  If not, sign up, it’s FREE!

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