2008 is almost over. 2009 is about to begin.

Have you considered your blog improvement plan for next year?

Here are 7 strategy-related questions you should ask yourself.

1. What will I accomplish with my blog in 2009?

Set a few goals for the next 12 months. I recommend having at least one clear, measurable goal for your blog’s overall performance, plus at least one goal each for the following areas:

1. Blog content improvement
2. Blog design improvement
3. Blog community improvement
4. Blog traffic improvement
5. Blog RSS feed / Atom feed / email subscribers improvement
6. Blog search engine optimization (SEO) improvement
7. Blog social media optimization (SMO) improvement
8. Blog monetization improvement
9. Blog value / return on investment (ROI) improvement

Which means you’ll have at least 9 area-specific goals plus at least one overall blog goal for next year.

Many people have asked me to help them make their blog more successful.

One of the most common questions I ask in reply is this: “What’s your overall vision for your blog? Where do you want it to take its target audience in the next 12-24 months?”

Once they answer that question, they’re ready to hear what I have to say about how to improve their blog and get the results they want. Here’s why the blog improvement process ultimately hangs from the feet of vision.