It is easy to get lost in the weeds.
For many weeks now I have been working on my content audit. This forced me to take a hard look at my blog and I didn't like everything that I saw.
Immediately, there was a list of tasks that would make this blog better. My first instinct was to dive in and get to work.
Then I realized that not everything is a must do right now. Sometimes, it would be really nice to have everything uniform but it doesn't need to be.
Sure, if all of my images looked the same, that would be awesome. But in that case I have to ask myself "Does this impact the value of my content?"
The answer was no.
So I had to take a step back and make some difficult decisions, what must be done right now and what would just be nice to have.
At this point in the content audit, you have decided what content should and should not be on your blog. If you are following along, the odds are high that you have deleted some content. It is even likely that you have merged some posts to create a single stronger blog post.
Now, we are at the stage of a content audit when things begin to get a bit grey. All of the decisions from here on out are completely subjective and unique to your blog.
Well, I take that back, there is one area that is completely universal and we will get to that.
This week you need to figure out what else needs your attention. Each blog will be unique, so today I will share a few things that I realized when during my content audit.
1. My podcast plugin needs to be updated
When I first started podcasting, I was using the free Spreaker app. Once I really got into podcasting, a much better paid tool came to my attention. Pat Flynn created a beautiful plugin that you can see in full force on this page.
This meant that I have a decision to make. Do I go backwards and change all of my posts to reflect the new plugin or do I leave it?
My first instinct was to change it because of course, I want everything to look the same. However, I quickly realized how much time that would consume.
My decision: Only change it if you happen across that blog post.
2. Broken short code
I was using a short code tool on my blog called The Shortcodes Ultimate . When I switched over to Thrive Content Builder, I removed this plugin.
This had consequences that didn't come to mind at the time. Now, this blog is filled with broken pieces of shortcode on the blog.
My decision: Reinstall the Plugin. Yes, I would love to move everything to the new feel but I couldn't justify the time.
3. I am tired of paying for images
Yep, I love images. They make a blog beautiful but they all start to add up. So, I decided to create a textured template for my featured images.
This started because I wanted my blog to be more uniform in look and feel. My design is all over the place. At first, I was set to change all 180 blog posts right now but I decided against it.
My decision: I will change at least 5 a week and all future images.
4. SEO Meta Info is not optional
Are you using an SEO plugin and if so, have all of your posts been updated. This is really not optional and if you need to do so, go backwards and update all of your posts.
Thankfully, all of my post have meta titles and meta descriptions.
5. Initial caps for my titles
My blog post titles are all over the place and completely inconsistent. I have made the decision that all of my titles will be initial caps moving forward.
Initial caps are when you capitalize every word in a title.
My Decision: When I am updating my 5 blog post images a week, I will also update this.
Conclusion
Each blog evaluation will be unique. You may not have any of the issues that I listed above. It is likely that you have your very own list of things that would make your blog better.
It is also likely that none of these things are an emergency. As you can see, we have to make choices about our time. We have to decide if something is a MUST HAVE or just a Gee That Would Be Nice.
The most important part of a content audit is making sure that your content is on target.