Syed Balkhi — May 28, 2019 — May 28, 2019
Many people start a blog thinking that they’ll be on a fast-track to success; lots of dedicated readers, generating tons of revenue, and enjoying every second of it. But a lot of times, it’s not everything they thought it would be.
Managing a blog is hard work and with so many bloggers out there — 30.6 million in the United States in 2018 — it can be hard to get noticed and stand out from the crowd. Because of this, many people let their blogs fall to the wayside. Whatever the reason you neglected your blog, whether it was frustration or just lack of time, it is possible to bring it back to life. Plus, this time, you can make your blog better than it was before: more loyal readers, more revenue, and more enjoyable.
Here’s how to get your blog back on track.
Re-evaluate your goals.
Before bringing your blog back from the dead, you need to determine why you let it go in the first place. Did you not set aside enough time for it? Did you lose interest and give up? Figuring out why you abandoned your blog will help you come up with a better plan for this time and help you avoid running into the same situation again.
After you figure out what caused you to stray from your blog, you should re-evaluate your goals. Decide what your blog will be for you. Do you want it to be a hobby? Do you want to make money from it? How much money do you want to make from it? Setting new goals will allow you to have something to work towards. Remember, not everyone gets loads of traffic and a ton of dedicated readers quickly. So, don’t compare yourself to others, just keep your goals in mind and work towards them.
Create a content calendar.
Maybe you left your blog to die because you just couldn’t come up with anything to write about anymore. Coming up with awesome blog post ideas is hard and it can be overwhelming. But a blog with consistent, interesting posts is one that will be successful. So, to make it easier, create a content calendar. A content calendar won’t just help you manage your blog better, but it will make your readers happier too. When they know they can expect an engaging new article from you every Wednesday, Friday, and Monday for instance, they’ll become loyal, satisfied lifelong fans.
There are a number of great, free WordPress plugins you can use to easily create a content calendar and keep yourself organized, such as Editorial Calendar.
You could also try a technique called content themes. The content themes technique allows you to pick a broad topic for a week — or an entire month — and build off of it with a bunch of related, hyper-focused topics. For instance, a content theme for a month could be “spring cleaning” and the topics could be organizing your closet, kitchen cleaning tips, and so on. This makes the process of coming up with topic ideas much easier.
Re-engage email subscribers.
If you’ve fallen behind on your blog, you’ve left your loyal email subscribers hanging. So, you need to re-engage those subscribers by reactivating your email marketing efforts. To get your subscribers reading your content again and get them to re-invest in you, send them an email to let them know you’re back.
Your subscribers may have forgotten you existed or they may be upset over the lack of new content, so make sure in your email message to them that you apologize for being gone so long, explain what was going on while you were away, and tell them what they can look forward to in the future. Because they might have forgotten about you, they may not even open your email. So, be sure to choose an email marketing service that allows you to resend emails to non openers.
Offer your subscribers a shiny new gift.
To further win back your email subscribers, offer them a shiny new gift. Everyone loves getting gifts and giving a gift you’ve worked hard on is a great way to let your subscribers know you’re serious about coming back. You can create a content upgrade for your current subscribers like a PDF guide, template, or printable and send it via email as a token of your appreciation for sticking around.
Plus, a shiny new content upgrade will not only make your current subscribers happy, but it will help you get new subscribers too. You can display your content upgrade on your website using an exit-intent popup, like in the example below from Matthew Barby.
So, at the same time you’re waking up your sleeping subscribers with an exciting content upgrade, you’re growing your blog and your email list with it as well.
Get yourself out there.
If your blog has been lying dormant for a while, you need to get yourself noticed again. So, get yourself out there. Start being active on social media. Be sure to promote your new blog posts on all of your social media platforms and start interacting with your fans and other blogs there as well.
Try joining some relevant online groups to widen your reach and introduce your blog to new potential readers. You can also start guest posting too. Guest posting on high-quality, popular publications is a great way to come back with a bang.
Over to you.
Just because your blog has been lying dormant for some time, doesn’t mean you can’t bring it back to life. With these tips for how to get your blog back on track, your blog will have a better chance at surviving and thriving than it ever did before. So, dust yourself off and get back to it.
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