Get your new blog off to a great start (Hint: we can help!)
Publishing a blog can be tons of fun, and a great way to make friends and create opportunities. Starting one couldn’t be easier: sign up, pick a theme, and off you go. But maintaining one and building an audience? That takes a little more work — publishing regularly and engaging with the rest of the blogging community.
To make sticking to your 2014 blogging resolution easy and fun, we’re introducing a way to stay on top of your blogging goals. Whether you’re a brand-new blogger looking to make a splash, hope to return to a tumbleweed-strewn site you started long ago, or just want to introduce a little regularity to your blog, we’re here to help you get there.
Now, when you register a new blog, you’ll be able to pick a posting goal of weekly or monthly:
If you’ve already got a blog, you can head to your account settings page to pick a goal. (To get to your account settings, click on your Gravatar, in the right-hand corner of the bar that runs across the top of your screen when logged in to WordPress.com)
We’ll send you weekly or monthly emails with the tools and inspiration you need to meet the mark: great posts from other WordPress.com bloggers to get you motivated, writing prompts to push you past writers’ block, and tips for making the most of WordPress.com. We’ll congratulate you when you’ve met your goals, and give you a gentle nudge if you’re falling off the pace.
(You can also opt out of the emails or update your goals at any time — they’re designed to help you meet your goals, not to clutter your inbox.)
What do you do? Just blog! If you’ve got something to say without our suggestions or want to post more frequently than the goal you’ve selected, go for it! But if you need a little extra push, we’re there for you. Set a goal for yourself today, and get your blog off to a great start.
If you’d like something a little more intensive, visit The Daily Post tomorrow, when we kick off our first Zero to Hero 30-Day Blogging Challenge to give your new or flagging blog a serious jump-start. You can also visit The Daily Post for daily writing prompts and weekly writing and photography challenges.
- January 1, 2014
- Better Blogging, Milestone, Writing
WordPress.com News 
Interesting addition to the settings. I like the idea of having a useful reminder.
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That sounds amazing! Any chance for getting it for Jetpack-powered blogs?
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Terrific idea, but I’m not seeing this on the settings page… even after doing a text search on the page, am I missing an option?
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To clarify, it’s in your account settings, not the settings for your blog that you find in the dashboard. To get to your account settings, click on your Gravatar, on the right side of the black bar that’s on top of the screen when you’re logged into WordPress.com. Hope this helps!
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Thank you, all sorted!
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I love the idea of having a goal in the settings, but the option doesn’t show up in my Settings screen? Am I missing something?
Thanks for any help you can give.
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See the comment just above 🙂
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Got it, that’s great, thank you.
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I think this is a really good idea. I could certainly do with reminding!
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An awesome idea! 🙂 I will attempt to find it in settings now …
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I too cannot find the way to add the goals to a blog that is already up and running.I have searched all over the dashboard, through settings and more. I do not see any way to add goals. Please advise.
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Try account settings — see the comment above for more details. I’ve edited the post to specify — thanks for the feedback.
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Found it. Thank you 🙂
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Cool idea! though I was hoping it would be a per-blog setting and not a global one for all my blogs. I have different blogs that I use for very different purposes. (Also, for one of them my goal is to post daily, and I don’t see that option listed.)
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Interesting and very useful especially to new bloggers such as myself. I’ll give it a try!
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I like this idea I am till new and I need thoughts for my blog. Still not sure what a blog is .Not to sound dumb
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Whether or not you’re sure what a blog is, looks like you’re already publishing one!
A few resources you might find helpful:
– We’ve got a tutorial site at http://learn.wordpress.com to introduce the basics of blogging and WordPress.com.
– We’re running a 30-day challenge to help you jump-start your blog, starting tomorrow: https://wordpress.com/dailypost/2013/12/31/zero-to-hero-intro/
Good luck, and happy blogging!
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Thank you ill look these up to learn more how to work my blogs.
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I already have a blog. I went to my Settings, under General, and saw no Goals to choose from like your example in the email. Am I looking in the wrong place? Is your announcement premature?
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The goals are in your personal settings, not the blog-specific settings in your dashboard. To access your personal settings, click on your Gravatar, in the right-hand corner of the bar that runs across the top of your screen when logged in to WordPress.com.
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Timely & useful article. One thing, I was hoping to set up a goal on my already existing blog. Where exactly do I find this?
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In your personal settings, which you can access by clicking on your name/Gravatar in the right corner of the admin bar running across the top of the screen.
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Got it, michelle w.! Off I go then.
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I want to publish on a weekly schedule. So, I really like the idea of you giving me a “kick in the …” whenever I miss my publishing date. I also like the idea that ya’ll take me beyond “Learn WordPress”. I also like the idea of a refresher course every year.
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Let’s do this 2014!
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Ha! Amazing. That’s a great idea, because often a week can pass and you just don’t realise it. But to get that email reminder – it’s like an employer saying “deadline is due” & kicks your arse, which we need for reaching goals even though we love what we do. Wonderful idea 🙂
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I LOVE this. It would be perfect if it was paired with a place like the Weekly Photo Challenge were each group could share their posts towards their goal daily or every week, complete with matching taglines for easy grouping.
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Thanks for the feedback!
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Thanks for such a great follow up here. I should have said tags, not taglines and weekly or monthly posts to gather submissions since those are the choices of goal types and there is already a daily prompt with it’s own posts. Sorry about that.
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Thanks Michelle. Happy 2014 – year of the horse which brings galloping forward to mind. I’m still stumped by the style page I chose no longer being available. Wondering whether finding a new style will change the look of my past blogs, I’ve set up my own writer’s block, however, a setting for goals may help undo that, if I can keep my old blogs in their old page design, that is.
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Great Information for those who are just starting out! A great guide.
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It’s a great idea. I have been neglecting my blog for months. Really inspire to start blogging again.
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I found where this is,thanks. But do you know where I can go to change the title of my blog?
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Sure thing — head to the Settings –> General tab in your dashboard.
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Nice inspiration here, although I plan to start Zero to Hero tomorrow. However, I’d like to set my goals. I went to Settings on FantasyFic and looked through all the settings divisions, but can’t find where to change goals as you mentioned above. Could you help me out?
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The goals are in your personal account settings, not your blog’s settings. You can access account settings by clicking on your name/Gravatar in the right corner of the admin bar running across the top of the screen.
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You really motivate new bloggers, thanks for the great information and guides you give to us.
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Perfect! just what i need.
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This is great! Exactly what I need!
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Well, I hope I’ll keep blogging. I really love it and I’m so thankful for WordPress. So easy! My goal is kinda easy – every time I upload an Instagram picture I’ll upload a post! Let’s see how far I’ll get…. Good lucky everyone.
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Hoping to post weekly in 2014
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Thank you! This is going to be great at reminding me when I’m MIA on my blog.
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Great idea to set up goals and reminders! Since I’m new to blogging, I appreciate the guidance. Thank you for the info!
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Welcome, and happy blogging!
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Love this idea!! However, I went to my Settings and scrolled through each page and couldn’t find the goals. Where exactly do I need to go for this? Thank you! ~Sophia
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It’s in your account settings, not your blog’s settings — click on your name/Gravatar in the admin bar at the top of the screen to access those.
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Thank you so much. I found it 🙂 ~Sophia
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Should definitely give more options such as “every three days” or so. But, I like the reminder option. Very cool!
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Thank you, this is great! Im new and need all the help I can get.
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Thanks for this idea.. IT would be nice if you could set other goals other than posting once a week, like trying to get a set amount of followers etc.
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Thanks for the feedback — we’ll keep it in mind as we continue to explore goal-setting.
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I love this! I need to get back to blogging! Too much procrastination!
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A year for change!
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Thank you for these helpful tips. I am a new blogger and I can see how easy it is to be excited about the first post and then loose momentum.
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Hi. I have a blog that I have been updating for the past year. I checked my settings on the Dashboard and I cannot find any place to set goals as you suggest in your post. Can you point me to these settings? Thanks … Jay-Dee
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The goals are not in your dashboard settings, they’re in your account settings — click on your name/Gravatar in the admin bar to access them.
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Sounds awesome!
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I’m new to the wordpress blogging world however, with a few written posts so far and great interaction with the community-I’m looking forward to becoming a dedicated member!
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Welcome 🙂
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I never realized that I skipped over the goal setting a couple years ago. I think it is a nice little motivation booster! Thanks for the help.
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We just added it, so you haven’t missed anything 🙂
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Me, I just look at my blog’s calendar widget; no need for e-mail or to log in somewhere: if a week is missing a link, I know I’m behind. So far so good, since I’m aiming for a minimum of one post per week. 😀
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Just open my blog in the new year! Thanks for the tips
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this is a really great idea..nice :))
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I love the idea. I have actually been looking for something like this for a while now.
Might I suggest something though? I’m just starting a second blog (on top of contributing to two others), so I would really appreciate this being blog-specific instead of user-specific.
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Nice option, I’ll remember it when I suffer from a writer’s block. No problems so far though.
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It took me a while to find this… having done so, my question is “Why was this done under account settings?” I have multiple blogs and my goals are different. It seems like a potentially helpful feature that is severely limited by where it was added.
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We appreciate the feedback! We’ll continue to refine the feature.
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I just started my blog, but a lot of the technical stuff is very confusing to me. Could anyone help me with this? I want to make certain pages for certain themed writing. And also I would like to make links and what not. Help! haha thanks
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There’s a tutorial site at http://learn.wordpress.com, and a challenge for new bloggers just started at https://wordpress.com/dailypost. Check ’em out!
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I like to do 6 a week….wish there was a setting for that!
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This is the year I want to move my blog from the safety of wordpress.com to the more manouevrability of WordPress.org. Is there a discussion group, or guidelines to help me make the transition?
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The support forums on WordPress.com are hugely helpful and that site in general has tons of good info. Depending on your resources, you can also purchase a Guided Transfer from us, and we’ll make the transition for you and get you set up on your new site — just head to the store tab in your dashboard.
(We wish you’d stay, though! We’ll miss you.)
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Thanks a lot. Just did it.
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Hey Thanks Michelle for sharing this info..helps to have a nudge in the right direction, considering i’m all new here and my blog all beautifully set 🙂
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Ooooh I like this!! Hopefully this will actually get me blogging now!!
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Great new helpful tool. Every bit helps.
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Thanks for this new feature! I will definitely be using it.
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I have been having a blast. Thanks.
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This was very helpful, I’ve made a goal of posting twice a week. I’m currently working on a 30 Day Fitness Challenge along with Tone It Up’s Love Your Body.
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sounds great opted for weekly goal 🙂 looking forward
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so confused and frustrated have to quit for now….why don’t’ they make this easy? can’t deal with anything not easy.
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There’s a tutorial site at http://learn.wordpress.com that might be helpful. We’re also doing a 30-day blog bulding challenge over at https://wordpress.com/dailypost/zero-to-hero/ that breaks things up into manageable daily chunks.
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New to the blogging world, so any help or suggestions I can get are so appreciated! Love this feature!
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Awesome Idea Thanks! I’m going for 200 blog postings by Summer!
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Great way to stick to goals and make blogging a fun habit!
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Love this idea. Anything available for self-hosted WordPress installations?
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There may be a plugin — not quite the same, but I found this one, which lets you put a progress meter into a post or widget. You could use that to measure your progress:
http://wordpress.org/plugins/progpress/
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I love WordPress as there is no comparison to it around in terms of convenience of handling your blogs, open source resorces etc.
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I have a question if anyone could offer advice,
I’m wondering
all those suggestions about using Facebook to improve blogging –
do they mean creating a facebook page for your blog, or just joining your personal FB account to your blog?
I know if I use my personal Facebook I will attract a lot more traffic. But in return, will my potential blog followers flood my Facebook? Also, will constantly sharing my new posts annoy my current FB friends?
I’m very confused.
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They usually mean creating a Facebook Fan Page — here’s an explanation that should help:
https://wordpress.com/dailypost/2013/08/27/facebook-fan-page/
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Thank you so much! All the suggestions have been great!
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It took me sometime to find the goals and I will try them out today however my blog is not really personal it’s more of offering a service to people. I may try and include some personal touches in future.
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How do I make my posts ‘Googleable’ (if there is such a word!) I’m Posting on a familiar theme – Christian Life Coaching – and Post once a week. Is it important to have main words repeated in the text? Do pictures help? What makes a strong Headline? What makes my Blog worthy of attracting Followers? Sorry, BIG questions here!
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Honestly, the best way to rank well for life coaching is to consistently write quality content about life coaching. For a rundown on SEO (search engine optimization), Google, and how best to position your blog, check out: https://wordpress.com/blog/2013/03/22/seo-on-wordpress-com/
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Your blogs are awesome and helpful 😀 Do you have any tips for new bloggers?!
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Tons, over at The Daily Post!
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Okay so how do I get people to read my blog?
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We’ve got lots of resources on growing your readership here: https://wordpress.com/dailypost/category/traffic-growth/
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Thanks ! nice information for a new blogger like me 😀
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