In an effort to keep myself accountable, I’m sharing monthly progress updates for my 2018 goals.

Reach five figure monthly blog page views.

To reach 10K page views by the end of December, I need to increase my page views by about 372 per month. Here are my 2018 monthly page views benchmarks and actual views.

January benchmark – 5,610, actual – 7,373
February benchmark – 5,982, actual – 10,151
March benchmark – 6,354, actual – 12,129

After such fantastic views in February, which is a short month, I was optimistic for March. If I could maintain that level of traffic, I would be sure to exceed 10K in March with three extra days. I was also optimistic because Easter Dinner Menu Ideas was one of my most popular posts in 2017 and largely why I reached 7.5K views in April 2017.

Sure enough, March was another fantastic traffic month. I had consistent traffic all month, with above average traffic the last week of March for the Easter dinner menu ideas post.

There are two primary methods I’m using to achieve my page views goal. Needless to say, thus far, they’re going pretty well. Here are the two strategies and how they went in March.

Publish posts weekly with two evergreen posts per month. March was an evergreen post-heavy month because St. Patrick’s Day and Easter were just over two weeks apart. I published a consistent three posts per week, the following of which are evergreen posts: 10 Simple DIY St. Patrick’s Day Cards, $10 and Under Spring Throw Pillows on Amazon, St. Patrick’s Day Mason Jar Decor, Baby’s First Easter Basket, 10 Simple DIY Easter Cards, DIY Cardstock Easter Egg Decor, 5 Reasons the 40mm is Better Than the 50mm, and Spring Mason Jar Decor. I already have two evergreen posts scheduled for April and have ideas in the works for 3-4 more evergreen posts.
Maintain consistent social media sharing, particularly for high traffic and seasonal posts. Check. I’ve stayed caught up on my social media sharing calendar, keeping old posts in rotation alongside new posts. There was so much to fit in for St. Patrick’s Day and Easter in such a short period this year that I mostly focused on sharing new content and only rotated a handful of older posts.

While I have achieved my 10K goal for two months straight now, I need to work hard to maintain that number. So it’s as important as ever to keep up with my key strategies for achieving this goal.

Reach 4,000 Pinterest followers.

To reach 4,000 followers by the end of the year, I need to gain 138 new followers monthly or 4-5 followers daily. My March benchmark was 2,751 followers. My actual March total was 2,605 followers.

My March Pinterest growth was better than my February growth. It was also more consistent. My February benchmark was 2,613 followers, so I’m lagging about a month behind now. I averaged 2.94 new followers per day, slightly below my January average and slightly above my February average.

To recap, my strategies for achieving my Pinterest goal are as follows.

Scheduling content from other bloggers via Boardbooster and Tailwind.
Scheduling my own blog content via Tailwind.
Managing my photography group board.

While my followers total isn’t amazing, I continue to see an increase in re-pins and engagement month over month. When I look back at my Pinterest statistics from this time last year, I can’t believe how far I’ve come. Ultimately, I’d like to have more Pinterest followers, too. But I’m still really happy with my overall progress with Pinterest.

Publish one article per week on Constant Content.

After falling flat in February and not publishing any articles on Constant Content, my goal in March was to double down and write eight articles total. I ended up writing six total, which were as follows.

Ways to Avoid Getting Sick While Traveling
April Home Checklist sold
What to Look for in a House When You Have Pets
Reasons to Cook and Eat Outdoors This Summer
Summery Touches for the Bathroom
Tips for Solo Travel

In addition to April Home Checklist, I sold a 2017 title, Spring Curb Appeal Ideas on a Budget, for a total of $85.80 in March.

Since I’m still behind, my goal is to write another six articles in April.

Paint and decorate nursery #2.

I got the main and accent paint colors completely finished with touchups and everything. The main color is Silver Reef, and the accent color is Provincial, both by True Value. I also got the trim finished in the room. I’m still working on the closets, closet doors, and main door, all of which are getting a fresh coat of white (aka Baby Chick by True Value, which is my neutral for this house). I’m hoping to get the remaining paint tasks finished up in April.

In March, I also thrifted a dresser and bought new hardware for it. I was able to thrift a solid wood dresser for Tommy’s room and really wanted a similar dresser for nursery #2. I’m so happy that I found one. I’ll be taking it from the ground up, sanding and painting it and then fitting it with all new hardware.

I also started the one big DIY paint canvas project I’m completing for nursery #2. Big canvas projects take me forever. I’ll be working on it in bits around other DIY projects for the blog and whatnot and don’t have a set deadline for it at this point.

Finish editing my Europe photos, and keep up on current photo editing.

I have 2,620 Europe photos, which means I need to get through about 220 photos each month. I got through almost exactly 220 photos in March, putting my total up to 660 photos. I’m striving to work on a few photos at a time, so I don’t get overwhelmed, and finish well before the end of the month, so I have time to work on other back editing and keep up my current editing. So far, it’s going pretty well. I also published my third and fourth Europe major destination posts: Exterior Florence Walking Tour and Accademia Gallery.

Currently, I’m caught up on 2018 photos through 2/6. Most of my outstanding folders right now are a mess with a jumble of blog shots and Tommy pictures, all in some sort of half-finished state. I shot several tutorial and recipe posts on multiple days, and the uploads aren’t organized at all. And I’m behind on Tommy edits. It’s not terrible, but it could be better, so I’ll be working to catch up again in April.

Read 36 books.

March reading total: 7 books, bringing my yearly total to 19 books. To meet my goal, I need to read three books per month, so I’m ahead of schedule. Here’s my list of March titles.

Listened to:

Read:

Re-read:

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling.
Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari (this was actually a re-listen).

I skipped my full reading post in February because I would have spent most of it talking about Harry Potter. I’ll be writing a combined February/March reading post in mid-April, so watch for that post later this month.

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