This is a newsletter article from the April 2010 edition my monthly email newsletter. If you like it and aren’t signed up, simply fill in the form to the right or at the bottom of this post to join.
For those of us who have been blogging for a while, it’s second nature to go in, check your statistics, and put up a post. I’ve been thinking recently about how quickly we can learn to blog well, and how familiar the platform is once we’ve spent some time working with the software and getting to grips with what all the widgets and applications do.
Can you remember the first time you heard the word ‘blog’? I can. I remember wondering what the heck it was all about, and being curious to find out more. These days, the only people who don’t know what a blog is have probably been in a coma for the best part of a decade.
The reason I’m raising this is because sometimes when we become familiar with something, we forget to stand back and look at it from the perspective of someone coming to it for the first time. Take decorating as an example; when you live in your house day after day, sometimes you stop seeing it. You don’t notice the cracks appearing in the plasterwork, or the way the wallpaper is fading in places. It’s only when you go on vacation for a while and come back that you suddenly realize how tired things are looking.
It’s the same with your blog. If you’ve been up and running for some time, it’s worth standing back and looking at it as if you were seeing it for the first time. Are you images a bit outdated? Has technology moved on since you set up, meaning there are more opportunities to enhance it? Here are some things to do to make sure you stay at the front-edge of your industry when it comes to optimizing your blog:
Do some research into colorways
Just like when you decorate your house and pick contemporary colors to show it off to best advantage, so you can assess your blog and make sure your color scheme represents you and your brand. Different colors say different things to people, and there are enough WordPress themes out there to make sure you use color to present your business in the best possible light. A massage therapist wouldn’t use an angry red for their theme, and a gardener would probably stay away from browns! What is your business, and how do you want to put it forward?
Check out new technologies
No industry changes faster than IT, and blogging is a big part of this constant shift towards enhancement and improvement. Keep abreast of new developments and make sure you are taking advantage of the best leading-edge technologies to constantly improve and enhance your blog and make it as functional as it can be.
Ask for feedback
It could be that you designed your blog with your own ideas of what worked in mind. Now you’re up and running, take the time to ask your customers what works and what doesn’t. Feedback is free, and helps you evolve your blog business in line with what is wanted, rather than what you thought might look good a while ago. When we put a house on the market, we try and cater for as broad a range of tastes as possible in the hope of ensnaring a buyer. Your blog is no different!
If your blog is looking ‘so last season’, maybe it’s time for a revamp. Get in touch and I’ll help if you want to find new ways of presenting yourself and your business.
Well Said!!! Feedback is necessary because it helps to know that What you are writing and What impact does your writing on others.