If you’ve been around a while, you probably noticed I post a lot less frequently.  During my first two or three years as a blogger, I posted at least one new post a day, and sometimes several a day.   Now it’s closer to one new article a week.

Over time, you may find that as the novelty of blogging begins to wear off, writing new content may become more of a chore.  That doesn’t mean you no longer like blogging or that you’re burning out,  just that, as with most things in life, the initial excitement eventually tapers off.   While writing new content may still be as enjoyable as ever,  it’s just a lot harder to get motivated.

Don’t abandon your blog!

I try to write at least one original post a week, but I don’t like my blog to just sit around being idle during all those days in between.   People who are in the habit of checking my blog for new posts every day are bound to be disappointed, and it is hard to keep your traffic moving at a healthy pace when you aren’t posting as frequently as you’d like, and  relying on on your older, popular, or once-viral posts to do the work for you.

Share, share, share! 

As an established blogger, several of my older articles have gone viral and have high Google rankings (this happens naturally over time if you’re a dedicated blogger and share your posts a lot — you do not need SEO, just patience and dedication!).   I do rely on these older posts to bring in new traffic, since they are regularly seen on Google when people type in certain phrases or keywords.   Every so often I’ll also share those older articles (as well as other ones I wish to get more views) to my social media to keep their Google rankings high.

Since I have a newly large-ish Twitter following due to my online political activity,  I like to share my older articles a lot on Twitter and this way, they get even more views and shares — by a brand new audience who had no idea my blog even existed!   My posts about narcissism and narcissistic abuse dovetail nicely with my newer posts about Trump’s psychology because there is a lot of overlap between narcissism, sociopathy, and psychopathy and the rise of Trumpism in America right now.   Learning about narcissism prepared me for what I write about now, and my new Twitter audience is interested in all of these topics since they are so interrelated.

But I digress.  There are other ways you can keep your blog active and keep the traffic coming besides sharing your older posts on social media.  You can also

— reblog someone else’s post.   Don’t do this too often if you aren’t adding original content — you are not a clearinghouse for other people’s blogs.

— post memes, cartoons and photos (don’t do this too often though, because eventually people will be able to pick up on the fact you’re just too lazy to write anything original and they’ll go elsewhere.

— reblog your own posts.   There are bloggers who insist this is a no-no because it annoys people.    While I can understand it becoming annoying if you reblog an article only a few weeks or a month after you first posted it (that makes you look desperate),  I see nothing wrong with reblogging a post that is several months to several years old.   You can turn it into an “anniversary” and add a phrase to the reblog’s title such as “This Day Last Year” or “Blast from 2015” to disguise the fact you just want this particular article to get more views that it did the first time around.    It’s also a good idea to add an original intro to your reblogged post, which gives the reader some perspective into how the feelings expressed in your old article have changed for you over time — or even how you changed since then.

Ways to reblog your own or other people’s stuff.  

On WordPress, there are two ways to reblog an article, whether it’s your own or someone else’s.   The first way is to simply hit the reblog button at the end of the article.  This is the easiest method, and it allows you to write an original intro, but does not allow you to change the content of the actual post.   This benefits both of you by making potential plagiarism impossible.   However, you will need to add categories and tags.   I try to use the original blogger’s own categories and tags.

When you use the reblog button, the entire article will not appear on your blog, but the first few paragraphs will, as a sort of “teaser.”  A link is then provided to the original post where readers can read the whole thing if they want to.

The other way to reblog an article is to simply copy and paste it into a new blog post.   This is a good method if you’re reblogging your own post, because you can edit or change the article, or add different graphics or other content, so that it’s less recognizable to others as a “recycled” post.   You can also update the article if that is necessary.   When I reblog my own material using this method, I like to add an “originally published on…” date at the top of the reblog (without actually linking to the original post).

I don’t recommend using this method if you’re reblogging someone else’s material, unless they are not using WordPress.com and you do not have the reblog button option.  Make sure to give the author credit and be sure to link to their post.   This is extremely important, but it’s surprisingly easy to forget to do!  If you want to add your own graphics, photos, or edit the post in any way, be sure to check with the original author first.

Annnnd…it’s confession time.

One reason I occasionally like to use the reblog button for my own posts instead of the copy/paste method (I use this method if there have been no changes or updates to the original post) is that it helps my traffic!  Because I run ads (no, I do not choose my own ads), it means more impressions which means more money.  I don’t make very much but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit this is a factor.   With a reblogged post, you have to click on a link that takes you to another page on my blog.   The more clicks, the more money I make!  I try not to overdo it though, and I’d say most of my self-reblogs are actually done the copy and paste way.

So, to sum up, my traffic isn’t quite what it used to be, but it’s remained pretty steady and hasn’t really declined, as long as I continue to:

— post something original at least once a week

— share relevant older posts — both viral and not — on social media

— reblog or recycle my old stuff

— reblog other people’s stuff