Lower your goal expectations

[Shawn Gossman]

One thing I see a lot with those who start online communities and blogs is big goals that will be extremely difficult to reach in the amount of time people want to reach them.

Suppose you want 1,000 members in a year on your forum. That might be asking for too much with too little time.

You want to make blogging a successful money maker overnight and quit your job - it doesn't happen that way.

I suggest lowering your goals to smaller goals that work their way to larger ones.

Focus on 5-10 new members a month. Engage with them. Get them to invite others. Don't focus on a high number metric. Live in the now, not the year from now.

Focus on making your first $20 with your blog and then up it from there. Keep your day job and maybe try to get to as point where you don't need to put in overtime anymore.

Focus on smaller goals, so you don't burn yourself out and then miss opportunities.

 

[PGen98]

These are all great tips. My objective is never to have x amount of members, but to keep the ones that do join engaged, and of course you can never get 100% retention, people leave and lose interest, but you do what you can to cultivate a core of users and try to spread the word from there. If people come and see a lively community, even a small one, they'll be more compelled to join in than one that has 500 users, but only 3 are posting.

 

[KensonPlays]

I would love it if we could add 'weekly goals' in addition to "daily goals" via the AP goals addon for XF. Some goals, like posts & threads, I'd have daily. Some, like members, weekly. (say 2 per week instead of 1 per day)

But overall, good tips, yes. I agree with @PGen98

 

[zappaDPJ]

I think it's important to set goals that you as the forum owner can control. So commit to creating a realistic amount of content rather than try to gain x amount of members per month.

 

[jweb]

Great advice. This reminds me of the SMART model (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-Bound).

 

[Cedric]

If you need to lower them, does that mean you’ve set goals that weren’t achievable in the first place? 😉

 

[Mike30]

It is hard these days to say what or what's not possible. Fiction has become reality in many aspects.
There are goals of all types and sizes. If you really want something, you work for it. You may or may not achieve it,
but without big goals, there are not big successes.
Of curse goals has to be divided into manageable sizes. But I would say to never lower your goals. Go for it and do what it takes
to achieve it, because the only thing is not possible, is to live for ever.(and that is questionable these days as well)