Posted on December 12, 2009 by Ashleigh

With 2010 rapidly approaching my attention has turned once more to continuing what I started with this blog. Another of my blogs really took off a few months ago and unfortunately, it demanded most of my time and effort. With thoughts of the year to come and the many aspirations I still have for myself, Happy Plastic is getting a much needed revamp. Which brings me to todays topic – getting your blog ready for the new year.

1. WordPress = <3
   If you’re not already using WordPress as your blogging platform you really are missing out! Blog Oh Blog has compiled a list of 7 Reasons to Use WordPress that hopefully convince you to make the switch if you haven’t already.
2. Clean up old posts and tags.
   I’m not suggesting re-writing any of your posts however tidying things up here and there will do more good than you think. I’ve just finished the process myself and one thing that I noticed was that I wasn’t using as many post tags as I could have been. Tag spamming is one thing however I was only using 2-3 tags per post and most of them were obvious choices. My advice; starting thinking like the person who’s using a search engine to find your blog and insert some longer keyphrases  in addition to your original keywords.
3. Analyze your content.
   Spend some time analyzing your website and try and determine your most popular posts for the past year. Google Analytics makes this really easy so if you’re not already using it to track the performance of your website I would highly recommend looking into it. By making note of the topics covered in your most popular posts you will then have a better idea on how to approach your content writing for the new year. Expanding on these topics may just prove to be useful.
4. Analyze your traffic.
   Once again with a plug for Google Analytics, take a thorough look at your traffic for the past year. Knowing how people arrive at your website is extremely advantageous. It will allow you to consolidate your efforts when it comes to social bookmarking as well as give you an insight into what has lead your visitors to your blog. This means that for the new year you can save valuable time and go with what has proven to work. Though I might add, this doesn’t mean you should stop trying different things.
5. Outline your plans for the new year.
   Make a blog post that reflects on the past year and outlines your plans for the coming year. This will not only help you stick to those plans but the process of writing them out will help give you an idea of the direction your blog is heading. It will probably also result in new ideas that mightn’t have surfaced if you hadn’t've completed the exercise in the first place.