Travel
LOOKING FORWARD IN 2013
It’s that time of year again– when everyone re-evaluates their lives and promises that the next year will be better. Although I’m not too big on making personal New Year resolutions, I have set some goals to help BesuDesu Abroad move forward.
BDA has only been in existence for three short months now, but I have already seen such growth and potential in this site. I would like to take a minute to thank everyone for reading this blog in 2012; I hope you have found at least some articles useful, inspirational, or in the least somewhat entertaining. Ultimately we would like to keep YOU as readers happy, so please let us know what you would like to see more of in 2013 in the comments below!
This isn’t going to be the most fun or entertaining blog post. It’s more for my personal reference and motivation…but I now present some of the goals that I have set for the future of Besudesu Abroad in 2013.
Travel Goals
Travel. Travel. Travel.
I wouldn’t be able to run a travel blog if I weren’t able to travel. It doesn’t even need to be crazy round-the-world travel. Although I do have a few more countries to visit abroad, even once I move back to the States there is so much of my home country left to explore– New York, Niagara Falls, The Grand Canyon, California– you name it, I probably haven’t seen it. I hope to make 2013 the best year for traveling yet!
Go on a Road Trip
If there’s one thing I miss living abroad, it’s driving my car. Despite my love of driving, I’m ashamed to say I’ve never even taken a proper road trip. With so many places in the US left to explore… and wanting to investigate a few new states to potentially call home, a road trip may definitely be in order during 2013.
Hit the 12 Countries Mark
This year I was lucky enough to be in 6 amazing countries, making my total count of countries traveled: 7. I hope to add 5 new countries to my list, bringing that new total to 12.
Spend Time at Home
Between going off to college and all the traveling I’ve done after I feel that I’ve really lost touch with a lot of people. By the time I return to the States (predicted for sometime summer 2013?) it’ll have been almost 2 years since I’ve last seen some of them– or was at least able to spend a good chunk of time with them. So I hope to take some time at home to catch up with family and old friends before embarking on whatever comes next.
Attend a Travel Bloggers Conference
Although I’ll be missing the North American TBEX conference this June, there’s still a chance for me to catch another one of the big blogging conferences later in the year. I think it would be a great learning and networking experience. Who wouldn’t want to hang out with all those cool travel bloggers they follow online in person?
Blogging Goals
Post on a Regular Basis
Consistency is key when it comes to blogging. Even though I’ve been posting everyday during my “12 days of Christmas” promotion, I’ll be resuming my previous schedule of Mon-Wed-Fri. Not going to lie, posting everyday was a little stressful and I much prefer quality posts to help people over quantity.
Queue More
With all the posting I’ve been doing lately, this is the first time I’ve been able to queue and schedule posts for the future–which had made things easier. Usually I’m writing a post throughout the day only to post it that very night. I hope to find time in my crazy schedule to continue writing ahead of time.
Interview and Connect with Other Travel Bloggers
There are so many awesome travel bloggers out there–some of whom I’ve already began connecting with. I’d like to continue making new connections and potentially work on projects with other bloggers. Some of them are doing really awesome things such as raising funds to build schools, wells, etc. in developing countries.
Begin Working on Possible Travel Partnerships
I would also like to begin developing relationships with potential travel partners. Although blogging isn’t about the money for me (let’s face it–there isn’t much money in blogging) it would be great to start taking steps towards working in the travel industry.
Become Better with Social Networking
Maintaining a blog is only half the battle. When you’re not exploring new places or writing articles, there’s social media to be dealt with. Keeping a strong presence on social media is time consuming yet so necessary in the blogging world. I hope to eventually get better at using these amazing resources by setting some goals for future expansion.
By the end of 2013 I hope to have expanded to 200 subscribers via WordPress, 500 followers on Facebook and 1,000 followers on Twitter.
Host my Own Blog
I’m aware that my website is often slow to load which doesn’t help my growth as a site. There are also many things I would like to do to tweak the appearance of my blog, such as making photos larger, that I can’t do with a free WordPress account.
I would eventually like to host my own site, but it involves of lot that I don’t really have the time for right now. I would need to learn more coding and basically figure out the functionality of everything on my site– right now WordPress.com basically does all that for me, I just need to type and insert pictures. I hope when summer comes and I have more free time to learn, that I can switch over to a fully self-hosted blog.
Learn About (and Actually Improve) my SEO
Search Engine Optimization is important for any website. If search engines aren’t able to find you– you won’t be getting a lot of traffic. Being spotted by Google actually takes a lot of work and knowledge of SEO, yet another thing I just don’t have time to learn about right now. I hope to begin learning more and implementing it to better my site.
And lastly… Avoid Blogger Burnout
“Blogger burnout” is super real. So many blogs never make it past the 6 month mark because people don’t realize how difficult blogging really is. There’s always work to be done. It’s easy to fill every free minute of the day with blogging–whether it’s writing an actual post or maintaining those social networks like I mentioned above.
I know I do it. Even between the classes I teach I’ll work on future article ideas or figure out what I’ll be posting for the week. I hope to be able to enjoy more time away from my blog and computer as my site starts growing. I’d love to go out to dinner and not take photos of my food for everyone else’s enjoyment. Time management and balance are key here.
Although it may seem like a lot, I’m fairly confident with my goals for 2013. I’m very excited for the future of Besudesu Abroad– so much is coming. Thanks for sticking with us!