A Blog Checklist: 18 before 2018

Today I’m sharing a blog checklist with 18 things I want to get done before 2018. I’m writing a list of things I’ve wanted to get done and fix on the blog for a very, very long time. I could probably make it a one hundred list, but 18 things seams more doable, don’t you think? Writing the list is no guarantee that it will get done, but at least I’ll give it a try…

Sharing this list is very scary to me, since I’m pretty sure I will not get through the entire list even though these are things I need to do for myself, and want to get done! If I post it here, at least I will have to come back to my to-do-list and let you guys know what got done (if anything), and what still got pushed to the side – and why. Accountability baby, accountability.

18 before 2018: iHanna’s Blog Checklist

1. Write more (longer content) blog posts

Check! Kind of.

I need to up my game, because I’ve got so many blog posts in my back log (not written but that I’ve got plans for, with photos and things I want to share) that it’s crazy. If I can’t create 3 posts a week, I will aim for 2 blog posts. I mean, that’s a minimum to me, how else could it even be called a blog?

Update: WIP, but there are several good ones in the archive

2. Make a logo / header for the blog
I think the one I’ve got is too chunky and childish, I want something a bit more stylish and elegant since this is my home on the internet, this is important to me. I don’t have any money to hire help, so I’ll just have to make it myself with some found font, but it’s so hard to make a decision, so that’s why I can never make up my mind. Just make it happen, Hanna.

Update: Done, see above in the menu/header of this blog post

3. Implement a new WordPress Theme
The one I’ve been using for the past couple of years is just this simple one I got from wordpress themselves, and it does not look good on cell phones or other devices since it’s not Responsive. I picked a theme a long time ago that I’m kind of liking, but then I hesitate to implement it because it will take for ever. Before I change it, I need the new logo, I need to go through the archives to see that everything still looks okay. I want category pages with overview and I need my images (all uploaded in linked within each post from Flickr!) to be working with this new theme (which is one reason I can’t just pick a any theme because I can’t buy a theme without knowing if the images will show up everywhere).

Update: Very late but finally done: New WordPress Theme: Evolve

4. Write a new About Me page
It’s been way too long since I wrote the current one, or updated it even the slightest. And maybe create a New Here-page or just a page to find the most interesting of my older content. Maybe a kind of landing page for people new to my blog, with a kind of introduction to the content you can find here from past days and in the future? Do you visit these page on other blogs? Do you have one yourself somewhere that I could take a look at?

5. Write 2-3 big blog post Check!
I want to share these 2-3 blog posts about the changes in my life that has happened recently. I want to tell you guys about stuff, so tickle me a bit if I don’t spill some news soon, okay?

6. Create a New Free Printable
I want to continue and make another pdf of inspirational quotes for my notebooks, and yours of course. I have a few ideas of other fun stuff to share, all I need is to take the time out of my day to make it happen, then I’ll share. How about one each month until Christmas?

Updated: Example, here’s one in New Year, New Diary (printable questions for journaling)

7. Start the DIY Postcard Swap Fall 2017 Check!
I will try to open the doors on 15th of September, so stay tuned or sign up for the Newsletter to get notified when it’s time to make awesome handmade postcards again.

8. Write a guest post
I am looking for blogs-bigger-than-my-own where they feature guest posts about mail art, because I want to talk about my DIY Postcards Swap. If you know anyone who accepts guest posts and writes about art, craft and creativity like I do, please let me know. I did some research in the ProBlogger group, and most of them are writing about tech, marketing and blogging, which I love reading about but don’t often write about (except when I need to geek out a bit in text here).

9. Launch the Mixed Media Embroidery Class Check!
I’m going to try to host my first workshop here on my blog. I talked about it before summer, but then got into summer mood…

10. Host an Instagram Challenge?Check!! (DIY Postcard Swap spring 2021)
I would love to be the host of a challenge that I myself would enjoy to be in, something about art, art journaling and self-love, I think. Would you wanna join? I want to do something fun with Instagram / on instagram, because frankly I’m bored with it again… At least I want to give it a try, for a month (October perhaps), what do you think? Should I dare to do it?

11. Create a logo and a Facebook page in Swedish for the studio space
I want to get planning on the kind of events and workshops I want to host, but stop myself full of fear of everything about that. The first step is to at least launch it, make it public, make it exist in the world. That should not be so hard, but has proven to be very hard. This is not a blog related task, but a internet related thing that I’ve been procrastinating for way to long. It’s time. Now. Right?

12. Update Etsy

make it interesting for me so that I will want to keep it (earning enough so that it’s worth it). If I can’t make it happen, I will be closing shop next year. I enjoy being a shop owner, and love wrapping things up and shipping them out when I do get a sale, but is the time I spend making, photographing, writing and re-listing stuff there worth the few dollars I’m actually getting after fees, exchange rates and postage is being payed? I wonder, I wonder.

I already made a new shop banner the other week, and now I’m going to work harder than ever to fill the shop with the cool, cute and useful stuff I’ve made over the years there. I’m giving myself until the end of the year to make the

13. Create a plan for my Newsletter
In the beginning of the year I got so many subscribers I’m beyond the free account setting of Mailchimp. That means that each month I’m paying to keep the Newsletter, and it’s costing me way more than I’m earning through the blog and the few things I’ve got listed on Etsy (that aren’t really selling that often either). In the few Newsletters (about three now) that I still am subscribing to, I get curated content as well as the personal content the makers put out (blog posts and stuff they themselves sell). I love finding new interesting blogs, articles to read and look at pretty art, so I’m thinking my newsletter needs something like this too. I love curating content that’s worth reading (or looking at), so I’m going to try that rout, providing links and quotes from the most interesting of the articles I read in a week in my newsletter. What do you think about this idea?

Update: Didn’t happen

14. Narrow down the Categories
I recently read an article that you should have a few, good and useful categories on your blog, and I agree. When I looked at my own massive list of categories (38 right now) I knew I wanted to do something about it. When I started blogging, WordPress didn’t have tags, but now they do. With tags it’s much easier to make related content, to find the posts you like within a sub-subject, so you don’t really need a whole heap of categories. I’m going to use the converter and make categories into tags. This tool you will find in WordPress under Tools -> Available Tools- > Categories and Tags Converter. Love that awesome little feature! I will convert quite a few of the categories to tags, rename a few of the Categories I’m using most to even broader names and try to sort through what I want to write about and share in the future.

Update: WIP

15. Post one video to YouTube per week
Not sure I can keep that pace up, so maybe every second week is more realistic, but at least it’s my aim to make more videos. I love making videos, love it!

Update: WIP

16. Make my first Vlog
I also want to try to make a few vlog-style videos, a format I haven’t tried before but always admired. I don’t think I have a very interesting life, so my vlogs will be more of footage of special days where we’re out and about and seeing stuff, doing stuff, experiencing art, architecture and nature. Not my average every day, where I sit by the computer, sip coffee, and work in silence, I promise. What do you guys think?

Update: My First Art Vlog: Yayoi Kusama in Stockholm

17. Finish a book about my last 365 project (clear the slate for next year)
I think I am going to do a paint and collage thing next year, so while I ponder this possibility I should also clear out some old stuff, and finish the book about my last 365 Collages in a year, and make it available. Would you be interested, let me know.

Update: Didn’t happen (yet)

18. Write about my Word of the Year
I’m not sure if I picked the right word for the year, but maybe it is when sharing it online makes you scared. So much you don’t even announce it publicly for eight months? I haven’t shared what my word is because it makes me scared, it makes me want to hide, it makes me want to stop writing altogether. Is it what I need, or did I take on too much? I’ll talk about it in an upcoming blog post (maybe) and see what you guys say about it.

Update: Didn’t happen

Write your own Blog Checklist or To Fix List

Blogger and awesome biz person Lisa Jacobs writes a list of things to get done before the year ends too as does Kara of BohoBerry. Last year she had 17 items on her list, and this year it’s 18 before 2018. As Lisa encouraged us to make our own list, I have been listening to her.

Update: WIP

This is my blog checklist for the time being. I feel excited to get started on this daunting and scary big list, and hope you’ll stick around to see if you notice some of the changes.

Let me know if you write a list too, I’d love to read it and cheer you on.

xoxo

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