In this post, I'll share some useful tips to help you make the best come back to blogging after taking a long break.
Sometimes it's nice to take a break away from blogging. Taking a break can give you time to think about where you are going with your blog.
Since I began my blogging venture back in 2010, I've taken quite a few breaks. Some of those breaks lasting just a few weeks, and some a few months.
However, a break can sometimes turn into a lengthy absence. A few months can go by, then six months, or even a year sometimes.
Let's visualize you've taken a few months away from blogging, and now the time has come for you to make a comeback to blogging.
You feel motivated, pumped and ready to get serious about your blog again.
First of all, big congratulations on taking a break and making a conscious effort to return to blogging.
Most people who decide to take a break from blogging don't actually make a comeback, so well done.
If for any reason you want to make a comeback to blogging but feel that you don't have the motivation, check out the following blog post to help fire you up -
Recommended reading: 5 Quick Motivation Tips For Writing Blog Posts
Right, now that you're back to focus on blogging again, let's look at some ways to revive your blog from the dead.
Because I'm sure while you've been absent from blogging, your traffic, income, and engagement will have somewhat suffered a little bit.
The seven tips below should help you get back on the road to blogging again.
Hopefully, during your break away from blogging, your web hosting account and domain name will not have expired.
Well, you'll certainly know of this if you are unable to access your blog.
Once you've established that your hosting and the domain are still active, you need to log in to your WP Dashboard and begin updating everything. Assuming you are on WordPress, of course.
Update your -
Chances are, if you haven't logged into your blog for a while, you'll have a ton of comments waiting for you in the spam folder and any other folders.
If you have thousands of comments awaiting moderation, it could take you hours to go through them all. Yikes!
If you have good spam protection for your blog, then this shouldn't be a problem; you can just delete the spam and leave the ham.
However, if you have good comments mixed in with spam comments, this could be a problem. Well, more of a headache, really.
My honest advice would be to just delete all pending comments. Check out the Spam protection, AntiSpam, FireWall plugin by CleanTalk for mass deleting spam comments, among other spam that you have in other folders, including future spam protection. It'll save you a ton of time.
If your blog has a lot of content, you will probably have some posts that will need updating.
Evergreen content should be fine but check to make sure your online reviews, tutorial posts are still up to date, and if they're not, update each one at a time.
Recommended post: How To Do A Content Audit For Your Blog!
I know this will probably take up most of your time; trust me, I do because I frequently go through my entire blog to update each post myself. The process can take me up to 6 months as I have over 350 blog posts, each over 1,500 words in length.
As well as your blog posts, make sure your pages are updated too—for instance, your about page, tools and resources page, contact information page, and so on.
Once everything is updated on your blog, run through your blog maintenance checklist, assuming you are using one.
Your checklist should contain a list of critical tasks you need to do to ensure your blog is going to run smoothly again.
Resource: If you don't have a checklist? Here's one you can use.
The next thing you need to do is to create a brand new content strategy.
Create a list of post ideas you want to write in the next 30 days or more. Check out the following blog articles for tips and inspiration:
I also recommend you grab a copy of my Ultimate Pro Blog Planner Workbook to get access to other critical blog templates, blog post planner, marketing templates, and more.
Once you have your content strategy in place, create a blogging schedule to help you get back into the routine of writing and publishing content frequently again.
If your budget allows it, I d recommend checking out CoSchedule (Aff link). I have been using this platform for the last 2 years to manage my content scheduling and marketing, and it has saved me a ton of time and sanity.
Not always essential, but freshening the design of your blog can help boost your motivation and excite your readers, followers, and existing subscribers by letting them know you're back in business!
Check out this website for new WordPress themes.
Now for the fun part, announcing your ultimate comeback to blogging to the world.
The great thing about announcing your return to blogging is that you can use any medium you want to do it, i.e., blog post, podcast, or video.
I would recommend doing a short video if you can, as it's a lot more personal.
In your announcement post, or video, you should talk a little bit about your break away and why you've decided to make a comeback to blogging.
Also, talk about the plans you're making and what you have in store for your blog and readers in the future. This is also a great way to hold yourself accountable for what you must do.
Once you've published your comeback post, create an email campaign and let all your subscribers know you're back in the game. Do the same on all your social media profiles.
Right then, you're all set to go. Follow these 7 simple steps, and you'll be back rocking your blog again in no time.
Best of luck.
