Starting in 2025, I decided to fix a dying blog that has steadily lost traffic over the course of three years. Once an aspiring gaming blog that ranked relatively well in 2019 has sunk to a former shadow of itself.
In this case, most of the damage was caused by a lack of consistent and updated content.
In this case study, I plan on rebuilding the dead blog to see if I can get it back to its former glory. Considering that I don’t have a lot of time throughout the week, there’s only so much I can do. But will it be enough to get the site rolling again?
In 2024, the blog had 23 average visitors per day. Let’s see if I can double that by the end.
The Plan of Action for 2025
For the most part, this particular blog suffered from a lack of content. Some of the backend elements need tweaking for performance, but not having new or updated content since 2021 did the most damage.
In this case, I’m not just working on the blog. Its YouTube channel could also use some attention. So, this is more of rebuilding a brand rather than just the website. However, the blog comes first when time is an issue.
Keep in mind that I’m doing this by myself.
Time Invested
Currently, I am assigning two, two-hour blocks of time for writing new content. Then, I have a two-hour block for updating older posts. These blocks are assigned each week.
The new content takes priority when things have to be put on the back burner, though. The updates might have to wait when things get too hectic.
Ideally, I would like to keep six hours per week working on the dead blog.
Content Strategy
I’m spending more time in 2025 working on the blog’s content strategy. This includes a focus on keyphrase research, popular topics, and finding what works in terms of driving traffic.
I’m also using the book-to-blog content strategy as it’s been very effective on the other sites.
Consistent Publishing Schedule
Consistency is key to success for just about anything online. Blogs, YouTube channels, social media accounts…all of them rely on a consistent flow of content to make algorithms happy.
In 2025, the idea is to publish new blog posts at least twice per week, publishing on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Eventually, I’d like to hire some help to expand the schedule by a couple of posts per month.
Updating Older Content
One of the biggest downfalls of the gaming blog was the lack of updates for older content. That’s what happens when you base a lot of content on tutorials that are now obsolete.
The plan is to update at least one post each week when possible. Since I don’t have a lot of time to dump into this project, I’m focusing on the new content first and updates second.
Consistent Social Media Updates
Social media doesn’t drive a lot of traffic, but having a presence can make a difference for a lot of users. Not to mention that social accounts are also shared in search results.
This year, I would like to get a routine publishing schedule for social posts, much like I’ve done for WriterSanctuary. This will give me a chance to review some social sharing apps for this blog as well.
Publishing Schedule for YouTube
At some point in 2025, I’d like to find a way to get regular videos published on the gaming blog’s YouTube channel. The hardest part is of building a successful gaming channel is the sheer volume of competition.
It’s an extremely saturated market.
Still, it would be nice to accentuate the blog with video content much like I did with WriterSanctuary. In fact, a lot of external views for the YouTube channel come from this website. Hopefully, I’ll have a similar experience with the gaming blog.
The Story So Far…
Monthly Updates
Fixing a Dead Blog: January 2025
Fixing a Dead Blog: February 2025 – Some Positive Movement
Fixing a Dead Blog: March 2025 – A Bit More Growth
Is It Worth Fixing a Dead Blog?
As this is an ongoing experiment at the moment, I can’t say for sure if the year was well spent. I’ll update this page once I have enough data collected compared to the time invested.
But for me, any forward movement is ideal.