Rebuilding the Blog Continues: Some Changes Are a Comin’
One of the goals for the blog was to keep a two-per-week routine for publishing content. Although a couple of them were a day late, I still managed to stick with the original plan. Now that February is in full swing, what are some things to come?
Well, if things keep going the way they have been, there’s probably going to be a lot of great things unfolding in the near future. Of course, it all comes down to time management and committing to the process.
We’ve had a little bit of growth thus far, but we still have a long way to go to reach some aspirational numbers.
What Changes Are Planned for the First Quarter?
Most of the things I’ve been working on lately center around the website’s content. I am still 99.9% sure the reason the blog failed so hard is because there was a lack of consistent publishing.
Nonetheless, I’m toying with quite a few things for the year that go beyond the blog. For instance, I’d still like to get the YouTube channel generating some views.
Anyway, what are some of the things I’d like to do to this website before the end of March?
Organizing Categories and Tags
The categories and tags of the blog were a complete mess a couple of years ago. I started cleaning them up a bit back in 2022 but ran out of steam for various reasons.
Before the end of the quarter, I want to have a better structure for the categories and tags. To do this, I’m using Mindomo for mind mapping. It’s a great platform for planning all kinds of things. In this case, it’s helping me rebuild the layout for the content.
I’m sure I’ll have a few different iterations of the mind map. The whole point, though, is to toss ideas into a flow of thought and then keep the ones that are logical. It can be as simple or as elaborate as you need.
There are two major reasons why you would want your categories organized: a) it makes certain topics easy to find, and b) it provides ideas for future content.
For example, if I notice one category or tag is lighter in total posts than another, then I have an idea of where to start with a new article.
Lots of Updates Ahead
I haven’t had a chance to do a lot of updates lately. However, I am building a list of articles that desperately need revamping. A lot of that has to do with Streamlabs.
Streamlabs OBS and Prime have changed brand names and have had many different additions since I wrote the original pieces. Unfortunately for me, that’s a lot of freakin’ content.
The tutorials and reviews aren’t the only updates I need to finish. I have a few games that have grown over the years, such as Raft. When I wrote the original, the radio tower was the end of the game. Now that it’s finished, I need to rewrite the entire piece.
Why should I care about the Raft article? Because it’s still driving a lot of traffic for some weird reason. It’s probably because the original piece was so popular back in the day.
Anyway, I want to work on creating the update strategy and then dive into writing. This means finding the articles that have the greatest potential for increasing visibility and generating traffic.
Building Guide Pages for Apps
One of the things that’s helping set up future content is creating pages for apps and software guides. The idea is to be a one-stop destination for all things related to specific tools, such as Streamlabs Desktop or OBS.
Then, I am toying with the idea of turning them into free eBooks. The problem with that, though, is how fast the tech world changes. A tutorial right now could become obsolete tomorrow because the developer moved a function or added new features.
At any rate, the pages will host a list of articles regarding the primary topic. That way, visitors can see what topics have been covered and possibly help them learn something new about the software.
This will be an ongoing development, but some of them will be started before the end of the month. In fact, I’ve already begun creating the backbone for OBS and Streamlabs Desktop.
Setting up a guide in such a fashion helps with content ideas. If I’m trying to help someone get the most out of something like Streamlabs Desktop, I would need to write articles covering all of the functions and features.
It’s the blog-to-book content strategy that I talk about on WriterSanctuary.com. It has worked exceptionally well for me in the past.
Addressing Performance Issues
Another goal that I’d like to wrap up is addressing any performance issues. Using GTMetrix and PageSpeed Insights, I would like to streamline the site and provide the best user experience possible.
I’m even half-tempted to change the theme of the blog to something that is better for performance and SEO. However, I really like the Colormag theme from Themegrill.
I’m not sure how much time I’ll be able to dedicate to addressing performance issues, but at least I can get an idea of what needs addressing after running a few tests. Then, I’ll just work on them when I have the time.
Generally speaking, this blog performs relatively well. It just needs some fine-tuning and tweaking here and there. If it can start generating revenue again, perhaps I’ll buy a few tools that will make a massive difference in the backend.
Still Working On Streaming and Video Content
I’ve been spending a bit of time lately trying to hammer out the logistics of going back to regular streaming and video creation. In fact, we’ll be going live on February 9th. To put that into perspective, we haven’t streamed anything since May of 2024.
Everyone just had a lot going on last year, and a lot of things fell through the cracks, so to speak. For one thing, I’ve spent a lot more time on my writing career while getting ready to publish my next book. So, ColoradoPlays wasn’t necessarily a big priority as we don’t usually have maybe one average viewer per stream.
But, you can’t build an audience if you’re not consistently streaming. We should have kept working on it, actually.
My tentative plan is to start the hardcore Valheim videos on YouTube next week. That also means working on cleaning up the categories and videos on the YouTube channel. Things are kind of a mess at the moment on the channel.
If all goes well, the YouTube and Twitch channels should be on a routine schedule for content before the end of the first quarter. But a lot can happen in a month and a half.
It’s Slow, But We’re Gaining Momentum
The site is still growing, albeit slowly. Over the last 28 days, the traffic increased from 389 to 518 over a 28-day period. That’s an increase of 33.16%. The sad part is that the blog used to almost hit those numbers on a daily basis.
Needless to say, I have my work cut out for me on this project. It’s going to be an interesting year, that is for sure.
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