How to Breathe Life Back into Your Blog

Thinking about quitting your blog? Dee Stewart examines some way to give it a new lease of life.

Thinking about cutting the plug on your blog?

I almost did last year after I found myself busy with other projects, my Adsense and Chitika checks were waining and especially after I noticed that many of my blog friends had shut down their blogs or were barely using them. At first I wondered was I kissing a dinosaur? Should I stop blogging and move onto something better?

But for some odd reason my blog would not go gentle into that goodnight.

Furthermore, as a host of niche book blog I still had tons of books to review, local and national book events planned, authors penned in my interview calendar and book news to get out. I couldn’t end things, if I wanted to.

So I went back through some of the blog comments to get another perspective on the matter. To my surprise, I discovered the blog, had ideas, plans and things to share with me about our future. We began to reconnect and slowly CFB has brought back that blogging feeling to me. Perhaps your blog wants to do that to you.

Here are 5 things your blog comments provide that can help breathe life back into your blog.

1. Go back and read your blogs comments

I spent one day wading through many of my old blog comments. I noticed the comments shifted from a basic love of books, to help me guide my writing life; from kudos to prayer requests, from thanks to questioning my faith. The blog was no longer an extension of my writing life, but my personal life, as well. I discovered my blog entries didn’t reflect those changes. My new focus would.

2. Take Cues from Negative Comments

Negative Comments are great sources for new blog entries. You can:

* Debunk a Myth told by a Commenter, which increases your credibility.

* Ask the Commenter to become a guest blogger and speak on that subject, which drives a different, but complimentary demographic to your site.

* Use it to build a poll, so that your readers can participate, which makes your blog more organic.

3. Use Unique Comments for Blog Series

Some times you get comments on your post that wow you. “Oh, I never thought of that” Moments I call them. An actor friend of mine gave me information about a national stage play he was a part of I posted the information and I received so many private emails and comments about this play that I realized that people are searching for this information. Now once a month I promote a touring stage play.

4. Post Comments for Weekend Feedback

I use a Weekend Chatterbox feature on the weekend that opens commenters up to discuss whatever is my question for the weekend. This question usually comes from a comment from the blog that peaked my interest for further discussion. This Chatterbox spills into your readers blogs, which is a great way to build a blog movement.

5. Farm Guestbloggers

As you continue to receive more comments, you will build subscribers and foster friendships with some of the commenters. They will follow you all over the blogosphere and comment wherever you land. Those subscribers are like baby chicks. They know your land. They know what works. They will email you and give you suggestions, but more importantly, they will jump at the chance to guestblog. Daren doesn’t know it, but he’s farming thousands, including me. :)

Bonus: After I reconnected with my blog some wild things happened. My Amazon sales went up, CPCs rose, subscribers increased, I received more writing gigs and a new opportunity as Entertainment Editor for a national womens print magazine…the blog begin to pulse again.

Dee Stewart is a multimedia journalist, freelance editor, News Editor for Hope for Women Magazine, book critic and Gospel Diva Mama of a seven-year-old Georgia Peach. Visit her at Christian Fiction Blog.