Sunday 1 May 2016

How To Spring Clean Your Blog

How To Spring Clean Your Blog advice tips help UK lifestyle

I love a spring clean! Well If I am honest I actually never have time to do any cleaning in the spring break because naturally of the time of year in education, all of us who are still caught within it are busy revising or frantically trying to finish essays and coursework. However, if you do have some time over the spring break, then giving your blog a bit of a tidy up sounds a good idea to me!



#1 TIDY UP THE SIDEBAR
Less is more! And in this case, it really is! Blogger can offer a wide range of fun and exciting widgets for the sidebar of your blog. However, in order to ooze professionalism you need to pick and choose carefullllyy....

It's better to have a concise range of features than just about everything under the bloody sun. Because let's be honest your readers don't want to know what the weather is in 20 different countries nor what the time zone is or what my horoscopes are. If I wanted to find out what my horoscopes were I would have gone to some trashy magazine website.

I recommend having a picture of yourself, followed by a short bio, your social media buttons, a search bar, translate, a 'grab button' for your blog, any other groups you are part of and a most popular posts section. 

#2 REMOVE ANY BROKEN LINKS 
Broken links? Nah! You need to get rid of those nasty little things. If you are unaware of what a broken link is, it is basically a link which doesn't work anymore. You have worked with a brand before and put their website in your post but now their website has moved addresses or has gone completely, the link is broken. Or maybe you added a social media link to another blogger's Twitter but it never worked in the first place, another broken link! You need to get rid of these little buggars! 

Broken links influence your rankings on Google and a ton of technical things like that. They mess up with the authenticity of your blog. Google doesn't think highly of websites that have lots of broken links, it lowers your rankings resulting in poorer traffic. 

Although you don't have much control websites being deleted or web addresses being changed, it's good practice to go through every now and again and get rid of the pesky things! 

#3 SORT OUT YOUR CATEGORIES 
First of all, if you don't have categories this is the perfect opportunity to add some! Trust me, your readers will love you for it! On blogger, (I don't know if the process is the same for Wordpress) when you have finished a post you can add labels or tags. If you then add the labels to your sidebar or drop down menu under your header, your readers will be able to find certain types of posts easily.

For example, I have a couple of categories on my blog; lifestyle, fashion, beauty, photography etc. Not all of my posts are labelled, though, which bugs me. And even the ones that are labelled, I want to split up more into nicher categories such as lists or photo diaries. Categories make your blog look professional, so I highly recommend you adding them or sorting them out while you spring clean your blog! 

#4 UPDATE YOUR 'ABOUT PAGE'
This is something I have been meaning to update on my blog for ages now as I think it's really important. Although my about page isn't too bad, it's not that up to date. When I go to a new blog and I fall in love with it, I naturally want to find out as much about the blogger as possible! And where do I find out all this information? The about page of course! 

However, about pages need to draw my attention! They need to be funny, witty and provide a good insight into your life. Try adding different parts to your about page. For example; a mini Q&A or some fun facts about yourself. Because no one can say no to a good old fun fact! Be inventive with your about page, add some funny pictures or your best photography. Let's be real 'Bob. 24. U.K.' Probably isn't going to crack it!

#5 ADD IN SOME WIDGETS
Sometimes you just need to add in some little bits of excitement to your blog, pops of fun I like to call them to make your blog as fun and as interactive as possible. Although don't go overboard because that will make your blog cluttered and unprofessional. Let's face it, the reader doesn't want to feel like they are wading through a hoarder's home, now do they? 

I have an Instagram widget at the bottom of my blog, scrolling along quite happily showing you all the photos I have on my Instagram feed! I also have a widget at the end of each post that shows you other blog posts of mine you might want to check out. It's a great way of generating more traffic! These widgets are super easy to add as well! Trust me, even I can do it so it can't be that hard! 

#6 LEARN SOME BASIC HTML
The dreaded words- HTML! Coding isn't that bad, says me who has done hardly any! However, I have added a couple of bits to my blog. For example, when you scroll over my photos they fade and how my header is in the centre etc. These are all super easy things to do but make your blog look so much more professional. If you give them a quick Google there is some great websites and videos out there with step by step guides on how to put them on your blog!

My ultimate dream though would be to have a drop-down section on my blog with lots and lots of categories. I have never managed to find any website or video that makes it easier enough to follow and understand! If you know any then please do send them this way! My inner neat freak really wants to have everything super organised! 

And there we have six easy things you can do this spring to improve your blog! Obviously, you can do these things all year around, I just wanted to be festive! 

Have any more tips on how improve your blog? Please do share them below!

Thanks for reading, as always X
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