If you run your own blog, but it has recently ceased to function when it comes to engagement and activity, then you may be wondering how to bring your dead blog back to life. With more and more websites setting up their own blogs each day, the competition is fierce. So, if you are wanting to build on your following, here are some tips and advice on how you inject life back into your blog, helping to increase readership and promote engagement.
Work Out What Went Wrong
In order to breathe some life back into your dead blog, it is important that you have a look at the cause of death and work out what went wrong in the first place. By highlighting the different areas of your blog that were failing, it will help you to develop an idea of how to continue going forward. Go over your previous ratings and see how successful your old pieces of content were. Establish what sort of content your viewers enjoyed, and what led to your previous following disengaging with your blog content.
Do Some Research
It is important that you do some research and bring yourself back up to speed with what is currently going on in the blogging industry. Have a look at some of the leading blog pages and what sort of content they are creating. Even if a blog you are looking at does not offer the same topics, it gives you the opportunity to assess what forms of content are currently popular. For example, you may find that infographics are a lot more popular than they used to be. If your blog is business-related, then check out any blogs that your competitors have currently, so that you can see what you are up against.
Be Patient
It is important that you are patient when trying to bring your dead blog to life. Even if your blog was once hugely popular with a significant following, as with most things on the internet, the blogging industry is fast-paced and if you don’t keep up then you may find yourself being left behind. Don’t expect your blog to bounce back overnight and understand that it is going to take some time before you can consider your blog back from the dead!
Damage Control
Spend some time reaching out to your previous followers and readers, so that you can let them know that you are back and ready for business. Locate old comments and approve anything in your spam queue that is legitimate. Also, by replying to old comments you may generate notifications to those who were once loyal followers of your blog. Try to network with old readers by reaching out to them and engaging in conversation with them again. Either by email or a live chat feature, reach out to your old readers and let them know that your blog is back and that you would be interested to know what sort of content they would like to see from you.
Revamp the Design
One of the best ways to bring a comeback is to have a complete revamp. Consider hiring a web designer who can give your blog a fresh new look and remove the old theme that your blog once had. This is important as your older readers may have started to associate your old blog design with the abandonment of your blog. You may even consider changing your entire blog platform and try different blog provider such as WordPress.
Carry Out a Content Audit
It is important that you regularly carry out a content audit for your blog so that you are aware of what content is working and what isn’t. Failing to do this may have been what caused the decline of your blog in the first place, so be sure to carry out a content audit if you want to bring your blog back to life. Don’t delete everything on your old blog with the idea of just starting afresh because you may find that your old readers enjoyed and still look out for your old content. Check the ratings of your old posts and from this, you can work out which pieces of content are worth keeping on your site. This will also give you an idea of what content to create in the future.
Social Media
Every blog also needs a social media presence so that you can market and promote your blog posts through different platforms. This can be a great way to drive extra traffic to your site by promoting direct links to your content. If you already had a social media presence before your blog died, then use the same platforms to now inform your readers that you are back and reach out to them by asking them what new content they would love to see. Increase engagement by offering social media polls for readers to vote what type of content they would prefer.
Create New Content
It is important that if you plan to do the steps above and promote your new blog and bring your old blog back from the dead, you have some new content to entice both old and new readers. Have at least 5-10 new content pieces on hand to upload over a few weeks so that you have a regular flow of fresh content. While it may be unrealistic for you to create new content every week if you have a busy schedule, create a few pieces when you can so that you can schedule posts in advance.
Recovering a dead blog back to life can be a challenging and lengthy process, but by being dedicated and showing your blog the love and attention, it needs, there is no reason why you can’t bring your blog back even stronger than before.