Should you update your blog? Of course, you should! I’ve been hard at work the last several months making updates on my blog and backend upgrades in addition to the many apparent changes. I highly recommend the process. I can’t believe it’s already been a year since Blogmas 2020 shocked me into updating and designing a full strategy for my blog. Some things are visible, others not so much. Either way, the results have been amazing, and I can’t to dive into the new year. Mostly I am amazed was able to keep the pace.
Of course, it’s not perfect, but we are much closer to the vision I had at the start of 2021 and we’re heading full throttle into 2022.
After five years of blogging, however, with a community and reader base of thousands already in place, one of the great things about making changes is that the results are visible within a short period. It makes it much easier decipher whether you need to change strategy or double down. So here are six ways to update your blog for the new year.
1. Give It a Facelift
If you haven’t changed your blog layout and/or theme in a while, consider refreshing the look of your blog. It might now seem like it, a fresh look can encourage your return audience to come back more frequently to see your updates. You don’t have to do it more than once a year, but every once in a while, give your aesthetics a little refresh.
2. Reach out to your mail list subscribers
Email marketing is still a very relevant method of communication to your audience. Don’t allow your mail list to lay around dusty. If you don’t already, you should be forwarding campaigns on a regular basis to keep your readers engaged and updated on what going on with your blog updated. And every once in a while, give the look and feel of your newsletters a facelift too.
3. Update Old Posts
SEO isn’t a one-and-done gig. You can (and should) be updating posts that are still relevant and which are driving traffic consistently to your blog. if you can’t do all the posts, do the ones that get good traffic even without SEO optimization. It means that a particular topic is sought out.
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The most obvious content to update is your highest-traffic posts. These posts are the most likely ones your competitors will seek to imitate; the more great content you can more content to them, as well as include recent statistics and information which have become available since the blog post went live. The more up-to-date you can keep your post, the more likely they are to continue to drive traffic and the further you will be ahead of the game.
5. Update and Republish Posts That Are Still Relevant
Google values more recent content when search terms are plugged in. Think about it, when you search for information, if you have two options, you go with the most recent because it is most likely to be the more relevant post, right? Makes sense. That’s what republishing highly relevant content will do for your blog. It keeps your page ranking high in SERP (Search Engine results page)
6. Consult Your Analytics
Analytics are more than just numbers. There is valuable information embedded that can tell your what audience your content reaching. For example, their age groups, geographic location, what posts get the most traffic, what time of day do you get the most traffic?
6. Designing Your New Strategy or Amend Your Old Strategy
The information from your analytics will tell you if you are reaching the intended audience and whether or not you want to shift your goals towards a strategy that is working better than your perceived, or whether you want to change your strategy to go after your previous goal more determinedly.
Whichever your decision, remember to maintain some flexibility in your new plan and strategy. Analytics tell the story of your blog. Some goals will take longer to achieve than others. Additionally, always keep your readers in mind. Write what you want, but write what your readers want too.
What are some of the things you do to update your blog? Share some in the comments.
Xo, Shandean
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2 COMMENTS
Shelly DS
2 years agoI am guilty of doing nothing with my mailing list 😅
Shandean Reid
2 years ago AUTHORCommon assault 😩 At least it will be there when you need it.