How To Refocus Your Blog Without Rebranding
Depending on how long you've been reading this little blog, you may or may not know that I started out my blogging adventure as a beauty blogger, sharing my favourite products and beauty lessons learned along the way. After a year or so though, I was ready and itching for a change and decided to take a leap into the next chapter of what this blog could be. During that process I had to make the big decision - to rebrand, or not to rebrand?
I decided to refocus my content instead of rebrand my blog completely as I wasn't going to be taking a complete u-turn in terms of the voice and tone of this space. It felt like a natural progression for me to start focusing more on freelancing, creativity, and blogging advice while still sharing lifestyle content as well. I also didn't want the hassle and headache that would come with completely rebranding and starting from scratch again and thankfully, a few months down the line, I can happily say that my refocusing period went as smooth as possible.
So if you're thinking of switching things up a little, changing your content, or breaking out of a niche you might not feel suited to anymore, here's my best advice for refocusing your blog:
Start from the basics If you're serious about refocusing your content, the best thing to do is go back to basics and really discover what you want your space to be. I shared a post recently on Finding Your Blogging Purpose & Building A Manifesto which might be helpful, as knowing exactly what it is you want to create, why you want your blog to exist, and who it's for can really help you focus. Figure out what it is you want to stop writing about, what you want to continue writing about, and what new topics you want to bring into the mix as well.
Build a content plan Once you figure out your purpose, and perhaps even a new niche, the next step is to seriously focus on your content plan. Plan out your categories - what are the main topics you're going to focus on? What can readers expect from you now? Exploring how often you want to post, the impact you want to have with your readers, and how you'll share your content throughout the week is super important. You can then build an editorial calendar that works for you and have a content plan to guide you moving forward. And if you're looking for some more in-depth guidance when it comes to building a content plan and creating awesome content for your blog, keep your eyes peeled in the new year as I might have exactly what you're looking for.
Ease your readers in Your biggest concern if you're refocusing your content is probably how your readers will react, and I was super worried when refocusing this space at the thought of alienating all my readers as I was no longer writing about beauty. To try and make it a little easier, I found that for a month or so just easing my readers in by transitioning slowly worked best for me - though for you completely relaunching the new chapter of your blog may be the best road to take. Stand by your decision and believe in the new vision for your space, there's no point creating content you're not passionate about just because that's what has been working so far, and be okay with the fact you may lose some readers along the way. The most important thing is that you find the right readers for you who are interested in the awesome content you're putting out there.
Get your website ready Without embracing a full rebrand, there are still website related tweaks that will need to be made to have your blog ready to go. For example, do you need to change your about page? Your social media taglines? How about your sidebar - do you need to start promoting your new content instead of your old? And do you have your archives ready to go? Figure out how to make your blog work for you and adapt alongside you is the best way to make refocusing your content as fuss free as possible. And if you do want to rebrand? Well the awesome Jessica has the perfect stress free guide that is a must read.
Have you ever considered refocusing your blog? If you've taken the leap, what did you learn in the process?
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