How to Breathe New Life Into an Old Blog

Is it time for you to bring your old blog out of the box?

Old blogs never die…they just seem to fade away. Well, unless you close down your blog and delete all of your messages, your weblog may last for many years after your final post. That is, if you keep paying for your web hosting and renew your URL.

I’ve seen some really nifty blogs fade away over the years and I can certainly understand why: blogging is a lot of work and many sites gain little or no financial remuneration for all the hard work that writers do. These days, nearly every one of us is scrambling to make a living and that means we have to follow the money trail, as straight and narrow as that may be.

This blog is nearing its sixth anniversary and definitely qualifies as an old blog. Were I to rejuvenate it to its past glory, you’d begin to notice dramatic changes immediately. Alas, I am also chasing money and have little time to breathe new life into this old blog. That doesn’t mean you can’t give your blog a kick start, helping it to regain must of the prominence it once had, by taking the following four steps:

1. Get Writing – What made your blog successful in the past? Likely, it was your frequent postings that attracted a healthy following. Therefore, plan to write your heart out even if your audience isn’t still around to read what you write. Some former readers will come back and you’ll bring in new readers too. Yes, that means making good use of social media, such as Twitter, to let people know that you’re back shaking the blogosphere.

2. Get Your Mojo Back – Your passionate writing of yore may have disappeared, at least with the blog that you once loved and poured your heart and soul into. Tap that passion you’ve since transferred to your other writing gigs and bring it to your blog. Be real too: in life, you may be able to fake people out to their faces, but when it comes to writing they’ll know if you’re authentic or a poser. Allow the passionate blogger within you to take over!

3. Make a Plan – I operate an automotive blog (autotrends.org) and have enjoyed much success with it because I plan ahead. Some of my articles are written a week ahead and will “drip” at the appointed hour days from now. Other articles are sitting on my hard drive in outline form. I also have a draft or two that I’m working on. This type of scheduling and planning works out for me because I can take a break whenever I want (i.e., Thanksgiving and Christmas) and get back to writing when inspiration hits. I wrote this article yesterday and had it all set up to appear today.

4. Engage Your Audience – You want people to follow you, right? Well, engage them in a conversation. But, note this: you don’t have to be 100 percent thorough when discussing a topic. Leave 10 percent untold and your readers will add a point or two to fill in the gap (exception: if you’re giving step by step instructions, then you must be thorough). That way, you’ll elicit more responses from your readers and will respond to their comments – think about creating a dialogue. Leave helpful comments on other people’s blogs too, especially if the topic is similar to your own. I use Google Blog Search to track down related blogs (google.com/blogsearch) and will leave a comment if I find something of value.

You can also participate in various offline activities such as attending seminars, conferences and related events. I regularly hit the road to take in automotive events, passing out my business cards and acquiring cards and contact information as well.

The more involved you are with your blog, the greater the chance you’ll connect with people including industry influencers and others who will buy an ad, invite you to their event or recognize you through their website. Now go and breathe new life into your old blog!

Photo: Svilen Milev