There’s nothing like the smell of fresh grass and new flowers to make you take a second look at your web presence, right?
No? Well, realistically, those smells make me want to shut my laptop for three weeks and run around like this.
Regardless! Let’s use this time of fresh beginnings to give our online spaces a little sprucing up.
1. Find and fix any broken links on your site
There are tons of different apps and websites that will trawl your website for broken links, my favorite is Linkchecker. It’s free and incredibly extensive and perfect if you, like me, have a five year old blog with thousands of archived posts and a gajillionty outgoing links.
If you’ve got a ‘younger’ website or hate downloading things, check out Broken Link Check.
2. Awesome-i-fy and promote your best posts
Did you write a really funny, helpful post in 2009 about how to go vegetarian without alienating everyone? Back when no one was reading your blog? Find a gorgeous, engaging creative commons photo, make a few edits to the copy to make the post more readable, and then schedule some tweets in Hootsuite to promote that high-quality vintage content.
3. Get real headshots
Your headshots needn’t make you look like a news anchor. And you don’t have to spend a million dollars. I got 15 headshots for less than $200! If that’s still too rich for your blood, Craigslist is full of young photographers looking to expand their portfolios.
4. Edit your e-products and re-write your sales copy
I’ve written three ebooks. Since I wrote them, my design skills (and the standards expected of ebooks) has increased dramatically. Maybe the same goes for you? A month ago I totally redesigned my ebook Smart + Sassy + Solo: Adventures in Lady Travel. I got testimonials from 10 new readers and totally revamped the sales page. When I first redid that sales page I’d keep going back and looking at it - just like you do after you get a new haircut!
5. Schedule out a bunch of tweets to promote your stuff
Got a newsletter? Write five different tweets promoting your newsletter and linking to the registration page - then schedule those tweets to go up once a day for a month. Same goes for your products, services, or any events you’re leading!
6. Fancy-fy your ‘best posts’ page
When I did this to my ‘greatest hits’ page I became convinced that I was “good at computers.” Obviously, you can fancy-fy in a way that works for you, but I think something that’s image-based (rather than a collection of blog titles) is much more engaging.
7. Create a ‘Freebies’ page
You’ve probably created some free downloads, a few free samples, some mini ebooks, right? Don’t let them gather dust in your archives! Make them shiny and pretty and put them all together in one handy place. (Here are mine!)
What are you doing to clean up your online space this spring?
photo by collin anderson, cc
Ooh, I like the idea of visualising your Top Posts page! Might have to set aside some time to do that soon.
I recently did a little clean-up, adding a Hire Me page to my personal blog (at which time, I immediately got one inquiry and more have followed - so should have done it sooner!) and a Press Page with headshots and bio (because you just never know).
I’m in the process of spring cleaning my blog now! (Design/layout/etc) and will definitely use some of these tips. Thanks Sarah!
[…] Von: Seven ways to Spring clean your blog. Lots of useful tips here - definitely some stuff I plan to try to […]
Such a great idea. I’ve been hankering to spring clean the house but a great idea to spring clean my blog too! Starting with my about page I think but like the idea of creating pages for best of the blog and blogrolls.