Can you believe that it is 2018 already? I hope your year is off to a good start. 2018 is a year that involves a lot of change for us here at Pawsitively Intrepid. Read on to discover our top 3 blog related New Year’s Resolutions.
New Year’s Resolution #1: Focus our niche
In November of this year, the Blog Paws Facebook group I am a part of posted this article by 2DogsMedia. The article discusses finding your niche to help with search engine optimization (SEO). When this blog was originally started, the niche was not too specific. I wanted to experiment with types of blog posts and find the topics that were the most exciting to write. Our broad blog category is pets – or more specifically cats and dogs. Our catchphrase “exploring the adventure of life with pets” intended to create an adventure based focus (which ties into to our name – Pawsitively Intrepid). However, as you may have noticed, our 2017 blog posts range from backpacking with dogs to fostering kittens.
While writing posts with a wide range of focuses has been great this year, the posts that have been the most fun to research and photograph have been the posts that relate to hiking with dogs. As a result, expect 2018 to be filled with many hiking trail explorations, hiking gear reviews, and (as I am still a veterinarian after all) safety and health considerations for the active outdoorsy dog. For those of you who enjoy the cat-related topics. Don’t fear. There will likely still be the occasional cat adventure and miscellaneous post added to the site.
New Year’s Resolution #2: Explore more of the great outdoors the United States has to offer.
Okay, so maybe you are thinking what I was thinking; there are already a lot of dog hiking blogs out there. Well, New Year’s resolution #2 leads in to a more detailed focus of our niche. In spring of 2018, Glia and I will be starting on an adventure to explore the United State’s national parks (more details to come!).
As many experienced national park goers have noted, hiking options for dogs are limited within most national parks. Glia and I will take advantage of what we can inside the national parks, but will also be looking for great hiking opportunities just outside the national parks. We are excited to explore more of the wonderful landscapes that the United States has to offer. And we can’t wait to share our discoveries with you!
New Year’s Resolution #3: Continue to grow as a blog
I know this resolution is pretty generic. However, there are several subheadings to this resolution.
- Professional development as a writer and photographer. The more you practice, the better you become, right? So I will continue writing and photographing and reading as much as I can from bloggers who have already “made it.” For photography, currently, most of the photographs for this site are obtained via a smartphone camera. I recently upgraded to a Samsung Galaxy Note 8. This phone takes significantly better photos than my last one and has options for a lot of manual “pro” features. Learning how to utilize the many features at my disposal is a serious goal for 2018.
- Create a professional looking logo. When visiting other blogs, I notice that a professional logo lends a look of credibility and expertise to the site. Obviously good, informative, accurate writing is more important than a logo, but first impressions matter. By the end of 2018, expect to see a logo appear on this site.
- Optimize SEO and site speed. A big goal for me for 2018 is to learn more about search engine optimization and how to optimize site speed. Hoping to make it easier to find this blog and more convenient to scroll through this site.
- Continue networking with other bloggers and you, my wonderful readers. Remember, if you have questions or topics you would love to read a post about, don’t hesitate to comment below or send an email to drkate@pawsitivelyintrepid.com. Remember, I am a small animal veterinarian with a passion for hiking locally and traveling to explore the outdoors. I have also spent a lot of hours fostering cats and kittens over the past 2 years. Let me know your thoughts and topic suggestions.
What are your resolutions?
What are your pet, blog, or adventure related New Year’s Resolutions? Share them in the comments below.
And stop by Pawsitively Intrepid next week for a review on Goose Island County Park (La Crosse, WI).
