SEO Insights: AI Overviews and Where Search is Going
Anyone who has consistently used search engines over the past couple of years has likely…
No matter how inspired or original your blog may be, they can all start to feel more than a little stale after a while. You can have the most direct targeting and the highest level of motivation, but if your blog is starting to feel tired, then it may be time for a reinvention.
If you’re stuck in a blogging rut, or you feel that you’ve run out of inspirational ways to make your blog stand out, then your levels of commitment to it are more than likely going to drop. This will create a quality spiral that is hard to break free from. The best way to tackle this is to opt for a complete overhaul, and the most popular ways to do that is by refreshing. If you’re looking for ways to inject some fresh energy into your blog, then here are the best ways to reinvent what you do.
It’s not necessary to completely rebuild your blog from the foundations up, but a series of small changes can have a big effect. If you’re looking to breathe new life into your blog, then consider transforming some of the basic elements.
Look at your brand identity and consider if it’s worth having a logo redesign or a change of slogan. Assess every page of your website and work out what is working for you and what isn’t. Perhaps you need a new mission statement or a change in your brand’s tone of voice. There is always a certain element of risk that comes with any change, so it’s always a good idea to test the waters with small alterations, and always assess your audience reaction to those changes.
As much as a change of brand can be enough to revitalise your site, even a slight redesign of your blog can have dramatic effects. Look at the colour schemes that you are currently using, and make decisions as to what might work more effectively. It’s at this point that you should also be double-checking that your website is optimised for mobile use and remains so after any formatting changes that you might make. Small changes can have big effects on the overall impact of your blog, and a site redesign is a good excuse to encourage your audience to visit.
It’s easy to run out of ideas when you’re trying to come up with new blog posts. If you’re struggling with content creation, there are a number of solutions, but by far the most impactful is to utilise the services of a guest blogger. For those people who are finding that their blog is becoming stale or tired, new input can add some much-needed energy to your own output.
Finding a guest blogger will entail some work because you’re going to want to find someone who is not just capable of creating content, but also that the content that they create is in the tone of voice that you want. You could approach an established figure in your blogging sector (which will help your site visits and brand reach), or you could choose to go for an unknown writer with a unique voice of their own. Make sure that you supply the correct author attribution details, and always provide a bio for them.
Newspapers do it all the time, and every magazine in the world has their own dedicated series or column. These are a great way of formulating fresh content ideas, and the limitations are few. These types of post are usually best if they are evergreen in style, but you could tailor them to breaking news events as well.
Some series will provide you with blogging ideas indefinitely, with ideas such as ‘best of…’ series or a consistent range of interviews that cover similar ground all helping you to shake things up. Look for niche series ideas that you can run indefinitely, and you may even end up with enough content to produce your own collected e-book that will provide a new revenue stream.
It’s bad form to limit your content types to simple writing. Images and video are widely considered to be essential forms of content that should be included in our blog. Consider starting a YouTube channel with visual and spoken content, or you could simply create infographics and incorporate them into your text posts. When 63% of social media consists of images, and almost 66% of social media updates are visual, there’s a clear need for you to drop the walls of text and use pictures and video to give your blog a fresher look.
Although you should be using images in your blog, there is also a lot of demand for long-form and well-researched blog posts. Stats show that blog posts of over 2000 words long will result in the maximum level of organic trafficOrganic search traffic (sometimes called natural or unpaid search) is the traffic that's driven to a website because of unpaid placement on a search engine results page., with increased social media shares and a higher number of inbound linksHyperlinks, also known as links, are the connection points on a webpage that take you to other webpages. over time. Posts that are 250-499 words long show the least amount of linking domains, so it’s clear that there are advantages to creating those long-form posts.
It’s also worth noting that search engines more appreciate longer blog posts, and Google, in particular, places a lot of value on them. Because they provide real value to your audience, your blog will only benefit from longer posts. Remember to make sure that you don’t restrict yourself to one type of post, and shake things up with a variety of content types.
Data mining is one of the more recent buzzwords that is making its presence known across every online platform, and your blog should be no different. There are a variety of online tools available that can help you to gather your own collection of data, and by using the data that you collect, you can ground your content with a more trustworthy and reliable source.
Data allows you to back up your statements with provable facts. While your own data is useful, industry or sector data is a very effective tool when it comes to creating a more authoritative online persona. Using the same data sets as even the big and most established publishers, you automatically become part of the same subset, which has the potential to improve your online brand exposure massively.
An impersonal blog is one that is going to have a limited potential for brand loyalty. Your audience returns to your blog because they like your voice and your way of presenting information, so it’s always useful to personalise that content and tell your own story. If your existing audience has already built an emotional interaction with you, then you can easily refresh your blog with a more personal touch.
Storytelling has always been a valuable tool for the spreading of information, and you can tap into the potential power of telling a story while giving your stale blog a much more personalised branding. A word of warning regarding storytelling: you should always ensure that your story is relevant to your audience and your blog’s existing niche. If you fail to add value, then your storytelling content is non-essential.
Although your About Page has already been mentioned, it’s also a fundamental ingredient in your online setup. Have a look at your own About Page and compare it to other blogs. There are some simple rules of thumb to consider when it comes to this vital page, but the most important is are that it remains simple and straightforward. Communicating just the key essential facts about you is necessary.
Look at sites with long, rambling About Pages that add little of value, or that you can browse away from with no real idea of what the point of that page was. An About Page is often one of the most visited pages on a website, so if you don’t yet have one, then you’re missing out on the opportunity to reinforce your credentials. Make sure that you have a photo on your bio so that your audience can put a face to the name and clarification that there is a person behind all of that great content.
Sometimes, the problem with your blog isn’t anything to do with the way it looks or the way that you structure your content. Occasionally, it is simply that you aren’t staying refreshed yourself. If you’re losing motivation, then you are going to need to take some proactive steps towards regaining that spark.
It may seem obvious, but reading the blogs of other people will go a long way to getting you excited about your own. You can source ideas and spot where other blogs are going wrong. Learn the right lessons, and you’ll be able to incorporate them into your own blog.
While having a set schedule can give you a productivity boost, they can also be counter-productive at times, and can even become stifling. If you feel trapped by your routine, don’t be afraid to shake it up.
Good bloggers don’t spend all of their time writing. They also attend networking events in order to increase their exposure. This can help your reputation, and even the slightest conversation could be all that you need to race back to your keyboard with a whole new set of blogging ideas to try out.
These ideas are intended to help you at those times when you’re feeling bored with your blog. If lack of progress or the challenge of creating quality content is becoming demoralising, then having a refresh may well mean that your blog takes on a whole new lease of life.
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