Is your blog getting a little tired?  Has it lost its glossy coating?

After a while your blog may start to get a little run down and so here are my 5 steps to putting the fizz back into your blog.

Highlight Old Posts 

Did you right a killer post back in the day?  Why not give this post another shot at life by highlighting it.  You could always put a spin on it, like calling it a “blast from the past”.  And You will find most of the top bloggers use this technique, by every now and then highlighting a series of past posts.  And if you’re blog has grown, chances are most of your readers will really appreciate this content.

Make a New Header

Changing your blog design can be a big step.  Try taking baby steps instead. Something as simple as updating your header image or logo could make a dramatic change.  Design trends change and if you’ve got a relatively old blog chances are you’re sporting an outdated look.   Don’t fret If you’re not creatively inspired, paying someone to do the design is a viable  and cost effective option.  In the past I have found designers on various forums including Digital Point, where I pay around $10-$20 for a new logo or header design.  My biggest fan, Cashquests recently did a post on updating your header which links to my designer!

Say Thanks

Take the time to thank some of your top referrers or commentators.  Not only will this encourage further backlinks, but you will be creating some valuable content for your readers.  But  Instead of just linking to your top referrers, link to an individual post of theirs, thereby creating a useful resource for readers.

Change Your Ads

Obviously if you are selling advertising directly, like this blog, you can’t just change the ads.  But, if you have affiliate ads on your site this ones for you.  Any ad that runs on your site in the same spot for too long, will suffer from ad blindness - ie. your visitors will start not seeing it.  Introduce new affiliate ads or swap the locations.   To overcome ad blindness on this blog, I move around the sponsors every week or so.   You would be surprised just how fresh this makes a blog feel.

Rewrite Your Early “Mistakes”

Take a look back at some of the first posts you made.  I have found looking back at these posts to be quite painful.  There often poorly written or contain outdated info.  Rewrite some of these posts and put them back to the front of your blog.  Make sure you inform your readers that you have rewritten these posts so as they don’t feel jipped when they look back in your archives.     Not all posts are suitable for being rewritte (such as the “Hello World” post), but content that isn’t time sensitive works well. (like this post).