Every spring we’re reminded to clean out the closets in our homes, get busy on the gardening or shrubs, but don’t forget your blog. Just like your home needs spring cleaning, so does your blog and online presence. Clear out the old content, update images, plugins, and make way for better posts, images, and pageviews! Here are five places to start in Spring Cleaning Your Blog.
How to Start Spring Clean Your Blog
1. Sidebars
Take a look at your sidebars and widgets to see if they’re up-to-date.
- Do you want to feature any posts, ebooks, downloadables, etc? If so, add them to your sidebar.
- Have any banner ad agreements expired? Do your affiliate plug-ins need a refresh? How are they performing?
- Do you have a new ambassador or blogging network badges to add? Don’t forget to grab the embed code for The Network Niche member buttons to display on the sidebar!
- Instagram widgets are popular right now. Consider adding a carousel or button to check out your photos.
2. SEO
Since search engine optimization can send free traffic to your blog, it shouldn’t be ignored especially in spring when popular search terms and phrases start to spike. Search volumes for phrases like “spring cleaning tips,” “vacation ideas,” “summer camp,” or “bikini ready workouts.” You should also check the following:
- Is your favorite SEO plugin up to date? Is it time to upgrade to a paid version of the plugin for additional options?
- Are there popular posts you can update for a popular search term for spring and summer?
- Is it time to take an SEO course or hire an SEO pro to update your site?
RELATED TOPIC: 4 SEO Mistakes You Can Fix Today
3. Comments section
Your audience took time to respond to you about your quality work, so don’t ignore them
- Go back to see if you can reply to previous comments.
- Would you benefit from a comment section plugin like CommentLuv?
- Has a comment sparked a follow-up blog post or response? You can also learn from “6 Tips to Get Content Ideas for Your Blog.”
4. About Page or Contact Page
These are the pages where PR and brands go to to learn more about you, your family, your interest and what you’re working on. And when they are doing so, they only spend a few quick seconds on your site. Therefore, always check to make sure your bio and about pages are optimized.
- Update your about page with new ambassadorships, trips or blogging series.
- Is your contact page correct? Did you move from gmail e-mail to a self-hosted e-mail address? Are you directing contact emails to your virtual assistant or media representative?
RELATED TOPIC: What’s Missing from Your Blogger Bio and How to Fix It
5. No-follow links
Per Google’s terms of service, paid links for sponsored posts and reviews should be no-follow.
- Go post by post and check to see if you’re following the rules. This can be tedious, but it could also boost your Google page rank if done effectively.
- Select a No-Follow plugin like NoFollowr that will easily allow you to turn a do follow link to no follow with one click and with no HTML code.
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