Blog Maintenance | the pixel boutique | blog, web & print design

In the past week, I’ve cleaned out 4 closets and filled 3 Goodwill bags. What is it about the holidays and the new year that compels us to take stock and organize? I love it. Spring (or in this case “Winter”) cleaning is totally my thing. Love it.

Just like I catch myself neglecting my linen closet during the year, I find I often do the same with certain areas of my blog. Maybe now is a good time to take stock of your blog and do some sifting and sorting. Here are a few areas to thing about…

1. Sidebars: Have a couple out of date meme buttons still hanging around? Or even some sponsored button ads? Its easy to loose track of buttons in the sidebar. Less is more…dont waste precious real-estate with outdated buttons or text.

2. Affiliate Ads: If you are a part of affiliate ads like Share A Sale or Commission Junction, you can manage what ads you show when depending on the time of year or current campaign of the companies you advertise for. Remember to check on them and make sure your affiliate buttons and links are still up to date.

3. Static Pages: How up to date is your About page? Or your Disclosure Statement? Maybe you’ve been wanting to add a new page on update one. Dont forget your static pages (trust me…I’m preaching to the choir right now.)

4. Platform Updates: All the major blogging platforms perform regular updates and upgrades to their software. It isnt a good idea to ignore these alerts. You want to stay up to date with these so you don’t have issues with compatibility down the road. I know…it seems like there’s an update every 5 minutes (especially if you’re on WordPress). But it usually only takes a minute and a few clicks for most people.

5. Plugin Updates: Same thing here…if you’re on WordPress, occasionally check your plugins and make sure they are up to date with the latest published version.

6. Comments: Now is a good time to check your spam and pending comments. If you’re using Akismet for WordPress (and if you’re not, you should be!) it does a very good job of catching spam comments for you. Empty it out every once in a while after doing a quick scan for the occasional valid comment that slipped in. No need to take up this extra space on your database.

So what about you…what’s the hardest part of keeping things up to date and neat and tidy on your blog?

Update: Design retainer spots are all full…but if you need design help, feel free to contact me anyway!

(…what is a Blog Design Retainer, you say? Oh, simple. Its a new service I provide that takes care of the yucky bloggy stuff like plugins and html and backups so you can focus on the blogging.)

You avoid making sidebar changes because the idea of dealing with HTML makes you want to pull your hair out.
You have 35 plugins that are all out of date.
Your spam count resembles the national debt.
You’d rather floss your teeth than deal with your widgets.
You signed up for Twitter 6 months ago but still haven’t linked it in your sidebar.
You need to add a page to your blog, but it keeps ending up at the bottom of your to do list.

Well, guess what? You’re in luck. In an effort to better serve my clients, I’v decided to offer blog design retainer services. This way, I can offer very individualized services for each blogger. If you’re unfamiliar with how retainers work, its a fee paid up front on a regular, predetermined basis for certain services. Here’s what my retainer service looks like:

We’ll sit down and chit chat about exactly what you need. Everyone is different, but you’re probably looking at something around $75-$125 per month.
Your services can include database/core file backup (WordPress), platform updates, sidebar & page updating, email support, discounted or free a la carte service (like ad buttons, etc., depending on your preference and need), head of queue placement for a la carte services, and free access to How To Blog: Video Tutor library.
Each month you’ll be automatically billed via a PayPal subscription.
After 3 months, we’ll look at the hours vs. the cost and reevaluate if needed.
Retainer can be canceled at any time; no minimum number of months are required.

This is a great option for:

new bloggers
business bloggers
review bloggers
any blogger wanting to focus on the writing

Now here’s the catch. I can only take on so many retainer clients and I currently have 5 spots available. 5 spots, people! So speak up…if you want to consider this service, contact me!

Now off to the orthodontist…to pay for that other kind of retainer.