watchingthedaisies

How to Spring Clean Your Blog and Make it Shine

www.watchingthedaisies.comSpring is traditionally a time for spring cleaning – a time of letting go of clutter,  reorganising cupboards and drawers, painting, dusting and polishing…

We spring clean our homes, but what about our blogs?

How can you spring clean your blog and make it shine? I will share a few tips:

Imagine Yourself a First Time Visitor to Your Blog

Imagine you are a first time visitor to your blog:

  • How does it look?
  • Is it inviting?
  • Can visitors tell you are an author, a poet, an artist, a gardener?
  • Is your blog easy to navigate?

Letting Go of Clutter

If you were clearing clutter in your wardrobe, you would normally divide clothes into bundles of Keep, Update, or Donate to Charity… 

If you have been blogging for a few years, it might be time to revisit old posts and divide them into:

  • Posts that are popular and keepers,
  • Posts that could be given a makeover, then re-posted,
  • Posts that no longer resonate with your blog, and could be deleted.

WordPress Insights will show you which posts are getting most views, if you need a little push.

If you have a lot of posts to go through, take your time, and divide this task into small chunks. It will be well worth the effort, and your blog will then showcase the best of your writing talents.

Top Tip

Perhaps your blog post Titles could be better. Have you tried using CoSchedule as a tool? It is fun to use, and incredibly helpful for SEO.

When I planned this post, I tried out six different Titles on CoSchedule.

“How to Spring Clean your Blog and Make it Shine” was the winner.

Reorganising Cupboards and Drawers

Reorganising cupboards and drawers has become an art form. Marie Kondo and many others have written at length on this topic, and sold millions of books in the process.

If you have hundreds of posts under your belt, and you want to preserve all of them, it is possible to maximise ease of access.

Categories and Tags

Take time to look at your blog Categories. How many blog posts do you have in each one?

Imagine how a visitor would feel if they have lots of posts to wade through in one category.

Perhaps a little overwhelmed?

Could you make it easier for them?

Adding Drop Down Menus

One possible solution is to divide your Categories into smaller chunks and add drop down menus.

Go to  Add Menu Items  and Reorder Menu Items and Add Drop-Down Menus for instructions.

I did this recently, as some of my Categories were getting rather busy. With more than 50 posts on Gardening, it was time for a bit of reorganisation!

It took a good chunk of time, but if you click on Gardens you will now get a drop down menu that includes:

  • The Healing Power of Gardening,
  • My Donegal Garden,
  • Donegal Garden Trail,
  • More Irish Gardens,
  • Scottish Gardens,
  • International Gardens.

I have also added a separate Category for Gardening Tips. I plan to add more posts on this topic.

Painting

Changing your blog Theme can make a HUGE difference. There are LOTS to choose from on WordPress.

When you find a theme(s) you like, simply Click on your Customizer then on Themes.

When you find your favourite click on “Update” to save.

I like to give my blog an update once or twice a year.

Fonts and Colors

If you are fearful of changing Themes, why not try a new Font or Colors and Backgrounds?

Have a little fun with this, and remember you can try these on your Customizer before deciding to press UPDATE.

Polishing and Dusting

If you have followed some of my suggestions, your blog will look quite different. It is now time to do a little polishing and dusting.

Here are some further suggestions you might like to consider:

  • Is it time to update your Header Image? A good quality image creates a positive first impression,
  • Do you have an About page on your blog? It is the first page I look at when considering new blogs to follow.
  • Do you have a Contact page?
  • Are your Categories displayed prominently? If not, include them in your main menu or in a Widget near the top of your sidebar.
  • Do you have too many  unnecessary Widgets? Could you let some of them go?
  • Have you included a “Follow Blog” Widget? “Top Posts and Pages”, “Archives“…
  • Do you include Tags in your posts? If so, a “Tag Cloud” Widget will aid visitors in locating posts,
  • Are your Social Media links displayed on your blog/ posts? Are your posts shared on your social media sites?

Step Back and Look Again

Step back from your blog, and look again.

Does it look more inviting, and easier to navigate?

Does it make your heart sing?

Congratulations.

Long may your blog sparkle and shine!

Your Feedback Matters

Have you spring cleaned your blog? If so, do you have any tips to share?

Brigid P. Gallagher is a retired natural medicines therapist, passionate organic gardener and author of “Watching the Daisies- Life lessons on the Importance of Slow,” a holistic memoir dedicated to the art of mindfulness and healing from debilitating illness.

119 comments

  1. Great advice. Since I moved my blog from Globalhousesitterx2 to Lifeatno22, most of the older posts photos weren’t transferred over with the post. Frustrating and time-consuming. Will recorrect them all one day!

    Liked by 7 people

    Reply

  2. A lovely post, Brigid. I have gone into robbiesinspiration and done a clean up but more of pages than posts. I did it mainly because I wanted to free up space and delete some older pictures. Arranging your posts is a good idea.

    Liked by 6 people

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  5. I honestly did spring clean my blog, but I haven’t figured out the categories… I actually had one lady ask why fibromyalgia came up on my Sunday Quick Question! Great question! I need to do a bit more cleaning! This was a great how to, Brigid! Thank you.😊

    Liked by 5 people

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      • I hear you, Brigid.
        I started this morning to delete photos of my jewelry for almost 4 years at the blog. I kept my photos of nature, animals and walks. After that the post relevant for the photos, but until now only for 2 years, as it takes much time to delete at WP. This should help me with more space for my new photos too.

        Liked by 3 people

  11. Brigid, this is very nice advice. Once I moved my blog and lost all the comments, it looked I was writing to the walls for the first few years. Now, I would like to experiment with a new theme, but I am really afraid of losing material.

    Liked by 2 people

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  16. Excellent tips and suggestions Brigid! Thanks for sharing. You’ve given me some great ideas for polishing my blog. I’ll definitely use the CoSchedule web tool you mentioned. Cheers, Nicole

    Liked by 4 people

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  17. Hi,

    I will have a go at the headline tool. I never thought of checking apart from the spelling etc in Word.

    I’ve recently purged a bit. Scary thing is now it looks like I haven posted in near to 2 years.ah well.
    Ive tried to focus a bit on certain categories.

    It works because we change our ideas and focus. What posts we do today may have no reason by next year.
    Good advice, thanks

    Liked by 4 people

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  29. Brigid, a superb post packed with tips for us all! I’ve never thought of looking at my older posts … might try that! I like the idea of help with post titles – I can work for ages on those sometimes! I now want to go and spring clean my whole blog! 😀

    Liked by 3 people

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  31. Serendipidy Brigid! How timely that I have been considering doing this for a while now & the post comes when I have just finished reading your book which I thooroughly enjoyed.
    I plan to take my time here whilst in Gambia and read again from cover to cover at dedicated morning reading periods in order to gain a complete overview .As you know I bought the book some time ago & have only dipped into small chunks before I came to Gambia. By dedicating time in the morning when my mind is fresh I also hopevto get into a reading routine as reading seems to end up at the bottom of my priorities.
    Thank you for the ideas shared here & the prompt to ‘get my act together.’ 🙂🌻

    Liked by 3 people

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  37. A timely reminder, Brigid! I plan to update my About page and intro on my header but now you’ve got me thinking about deleting some of my older posts and perhaps tidying up some of them for re-blogging.

    Thank you for sharing your enthusiasm and inspiration, it brightened my winter morning…

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  38. I definitely need a spring clean for my blog, and eventually I’m going to have to tackle the dreaded drafts folder. I hadn’t heard of CoSchedule so I’ve made a note to check that out, thank you! Very useful post with lots of fab tips 😄
    Caz xx

    Liked by 3 people

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  43. Oh I love this Brigid, I don’t like blogs that are so busy that the busyness is competing for space with the actual blog content. I hadn’t thought of spring cleaning my blog space, what I great idea. xo

    I also wanted to say that I’m not sure why I’m not getting notifications when you post new content, I’m going to sign up to “follow” again.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  48. Love this . Never heard of coschedule fab tip!

    I have been doing a bit of spring cleaning of posts.
    I have been focusing on making ever green posts.
    I am getting rid of post I have reposted or republished they, in my humble opinion dont get the reader to the original post, and I feel they clutter my blog.

    I love the post and love the light humour in the way you have written t.

    Thank you for remindng me to carry on the decluttering, I have so much to do.

    Liked by 1 person

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