The key is the REGULAR maintenance, not to go into 'set and forget it' mode. Testing the plugins, the widgets, the Analytics (on my to do list that never seems to get done enough) is all part of it; blogging is a marathon, a continual experiment so there will always be little tweaks needed. Part of staying up to date is make sure your site works for mobile (another thing I need to do), watch trends, see what new tools can help you - but don't overload on new and shiny, look at how/when people view/share your blog and optimize accordingly. FWIW.