One of the hardest things about owning a blog is that you have to always make sure that your blog is in top-notch shape. This can be very hard to do at times, and as your blog grows more and more, it will become even harder to keep track of. However, the more your blog grows, the more important this will become. The best way to go about doing this, is testing your blogs functionality on a timely basis. Doing this daily or even weekly, is sometimes just not possible. You probably just don’t have enough time to go through every little detail constantly to see if everything is A-OK.

Let me explain what I mean. The other day I was looking through Probloggers old archives. What I noticed on a steadily basis is that the majority of his older posts have broken links and missing content. It’s kind of hard to read an article that someone recommends when the link to it does not even work. It’s actually quite annoying when this happens.

Now, I totally understand why it is hard for someone to keep up with all of their blog posts, if I had as many as Darren I would probably have the same problem. I’m sure he tries very hard to keep his older posts up to date, and to make them still seem fresh. Don’t think that just because a post is old, it is no good. Some of my popular posts on this blog are the ones that I wrote a week or two ago. These posts are still getting views and comments, and visitors are still loving them.

Now that I kind of got your attention on why it is good to have good blogging practices when it comes to keeping your blog clean, I am going to give you some more information. The following is just a few examples. You may do these practices or you may not, but the thing to remember is to always look for new ways of improving your blog. If there is a method listed here, that you have never tried before, then try it out. Chances are it will give you some kind of benefit.

So, here are a few ways to keep your blog in top shape:

1. Broken Links - I simply cannot stress this enough. Always test your links out and make sure that your pages always load. Wouldn’t you just hate it if someone was interested in advertising on your blog and they came across an error when they were clicking on you advertising page. Now that advertiser is probably going to leave and never come back. You have just lost a potential customer. This kind of problem is very frequent, because it is very hard to monitor. When you site grows, so does the number of links that you have on it. At best, always try to make sure that your pages load correctly. If a post has a broken link, be sure to fix it right away. I would also ask you that, if you ever come across broken links on a blog, please inform the author. You are doing a great deed by doing so. If you ever come across a broken link on IronBlogger, contact me right away, I will very much appreciate it.

2. Browser Compatibility - Your readers come from a vast variety of places. They do not all use the same type of browser. Just because your blog looks good in FireFox, does not mean that it will look good in Internet Explorer. When trying to look for a theme that is right for you, try to find one that is 100% compatible with most of the major browsers out there. If you are having a blog design done by a professional, then make sure that you specify that you want your blog design to work in multiple browsers and not just one. Usually most designers will do this without asking, but it never hurts to be sure. It will save you a lot of work if you fix this problem before it actually even becomes a problem. As you can see, I get visitors from many different browsers. The majority of my users are viewing this website in Firefox(Blue) and Internet explorer is in second(Green).I have tried all of these browsers out personally, and they all look good. If you have not tried viewing your blog in different browsers, then get on it. Some example of common browsers are FireFox, Internet Explorer, Safari, Opera, and NetScape.

3. Screen Resolutions - Another thing that is going to vary from user to user, is the screen resolution on monitors. This is a little more trickier to fully optimize because sometimes it is just not possible to make your blog look good in every resolution. You can, however make your blog look good for the majority of your visitors, you can do this by finding out what the majority of your users resolutions are. Here is another picture that shows all the screen resolutions that my readers use.

As you can see, the majority of my visitors use the screen resolution of 1200×800, and 1024×768. From these results I now know that the majority of my readers view my blog in these resolutions. With this information I can then focus on these two resolutions as that is what the majority of my readers are viewing my blog in. There would be no point in working towards 1600×1200, it just wouldn’t be worth it.

4. Don’t be predictable - As an author and writer you will need to get your readers attention and keep it for as long as possible. If you are always talking about the same things and writing the same crap over and over again, no one is going to listen to you. Hell, you might even get bored about the subject yourself, and lose interest in it. Then you stop posting and your blog dies. This is why I love personal blogs, they allow you to almost talk about anything. It’s good to keep a certain style and usually stay on subject but sometimes you just need a change. So, if you are getting tired of writing about the same stuff all the time, consider talking about yourself or write about something inspiring. Sometimes change is good.

5. Try a new design - Chances are if you have been blogging for awhile, you are used to seeing the same theme and same design day in and day out. Chances are, your readers are also seeing the same blog look everyday. If you find yourself lacking inspiration, then why not think about getting a new design for your blog? Take some of that revenue that you made and put it into a professional blog design. There are so many advantages towards having a professional design then those free WordPress themes that you see everyone else using. When I was getting IronBlogger ready for the launch, I knew that in order to really brand myself and get noticed, I had to have my own personal theme that would allow me to stand out. If your stuck with one of those free WordPress themes, then why not try out a new theme? It’s very inspiring when you find something that looks good. Just like before, sometimes the same old can get boring and tiresome. Try checking out the IronBlogger Theme for more info about how I got my custom made theme designed.

6. SEO - Search Engine Optimization is a must and always will be. Never stop link building, and never stop working on your SEO efforts. Just because your blog ranks number one in Google For ” Make Money Online ” doesn’t mean that it will tomorrow. SEO is based on time and effort, obviously the more you put into it, the more you will get out of it. Why settle for what you got now, when you can improve that by tomorrow? Some simple ways to make sure that you are increasing your link building is to, comment on other blogs, link back to old posts, link to other sites often, write good content that other bloggers will want to link to as well. If you do all of these daily then you can be sure that everyday you are increasing the SEO potential of your blog. You may not notice it now, or not even tomorrow, but wait for it, and it will come.

7. Check Your Posts - At the end of the week, go back and look at what you posted during those last 7 days. Are you proud of what you posted? Was it good content? If you are noticing a decline in the content of your writing, then maybe you need to kick it up a notch. Spend some time brainstorming on some ideas that you could possibly write about. Maybe even, spend a little extra time writing your posts and editing them. Check your work and check it often. Try to put yourself in your readers shoes, would you subscribe to your blog? Hopefully your answer is yes. If not, then get cracking. Content is king, a blog cannot succeed without it.

8. Watch your competition - Even though you competition may not be the first thing you will want to listen to, it is still a good idea too. Believe it or not, but your rivals and competition can teach you a thing or two. Maybe they came up with a really good marketing idea or found this really neat plugin. Take this knowledge and use it to your own advantage. This is why I feel that you should read other blogs in your niche and watch closely to what they are doing. You don’t have to mimic their every move, but use their knowledge to your advantage. As your blog grows and grows, you will need to think of new ways to market yourself. If you have been blogging for awhile, you might find it pretty hard to come up with some ideas and solutions on your own. This is where you watch your competitors and use their information to help yourself. I’m subscribed to a list of bloggers that I ether do not like or are competing against, but that doesn’t stop me from learning a few things from them. Keep your friends close and your enemys closer.

9. Pay attention to the load speed of your blog - Am I the only person who hates to sit and look at a white screen for more then 10 seconds? I didn’t think so. Try to make sure your blog loads as quickly as possible. People will not wait for your blog to load if it takes too long, they will simply leave your site and move on. It can be hard to keep your site loading fast because of all the stuff you will most likely be adding to it over time. However, here are a few ways that you can limit the lagg on your Blog. Try to limit the amount of pictures you use, don’t use too many plugins, as these will drastically slow down your blog, and consider getting a professional to code your CSS style. A free theme might not be optimized and will more then likely have errors in it as opposed to a professional theme.

10. Get a friend to tell you what they think - My last tip for you, involves getting some of your friends and asking them what they think of your blog. Tell them to be truthful and completely honest. Maybe they will spot something that you missed? Everyone thinks differently, so there is a good chance that someone else will notice something that you didn’t even see. Once you get everyones opinion, look for any reoccurring answers. If lots of your friends are telling to you fix the same things, then theres a good chance that “thing” needs to be fixed. You have to realize that everyones interaction with your site is going to be different. With the help of your friends though, you can maybe spot out a few areas that need fixing, that you couldn’t see by yourself.

Well, there you have it. A few ways that you can keep your blog in top shape.

If you want to add anything, then please do.

Hope you all enjoyed that.