HOW TO DE-CLUTTER YOUR BLOG TO GAIN MORE TRAFFIC

As both my blog and I have progressed, I have found a routine that works for me to help ensure that I’m organized, stay on top of my posts, and maintain a clutter-free schedule that ultimately helps me churn out blog posts on the regular.

Having a proper posting schedule is important, but sometimes we can get side tracked in the glitz and glam of blogging, and forget that it’s a lot of work (fun, but still work). And one of the things that I make sure to fit into my schedule is blog maintenance.

01. update previous posts

Information changes, we learn and grow, and sometimes our previous posts get outdated or we could have just generally done a bit better on them. It’s always nice to go back and take a look posts from the past to update the information and fix what may not have worked before.

02. improve photos

Our photography styles grow with time, especially if you’re a blogger. So occasionally making sure that all of your photos are cohesive, and don’t jump from quality/style is always a nice thing to do and shouldn’t take too long!

I simply just make a list of all the posts I want to update on a paper or word document and then brainstorm ways to improve the photo (whether it be simply editing, adding some text, or taking the photo all over again in a new setting). Taking an afternoon to re-shoot photos from the past may not seem very appealing, but it will be way better in the long run. I definitely plan on retaking some photos of mine soon enough!

03. add links that reference to other posts

Throughout our posts, we tend to mention key words/points that we have referenced somewhere else in the blog, and it’s great if you link your posts throughout your blog posts. I did that here and here and it seemed to help bring traffic back to older posts!

Plus, if you took the time to improve photos from #2 above, it’s a nice way to make you feel like you didn’t just spend a morning doing something for nothing.

As a reader, I can appreciate a writer than mentions more posts in what I’m reading and I’m more inclined to click on it and keep reading your blog, which will ultimately result in better stats for them and endlessly scrolling for me. So overall: it’s a win – win.

04. make sure links are still valid

Try to scope through and make sure no links have been broken since the time you posted them, that items are still available, etc. If items are now gone, I like to quickly find something similar to help my readers out. It’s something so small that adds that much depth and care into your blog that your reader’s will appreciate.

05. look for promised posts that you may not have gotten to

I am definitely one of those that mentions doing a specific post theme or idea to m readers throughout comments or other posts and forget that I even did. So it’s always nice to skim through to see if you may have missed a post idea you promised but never got to (better late than never, right?). Of course, it always helps if as you mention them, you write them down too so you don’t forget. But either way, make sure you keep your word to your readers! Trust is a main factor in having a successful blog, and if you’re readers believe you don’t keep promises, aren’t organized to get things up in a timely manner, or generally don’t care about their requests, trust will be lost almost immediately.

06. evaluate your theme and format

Sometimes we have a lot of photos on our posts and the loading time for our pages lag, sometimes we don’t generally care for our theme, and sometimes we just generally have a messy blog filled with too much everywhere. It’s always nice to look at your page, make sure everything runs smoothly, install plugins you may need, and just overall make sure your blog not only looks great, but is also functioning properly. It’s very important to audit your blog every so often to make sure of this! Especially if you’re trying to attract readers and gain faithful followers.

What are some things you like to do to help clean up your blog? I’m trying to switch up my routine and learn some new tricks, so it would be lovely to learn something new from you all! Let me know in the comments!

 

And as always, thanks for reading!