I love to offer advice that contradicts some point or position I’ve long held.
Well, not in matters of love, morality or personal values mind you, rather in how you go about managing or promoting your blog.
Constant Flux
Though I’m adamant about some things in life, when it comes to blogging I’m not. That’s because the blogosphere is in constant motion, shifting almost as often as WordPress issues an update. I’m jesting.
Yes, you should maintain an interesting and informative blog, so let’s leave that one essential in place. But what you may want to do is take a look at your site to see if it could use a change, with perhaps you weighing what direction you’ll be taking it in the weeks and months ahead.
Action Points
To that end I offer to you some tips on how to gin up your dying blog:
Repurpose — Has your blog lost its way? Or, better said: should it lose its way? Your subject matter may have been of interest to you and your readers when you started out, but maybe it isn’t any longer. That’s okay…short of killing off your blog, perhaps there is another area of interest you’d prefer discussing. If so, abandon the old, beaten path and pursue the new.
Remodel — How is that WordPress theme working out for you? Unless a theme is updated regularly by its creator, you may be working with one that is old, perhaps broken. When WordPress 3.0 is released this summer, do you wonder how many themes will suddenly look awful? Shop around for a fresh theme if yours no longer measures up.
Release — I founded my The Auto Writer blog in February 2006, but have tossed most of the posts I wrote in 2006 and 2007 away. Why? Because I no longer write the way I once did, particularly when it comes to cars. That blog represents my automotive writing image to my customers who want to see well researched and sourced work. Not to mention that the earlier articles seldom did much for me personally. I tossed 500 of them away, installed a redirect request, keeping just two from those years that still bring in the traffic.
Reinvigorate — Maybe all your blog needs is for you to reconnect on a smarter level with your readers. That means considering ways to keep them coming back besides writing great content. Yes, consider running a contest, but don’t do it alone. Ask your friends to supply some great prizes to make it stuff or a service everyone wants. And be generous in linking out before, during and after the contest.
Renewed Blogging
These action points are can be taken together, applied individually or adjusted according to your peculiar needs.
The changes you make are meant to inspire you because when you and your work have been reinvigorated it shows and your readers will most certainly take notice, beating a path to your awesome site!
