• Top Tips On How To Look After Your Blog

    look after your blog

    Here are 5 tips you need to do for your blog before the new year starts. You need to look after your blog and it will look after you in the long run. Below I’ve put together a few little tips on how to look after your blog. For near the end of the year. So it’s ready for a fresh start in the new year.

    13 WAYS TO GET YOUR WEBSITE READY FOR THE NEW YEAR

    Using the broken link checker linked, you can enter in your blog url and the captcha security code given. And it will scan your entire blog for broken and no longer existing links. It will then show you where each link is in your blog so you can remove them. And this will then speed up your blog loading times. Also it stops readers from clicking and being directed to dead links.

    02. Check the format of all of your posts.

    Again this is another more time consuming thing to do for your blog but it’s always good to check that the layout of each of your blog posts it how you want it. There’s nothing worse than looking back at a blog post and seeing all of your pictures or font in a place where it’s not meant to be and it looks all over the place.

    READ MORE: Blogging Stationery Haul with Typo and PaperChicCo

    03. Make sure all of your contact information is up to date.

    There is nothing worse than someone trying to get hold of you but your contact and social media information is either out of date or slightly incorrect and that they can’t get hold of you.

    04. Make sure you’ve replied to all of your comments.

    Go through all of your blog posts and make sure you’ve replied to everyone’s comments so there isn’t one that’s gone ignored. There is nothing worse than taking some time out to comment on someone you likes blog and then get ignored by the blogger so make sure you don’t do it to those who take time to comment on your blog as well.

    05. Create your goals for the new year.

    Make sure you know what you want to achieve in the new year so you have plenty of time to prep and focus on. Create goals for what posts you want to write up ready for the new year, focus on new branding and marketing strategies. How many followers do you want to achieve next year? How will you further your advertising for the blog? Do you want your blog to have a new look? Change in style?

    06. Update statistics spreadsheets

    Are you a blogger that likes keeping track of your statistics? For example following how many page views, sessions and unique visitors you’ve had each month, how many blog posts you’ve published each month or keeping track of how your socials have grown? I love seeing how my blog has progressed over the year and if a certain month has performed better than the month before. Make sure you keep your spreadsheets up to date with the latest figures to compare and see how you can improve for next year.

    07. Create a new survey for new year improvements

    I love creating a new survey for my readers to complete to show how I can improve on next year or if there is anything they liked and I should carry on in the new year. It’s the perfect time and way for your readers to have their say on what content you create.

    READ MORE: How I’m Improving My Newsletter

    08. Archive or remove clutter posts

    What I mean by this is to make posts private or bin completely posts that are just cluttering your archives that you no longer need to have public or do not fit in with your current theme of topics. I have recently done this by removing really old beauty posts that are no longer relevant as I post about cruelty free and natural beauty or old festival posts that I no longer write about anymore.

    09. Fix technical errors and issues

    This may be a little hard if you’re not exactly tech savvy like me, but if you have someone who is or have a hosting provider for your website – ask them to help you fix any technical errors you may have. This may be your Instagram feed isn’t showing anymore (like mine currently is after a plugin update) or your feed is showing 404, 502 or 503 errors (all are very annoying).

    10. Learn a new skill or get up to date with SEO

    SEO is going to become a huge thing in 2020, even more so than it was this year so make sure you are up to date with everything SEO and understand it more. You can also learn a new skill such as a new photography skill or editing skill with Photoshop or something else that could help improve your website progression.

    11. Create digital content to share/sell to readers

    If you are looking to progress or earn money from your website, maybe look into creating digital content to share or sell to your readers to help them out and also earn money and more traffic.

    12. Gather new brands to work with in the new year

    If you’d like to work with brands or add to your existing collaboration sheet, gather brands to work with that will benefit your readers and also fit in with your current topics. I have a spreadsheet which I keep updated with brands I have worked with and also brands I have contacted to work with including their response and best forms of contact to keep on top of it all.

    13. Remove underperforming content

    If you don’t like your archives being cluttered, maybe take a look into removing content which hasn’t performed to it’s best. You can either reshare or completely remove it to help improve your traffic and Google ranking.

    Images used in this post are credit to Ivory Mix.

    What will you do for your blog at the end of this year? Let me know in the comments below.

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