Make Your Blog Fresh and New
If you have been blogging for a while, you may want to look for ways to make your blog new again.
As you are blogging over time, things can get stale and boring. There really is no specific reason, but things just feel blah.
The Good News? You can make your blog fresh and new again
The Bad News? It will take some time and work and doing some new things.
I know, change sucks! I'm a Taurus, so I'm not a fan of change either haha But to revive your blog, you will have to take a deep breathe and dive in.
Reviving your blog again, you will need to be creative and dedicated and consistent.
Here are few ways to make your blog alive and exciting again.
Change Your Look
If you have had the same design on your blog since you started, then it might be time to make some changes. You
can change the color scheme, the layout, content layout, ad placements etc..
Now if you are really into having a strong brand, then make sure any changes you make STILL has the feel of your brand.
Example: My brand/blog color scheme is blk and green. Now if I would change to a white with blue color scheme I would lose the brand look I have built up. I would also have to go to every social site I have designed to match my color scheme with blk and green and change them all to white and blue, wayyyy to much work.
So when you tweak the design, just try to keep the same vibe, so when your readers visit they know its still you, but notice a change.
If your brand isn't important then go nuts. You can make your blog as different as you want, be creative.
Talk To Your Readers
This is the best thing you can do, since your blog isn't for you, it is for your readers benefit, right? So just ask them, ask what type of things they want you to write about, ask if your blog is easy to navigate, loads fast for them, their opinion on your blogs look and feel etc.
I few months back, I saw a blogger that wanted to make a design change, so he designed 2 different blog themes then let his readers vote and that would be the new blog design. Very Smart!
Read Other Blogs
This is something you should be doing anyway, but reading other blogs will revive your post ideas and give you some great design ideas. Visit blogs that may or may not be in your niche, this way you will see things being done a different way then just how you see it in the "blogging" niche, this will help give you more creative ideas on ways to make your blog pop.
One of my best ideas, I got from a pet website
Now do not go all out and copy other bloggers, this is bad! But seeing something that you can take and tweak and use on your blog is fine.
Start Guest Posting
This is touchy subject for me, haha
I am not BIG on guest posts on my blog, but I am a fan of guest posting on other blogs..double standard? Let me explain my thinking.
Ok guest posts on your blog are fine, as long as you limit them. If you are a blogger, that wants to be branded as a go to pro blogger, then having to many GP's on your blog will take away from you and your know how and will affect your brand. But once you reach that level, then GP's on your blog are great because you will be giving back to up and coming bloggers, but till then, keep your GP's to a minimum.
Now if you are not trying to be that go to pro, then having GP's left and right on your blog is fine, and it is a nice way to be a little lazy and let other fill your content.
Guest posting on other blogs is awesome, the traffic, the attention, the blogger relationships you build, the backlinks it is all a positive. I have GP'd on a few blogs, and have been very happy with the results each time. This is one of the best ways to make your blog buzzing with new readers, new ideas etc..
Ok I lied. There is one BIG negative to guest posts on other blogs.
The negative I see with YOU guest posting on other blogs, is if the time you are taking to write great content for others is affecting the content you write for your own blog.
You want to write kick ass posts for any GP you do. But you also want that kick ass content on your own blog for all those new readers to come see and decide to become a regular reader, which is your goal of doing a GP in the first place.
Write, Then Write More
I believe content is king, so that is why writing is the best way to make your blog new again.
The more you write - the more you will learn - the better your writing will get. There is no way around that, this is another example of "practice makes perfect". This goes along with "asking your readers" this will get you to write posts on different topics.
Try to always write what you know. Also you want to always write content that fits your blog, so if you have a blog on dog's, don't write about cats. But when you are trying to make your blog new again, it is cool to write a post that is a little outside your blogs topic, as long as it is still a benefit to your readers.
Another thing you can also change is the way your write, or layout your posts. You can write 2 posts that word for word are exact, but the layout is different. One will get read and one won't. Sometimes your readers won't like a post more because of the layout and nothing to do with the actual content.
Example: I read a post few days ago that probably 1000 words long, yet it was all written in 3 paragraphs haha yes 1000 words in 3 paragraphs. It was a great post, content wise, but layout was bad, reading it took so much work to keep my eyes moving forward...not good.
You want your pots to be easy for your readers to read, or they won't read it..That Simple!
So play with your post changes, changing what your write about and how you lay it out will give your blog a nice kick in the pants it may need
Get To Work
There are a few good ways to make your blog fresh and new and buzzing again. Now all you need to do is look at your blog, I mean REALLY look at it. Is it time for a change small or big?
Are you happy with the luv it gets? Or do you need to revive it?
If the answer is yes to any of these, then get to work putting these tips to work.
Your blog will thank you