Give Your Business Blog a Back-to-School Makeover

Remember when every new school year was a chance to reinvent yourself? You could emerge from the chrysalis of summer transformed with a new haircut, a new wardrobe, and a new attitude. Why not give your business blog the same treatment?

Rewrite Your “About” Page

How long ago did you write the “About” page of your blog? How much has changed since then? If you’re the sole contributor, this step is pretty easy: just update your biography with any new job titles, achievements, awards, etc. Maybe upload a new photo while you’re at it. If more than one person writes for your blog, reach out to them for any updates they’d like to share. You might also refresh the copy about your business to reflect any recent developments or milestones.

Introduce a New Feature

Add a new weekly column, Q&A session, or letter from the CEO as a regular feature to your blog. In addition to new written features, you might also consider branching out into a new medium. Video blogs (or vlogs, if you must) are very popular and surprisingly easy to set up. You can have your own YouTube channel and embed the videos at your blog, too. If you’re more inclined to graphic design, you might try adding infographics to your blog instead. Podcasts are another great way to go, especially if you’re able to bring in guests to chat about your industry.

Ask Your Readers What They Want

While you’re thinking about new features, ask your readership what they want with an embedded poll or survey (Survey Monkey is a good free app) or encourage them to leave feedback in the comments. Not only will you find out which features of your blog they find most useful, but your readers will love being able to have their voices heard. This is also a good time to analyze your stats and see which topics have gotten the most traffic.

Revamp Your Site Design

Is your blog’s look dated? Does it still match your business brand? A new theme or template can give your blog a complete facelift, and they’re incredibly easy to change and customize if you use an established blogging platform like WordPress. If your site is custom-designed, it may be worthwhile to hire a talented web designer if you don’t already have someone on staff. Before hiring a designer, make sure you know what you want! Take some time (and perhaps do an informal survey) to determine the best way to update your site without losing functionality.

Check Your Mission

Why did you start blogging? What did you hope to achieve? While you’re giving your blog a makeover, it might be time to look beneath the surface, too. If you’ve been blogging all this time without a written mission statement, take the time to develop one now. If you have an existing statement, ask yourself if it still serves your purpose and matches the way you’ve been running your blog.

Remember, any time you make changes, you run the risk of introducing new errors to your writing. Always proofread the whole text, just in case old mistakes are lurking there. Grammarly’s automated proofreading tool makes this task easy, especially if grammar isn’t your strength.

If you’re still not convinced, Jay Baer over at the advertising blog Convince & Convert makes a great case for revising your blog. According to Baer, an overhaul can help drive visitor behavior to more favorable outcomes and, at the end of the day, benefit your bottom line. That’s the kind of makeover we can all appreciate!

Give Your Business Blog a Back-to-School Makeover