Seen On Typepad: Sunday Morning Serenity
Spring Cleaning: Cleaning Your Blog Sidebar

5 Ways To Clean Up Your Blog

5 Ways To Clean Up Your Blog

The spring cleaning season is here. You may be focused on cleaning your home or personal goals, but don't forget to give your blog some attention. It may be overwhelming to think about cleaning up your blog. Never fear! We have a great checklist to get you started!

CheckmarkNew Theme

Can your blog be read on a phone? If you're not sure, take a moment to check. We can wait... 

Was it hard to view your text? If you find it hard, your readers will too. We recommend you update your theme to one of our responsive options. You can select one of our customizable Design Lab themes or our new Featured Cards theme. Our Design Lab themes, the Design Lab builder, and Featured Cards are all great options.

Our Design Lab themes allow you to customize your blog by choosing your own colors, fonts, and more for each section. Below we have some themes for you to choose. Find one that fits your style, then customize it to make it your own. 

 

We have recently added Featured Cards to our themes. This theme is mobile friendly and has a very modern look. Your blog posts will show as a Magazine-inspired layout. 

Featured Cards

Quick tip: Create a test blog to select and customize your new theme. Once it's perfect, you can apply it to your original blog.

CheckmarkCheck Your Links

When was the last time you clicked through your blog? Are all your links still going to relevant information? Take the time and click on all the links of your blog and make sure they are going to their intended destination. Here is a list of places to check: 

  1. Navigation Bar
  2. Social Media icons or links
  3. Any links on your sidebar
  4. Links in footer

Keep a list of what needs to be changed. The first place to start updating links is on your Design tab. Under Content, you will see all of the modules that you can edit. Click on the pencil to update the module with new links. If your link is in a Typelist, click on My Library then Typelist. 

If you recently mapped your domain, make sure to take a moment and check all to make sure they are using your new domain

CheckmarkDoes Your Custom Domain Work Without WWW 

More and more people are dropping the www when they type your domain into an address bar. You want to make sure if a reader doesn't use www, it will still forward to your blog. To check if your forward works, we recommend you use a browser that you don't normally use or use a different computer. Type in your domain without the www and click enter. 

Does your blog show up? If it does, great! Your forward is working great and no need for further steps. 

If the blog doesn't show up, you will need to check your registrar settings and forward the non-www version of your domain to the www version. 

CheckmarkBanners And Logos

Canva and PicmonkeyWhen was the last time you looked at your logo or banner? Does it need to be updated or do you need a new one? Now is a great time to review your logo and banner and make sure it fits your blogs' brand.

If you want to design a new one, we recommend checking out Canva or PicMonkey. Both are paid services, but they offer free trials for you to utilize. You can see examples to help inspire you. Customize the templates provided or make your own. 

Free Image SitesWhen looking for images to use in your logo or banner, you do not want to grab any old image off of Google. You want to use an image that is free for you to use. There are many free image sites out there that offer Creative Common License images for you to use on your blog. You can search by keywords and use the one that works best for you. Some that Typepad uses are Pexels, Unsplash, Pixabay. There are many more royalty-free and free stock images sites available. Take a look and see what you can find. 

If designs are not your thing, you can hire someone to create a logo for you. Typepad's design team can create a custom banner for your blog. We can take an existing logo or design you have and update it. Outside of Typepad, two of the most popular are Upwork and Fiverr. Many design professionals are on these sites and can work with you to create a banner for your blog or a new logo to help stand out. They make it easy to find someone, collaborate with them, then pay them for their services. 

CheckmarkUpdate Your About Page

Your readers are curious about the person behind the blog. Your focus may have changed since starting your blog. Update your About page to include any new information to share with your readers who you are and what the blog is about.

Some information to consider for your About Page: 

  1. Contact info. How can people contact you about your blog?
  2. Include links to all your social media sites. The Other Accounts feature will allow you to link to social media sites on your blog and your About Me page. 
  3. What is the blog about? Create a short summary of what readers can learn from your blog.
  4. How/why did you get started blogging? Are you an expert in the field or do you want to share your experiences? Are there others helping you with the blog? Who are they?
  5. Are there any important milestones or interesting facts about your blog? Was it featured in any well known publications?

CheckmarkMeta Keywords And Description

Your meta keywords and meta description are used by search engines to classify and describe your blog content. As you start blogging your message can evolve. Make sure the content you're blogging about is represented in the meta data. 

The meta keywords help search engines know what your blog is about. You want to add keywords and phrases that describe what information is found in your blog. You want to use long-tail phrases as that is what people tend to use to search. 

For example: What to cook vegan for dinner, How to cook vegan meals, How to find vegan restaurants,  Find vegan recipes, Vegan, Cooking, Vegan Food, Cook Vegan

The meta description is what shows under the search engine results. It is a brief description of  your blog. The primary goal of your meta description is to showcase the value of your blog and to encourage searchers to click. It can be any length, but Google tends to truncate after 160 characters. It should be written in your blogging tone and voice. Include your meta keywords in a natural conversational way. 

If you are thinking to yourself "when will I have time to do all this?" We are here to help! Our Design Team offers a Tune-Up service to review your blog, identify areas that could use improvement, and then make all the changes for you. 

After you have cleaned your blog, post a link in the comments. We would love to see your new and improved blog! 

Comments

The comments to this entry are closed.