I’ve been seeing a lot of stuff online lately about “living with out goals” and stuff like that. I think it is nonsense. People without goals are the same ones who tend to get baked and watch TV all day.

At least for me, having some sort of benchmark helps. It forces you to think about what you have to do to reach them.

Here is what I’m shooting for in 2012:

• Across the board doubling in website traffic. I actually don’t think this is going to be as hard as it seems. Google was good to me in 2011. Everything broke my way with the Panda updates. I haven’t focused on search traffic, but I’ve started experimenting with a few key pages. I’m finding that without any link building, I can get pages into a competitive position over time. The key is the “time” part. I might do some link building for a few select pages, but I haven’t decided yet. I also hope to get some posts that go viral. Honestly, I have never had that happen on anything before. I have some plans for how to achieve this as well and have started collecting data on some of them.
• 30,000 RSS + email subscribers. I’m currently around 16,000. This would require slightly less than a doubling. I assume that 80-90% of that is going to come from email and not RSS. That is what the trend has been lately. I have a few ideas that might result in large jumps in subscribers, but I have no idea if they will work. I will be releasing a new version of my free travel photography ebook in January. I’m I will have over 100 images this time, up from 50. I am also going to start using Facebook more to drive email signups.
• 50,000 Facebook Fans. This is a much more aggressive growth number, but Facebook is unique for 2 reasons. First, there is a viral nature to Facebook which results in a higher rate of natural growth for fan pages. Second, it is always possible to run Facebook ads. I did a $100 experiment with Facebook ads in the past, but I don’t think I really figured out how it worked. This number will also help reach the above goals.
• Release my book. This should be listed first as this is actually the most important goal of the year. If I can execute well with this, all the other other goals will fall into place, probably quite easily.
• Stop talking about blogging. I have found talking about the business of blogging and travel blogging in particular to be a massive waste of my time. I’m especially talking about the Facebook groups (one of which I started) and commenting on other blog posts about blogging. If I have something to say, I’ll say it here or in a guest post somewhere. I’ve been cutting back and I hope to do so even more in 2012. I can see nothing but upside in staying out of controversies.
• Slow down. I had a huge issue this year with the pace I traveled and my ability to get things done. Many of the problems I had dealt with taking press trips. I do not plan on taking nearly as many in 2012. The more I take, the less they seem worth it. I have a backlog of things to write about and I really don’t want to get too much more until I get through what I have.
• Release an ebook. I’ve never done this because I didn’t have have a subject that I thought was worthy of releasing an ebook about. Just doing something on general travel wasn’t enough. I finally got a subject and I think it is a good one. Moreover, it is something that I would consider myself an expert on at this point and I don’t know of anyone else who has touched the subject. I hope to have it out in the summer.
• Turn a profit. This isn’t a goal because as of Jan. 1 I will be profitable. I’ve been putting this off for years but 2012 is the year. Many of my plans are already in motion. Now is just a matter of execution.

I have other irons in the fire as well, including my iPhone app, photo sales and maybe a project on the iBook store. I have no idea what the potential revenue is on these, so I’m not going to list them.

I thought the idea behind it was pretty smart: shorten your URL’s and get URL’s seeded in StumbleUpon.

It was a two-for-one deal and I thought it was a no brainer to adopt. If you can shorten a URL while at the same time maybe get some extra traffic from StumbleUpon, why not use it?

Use it I did. I started using su.pr to post all my blog posts to Twitter. In addition to the URL shortening, I could also schedule posts and at the time it was one of the better options around.

For about a year I StumbleUpon was my largest source of traffic. For a time, I was kicking serious ass on SumbleUpon. At my peak I got 500,000 pageviews a month from StumbleUpon. Not shabby.

Most of it was the sort of things which people on StumbleUpon like: photos. Some did better than others and there was no guarantee that anything would become popular.

Yes, the traffic wasn’t great quality, but I am a firm believer that there is no bad traffic. I know from emails many people discovered my site from StumbleUpon.

Then in 2010, it just stopped.

They did something to change the algorithm and su.pr wasn’t so super anymore. StumbleUpon traffic plummeted. The scheduling system sometimes didn’t work right. I’d submit bug reports and nothing ever got fixed.

I got the strong impression that su.pr was in zombie mode. They didn’t kill it, but they weren’t doing anything with it.

I kept using it on the theory that maybe it did something and even if it did nothing it was still worth using now that I had gotten used to it.

I eventually began experimenting with posts that I’d never submit to su.pr, and I found that those posts did BETTER on SumbleUpon than the posts I submitted using their own URL shortener.

I eventually began to wonder if su.pr wasn’t in fact hurting me on StumbleUpon. It didn’t make sense, but the data was piling up, and I had no data which said otherwise.

Nonetheless, for whatever reason, I stuck with it.

Last week was the final straw. StumbleUpon did a major revamp of their entire site. They updated their logo, changed the look of all the tool bars and widgets. They changed everything…….except su.pr.

No one bothered to put the new logo on su.pr or change anything about it. It was the ultimate signal that they had no one working on this project anymore. When you make a big corporate top down decision like a brand change, you can figure out what someone’s priorities are. Su.pr is not a priority for StumbleUpon.

With that, I have ceased using it.

It was fun while it lasted.

It is a play on the recent movie and popular book: Moneyball.

If you aren’t familiar with it, it is the story of how Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane used the principals of Sabermetrics to pick overlooked and low cost players for his team. Using advanced statistics, he was able to cobble together a team that made the playoffs and put together a record 20 game winning streak at a fraction of the payroll the Yankees were paying.

Back in college in the 80′s, my roommate used to buy the Bill James annual baseball abstracts. Bill James was the first guy that used statistics to challenge conventional wisdom. He proved that batting average wasn’t that big of a deal, walks were really important and stolen bases were overrated.

Like baseball, there is a lot of conventional wisdom floating around about blogging. A lot of it is total bullshit. Just look at the stream of drivel which is pumped out from the guests posts on ProBlogger.net. Almost all of those articles share one thing in common: no data. It is all conjecture or anecdotal evidence. (I should say, the posts which are actually written by Darren on ProBlogger are usually pretty good because they usually use data he gathered from his Digital Photography School blog.)

Too many people try to get the secret from superstar bloggers. There is of course no secret. Everyone is going to find a different path, and what works for wont work for another in a totally different niche. I’ve noticed this more and more as I’ve been seeing how my posts have been performing on Facebook vs Twitter or LinkedIn. I’m crushing it on Facebook right now. I’m doing far better than many much larger technology or marketing blogs. However, I don’t get nearly as many tweets or LinkedIn shares. Why? Totally different audience.

Some blogging guru, however, isn’t going to know that. They only have their blog as a reference point and the advice they give is based on what they learn from that site. If you are reading these words, you are probably a content creator. The people who read this site are fundamentally different than the people who read my travel blog. I’m guessing you are more likely to share this post on Twitter than you would on Facebook and you are more likely to comment. I have found that the readers of my site are far more likely to share content via Facebook because most of them are not content creators.

Data is where it is at. You have to know your data. You have to experiment, not only to find out what works but also to find out what doesn’t.

Only you can know your data.

In the last few weeks Amy has been taking a bigger role in helping me select photos to display and helping to figure out optimal times for posting things.

If you can get an extra 100 visit per day from optimizing when you post things, that is 3,000 visits per month. If you can do that in several different aspects of your site and you could be talking a close to 10,000 visit per month boost. That isn’t chicken feed, especially since it doesn’t require doing any more work. It is just working smarter.

You can figure some things out however by the behavior patterns of your users. Here are things I’ve observed over time about readers on my site:

1. They don’t comment much. There isn’t much to say about a photo and unless you’ve been to a destination it is hard to add anything to the conversation.
2. They don’t use LinkedIn. Or perhaps to be more accurate, they do not use LinkedIn as a platform to share content. My LinkedIn traffic was so low, I ceased putting a button on my site.
3. They don’t have blogs. Most of my commenters do not fill out the URL section of the comment form. They are not necessarily content creators.
4. They don’t use Google+. Like the LinkedIn button, I took the +1 button off my site. I’ve gotten very little in terms of traction on Google+.
5. They do use Facebook. Facebook has been blowing up for me. My fan page growth had been increasing and the number of shares and likes I’m getting has been going up too.

All these facts fit a profile for a very casual, normal internet user. They are not bloggers, power users or influencers. Most of the people Klout tells me I influence have very, very low scores (yes, I know Klout is stupid but we are talking about scores below 20 and it is just one data point which confirms the others.)

In the last week I’ve had two posts which have gotten over 100 Facebook shares in under 24 hours. Neither were controversial or big pillar articles.

Contrast this to a recent article by Brian Solis:

• 513 retweets
• 218 LinkedIn shares
• 35 Facebook shares

Brian writes about social media, marketing and business. His audience are internet savvy people who are probably content creators. He is crushing on LinkedIn and Twitter but his Facebook shares are less than mine. As far as I can tell he doesn’t have a fan page and hasn’t turned on subscriptions for his personal page.

For his audience, I think what he is doing makes sense. I think everyone needs to figure out what their audience is using and optimize for that. I’m guessing a business site like Tnooz.com might have better results with LinkedIn, even though it is also travel focused.

Add to this another tidbit that I’ve heard from some people which I think makes sense: The more options you put on a page, the more confusing you make it for a user. Putting every single social media button on a page makes it more likely that someone will do nothing rather than share it.

I’m even considering removing the retweet button if I find that people aren’t using it. My hunch is the most people are retweeting directly in Twitter, not from the button.

The data is telling me to double down on Facebook. I’m probably going to implement Facebook comments in the near future. I have only heard good things from those who have adopted it.

Play to your strengths, don’t promote your weaknesses.

The primary difference lies not in the story they create but in the meta-story.

What is a meta-story you might ask?

Most bloggers have some sort of meta-story behind them which the real appeal which is what really attracts followers. It usually can be summarized in a sentence or two and can fit into the description field on your Twitter account.

My meta-story would be something like: I’ve been traveling around the world for almost 5 years and have visited over 100 countries and territories.

While I try to create good content, I know it is the meta-story which hooks people. A meta-story can be being a celebrity (why else would people care about what Justin Bieber has to say?), something you’ve done, something you are doing, something you are going to do, something you are, etc.

I’ve had dozens upon dozens of people send me emails and tweets saying things like “What you are doing is so cool!”, “I wish I could be you!”, etc. Those are all responses to my meta-story not any particular piece of content.

A typical freelance writer will usually offer a meta-story which is only of interest to editors and other writers (I’ve written for X, Y and Z publications). Even if they do have a compelling meta-story, there is no way for the reader to act on it and follow the person in print.

Content can bring people in, but your meta-story is what is going to hook people. YOU are the ultimate content. All your content must spring from you.

In my niche, travel, where I go and what I do is just as much part of my content as what I write and the photos I create. Going to exotic places and doing interesting things is part of the mystique. If all I did was go to all inclusive resorts in Mexico, it wouldn’t be very interesting.

Ask yourself; when someone visits your site, how quickly can they figure out your meta-story? How succinctly can you tell it?

The spam was really ridiculous. I tried using captchas and other things, but the bots are just too smart. Nothing worked.

Last week, on a whim I revisited the forum and decided to upgrade the vBulletin software that was running on it.

I screwed up and accidentally deleted everyone’s account and all the old posts. I was pretty frustrated at what I had done, so I just left the forums alone because I was heading off to the Galapagos Island for several days.

Someone later posted a hint for checking to see if your site was hacked. I did a Google search for “Site:everything-everywhere.com viagra” and sure enough something came up….and it was a forum post. I thought I had killed all the posts.

It turns out in those few days when I was in the Galapagos, over 15,000 spam comments were posted to the forum. FIFTEEN THOUSAND!!! Porn, gambling, viagra, you name it, it was on the forum.

Needless to say, the bots were hitting my forum hard even though it had been offline for months.

I went in, deleted all the users and all the posts. I then tried to set up some of the built-in anti-spam protection, which didn’t do so well last time.

I noticed that the new version of the software had a new option. Instead of using captchs, you could ask a simple question. This time, I stayed away from the captchas and asked users: Which is bigger, 7 or 77?

The spam completely stopped. 100%. If I go to the forum now, I can see many bots still hitting the server, but they can’t register anymore.

I was amazed at how effective asking a simple question could be against bots. Moreover, if bots should ever figure it out, I just have to change the question to something simple and it will probably work again.

I’ve attended a lot more conferences than normal this year. This was on purpose. I come to the travel industry as an outsider. Not just an outsider, but an outsider who hasn’t gone through any of the traditional gatekeepers which let people in or out.

One of the things I’ve learned this year is what conferences to attend and what I shouldn’t attend. I attended the New York Times and LA Times Travel Expos this year, but I probably wont be going back in 2012. I got a lot of value from the Canadian Media Marketplace and my assistant Amy will be attending VMEX this year for me. Events which are targeted directly towards journalists are FAR more productive than the consumer oriented ones like the NYT Travel Show.

I have the following conferences at least tentatively listed for 2012:

• TBEX
• International Pow Wow
• Canadian Media Market
• VEMX
• PRSA Travel
• Blog World
• SATW
• World Travel Market
• Adventure Travel Summit

I’m almost certainly not going to attend all of these. I’d be amazed if I attend even half of them. Having an assistant you can trust to represent you makes a huge difference. I’ll give priority to conferences where I’ll be speaking.

I will probably not be attending SXSW again. I was there this year and I really didn’t see the point in it. I didn’t accomplish anything in terms of business. I suppose if you want to ass kiss social media gurus or technology bloggers it can be fun, but other than that I don’t see what I’d do again. I’d need some specific reason to go this year. If you actually register for the actual conference (which I didn’t do) it is incredibly expensive.

One thing I’ve never understood is people who go to conference and then bitch about not learning anything. I don’t go to conference to learn. Anything you need to learn you are going to learn online before you ever go to a conference. You go to conferences to meet people.

In getting ready for both Blog World and WTM I’m spending some time looking at the list of speakers and exhibitors. Before the conference, I’m going to have a plan for who I want to meet and what I want to achieve. If you don’t do that, I really think you are just wasting time and money in attending a conference.

I’m really all about conversion. Getting people to make a 1-click commitment to hear more from you in the future. They might want to hear more from you via RSS, email, Twitter or Facebook. It really doesn’t matter so long as they like you enough to want to hear more.

The best method is almost certainly email and that is one area where I have been lax in last few months. I’m going to be coming out with a host of products over the next few months, so getting my email list in order is now a top priority for me.

The first thing I did is set out to find an intern to help me compile the newsletter every 2 weeks. It actually isn’t that big of a job, but with all the other stuff I’m doing I’ve let it slip through the cracks one too many times. It is primarily compiling a list of what has been on the site the last 2 weeks.

The second thing is increasing the raw number of subscribers. I have a bunch of plans for this including putting a signup form in my new iPhone app, coming out with another free ebook, and some other things I’m not going to divulge at this time.

I’m also going to be upping the content in the newsletter. I’m going to be coming out with a multipart series which will be be releases every few days after someone signs up for the newsletter.

Basically, I need to make the newsletter on a par with the blog in terms of the attention I give it.

I think there is enormous potential in boosting my subscriber base if I can give this the attention it deserves.

Being there and talking to travel journalists got me thinking of how what I do is different from what they have been doing for years. Perhaps the biggest difference is interaction with your readers. As a blogger, my readers can comment on anything I write knowing that I will read it. I get emails all the time from readers asking questions and I will often meet with readers in cities I visit for drinks or a meal.

You never see this sort of behavior with people who work on print or TV. If you sent a message to someone who worked for a newspaper to meet up and have drinks, they would probably think you are crazy. I haven’t meet a single writer who has ever met up with one of their readers or even has had an invitation from one. There is a very large chasm between writers and their readers. There is almost nothing in the way of feedback, comments and god forbid, actually meeting your readers.

Being an individual rather than someone who is works behind a larger brand name makes us very approachable, and that is our greatest strength. The fact that people think they can email us directly to ask a question or they can meet us in person is by far the most powerful thing about blogging. That personal connection makes us more trusted and listened to.

What audience we have, we had to earn. It wasn’t given to us by a gatekeeper at a publication and it wont disappear the moment they decide to downsize.

I’ve hammered this point home dozens of times in discussions with travel industry people. They assume that because something is glossy and has a big budget that people have a stronger relationship with it. It is higher “quality”. The problem is, the exact opposite is true. If it was true, magazines and newspapers wouldn’t be in the trouble they are in. You can’t interact with print. You can’t click with print. Pound for pound, a blogger will have a much more loyal audience than a print publication. Companies will toss 5 or even 6 figure ad buys at magazines which have an audience smaller than some blogs. They would never consider an equivalent ad buy with blogger of equal size.

This assumption that print is more powerful is absolutely wrong. The power of personality is the reason why people know the names of the bloggers they follow. It is why they follow them. The power of personality is what makes bloggers influential.

This familiarity, however, blows up in our face when we deal with the business world. Even if you have an audience larger than a print magazine, you wont be given the same amount of respect. Even though many bloggers are running small businesses, it is assumed that the influence and power of a business is reflected in its size. If you are just one person, you can’t be that big of a deal.

I’ve seen this first hand. When I started working with my assistant Amy, just having another person talk on your behalf changes the perception of the company you are working with. Suddenly, you aren’t just a person anymore, you have “people” (even if those people are just helping you on a part time basis or are on commission).

The informality which works so well with readers often leads to business behaving in ways in which they never would with a publication. Companies have no shame in asking for free consulting, free product mentions, or just ignoring bloggers altogether. I don’t think anyone would dare send an email to the New York Times asking them for free ad space.

I don’t think there is an easy solution to this. I believe that in the long run, things work themselves out. Part of the onus is on bloggers to change how they work with the industry, and part will be on the industry to see the real power and VALUE of working with independent online publishers.

Maybe.

Or maybe not.

What I found surprising is how “influential” this guy thought he was. I looked at his blog and by any public measurement you can think of (RSS, Alexa, Twitter, Facebook, etc) this guy wasn’t that big of a deal. Really.

It ended up in him getting in to a “who’s dick is bigger” contest, which I knew I’d win because I looked his and he didn’t look at mine.

I’ve heard stories from PR people about bloggers who think they are prima donnas and act like total dicks on press trips.

I bring this up because I do my monthly Q&A post I often get questions pertaining to my “success”. The thing is, I really don’t consider myself any sort of blogging “success”.

Yes, compared to other bloggers I may have had more “success” (in some numerical sense), but in the big scheme of things I am nothing.

All I have to do is think of my friend Scott who has a popular webcomic. His audience DWARFS mine. It isn’t even funny. He shares office space with some guys who have another webcomic who have an audience that is way bigger than his. I am an accounting error compared to these guys.

There is always someone out there that makes you look insignificant.

When I think of how big the travel and tourism industry is, I know what I’m doing it just a drop in the bucket. Maybe not even a drop. The potential audience for travel is so big, and the bar is set so high, that the difference between me and a new blogger is nothing compared to where I am and the top possible rung. In that comparison, no blogger should get depressed about their size, nor should they get cocky.

I will often compare what I am doing with large magazines like Conde Nast Traveler or National Geographic. That is a pretty bold comparison, especially considering that they have hundreds of staff, giant offices and 8 figure budgets, and I’m just one guy. That, however, is the ultimate measuring stick and in that comparison we (bloggers) all come up massively short.

I truly am nothing…..and so are you.

I’ve been accused of being arrogant and at times there is probably some truth in that. But believe me when I say in my own mind I am constantly thinking about how to be better and how I could lose everything overnight.

You have to work your ass off and never rest on your laurels.