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5 Things to Do for Your Blog Every Month
12:58 PM
It’s so easy to let seemingly small things slip through the cracks when it comes to blogging. Most of us are focused on creating content and taking great photos or designing that details are forgotten. But here’s the (kind of creepy) reality… Our blogs are always live. When we’re asleep, others might be reading. When we’re off at our day jobs, our blogs are welcoming visitors.
Sometimes things as simple as no-design fixes or updating my about page can take me months to refresh. Partly because blog maintenance is easy to forget about and partly because I always build up blog updates to be a huge task, like I’ll have to get a day off work to fix it or something!
We thought a monthly blog check list would be perfect. No more forgetting or in my case, putting off, these simple updates that should always be fresh.
Check in with your homepage
Even if you don’t sell ads, there are parts of your site that should always be kept fresh. It might not bother those who already subscribe and click into your post directly each day, but new visitors will be spend time getting to know your homepage. Make sure there aren’t kinks that need to be worked out or sidebar ads that need to be replaced. Here on The Blog Market, we have several places where we have featured content, including the footer, as well as sidebar ads and our favorite products on rotation. We have to make sure these are all updated at least once a month to keep content fresh and new readers interested!Update your stats
If you have a stats page, this is one of the most important things to keep constantly updated. We’re lucky that The Blog Market has been growing super fast since we began, but the growth has caught us off guard from time to time. Just about every time I look at our stats page it is way behind the actual numbers! Those interested in buying ads or working with us should be able to get a good overview of our stats right away. I keep this on the list so that if a whole month as gone by (eeek!) we can make sure that’s a top priority. (By the way, if you don’t have one or don’t want a stats page, it’s not totally necessary. We share most of the details of our stats only upon request, but it’s still easy to forget to update the basic breakdown that we provide to the public!)Review comments
Ideally you’ve been reading your comments as they come in. But every month or so, comb through to check in on any CTAs you write – such as that question at the bottom – and look at any feedback you received from it. Sometimes people will request content or inspire you so you could be ignoring valuable information by not really taking note of what people say.Proof and update popular posts
Recently we noticed some updates that needed to be made by our most popular posts. Some posts featured products that are no longer available (in this case, you can go in and link to similar product or updated listings) or had links that needed to be updated. If an old post is making the rounds on Pinterest the way they sometimes mysteriously do months after publication, look for ways to update the post for the new readers.Check in with your blog voice
I want to put this in here though it may not be completely necessary if your blog is just a personal blog. But if there are multiple voices on the site, it’s a good idea to go back through your work and make sure everything’s been consistent and you’ve been staying true to your voice. It keeps the reader’s attention and helps your blog stand out. Side note: I also put this here because if you freelance or contribute to other blogs yourself, you likely have to change your tone slightly (or a lot) for each publication. It’s something you want to stay on top of!What would you add to this checklist? I know I’m forgetting things!
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