Last night I took the night off from posting blog promotion tips and spent a couple of hours performing some much need blog maintenance. Maintaining your blog is hard work and should be done regularly to ensure your blog is running at peak performance. My blog is coming up on one year and I have performed some tasks for the first time that should have been done a long time ago. I am happy that these tasks are accomplished and I am confident that it well dramatically improve my blog. If you are curious, here are the 7 tasks that I completed last night to improve my blog.
Blog Maintenance
- Fix Broken Links – Believe it or not, this was the first time I installed a broken link checker plugin and fix my broken links. I had 76 broken links in total from a variety of source. They are all fixed at this point and I am hoping Google will show me some love for cleaning this up. In the future, I will checking broken links on a weekly basis. I know how frustrating it is when I click on a dead link and I feel bad that I neglected this for so long.
- Update Posts – As I was fixing the broken links, I also took the time to update many of my older posts. My blog posts in the first few months were pretty crappy and I added a lot of new content.
- Change Titles- My skills as a blogger have improved over the last year and I leveraged my knowledge and changed many of the post titles of my early posts to make them more search engine friendly.
- Interlink- As I was updating my posts, I took the initiate to interlink my posts to each other. This should help my seo and will help my readers get to similar content while staying on my blog longer.
- Fix typos- I was surprised at how many typos I found while looking through my old posts. This may seem minor but if you are looking to elevate to pro blogger status proper grammar goes a long way.
- Delete spammy comments – My standards of approving comments has increased as my blogging popularity has increased. I no longer approve comments like “nice post dude.” If I came across comments like that or that were way off topic and clearly spam, I deleted them.
- Deleted some Plugins – Last week I wrote a post called Recent Plugins I installed and I mentioned that I am running 32 active plugins. I went through them all and decided to drop a few that were not adding much value. For example, I dropped the Wibiya toolbar, it was slowing my blog down and I determined that it was doing more harm than good.
I think my blog will benefit greatly from these 7 easy steps.
[stextbox id="alert"]How often do you guys go through these blog maintenance steps. What else do you do to update and maintain your blog?[/stextbox]
*Update* Several people have asked in the comments for a link to broken link checker, here is the plugin I am using. Broken Link Plugin
Great blog title. I love it. I run a few blogs, and it's always helpful to know how I can make things much better for my readers.
I only has about 7 Plugins in my blogs and I am even think of dropping some, because I want the blog to be faster. Moreover, it nice to maintain your blog on a daily base will add more value to your blogs.
Thanks for the insight Dan, Broken links are a real problem! they could well be the difference between you ranking high in search engines. Really, broken links are a waste of link power…
Thanks Dan for posting about the Broken Links plug-in. My blog has gone through so many changes I definitely need to spend some time going through and taking care of these maintenance issues.
.-= Denise@How to Make Money Online at Home´s last blog ..Making Money Online is Boring =-.
If you cam make your blog error free then it would be beneficial for your blog
Great, I will have to try this. Which broken link checker plugin did you use?
.-= Tek3D´s last blog ..Best Dedicated Hosting Services in 2009 =-.
@Tek3D,
“Broken Link Checker” is one of the more popular, I too used it for a lonmg time. I recently switched to – http://techblissonline.com/broken-links-remover-wordpress-plugin/
You may want to check it out.
.-= Dennis Edell´s last blog ..WANTED – Keyword Research Expert(s) =-.
I have recently moved my blog to a new server under a new platform, asp.net to wordpress.
Google had indexed my old posts from the old .net version of my blog, now those pages can’t be found, how would I get those updated?
I would love to fix broken links like you mentioned, guess just need some info about it.
Hey thank you for sharing some nice information. All are some very important for improve our blog performance. Now a days I am not able to make post frequently.
.-= chandan@work at home jobs´s last blog ..New program at google work at home affiliate network-February 10, 2010 =-.
If your site is constantly down and your visitors can not access it on a consistent basis, you will lose subscribers, visitors, and possibly sales. Your site is useless if it is down most the time.
Thanks dan,
this means there is a lot i need to do ..especially adding back links to my post ,fixing broken links and deleting some plug-ins..
.-= mk akan´s last blog ..How To Totally Clean Up and Kill Mistakes, Omissions and Typos In Your Blog post =-.
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Maitenance is definitely key to a successful website. Xenu is a great tool for discovering broken links. Thanks for the great blog, will be checking back in more often.
Just noticed.. why my Name in previous comment is Woodpecker, but keywords are “iwebsite traffic and promotion” ?
))
.-= iWoodpecker@website traffic and promotion´s last blog ..34 Web Services for Beginning Webmasters: My Ex-Bookmarks, Part 1 =-.
@Dennis Edell thanks!
.-= Jasmine Henry from System Fail News´s last blog ..Which Console Do You Like Best? =-.
@Jasmine Henry from System Fail News, Anytime my friend.
.-= Dennis Edell´s last blog ..Blog Updates: New Category-Pages Done, Like It? =-.
There is a lot of truth to this post. Sometimes as bloggers we only focus on producing quality content despite the fact that content is only part of the piece of successful blogging. In my experience, proper title tags make a huge difference.
This post is really helpful. My sites quite knew and I realised that I haven’t done anything in this list! I have question though, how do I install plugins. It might seem like a silly question but I’d really aprreciate an answer!
.-= Jasmine Henry from System Fail News´s last blog ..Which Console Do You Like Best? =-.
@Jasmine Henry from System Fail News, The first thing you have to do is switch to WordPress
plugins are a wordpress feature.
@dankeller,
I would really like to switch to wordpress, the only problem is ads and most html code aren’t allowed, until you start paid hosting.
.-= Jasmine Henry from System Fail News´s last blog ..Which Console Do You Like Best? =-.
@Jasmine Henry from System Fail News, You’re referring to WP.com, Dan’s referring to WP.org…WP on your own hosting.
.-= Dennis Edell´s last blog ..I’m Looking For Launch Partners – $20 OR Three DoFollow Links For You! =-.
Great advice though it will be time consuming if I have to check all my old post…but surely be beneficial in the end…thanks need to do work it out now.
I’ve only been blogging for about a month now and found plenty of typos in my posts lol. I was getting 30-50 visits a day for a week or two and now it has dropped off to 5-10. Don’t really think I’m part of any “blog revolution”…..YET
.-= JB´s last blog ..Metal Gazebos =-.
Some excellent tips Dan. When you went back to interlink, did you do new to old AND old to new?
.-= Dennis Edell´s last blog ..Theme Construction Part 2 – What Should Go WITHIN The Blog? This Is The FUN Part! =-.
I guess i should improve my blog completely with a total blog-makeover. I guess this would improve for many of my readers the value of my posts.
Seems your Commentluv didn’t work the last time when i commented on your blog.
.-= Martin@Cornyman’s Money-Blog´s last blog ..EntreCard members get scammed by these members! =-.
I rarely do blog maintenance, I used to rewrite some of my older post because almost all my order posts have poor writing and grammar, as well as doing some internal linking. I will take some times to delete unusable plugins as well, but only once in awhile.
As for deleting spammy comment, I never do that before because I moderated almost every single comments left on my blog, I’ll delete on the spot if I sense the spam smell.
Anyway, it’s time consuming, but it’s good to do blog maintenance every few weeks.
Regards,
Lee
Everyone Have needs in this worlds to improve itself so Blog also required some genius work to improve the visitors tendency and quality as well, you shared very nice information with us.
Thanks for the good articles written for us.
Jacob
Looks like those comments above are exploding because of questions.. I also have some.
1. “Change titles” – Have you changed only titles? No “URI slug” changes?
2. “Delete spammy comments” – You definitely have to change your comments back to nofollow, to forget about them
Or not?
3. What about indexed pages by Google? Did Google drop any of yours after you’ve done all this changes? Because, I’ve heard that Google is nervous now about it.. I have experienced that lately too.. What about you?
4. I still see a lot of errors and script warnings on your blog (I use Google Chrome to check that). Are you going to fix them?
Totally agreed with you about Wibiya. People love simple sites.. With wibiya this effect is not reachable. Besides, those toolbars are made for advanced internet users, not for common ones.
.-= iWoodpecker@website traffic and promotion´s last blog ..Let This Girl Survive – A Lump of Ice Fell on Her Head Right From the Roof of Multi-Floored Building – on 5th February, 2010 =-.
@iWoodpecker@website traffic and promotion,
1. I only changes the title not the slugs. I did not want to open that can of worms.
2. I will keep this blog “do follow” for now. I recently changed it so do follow kicks in after the third comment, this has helped but I have some comment spam from earlier that needs to be cleaned up a bit.
3. I will have to check on that……
4.I will have to check on that as well…I was not aware of those issues. Thanks for letting me know.
@dankeller, What can of worms? It’s really not difficult.
.-= Dennis Edell´s last blog ..Theme Construction Part 2 – What Should Go WITHIN The Blog? This Is The FUN Part! =-.
What did you use to check for broken links? Google webmaster tools? I don’t think changing titles would result into immediate google-love.
I recently spent some time in updating clickbank and cj links that I had inserted in my posts. Looking for a better management system for these links. Any recommendations?
@Alan Committie, I updated the post and linked to the pugin that I am using. The title updates might not be immediate but I think it will help in the long run.
@dankeller, I wanted to add, that I do not have any recommendations but I am sure one of my readers will
I also wanted to thank you for stopping by and posting your first comment.
@Alan Committie, Do you mean something like OIO Publisher?
.-= Dennis Edell´s last blog ..Theme Construction Part 2 – What Should Go WITHIN The Blog? This Is The FUN Part! =-.
I think it’s about time I checked my blog for broken links, it’s been a while, I did have the Wibiya toolbar but it’s been deactivated, certainly speeds the blog up a tad without it
.-= Karen @ Blazing Minds´s last blog ..Wow Blazing Minds Has Really Grown! =-.
@Karen @ Blazing Minds, I agree, my blog load is not fast but it is noticeably faster without wibiya. I will have to spot by your blog tonight and check out how Blazing Minds has grown
I agree, the wibiya toolbar was not very good and slowed down my blog and I too dropped for my wordpress blog. I think updating posts is very good for seo, so you should do it regularly
.-= gautam hans´s last blog ..The Comment Marathon Commenting Contest =-.
@gautam hans, Absolutely. I will now be spending at least 1 0r 2 nights per month to update posts and do other maintenance items.
Hi – FYI I have the Wibiya toolbar and it doesn’t hide any navigation and my blog loads pretty quickly. Take a look when you get a chance, and let me know what you think.
Thanks!
@Ileane
.-= ileane´s last blog ..Get The Wibiya Toolbar For Your Blog =-.
@ileane, I checked out your site and it loads ok but I think it would be faster without. The thing with wibiya is that it is kind of redundant, Most of the things it does, I already have other plugins or widgets doing it. As Martin mentioned, I have seen it block and alter the footer of some blogs.
It’s very good that you deleted the Wibiya Toolbar!
I see it on many blogs and it’s always in the way of something, may it be the EntreCard or another Blog-Navigation like the blog archive.
Hope many will follow your example in the future.
@Martin@Cornyman’s Money-Blog, I agree. I like my blog a lot better without it.
Great idea man good work great plug in…
@dashwood@seo service, Thanks and thanks for your first comment, I hope to see you back.
Hem… i think i will try the update the old post. It seems great way to bring live for our blog old. Thanks for the idea.
.-= Dana @ Blogging Update´s last blog ..This Blog Officially is in Atahualpa 3.4.5 Now =-.
@Dana @ Blogging Update, Updating old posts helps your readers and is good for seo as well. I really needed to some of my early posts were pretty bad
Hi, I have a question that’s not related to this post. When I retweeted the post, the retweet came from @bloggingboy. Is that your son?
I also wanted to know how EntreCard is working for you.
Oh and #5 is a good one for me. I wish I could fix typos in some comments that I leave too. LOL
Thanks
@Ileane
.-= ileane´s last blog ..Get The Wibiya Toolbar For Your Blog =-.
@ileane, yes, Bloggingboy is my son’s Twitter account
I am not too pleased with EC to be honest. I am lucky if I get 10 visits per day from EC. I will probably be dropping it soon.
I agree with you on the comment typos. I try to type so fast sometimes that I get sloppy.
@ileane, The edit comments plugin is my best friend on some blogs…that’s why I installed it on mine. lol
.-= Dennis Edell´s last blog ..Theme Construction Part 2 – What Should Go WITHIN The Blog? This Is The FUN Part! =-.
Congrats on the cleanup Dan, I think what you did can be classified as spring cleaning. I am trying to do the same on my blog wrt posts/plugins/etc. I currently have + plugins and I’m trying to get that number down.
@George Serradinho, Spring cleaning indeed…with close to 30 inches of snow on the ground
I will be dropping some more plugins in the next week or so.
Oh I haven’t thought about blog maintenance. Thanks for bringing this to my attention.
Got a link for the broken links plugin?
.-= selurus´s last blog ..Wordpress Mobile Plugins Review =-.
@selurus, I linked to the plugin at the bottom of my post..I just updated…It took me close to a year to do this so it it bestter late than never.
GReat idea, I have removed more than 10 plugins and spma-like comments last weekend
.-= Tinh´s last blog ..Facebook Reaches 400 Million Users On 6th Birthday =-.
@Tinh, Good job, I probaly could shed about 10 more as well.
Whenever it comes about a great plugin that saves times, I must feel down since I’m using blogger blogs. Poor me!
Anyway the post was great useful for a new blogger like me! Thank you very much. I was about to install Wibiya toolbar, but now I need to wait for second thought.
.-= Suresh Khanal´s last blog ..The First Step of Blogging – How to Start? =-.
@Suresh Khanal, I would hold off on Wibiya. I think now that the novelty has worn off a bit bloggers are starting to realize that is not adding much value.
@dankeller, Actually, I think a big problem is many just don’t understand how much value it really does have if used wisely.
I HATED it until I read this review/tutorial on it… http://www.marketlikeachick.com/5-minutes-to-build-your-own-blog-community/
.-= Dennis Edell´s last blog ..UPDATED – Here We Go! Theme Construction Part 1 – Your Participation Is Wanted-Needed! =-.
One thing that I don’t do is fixing some internal links!
Broken link checker plugins save time and your blog as well
it’s an awesome add to any blog.
I think removing plgins became more popular these days than adding more plugins LOL! I discover that when your blog get more older you probably will think more about removing the unnecessary plugins, and this is a good way to fast the blog load.
Great work!
.-= Hesham @ FamousBloggers´s last blog ..How to add a stylish sidebar image buttons to Thesis Theme, get PSD and Sample Files for FREE =-.
@Hesham @ FamousBloggers, I agree Hesham. It seems that when your blog passes the 1 year mark you have twice as many plugins as you need and you start subtracting instead of adding.
@dankeller, Actually, I usually replace. lol
.-= Dennis Edell´s last blog ..UPDATED – Here We Go! Theme Construction Part 1 – Your Participation Is Wanted-Needed! =-.
Optimizing your database periodically is also good to do as you’re performing other maintenance.
.-= will@laser hair removal´s last blog ..Where On Your Body Can You Get Laser Hair Removal? =-.
@will@laser hair removal, Great addition, I have yet to tackle that..
@will@laser hair removal, Just thinking about it gives me the willies, lol, I don’t do things like that very well.
.-= Dennis Edell´s last blog ..Theme Construction Part 2 – What Should Go WITHIN The Blog? This Is The FUN Part! =-.
Broken links are a major one. The older the posts the more likely a website you have linked to no longer exists. What plugin where you using to check your links?
@Tom@Free Squeeze Page, It’s called Broken Lik Checker, I linked to it in the bottom of my post
@dankeller, I used and LOVED that one forever. I recently switched to… http://techblissonline.com/broken-links-remover-wordpress-plugin/ … and recommend you check it out.
.-= Dennis Edell´s last blog ..Theme Construction Part 2 – What Should Go WITHIN The Blog? This Is The FUN Part! =-.
Great lists of helpful suggestions, Dan. It came in a timely manner. I try not to overload with too many unnecessary plugins even though plugins can be very tempting as there are so many cool ones out there, but of course, you can’t use all of them. Definitely deleting the spam comments as much as I can helps a lot. I should for sure check out the broken link checker though.
.-= Unlimited Web Hosting´s last blog ..BlueHost Review =-.
@Unlimited Web Hosting, I have a lot more spammy comments to tackle but I think I made a bent. I just checked and I have 3 more broken links, these pile up pretty quickly.
@dankeller, Were most of them after you changed the post titles?
.-= Dennis Edell´s last blog ..Theme Construction Part 2 – What Should Go WITHIN The Blog? This Is The FUN Part! =-.