Blogging 201: Set Three Goals

Here I go with a new round of  Blogging University! Blogging 201 has begun and the theme is branding and growth. The first task involves setting goals and defining purpose. I’m not so sure what my “brand” is, but I do have purpose.

In Blogging 101 I decided that this blog will be fairly broad, limited only by my interests and inclinations; a way for me to exercise my voice, expressing thoughts and ideas via words and photography; to present myself, so to speak, to the world, … which, I’ve discovered, is literally what happens when you click Publish on WordPress.com. With just a click, my blog post travels the globe creating the opportunity to interact with people from all cultures anywhere on the planet. How great is that!? Absolutely incredible! I’m enjoying connecting with others who have put themselves out into the blogosphere and taken a few moments to read my posts. 🙂

I’m also blogging to create and build a web presence while becoming more familiar with the tools to do so, and it’s a catalyst for me to further develop my skill taking and editing photographs on a regular basis. For me the process of building this blog activates the same pleasure centers in my brain that light up when I do a complicated jigsaw puzzle. 🙂 Lot’s of delicious visual and intellectual pieces to fit together and figure out! It’s always a challenge, it frequently stumps me, but I enjoy the process and the results when I succeed.

I’m also hoping that creating this blog and my participation in the WordPress Blogging University will be a means to inspire, improve, and revitalize my other two websites which are hosted on GreenGeeks using WordPress from WordPress.org.  They both need lots of tweaking. (The websites are bostree.com and terrybyoga.com if you feel inclined to take a look.)  There’s also a SmugMug website I’m working on where I intend to sell prints of my photos. If it’s within the WordPress.com regulations, I’ll link this blog to that website sometime in the future.

So in a nutshell, ThroughTheLensOfMyLife is a work in progress, an exploration, and a catalyst. It’s a way for me to grow, create, learn, express, and connect with others.

A few concrete, simply defined goals which I’ve made for myself are…

1) Participate in the weekly photo challenge. I have already instituted  this. 🙂

2) Post more of my  photography, in addition to the weekly photo challenge, at least once a week beginning this week.

3) Make at least two text focused posts, or posts with no photos, challenging myself to write, at least twice a month.  This post is number one.

4) Spend one or two hours a week interacting with other bloggers.

Hopefully while working towards these goals, I’ll attract more followers, follow more bloggers, build a better web presence and enjoy discovering my brand!

Feel free to leave a comment to let me know how it all looks from where you’re reading 🙂