Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Updates

Summer is here, and with the changing of the season, perhaps it’s time to refresh things. Buy a new toothbrush. Give the house a good cleaning. And…update your blog?

Yes, definitely. Most of my interaction with my own blog is by hitting the post button or responding to comments. I don’t often check all the other pieces that make up my blog. So here’s my tips for seasonal “blog cleaning”:

1. Make sure your contact info is up to date. How will people contact you and tell you your email address isn’t working? You should update your profile, too.

2. If you link to other blogs on your site in any way, make sure they’re all still updating. So many people disappear from the internet that you can end up with a blog roll that stretches down forever, filled with sites that haven’t updated in over a year.

3. Make sure any links you have are working, as well as any gadgets you may use. Last year my Twitter gadget stopped updating with my tweets. I’m not even sure how long it had been broken for! It’s also no good if you have a link to your latest book and anyone who clicks on it gets a message saying 404: File Not Found.

4. Keep things interesting! Change your format, your picture, themes. Maybe add new pages. (I have to admit, this is the one I often skip…but “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” probably isn’t a good way to run a blog)


Okay, I suppose that’s it, unless one of you has something else to add—by all means, share. Don’t let your blog languish!

9 comments:

  1. When I changed my blog URL I found that a LOT of links were suddenly broken. And still now and then I find blogger friends who have the wrong URL for me in their blog roll so haven't realised I've been updating for months and months. ;) It's all a learning process!

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    1. Oh no! Changing URLs can be tricky. This is why everyone has to update their links!

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  2. This is great advice. I go through my blog and update it quite regularly.

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  3. Yes, I need to do this. I tend to add things when I think about them and check things then. I definitely need to update my profile...

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  4. I like these ideas! I haven't changed the look of my blog, for instance, for quite a few years. Tweaked the side column maybe, but not the site itself. Thanks for the food for thought!

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  5. This is a really good idea. I definitely need to update my blog. I sort of want to get a blog heading made, too. Yep, I'm gonna do it in my spare time ;)

    Thanks for the tips!

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  6. I just did a blog cleaning a couple months ago. With Google reader going away I needed a new way of being notified when blogs have new posts, so I revamped my blog roll.

    But I consistently click on my gadgets and links to if they are still valid. I'm a show off :)

    ........dhole

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  7. Good ideas. I like my background but I could change it up. I could change up the profile stuff too.

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