Where to go from here?

Hey guys first post. Ive been lurking around here for a few years now and just decided to join in the community.
I have a question about a site I run. Its a wide reaching niche market with categories and pages that narrow down into smaller more targeted sections of the niche. Example would be dogs as the main site and black dogs a catagory.

Anyways, I have about 200 articles ranging from 400-1000 words each article has at least a few images. The quality of the articles varies. I built the site a few years back and had a steady stream of about 100-300 UV each day when I was posting all the time. I have not touched it for at least a year but still get at least 30 UV a day on the same basically 15-20 posts. I know the articles could be optimized and the site could definitely use a good overhaul. Have never done any link building but have naturally received some over time. I rank on the first few pages pages of google for a bunch of long tail keywords and a few specific (all of which have to do with my niche).

My question is where do I go from here. Do I go back and do a run through of all my content to make sure it is all quality and optimized for the keywords in each article? Do I try to build up the authority of the most visited posts with a link building campaign? What would be the best way to monetize this site once I can rebuild my visitors? I used to sell ad space and made some good money before. Any advise helps.

Because you've invested your own time and effort in building the site, you're attached to it.

I think the first question you need to ask comes even before the question that you've asked above.
The question should be - is this project worth spending time on?

You need to be really careful what you focus on, because where focus goes, energy flows. If you're putting your energy into a site that may possibly earn a few hundred, or even crack $1k/mth in adsense, then I would suggest that you're wasting your energy.
Find something with a solid $xx,xxx a month in opportunity - because it takes exactly the same amount of effort to earn that as it does to earn $600/mth.

What are the monetization opportunities, and, what would that look like in dollars terms, in a best case scenario?
If you got 30% of that, would you be exceedingly pleased with yourself? If not, it's not the right project.

I understand that the above doesn't sound pleasant if you're attached to the project, but, I think it's something you would do well to consider.

You have 200+ hand written articles, and only receive 30UV/month organic traffic? It would appear your niche sucks. If you've had this site "a few years back", then it sounds like it started out a hobby/passion, and should be kept as that. You might here these gurus say, write and publish what you love, but some niches aren't money makers. True, you should be genuine to your visitors and clients, that's what makes the sale, but your traffic is sucking. I know your "dog" example is simply to protect your niche (or lack of), so I can't help you specifically. But unless there is an actual product you sell within it, you might be best leaving it as a hobby or moving on. Unless you want to collect kibble and bits from adsense.

You need to go back and change your articles by making each of your page target a specific keyword that you could then SEO for.

Thanks for the advice guys. Just seeing if it was even worth my efforts, never really put much into that site before. My passion site is coming along much better. Hopefully the new site will work out the way I am planning.