Running a blog isn’t just all about writing posts and creating content for your readers. There’s a lot more involved and that’s tedious, admin tasks. There’s a lot of maintenance involved when it comes to owning a blog and, unless you hire someone to help you, it’s just you and the computer screen. It’s not always fun and it can get overwhelming, but you’ll be glad you did it in the long run. Here are just some blog admin tasks you should remember to do periodically.
1. Check Spam Comments
I get so many spam comments on a daily basis. Of course, WordPress has a certain plug-in that catches it all for me so I don’t even notice half the time. Still, if I click on the “comments” tab I sometimes notice that I have 100 or comments marked as spam.
There is an “empty spam” button which works wonders and can save a lot of time, but I always go through every single comment before I click that button.
The reason I do this is because some real comments get marked as spam for a number of reasons. Reasons such as if they’re commenting as a guest or have posted a link or two within the comments. This marks it as spam because WordPress isn’t sure who they are or what they’re linking to. Not to mention some of the spam comments are just funny to read because they’re ridiculous.
2. Check Hyperlinks Within Posts
Sometimes old posts change or you switch some things around. Every once in a while, you want to check old hyperlinks and make sure the links still lead you to the right place. It’s always good to check the hyperlinks right after publishing a post to make sure you didn’t make a typo while creating the link and to make sure the link actually went through. Better yet, preview your post before hitting the publish button and make sure everything is doing its job.
3. Check Referrers And Links Clicked On The Stats Page
Check more links! You can see referrers, or how people came across your page, and you can also see what links people click through your blog. The other day I saw a link that looked unfamiliar to me. Someone had clicked on it through my blog so I clicked it to see where it led to. I recognized the place and left it alone, but for some reason the URL was different.
You want to check referrers as well to see what kinds of sites are bringing traffic to your blog. If it’s other blogs, be sure to check it out and return the favor.
4. Keep Your Theme Up To Date
Your theme is the first thing people see when they get onto your blog. Make sure the color scheme is easy on the eyes, the layout isn’t clustered together or too messy, and you want the overall blog to be easy to navigate. I’ve changed my blog theme three times in the six years I’ve had this blog. I personally think I’ve improved each time I’ve updated my theme.
This helps with branding as well. Even if you don’t have any fancy logos or headers, if you make the theme enough of your own, people will instantly recognize your blog when they see a post of yours shared on social media.
5. Keep Categories Updated
I don’t know about you, but I’m always adding new categories. Of course, there are some posts I wrote long ago that could definitely fit into those certain categories. So I sometimes spend my time going through old posts and adding them to relevant categories that I have now. It’s long and tedious, but it’ll help your readers (and yourself) in the long run.
This will bring new readers to old posts and give them a purpose again. It also helps you stay organized and makes you blog look neat and organized as well.
What are some admin tasks you love or hate to do? Did I miss anything? Let me know in the comments below and if you enjoyed this post, please share it around!
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