Continuing with the new term feel, let’s take a few minutes to tidy up your blog today.

Often when you start a blog it’s in a flurry of excitement and enthusiasm. Then you get into the swing of writing each post, and it’s easy to forget about how the blog works as a whole.

But it’s important to take a few hours every once in a while to tidy up your blog, so that readers get the most out of it.

Luckily, tidying up your blog is a lot less boring than tidying up your room. Look on it as a chance to see how far you and your blog have come. See how you can expand your skills by improving your site.

Here are some places to start:

1. Check for broken links
   Broken links can really slow down a site and stop it doing well in search engines. Look online for a broken link checker like this one and fix or delete any that show up.
2. Sort out your draft post folder
   This can build up over time without you even noticing. Take a look at the posts you have in draft and ask yourself – am I ever actually going to finish and publish this post? If the answer is no, then hit the delete button.
3. Update your ‘About’ page
   You’ll find lots of advice here about what needs to go on an ‘About Me’ page. Is all the information still correct? Anything you want to add, like new adventures, blogging experience or stuff you’re into?
4. Check that your images and videos are still current
   Sometimes images can disappear for all sorts of reasons, like if you’ve embedded a YouTube video which later gets deleted. This is harder to check through because you’d have to look at all your posts, so maybe keep a note of any posts that include images and videos embedded from elsewhere (such as Instagram).
5. Check out the mobile view of your blog
   Many people now read blogs on their smartphones, so check that your blog design still looks good in mobile format. If it’s easy to read on a phone then more people are likely to do so. If not, then they might click away.

What will you be doing to tidy up your blog today? Leave a comment below

Photo credit: Mike Licht