Road to Glory: What Blogging Milestones Have You Reached This Summer?

It’s the end of the summer now and I’m going to take the odd calm I’ve felt in the blogosphere as a sign folks are working away on their own blogs and projects.

Dog days, where the long-nights are dwindling.

For me it’s been a combo of eBooks and website projects, with the usual delays from working on any team and lots of nights with 2-4 hours of sleep…if I’m lucky.

Given the sort of ending feeling the summer always has, I’d love to check in and see what milestones my readers are reaching, and help out however I can with reaching the next stage of blogging success.

Two Facts of Blog Growth to Keep in Mind

I listed 20 milestones I’ve enjoyed below, loosely in order, and itemized them by the moment itself with a bit of encouragement added in if you need that little push.

First though, I think it’s smart to say that…

1) There is no one set path to blogging success.
We pave our own, and use exiting guides to help us along the way…

2) Nothing in blogging is guaranteed.
When was the last time you read a blog post you didn’t want to read? Probably never. The web is a consumer-driven environment where the content has to meet the user’s needs, not the other way around. In short, you’re entitled to very little around here.

Do you agree?

20 Milestones: Which Have You Claimed?

Beginner’s Territory

1. Picking a platform – the first choice we all make, and one that makes a big impact on our journey. If you’re still at the starting gates, check out Dear Blogger’s guide on where to blog.

2. Choosing your blog’s title – a title speaks your mission in a clear, potentially even metaphorical way. Simple titles, or two word combinations, work best.



3. Getting a working logo – branding Part II, you might hate this 6 months from now so keep it simple and adaptable.

4. Creating a Facebook page – tasting popularity for the very first time online.

5. Recruiting your first guest-blogger – someone else wants to write there? Hm, that site must be growing…

Growth:

6. Registering a domain name – time to put some moola into the business, and hope that your first choice is available!

7. Landing your first guest post – increasing your authority while building backlinks.

8. Earning your first dollar – Adsense clicks, ghost-writing, consulting, if making some income is your goal then this buckaroo feels great.

9. Opening your first Google Analytics account – whoa, I’m actually getting some hits!

10. Editing code for the first time – tweaking the basic HTML and CSS while hopefully not breaking too much. Always save a backup copy or two.

Growing Up – Part II:

11. Collecting your first subscriber – feels great if you’re using a premium provider, because they’ll email you a confirmation with all the new subs stats, like what page they entered through!

12. Getting mentions on Twitter – look at you, you celebrity you.



13. Moving to self-hosted WordPress – takes some focused planning, but often times worth it. Think less headaches and easier growth.

14. Creating a dependable about page – I put this here because most bloggers put this off. When the blog becomes a business, this part is crucial.

15. Writing your first eBook – first step to becoming a recognized author.

Blog Maturity and Beyond!

16. Crossing 100 subscribers – your tribe expands, and when you mail them, they listen! Whoa!

17. Landing an interview – answering about 10 questions, 3 of which they’ll post, but still an awesome experience for you.

18. Earning your first affiliate commission – only applies to affiliate marketers of course.

19. Ranking #1 for a viral phrase – better have your blog looking good!

20. I’ll leave this one blank – but I suppose it could be publishing a blog post you really feel proud of and will look back on fondly (if you have one, feel free to link it for us).

What Would You Add?

While this list isn’t nearly complete with every milestone we reach on our blogging journeys, they are 20 steps I remember fondly.

What would you add to this list?