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I recently made a big change in my blog life – I said goodbye to my old blog that I had worked so hard on for over three years (Shh… Fit Happens) and started a new blog!

 

Why I started a brand, new blog

Well, for a few reasons…

• When I started Shh Fit Happens, like most bloggers, I just wanted to see what this whole blogging thang was about. My posts really had no particular purpose. My first few posts were about trying a Zumba class, a lunge workout I liked, and how nachos and margaritas were my favorite meal. They were fine. But they weren’t changing anyone’s life.

• Goodness gracious some of my pictures were horrid. I still have a lot to learn when it comes to photography, but some of the pictures I posted on my old blog had to go! When I stared, it was before I had an iPhone and I did not have a camera with a timer on it (actually, it may have had a timer I just didn’t know that!) I would hit the button to take the picture then quick try to run over and get in position – it was not pretty to say the least.

• My blog kind of went all over the place and it lacked direction. I began to wonder if and how my posts really affected my readers… I needed a clear purpose to my blog and content that benefited my audience.

• I wanted to go self-hosted but had heard so many horror stories about bloggers having trouble switching from wordpress.com to wordpress.org, so I figured starting fresh on wordpress.org would be easier than transferring my blog.

• I wanted to rename and rebrand my blog. I love the name Shh…Fit Happens because it is fun and silly. But I wanted a name that more accurately reflected what my blog was about and gave readers a clear understanding of what they would get when they visited my blog.

 

People grow, people change. Blogs grow, blogs change. Should you start a new blog? Click To Tweet

 

Here’s the thing…

People grow. People change.

Blogs grow. Blogs change.

 

I think a lot, if not all, bloggers start out with a little ol’ blog where they document their life and kind of test the waters with this whole blogging thing.

 

Then people actually start reading what we write, we get inspired by other more experienced bloggers, we spend hours working on our blog, and we realize there is more to blogging than we realized.

 

So we have two options: 

1. Improve our current blog… big time. Go back and delete or update old posts that don’t really serve a purpose and no longer apply to our blog’s overall message.
2. Start a whole new blog.

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Whether you are thinking of re-vamping your current blog or creating a whole new blog, here are three awesome posts by a few of my fave bloggers:

 

Katy Widrick from KatyWidrick.com: Why I Unpublished 200+ Posts (and Why I Think You Should, Too)

Georgie from In It for the Long Run: How to Transition Your Blog Focus

Melyssa Griffin from The Nectar Collective: How to Choose a Focus for Your Blog (And Why It’s The Most Important Thing You’ll Do As a Blogger)

***

How to make your blog posts better

 

Whichever option you choose to go with, make sure your blog posts are bigger and better this time around!

 

Make your headline catchy

Go back and put your post titles into CoSchdule Headline Analyzer which will score your overall headline quality and rate its ability to result in social shares, increased traffic, and SEO value.

I LOVE this free tool and it has really helped me rethink how I title my posts!

 

Include sub headers within the text

Sub headers in bold or slightly larger fonts help to break up content and make your post easier to read. To add a sub header in your text, here is the code: <h2> Sub header </h2>

That was easy.

 

Write long, detailed posts and proofread (I am so bad at this!!)

This does not mean you should ramble on in wordy posts with little value, but instead, write lengthy posts that are jam-packed with information.

Ask yourself if the post got the message across to your readers that you were trying to convey. Fact check.

Then go back and proofread.

Cut unnecessary words out of lengthy sentences. Look at each punctuation mark and make sure it is being used properly.

Then proofread again.

Then walk away.

Then proofread again.

Then proofread from the bottom of your post to the top.

 

5 TIPS TO IMPROVE YOUR BLOG POST! #blogging Click To Tweet

 

Update pictures so they are social media friendly

Add text to your images in Canva.com or Picmonkey.com. Also, add the alt text to the image as this is the text that will appear when someone pins the image to Pinterest.

If you are enhancing old posts with SEO-tastic images, be sure to share the new and improved pictures and post links on social media. Images are proven to get more engagement than just plain text, so share them on Facebook and Twitter with a creative post header.

I often see bloggers re-purpose an old post on social media with the post header saying something like, “From the archives…” I can’t speak for anyone else, but omygosh, that is so boring!

When I see “From the archives,” before I even finish reading to see the actual title of the post, I am already thinking: old, out-dated, boring, irrelevant.

I am sure the post is probably a great one, but in the split-second I had to make the decision whether or not I was going to click on that link in my news feed, I had already jumped to the conclusion that this post was not relevant or important enough to take up my time.

So, instead, re-purpose old blog posts with catchy headlines! (Back to the first point, right?)

Which would you rather read?

From the archives: Why I started a new blog

or

Are you getting the most out of your blog posts? Read my 5 simple tips to improve your posts

 

Ensure posts are optimized for SEO

• Create a catchy title (as mentioned above).
• Write a powerful meta description, which is the short description underneath your post’s title when someone searches for it on search engines.
• Find the best keyword or keywords that describe your post
• Make sure your keyword is used throughout your post and in your headings.
  

 

A great WordPress plugin for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is Yoast SEO – if you don’t have it yet, download it today. It is free and walks you through areas in your post that you need to improve on (keywords, post length, title, meta description, etc.).

 

Let’s chat

Have you ever re-branded your blog or started a completely new blog?

If so, what challenges have you faced in doing so?

 

Until next time, CHEERS!