2011 Results Post – How Close Did I Come?

• Tweet
• 

• Tweet

About three months before the end of 2011 I created a post of my goals for the remainder of the year.  They were the usual big promises to myself complete with flowery rhetoric and assured future success.  Well somewhere along the way “life” got in the way and many of them did not get accomplished. Actually most of them did not and I have only myself to blame.

I then chided myself in a post one month later.

It didn’t help, I still failed to accomplish that which I set out to do for what was left of the year.  However being a glutton for punishment I’ve decided to examine these results to better myself in the future. If it gives other people insight into themselves, (or even a chuckle), I can feel that I accomplished something good.  So lets go on, shall we?

Goal #1 – Post at least 3 times per week

Well this one was missed by a mile.  I had planned to post 51 times in the 17 weeks that were left of the year.  I posted once and added three YouTube videos which are essentially posts in another form.  I’m not going to belabor this…yeah moving on.

Goal #2 – Reach 100 Newsletter, 100 Facebook, 100 RSS Subscribers

My newsletter subscribers moved not at all, probably due to a crappy looking default form and little content or reason for a person to want to subscribe.  Much the same goes for the RSS as why would somebody keep track of a place where nothing changes?  I have shared content with Facebook and tried to get people to “like” my Facebook page .  I got a few takers, but nothing to be proud about.  I also never finished my landing page with some cool graphics and a nice look.

Goal #3 – Complete Newsletter Landing Page and Opt-In Form

So many things to do so little time.  If only that were the reason.  I did create a default form with with some interesting text, but there was no pizzaz, no enticement, very little to make a person say “I’d better sign up today or I might miss out”.

Goal #4 – Reach 500 Visitors and 1000 Page Views in a Month

I didn’t do too horribly on this goal.  My numbers for the month of December were 45 unique visitors and 51 page views.  About 10% of the visitors and 5% of the page views I was hoping to get.  There is no excuse for this other than inaction.  When I posted comments on others blogs I did get a decent amount of interest that could be built upon, but lost those when they wanted more content I reason.

Goal #5 – Start a ChristopherKnopick.com site to cover other more personal topics

This goal was completely accomplished.  In fact after I connected the site to my Google+ account using the plug-in Google+ Blog by Daniel Treadwell, I noticed some nice traffic and I had a backup for my Google+ content.  I wished I had used the site more for what it was intended, to give me a personal outlet to write.  I’m glad that I had at least one true success.

Goal #6 – Hold at least 1 free book contest

I have to admit that I chickened out on this one.  My plan was to give out several copies of a popular book to subscribers of my email list, Twitter and/or Facebook accounts.  I had heard from some in the industry that these would be people that were only interested in the free stuff and would drop me as soon as the contest was over.  I know that there are other site owners using this very tactic to get followers and I do think it will work, but perhaps I should be more strategic about it and test from where the most interest is gained from…maybe I should just try it and learn by doing.

Goal #7 – Create Free ebook

Yeah, I just never got to this.  Best of intentions and so forth.  Next year, (by the way if you want a great free guide on how to create an ebook check out eBooks the Smart Way by Pat Flynn).

Goal #8 – Post at least 5 YouTube Videos

Well I created 3 new videos and added them to my YouTube channel along with what was in the channel previously.  I also created a page on my site using the TubePress plug-in for WordPress to display all of these existing and future videos.  I did get a good amount of views from the ones that I did, and as I get better that number will only go up.

Well there you go.  My frank, honest view of what I’ve accomplished with my web endeavors in 2011.  I hope that you can take from this that I realize I have a lot to improve upon and that maybe it can be a realization for yourself as well.  I know that there are a lot of people in this big web world that are similar to me…hello…anyone?  I can only be responsible for myself with a promise that I will improve in the future.  If you’re interested in my story and future please subscribe or at least come back and take a look later.  If you need to talk with someone that understands how hard this online life can be, drop me a line from the Contact page .  If you want to comment on how good or bad your year was feel free to comment below.  Only by understanding where we are and were can we know where we’re going in the future.

- Christopher

 Email This Post |  Print This Post

Enter Your Name and Email Below and Click