Warning – Tangent Ahead….
As I write this post I’m sitting in my favorite cafe sipping on a great coffee and getting ready to order some lunch. This cafe has been a regular part of my blogging workflow for quite a few years now. It’s just around the corner from where we used to live, it’s got a great vibe, a toasty warm open fireplace, fantastic coffee, good food and the staff have become good friends (they even know what I want when I order ‘the usual’).
Today when I came in I was pleasantly surprised that there have been a few changes since I was last in. There have been a few subtle changes to the decor but the main change was a number of new additions to the menu.
The changes have not gone unnoticed. As I’ve sat here for the last two hours (drinking coffee and people watching) I’ve overheard quite a few fellow customers make comment about the new menu. The comments have largely been positive (lots of ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ while perusing the menu) and even included a number of people who told waiters that they’d made special trips in to the cafe because they’d been told there was a new menu.
It’s amazing to see the injection of life that a few simple item changes on a menu can bring to a place like this. Essentially it’s the same familiar place, with the same people and even same style of food – but a few tweaks and it suddenly seems fresh again.
The same thing is possible with a blog.
I love seeing blogs reinvent themselves and try new things. It has the potential to:
- give them a fresh new vibe
- stimulate new interest in old readers
- draw new readers in
- give the blogger behind the blog being reinvented fresh inspiration and energy
There are many ways to ‘reinvent’ a blog. Here’s a few:
- Redesign – perhaps one of the most drastic change that most bloggers make is a complete redesign. I still remember the impact that moving ProBlogger from a default template to a professionally designed one had in terms of traffic and reputation. I could track to the day when my blog picked up.
- New Visual Tweaks – while some blogs seem to do complete redesigns every few weeks, even just a tweak or a new visual element can add interest and the feeling of change to a blog.
- New Features – adding a new feature for your reader to interact with (like a poll, a new WP plugin etc) can inject new levels of interaction, functionality or even fun into a blog.
- Starting a Series – there’s nothing like announcing that you’re starting a new series to peak the interest of readers.
- Start a new ‘project’ – starting interactive projects can give your blog a real lift. It might be a competition, a meme or some other type of way of inviting readers and other bloggers to participate in what you’re doing.
- Writing in a New Style – sometimes bloggers fall into the ‘trap’ of always writing in the same style or voice. Intentionally mix things up a little with a new type of post and you could see some interesting responses from readers (I still remember a few months back writing a more sarcastic/negatively toned post and seeing a number of regular readers being quite shocked that I had that style of post within me.
- Widen your Niche – announce that your blog is going to be exploring a new topic (preferably related to your current one). This can give you renewed motivation and inspiration to write as a blogger when you’re feeling you’ve said everything there is to be said on a topic. You might widen you niche in this way permanently or just as a temporary thing.
What other ways have you tried to inject a fresh approach into your blogging?
