Turning News Into Knowledge

First-if you’re an RSS subscriber, please click through and check out our blog re-design!

However, this is more than just a “come look at what we’ve done” post. Although this is the first time MediaMiser has re-designed this blog, I’ve been through the process several times before at previous jobs. I’ve also re-designed my personal blog many times. So I thought I’d go through some of the reasons why you should re-design a blog, or more specifically, the benefits of a re-design… In no particular order:

1. Usually leads to an increase in traffic and/or subscribers
   I’m not exactly sure why this is, perhaps because when you re-design, you may consider new or updated SEO tactics that help drive traffic or perhaps you’re so excited about it that you start pumping out great content that gets people interested. Whatever the reason, more traffic and subscribers usually follows!
2. Re-energizes your company about the blog
   Especially if it’s a multi-author blog, a re-vamp can get contributors excited about blogging again. Complacency is social media’s worst nightmare and it’s no different on your blog. Also it gives you the opportunity to promote it internally and get employees excited about your corporate blog. This, in turn, could lead to point # 1.
3. Helps you keep up with the times
   Things change so quickly online… Re-designing the blog helps you stay current by thinking about what could and maybe should be present on your blog. For example, we’ve now integrated our @MediaMiser twitter feed in the sidebar. We’ve also put the option to re-tweet posts, and to follow the individual authors on this blog.
4. Creates some buzz
   If people like what you’ve done, they may talk about you! While it’s no guarantee, it’s got a better chance of happening vs. not re-designing!
5. It’s a lot of fun!
   Maybe not for everyone, but at least from a PR or marketing perspective, it’s an opportunity to look at your brand and be a little creative. We believe the look of a blog should be inspired by the company web site and brand, but not identical, so it’s a great opportunity to have some fun and experiment with your branding.

So that’s it! Please let us know, either via comments (or email me directly) what you think about our re-design or share some other ideas about why it’s great to re-design. Or what about the other side of the argument, is there a downside to a re-design?