Summer Blogging Goals

Last Summer, my blog was filled with a bunch of little posts where all I did was share recent Polyvore sets #oops. The reason behind that? I was way more focused last Summer on finishing all seasons of Dance Moms #doubleoops. It's difficult to watch Dance Moms on my laptop and blog at the same time.. because I of course had to know every single time Chloe's mom got in a fight, or Nia's mom reacted to Abby's latest routine idea. I was pretty busy last summer hahaha. BUT THIS SUMMER, I am so ready just to work my butt off on this little blog of mine and make it the absolute best that I possibly can. My blog is so important to me, and I have my goals of things I need/want/will accomplish before the end of Summer. Jamie (The Fashion Newcomer) asked me and quite a few other bloggers what our major goal or focus is for the Summer. If you check out her post today, you'll see my quote and all the other bloggers', but here's mine:

One of my biggest blogging goals for the Summer is to keep quality over quantity. It's easy for bloggers to just do easy little posts, add a few links, and hit publish. My blog and I fell into that last Summer, and let me just say.. once you start with those smaller, faster posts, it's hard to get off of them, and into actual high quality content. I'm just hoping and praying that this year I don't fall into that slump again, and that I put time, thought, and a whole bunch of effort into all of my posts. 

Since the majority of people that read blogs.. are bloggers, I'm so excited to share with you girls the rest of my goals. Maybe they'll give you some ideas for your own blogs! 

Better quality writing (let me further discuss kinda what I talked about above): I've been told all my life that I have a great voice when I write and a true talent for writing. I know I can tap into that part of myself, but it's so easy to just slip into writing the same old basic crap you see everywhere else on the internet. Jamie is part of my inspiration and motivation for this goal. I love her voice in her posts, and that's more of how I want to come across on my own blog. 

Sharing more of my personal style: I discussed this on Polyvore with some girls earlier in the week actually.. basically, bloggers tend to share style related items that your readers would react to the most regardless if you, yourself likes the item or not. With things like Shopstyle Collective and Rewardstyle and Hootsuite.. It's easy just to send out a bajillion tweets or incorporate a ton of links to items in your blog posts. My goal for the Summer is to focus on what things I personally love and obsess over, and not what I think my readers are going to love and obsess over. Because at the end of the day, you read/follow Classy Cathleen to read about ME. 

Develop my media kit: I had created a super basic media kit back in January, but I definitely need to update it and improve the design. Lost on what a media kit is? Here, let me help.  I have so many ideas for improving it, and I can't wait to start. 

Changing the location of the photos on Instagram: The majority of my photos tend to be taken and posted at my house. I feel like Instagram is a creative space, and somewhere I lost that back when all the aesthetic crap was buzzing in my brain. Aesthetic limits creativity, if you ask me. I want to challenge myself to be all-in with my Instagram and seriously focus on it. { Follow along here } 

Actually schedule some blog posts: I always tell myself before I go somewhere that I'll have a post scheduled for every day I'm not able to post.. does that ever work out? No. Probably because I'm concerned with packing and watching all the latest episodes from my favorite shows before we leave. I really just want to have one week where I actually am prepared with some good content. 

Blogging more about things I'm truly interested in: Example- photography. How often am I talking about photography on the blog? I RARELY share my true interests on my own personal website. How messed up is that? Don't worry, Cathleen is coming out for real and y'all will know practically everything about me, and everything I love and am interested in on my blog. I can't wait for more cooking posts, photography, personal style, hiking, ect.

Consistency: Y'all remember those "Tuesday Talks" I used to do all the time? I loved those! My stupid self isn't very good at consistency so any series idea I come up with, won't turn out the way I have it in my head. I need to challenge myself to be more consistent and keep up with my series'. Look out for more Cooking With Cathleen's coming soon.. or at some point at least!

Write the post NOW: I seriously need to quit pushing things off. Me, Myself, and I all know that "oh it'll happen eventually" "I'll blog that at some point" means it will never happen. For once, heck maybe even more than once, I would love to actually write I post when I say I'm going to.

Take advantage of free templates and printables: If someone is willing to create a template and share it on the internet.. why the heck am I not using it? I totally need to do some exploring and find some good templates that I personally can use.

The Classy Cathleen Newsletter: Yes, I have started a newsletter for my blog. I know newsletters are kind of coming slightly obsolete.. but I love them, and hope that y'all will follow along with me in your inbox! I really want to develop it so it can be the best it can be, and stay consistent in my mailing, and have an email going out once a week. 

Bored yet? Lucky You because the post is over! I hope that any of you fellow bloggers reading this post got inspired for some Summer goals for your own blogs! Be on the look out for an update on all these goals at the end of Summer.