How to breathe new life into a mediocre blog part 1

As expert blog writers in Cornwall, Coastal Content are often asked to take a tired blog and turn it around. Usually, the blog began well but then gradually slipped down the list of priorities until posts were either rushed, bought from resellers or stopped being published altogether.

Blogs like this are a waste of time. They don’t attract new readers, aren’t sharable and don’t showcase a brand particularly well. Action is definitely needed. So how do we go from here to a blog that is interesting, kept up to date and engages readers?

We’re going to spend the next couple of posts discussing how to revive an old blog and breathe new life into a tired publishing strategy. We hope you find it useful.

Planning a blogging revival

Putting together a blogging strategy isn’t difficult, it just takes time. As with any endeavour, the more effort you put into the preparation stage, the more effective the end result will be.

When putting together a blogging strategy, you have to ask yourself several questions.

• What do you want your blog to achieve?
• Does your niche have enough to talk about?
• Have you the skills in-house to keep the blog running?
• How often can or should you post new content?
• Can you generate that content in sufficient quantity and quality?

What do you want your blog to achieve?

Blogs can be many things to many people. Some are used to generate leads and new traffic. Some are used to support sales, generate interest and offer value-add content to existing customers. Some are used purely for SEO purposes and some want to combine all of the above.

Knowing what you want to achieve from the outset helps to deliver what you’re looking for.

Does your niche have enough to talk about?

A blog is only successful if it entertains your audience. If you’re in a narrow niche or one so obscure that only a few people in the world know it exists, you may be better off without a blog. In all other cases, developing a long term blogging schedule can help you see further into the future.

Have you the skills in-house to keep the blog running?

Many small businesses are too busy trying to survive and thrive to spend several hours a week writing blog posts. That’s where companies like Coastal Content comes in. If you have the skills and the time then great. If you don’t, it’s time to call Coastal Content’s blog writers.

Like anything, if a job is worth doing, it’s worth doing well. If you can’t do a blog justice, call someone who can.

How often can or should you post new content?

This question is more about you than your audience. We all have a voracious appetite for quality content so there is usually no such thing as too much as far as we are concerned. From an internal perspective, any blogging schedule has to be sustainable over the long term. Blogs are for life not just for Christmas.

In an ideal world, you would publish a couple of pieces of interesting new content a week. If you’re in a popular niche, more would be supremely beneficial. However, quality trumps quantity at every stage. If you want to publish often, make sure it’s good.

Can you generate that content in sufficient quantity and quality?

As mentioned above, if a job is worth doing, it’s worth doing well. Blog writing is like any other business function. Do it properly, do it well or don’t do it at all. The last thing a brand needs is to have poor quality content representing it to the world. Given how customers research companies now, it could do real damage to your reputation.