Goals for 2019

Earrings // Sweater // Faux Fur Vest // Pleated Skirt // Bag // Velvet Pumps

I still can't believe that yesterday was my 1 year "blogiversary."  What a fun and wild ride this past year has been!  As I mentioned yesterday, I'm celebrating by sharing a two-part post.  Yesterday, I shared Part 1 which recapped my first year of blogging, my best selling items of the year, and my accomplishments of 2018.  For Part 2, I'm excited to share some big goals that I have for smiles & stripes in 2019!

Writing down very specific goals helps me stay focused and hold myself accountable throughout the year.  So let's jump {or twirl} right in...

1.  Focus more on blog content:  In 2018, I spent the majority of my time growing my Instagram following.  If you read Part 1 from yesterday, you saw that I grew to over 10K followers in just 9 short months, which I'm VERY proud of....BUT I do not own or have any control of Instagram.  Instagram could go away tomorrow and that 10K follower count would be meaningless.  What I do own is my blog.  So my goal for 2019 is to stop focusing on trying to beat the latest Instagram algorithm and focus more on driving traffic to my blog / creating great quality content for my website.  Specifically, my goal is to create a blog post at least once per week.

2.  Increase my email list:  Another thing that I own and have control over is my mailing list.  If Instagram goes away, the only way I would have to reach my followers is via email.  Therefore, it is imperative to build a mailing list {I would love you forever if you subscribed here - I promise not to spam you :) } My goal is to increase my mailing list to at least one thousand people by the end of 2019.

3.  Build a newsletter:  This goal ties directly into the mailing list. Building a newsletter that provides the people on email list with free content and notifications about my blog posts is another great way to drive traffic to my blog and increase sales.  My goal is to design and send out a weekly newsletter {so if you subscribed above, you'll only get ONE email from me a week}.

4.  Leverage Pinterest to increase blog traffic and sales:  Another great tool to drive sales and traffic to the blog is Pinterest.  Every day 2 million people post pins on Pinterest, so it's a great way to gain significant visibility via a different avenue than Instagram.  My goal for 2019 is to learn how to leverage Pinterest effectively in order to increase my following, sales, and website views. Specifically, I want to pin to Pinterest at least 5 days per week.  You can follow me on Pinterest here!

4.  Engage on my insta stories more, like WAY more:  If you've been following me for a while, you probably noticed that I don't share a lot on my insta stories like other bloggers do.  The main reason for this is time.  I'm doing good just to get my post up each day before heading into my full-time job - a LOT of work goes into that {I wrote a blog post about it here}.  Another reason for this is that for whatever reason, I am SUPER self conscious about talking to the camera...I know that sounds SO stupid, but I have got to get over it.  I feel like I'm missing out on really connecting/building relationships with my followers AND gaining new amazing followers by not engaging on my insta stories.  My goal for 2019 is to post to stories at least 5 times per day, including sharing more informal/personal/lifestyle info and try-on sessions.  I want to be more transparent on my stories and show that what I post in those little squares each day  is definitely not real life.

5.  Land more paid brand collaborations:  One of my favorite things about blogging is having the opportunity to try new products and work with new and/or established brands.  Starting out, collaborations typically work like a barter system i.e. a company will send me clothes or a product to try in exchange for me posting about it on Instagram.  While I am so thankful for each and every opportunity to collaborate, I want to focus on creating quality content and enhance my sales pitch in order to land more PAID collabs.   My goal for 2019 is to land at least 12 paid brand collaborations {one per month}.

I am so excited to start working towards these goals and I can't wait for you to see all that I have planned for the year!  What are your goals for 2019?? Tell me in the comments below!

All photos by Vici LLC Photography