How to restart your blog after a long break

This is a guest post by Samantha Gray.

So you decided to go on a hiatus from blogging. It happens all the time: a college student blogger decides to call it quits to focus on their studies; a struggling pro blogger decides to suspend activity because they aren’t getting enough return on their hard work; the list goes on. Heck, maybe you were just sick of blogging altogether and decided that it wasn’t the right way for you to spend your time on the web.

But then something brought you back to blogging. The motivating factor doesn’t matter —what matters is that you were ready to jump back into the blogosphere after your needed break; now you just need some help settling back into it. As a former blogger, you should know that every day that you neglect your blog is a day of countless updates, breaking news stories, and general web chatter that you’ll never get back. After all, a single lost day on a blog is a missed opportunity to inform your readers. The idea of starting all over again after missing so much can seem overwhelming to even the most committed blogger.

I want to help get your blog back on track. It won’t be an easy task after a long hiatus, but I have faith in you. Let’s get to work: it’s time for some helpful tips!

Get your bearings

The first thing you need to do is take stock of everyone pertaining to your old blog. This includes checking the analytics to assess any traffic on your blog during its hiatus; reconnecting with old bloggers in your network; and posting big updates about your return. Note everything that’s changed, everything that hasn’t, and get back to work.

You want to rattle your old readership (if you ever had one) and talk with your fellow bloggers about what’s new in your niche. If you’re an education blogger, for instance, you might talk to bloggers who cover online education in order to get a grasp on that growing phenomenon. If you’re a blogger who covered computer gaming, you’ll want to contact game bloggers to get the gist on what’s been popular and what’s faded away since you left the scene.

Locate the new trends

In order to build momentum for your return to the blogosphere, you’ve got to latch onto the hottest trends in your niche and cover them like there’s no tomorrow. You should take the time to research the changes and evolutions that shaped the industry while you were gone so you can approach the new iteration of your blog with a complete understanding of what’s hot and what’s not.

I’ll continue the abovementioned example of an education blogger coming back after a hiatus. I mentioned that online education is a hugely growing trend—in fact it’s a service utilized by millions of Americans every year in colleges across the country. It might not have been a hot topic when you went off the web, but now it’s the “next biggest thing” in many online communities that talk about higher education. So what do you do about it? Simple: you find out everything there is to know about online colleges and the pros/cons of web-based education, and inform your readers about it. You’re essentially jumping right back into the fray in hopes that people will notice your blog again.

Become the comeback kid

Whatever your strategy might be, you have to play at it aggressively if you want to make a real comeback on your blog. You’ve got to bust it to get to the top of your game again, or someone else will take your place. After all, every blog regardless of its niche has a handful of competitors—it doesn’t matter what topic you cover. That’s why you have to come back strong with a solid game plan if you want to reach a broader readership. If you don’t tackle your blog with enthusiasm, then you might as well stay retired.

Have you ever come back to blogging after a long hiatus? How did you handle it? Let me know!

Image credit: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

About the author
Samantha Gray specializes in writing about online bachelors degree. Questions and comments can be sent to: samanthagray024@gmail.com.