7 Practical Ways to Blog Through the “Summer Slump”

Like the post? Share it!

As the weather gets warmer, bloggers get anxious expecting the typical traffic slump. Well, although you might not be making your biggest sales during the summer months, there are still some ways in which you could blog your way through the summer slump.

Are you curious to find out the 7 ways you can improve your blog and make it thrive, surviving the little traffic of the summer months? Then, let’s get started!

Last updated on July 26, 2024

📌 SHORT ON TIME? PIN IT FOR LATER! 📌

1. Update Old Posts

The first tweak you could make to your blog to fight the summer slump is updating old posts.

Even if you followed a bullet-proof SEO strategy from the beginning, blogging has a constant learning curve. (Seriously, every day I find out something new thanks to FB groups!)

For this reason, it might be good – now and then – to go back to old posts and see how you can further improve them.

In the process, you’ll want to pay attention to:

• Your chosen keywords
• Refresh the content itself
• The internal and external links (to make sure they’re not broken)
• Your images
• The grammar and tone of voice

Use your time to create new infographics, promote your post on social, and excel at your SEO strategy.

Google loves new content! Making sure that every post is optimized and updated will make you score higher in the rankings.

In that way, when people come back from vacation and become more active online, they’ll only stump across your best content!

2. Re-Purpose Old Content

Another great blogging task you could do over the summer is repurposing old content.

Since you’re already going over your older posts to update them, you can kill two birds with one stone and generate new ideas for the old content!

Are there new social media you weren’t previously using, but now are?

Or, did your graphics’ style change over time?

Are you creatively stuck and need some inspiration for future blog posts?

Re-purposing old content is your solution to all those problems!

For every blog post that you go over, you could:

• Create new pins
• Turn it into a YouTube video
• Break it down into engaging TikToks and reel
• Come up with new blog post ideas linked to the post

Especially if you’re uninspired or have little time to work on your blog over the summer, one of the best ways to make your blog survive the traffic slump is by getting inspired by yourself.

Look at all the amazing ideas you’ve already come up with, and use them in your favor!

Save time and creative energy by repurposing your old blog posts.

3. Do a Blog Makeover

Over time, your taste in things changes.

Maybe you started your blog when you were only 18 years old and the excessive, childish style doesn’t suit you anymore.

Or maybe, throughout your years of blogging, you decided to niche down and the theme you once chose doesn’t match your vision anymore.

What if you just want to revamp your blog style because you grew out of it?

Whatever your prerogative is, doing a blog makeover is a must!

So why not take advantage of the traffic slump to change your blog style over the summer months? (No one is reading it anyway, so no one will notice it!)

Here are a few things you could change to give your blog a complete makeover:

• Change your theme
• Use a new color palette
• Change your fonts
• Switch old pins for new ones
• Refresh your “About Me” page
• Update your social media accounts
• And…don’t forget to share your makeover with your readers!

Especially if you’re changing your domain name, brand colors, or logo…make sure you inform your readers about these important changes!

By doing so, your readers won’t freak out about your total business rebrand, and – on top of that – they will feel also involved in the process.

They see you evolve, as they evolve with you 🙂

4. Do a Blog Audit

Another great way to use the summer traffic slump to your advantage is to conduct a blog audit.

I mean, when was the last time that you did so? (And, if you’ve never done it – it’s never too late!)

If you don’t know what a blog audit is, SemRush couldn’t have explained it better in this post.

Anyways, if you’re not into the technical and more specific details of it, and are ok with knowing the basics to conduct an audit for your blog – I’m glad to help you out!

These are the steps you should take when conducting a blog audit:

• Define your end goal
• Define your parameters:
  • The number of page views?
  • Ranking on SERPs?
  • The number of shares?
  • Likes and comments?
  • The number of readers who subscribed to your newsletter?
• Assess the performance of your content based on the chosen parameters
  • What posts did perform well?
  • What posts didn’t perform well?
  • Can you notice a pattern for both cases?
• Improve old content based on the insights you gained
• Develop a proven strategy for new content

For example, let’s analyze a real-life scenario:

• Goal – Increase the number of email subscribers
• Parameter – Number of new subscribers per blog post
• Single posts – Which one(s) resulted in the highest conversion rate? (For example, 3 blog posts determined the conversion of 75% of current email subscribers)
• Analysis – Is there a particular strategy or pattern used in the most well-performing posts? – (For example, all 3 blog posts had the same opt-in form)
• Improve – How can you use this new insight to your advantage? (For example, you could include the opt-in form in previous posts, when relevant)
• Strategy – Develop a plan to integrate the opt-in form in most new posts

Looking back at what worked – and what didn’t – is a great way to shorten your path to success in your blogging journey!

PS. Make sure not to make one of these “7 Blogging Mistakes All Bloggers Make”

5. Make a Plan for Fall

Another way to take advantage of the summer slump in your blog traffic is to use the extra time to create a perfect plan for the Fall.

While in the summer your blog might suffer from a pitfall in traffic, generally – as people go back to their routines -, the Fall is a great high-traffic and high-conversion period of the year.

Adults are logging in back to work, so they might want to waste some time at the office by surfing how they can change their lives.

Students who go back to college might be looking for the best morning routine or money-making side hustles they could start.

The “fresh start effect” just makes everyone feel more excited about new beginnings.

Make sure you’re best prepared for the comeback of your readers by creating a solid plan for your Fall blog posts!

6. Focus on Networking

One way to boost your blog traffic to avoid the summer slump is by focusing on networking!

Nurture your relationships with fellow bloggers and make sure to support each other, especially if you feel stuck in your blogging journey.

Some of the best networking strategies are:

• Being very active on Facebook Groups and participating in daily threads
• Reaching out to bloggers in the same niche
• Finding collaboration opportunities
• Accepting guest blogging offers by other bloggers
• Offering to write a guest post on someone’s blog
• Interacting a lot on other social media platforms (Instagram, TikTok, etc)
• Answering questions on Quora

Find ways to generate even the smallest amount of traffic to your blog by using any of the strategies mentioned above. (And, if you have other tips, please feel free to share them in a comment!)

7. Create a New Freebie

Finally, the last thing you could do to deal with the summer slump is to create a great lead magnet for your blog!

If you want to boost your conversion of newsletter subscribers, then you need to make sure that new readers who stumble upon your blog have a reason to stick around!

No one wants to give their email address to receive boring and unhelpful emails that only pile up in an (already) too-cluttered inbox.

Offering something of high value is the perfect way to start building a trust-worthy relationship with your readers.

Find what their biggest pain points are, and then give them a solution!

If you’re stuck and don’t know what freebie to create, you might consider:

• Asking Facebook groups
• Doing a poll on Instagram Stories
• Simply talking to people (and carefully listening to what they have to say!)
• Creating a detailed persona of your typical reader
• Asking yourself: “What is something you wish you got helped with?”

To know what’s meaningful to your readers, you must first have a clear picture of who your typical reader is.

That’s why describing your user persona is one of the first steps you take with the “Blogging Plan” – which you can download for free:

---

As a blogger, there’s nothing you can do to prevent your blog traffic from falling into a slump during the summer months.

But, what you can do is use those months to your advantage to further improve your blog and get ready for a great comeback in the Fall!

Keep your motivation and hopes high – you’ve got this!

Q: “What are you going to do for your blog to make it survive (and thrive) through the summer slump?” – Share your thoughts in a comment! 🙂

Until next time,

Like the post? Share it!