Please note: This post was sponsored by the Chrissy Weems Scholarship Fund.
Being a blogger is the most public of affairs. Except when it comes to behind the scenes things a blogger has to do to keep things running smoothly in their online business. And what better time than Spring to give your blog a fine tooth cleaning.
Blog admin and maintenance are never anyone’s favorite things to do. Including me. And I often use this as an excuse to let things pile up a bit before tackling them on my blog.
Each Spring when I’m in the zone, I can barrel through my to-do list and I’m always left wondering why I left things so long.
When I’m ready to get started decluttering my blog I start with a five-point checklist of essential admin and maintenance tasks I do every so often to try and keep on top of things including:
Check my sites for broken links: When it comes to people revisiting older posts on your blog, broken links are the worst. Because having broken links on your blog can mean that Google ranks your blog lower than it would do otherwise and it discourages visitors from pinning your content.
To remedy this, I use a free broken link checker each Spring (and once a month on administrative days) to scan my blog for dead links.
Thankfully, they’re usually pretty easy to fix. As the checker gives me both the broken URL and allows me to amend the blog post quickly and to delete links from bloggers who aren’t blogging anymore or from companies no longer trading.
Perfect for finding older content which you might want to update this season.
Refresh old content: One of my favorite Springtime blog chores is to look through my stats page and see what posts people are frequently checking out. This allows me to refresh those pages, make sure all pictures are properly sized, amend any SEO errors using my Yoast plug-in, and to re-pin those posts online.
I then take this task a step further and schedule to tweet out these posts in 30, 60, 90, and 120 days after sprucing up these posts to my Trello calendar. This allows me to keep great content fresh and relevant to my readers for seasons to come.
Touch-up your sidebar: Each Spring I make a point of taking a fine tooth come to my blog’s sidebar. Paying close attention to verifying that all my social media buttons are current, social media badges are current, verify that all advertisements are still relevant to my current season sale drives, change the position of my Adsense ads, and give priority to ambassadorship images.
Update you’re About Me page: Each Spring I make a point of checking out my blog’s About Me Page. Making certain my contact information is accurate, my headshot represents my current look and style, and that my page is still relevant.
Categories: Seasonally I like to look at my blog’s categories and make sure that the majority of my frequently viewed posts don’t need redirected URLs and that posts are in the proper categories for popular topics on my blog. This applies to my blogs tags too!
I rethink my blog strategy: Each Spring, after dealing with the back end of my blog, I make a point of setting aside time to rework my blog’s vision. Taking time to examine my previous quarter’s blogging, media, and marketing strategy. Making notes and amendments as needed. I also make a point of studying the path of other successful women in my field.
Female entrepreneurs that make progressed beyond their blogs. Creatively branching their current endeavors into bigger and better business ventures over time.
This Spring I’ll be studying the business journey of Chrissy Weems, founder of Origami Owl, jewelry brand established by Chrissy and her daughter Bella Weems.
Weems is a wife, mother, and advocate for female-driven businesses. A graduate of Arizona State University, she utilized and leveraged her degree in Fine Arts to create a workable, profitable business that utilizes her business savvy and passion for creativity.
After finding success in local malls, Weems used her blog and business plan to create a social selling model in January of 2012. Expanding her brand into a line of customizable jewelry with glass lockets, miniature charms, and chains that can be personalized by the user according to his/her preferences.
This season I will be using the inspiring story of Chrissy Weems and her journey to becoming an entrepreneur to help galvanize my efforts to expand my blogging endeavors as well!
Take a course: Spring is the perfect time to sharpen up your blogging skills. For me, this usually means taking a blogging course or program. Sometimes these courses are uber niche. But generally, they are related to marketing and business strategies.
This was something I did even while as a full-time college student. I sought out courses and classes to help me create a better business strategy and to keep my academic hunger alive and well. This also included finding scholarship opportunities too!
Something that may also be able to you from well-known blogger courses too! Its all about finding new ways to rethink your business, your voice, and your overall blogging platform at home.
While there are lots of things you can do to spring clean your blog. These are just 7 things you could do to make a smart, prudent, and lasting difference to your site’s SEO, strategy, and beyond.
Steps that allow me to be a better steward of my business, minimal, yet exacting, in my online pursuits, and more intentional with the means I utilize to make a living for myself each season at home.
I hope these tips will help you in the season to come! Be sure to pin and save the above graphic for quick reference later on!
Now, friends, I want to ask. What are your suggestions to spring clean your blog? I’d love to hear about it below!
