New year, new beginnings, and other cheesy sentiments aside, if you’ve been considering restarting your blog, there’s no time like the present to refresh your blog.
If you found blogging a bit of a chore because you’ve been feeling uninspired, think about why you’re feeling that way. Perhaps you’ve been drifting along in 2013 but have decided to make more of an effort this year – the new year is the perfect time to look at your blog and think about whether it really represents you right now.
As we grow older, our interests change. You might have started your personal style blog while at university, but you’ve graduated now, and you’re more interested in baking and visiting new restaurants. Rachel Phipps and Whip Until Fluffy are two bloggers who previously had fashion/lifestyle blogs but this year focused on their love of food more. Changing the focus of your blog might be a little scary, but the reader can tell if you’re not feeling the love for what you’re writing about anymore.
Perhaps it’s something simple to change like refreshing your blog layout, or working from a new location. Pick up your laptop, and head out to a cafe (bonus: cake and tea whenever you want it ;) ) When you’re at home, you probably feel like you have to put the washing on or load the dishwasher – if you’re away from all that, you can actually focus on what you’re writing about!
If you’re not sure about where to go next, don’t be afraid to take a break from blogging. Take that time out to do something totally new – perhaps start a new hobby or write something that isn’t in your usual style. A new hobby not only can reinspire you, but will also give you something to talk about on the blog!
Starting again gives you a chance to work on a few posts to keep in draft, so you can schedule them to appear frequently. This will give you time to promote the new site without worrying about when the next post will be.
If you do decide to totally change the name of the blog, make sure you either redirect the domain to your new blog (if you don’t want the old content to be seen again, or if you are copying over the old content), or put up a post on the old blog explaining why the change and with the new address in big letters. A really good example of this is thelondonlipgloss.co.uk – Zoe just put up a post explaining why she’s moving over to a new site (but you’ll still be able to get there with the old domain name) She’s done this because so many people will know her London Lipgloss persona and she’ll want them to still be able to find her in the future (as well as links from other blogs still reaching her!)
Have you ever changed your blog genre? Would love to hear any tips and tricks you used to get started again!
