10 Ways to Prep and Polish Your Blog for a New Year
The new year is creeping up on you, friend (aaaaack)! Some people roll their eyes at the new goals, word of the year proclamations, and resolutions that come with the turn of the calendar. But there’s something cleansing about the start of a new year, am I right?
You might be going 100% with holiday stuff right now, and that’s cool. But before the end of the year, block out some time to get your blog in tip-top shape. These 10 ideas will help you prep for the upcoming year and polish things up for a breath of freshness.
(This is a re-post from LAST year, but it’s still as relevant as ever!)
PREP
1. Go on a Date with Your 2015 Analytics
No, you don’t have to commit to a deep dive into analytics hell. But grab a hot beverage and sit down for half an hour with your blog analytics. Jot down which 5-10 posts got the most visits, the top 5 places your blog traffic came from, and posts you know were reader favorites but didn’t make it to the top (you might have a post that still gets tons of visits a day from search engines but is old news to your regulars).
Are the top posts about similar topic? Are there any posts you could build upon this year? Does your traffic come from any surprising places that you might currently neglect (ex. you’re never on Pinterest but it’s your fourth biggest source of traffic)? Make some notes of things you want to change as a result of your little analytics date and go forth!
2. Write Down Your Goals… and Put Them Somewhere You’ll See Them
I’m sure you’ve seen a bazillion articles talking about goal setting so I won’t even go there. Maybe the goals for your blog just rattle around in your head. Maybe you went a step further and actually typed them up in a Word doc. Well, go ONE STEP FURTHER and print them out. Or grab a blank sheet of paper and write them down in color. Doodle around them. Whatever. Just GET THEM ON PAPER!
Pin that paper to a board in your workspace, stick a post-it on your laptop, write them on the inside flap of your blog notebook. However you do it, making those goals tangible will inspire you to really make them happen.
3. Do a Brain Dump of All the Ideas You Have for Your Blog
Grab some colored markers and a big piece of paper (if you’ve got one). Take a deep breath and let all those aspirations flow onto that blank paper. Don’t worry about HOW you’re going to make them happen. Just dump them out of your brain. These don’t have to do gigantic ideas either. It could be something as small as updating your social media buttons to something large like launching a course
You may have so many ideas you don’t even get to them all this year (I know MY list is more like ideas that could carry me through 2016, 2017, AND 2018!) The important thing here is get them out of your system. Then circle the ones you feel the most excited about. THOSE of the ones to pounce on in 2016.
4. Let Go of Something Bloggy
If you’ve been blogging for longer than – oh I don’t know, ONE DAY – then you’re probably obsessing about something blog-related. Maybe your follower count, or that Sally got a blog opportunity you didn’t, or that your traffic isn’t increasing as fast as you’d like.
Or maybe you have SO many ideas you don’t know how you’re going to do them all. Well, pick something and just let it go. It’s not that important as to take up so much space in your head or time in your day.
I wrote a post about things bloggers should stop obsessing about if you need some ideas. Take a deep sigh of relief while you’re at it.
5. Plan Ahead!
Stop flying by the seat of your pants. Few things make you feel more settled into your blogging mojo than actually having a plan of action for your content and projects.
Create an editorial calendar and stick with updating it. Plan out your content and be rest assured that it’s YOUR calendar and you can change it up if you need. Nothing is set in stone. If you need a calendar template (and want to learn a method hundreds of bloggers are using, then sign up for my self-paced Content Brew course). Those markers you use in #3 will come in handy for a lesson in this course too!
POLISH
6. Give Your Sidebars a Clean Sweep
Spend five minutes and scan your sidebar. Do you have any badges for events that already passed? Buttons for websites you no longer write for? Links to promotions or giveaways that have already ended? Go through a delete anything outdated. It immediately freshens up your blog. Ta-da!
7. Update your About Page
Okay, this one might make you cringe if it’s been a lonnnnnng while. But it’s quite worth it. If you’re looking to work for brands, one of the first places they look is your About page. Even if you don’t care about that, you surely don’t want your About page to say you’re 8 months pregnant when you have a two year old.
Scan your page and make simple changes right away. For more involved changes, make a list of what you need to change and block off a night to get crackin’.
8. Delete any Unused Plugins and Themes
If you’re a WordPress user, I’m sure you still have some unused plugins and themes hanging around. If you aren’t using them, give them the heave-ho. Deleting these will speed up your blog and also minimize your security risk.
9. Update Your Social Media Profiles
Our social media profiles are typically places we usually set and forget. But what if the first place someone is hearing about you is from your Twitter profile or your Facebook page? Make sure you make a good impression. Take a peek at your top social media profiles and make sure your profile is up-to-date. Make any modifications you need to and then pat yourself on the back. That wasn’t too hard!
10. Pick 3 Things that Have Been Nagging You about Your Blog Design and Fix Them
We all have them. Big things or little things about your blog design that drive you batty, or worse, don’t even work. Pick three of them and make a point to tackle them. If you need some help with your design, then Blog Design for Dummies (affiliate link) can always give you some pointers (and ideas).
Your Turn!
Anything in particular you’re chomping at the bit to tackle this year? Share it!
