Rebecca Garland
How many hours have you put into your blog over the years? How many words have you written? How many visitors has that old content had recently? If your blog is like most, the answer is a dismal “none.” But old content is still good content, even if nobody else sees that, and it can be significantly useful again. All you need to do is effectively revive old post content, and you can put that old material to work again.
Understand You Are Not Just Reposting
Your old material was great, but it’s old. Reviving old content is not the same as reposting old content. You can’t just copy and paste and hope for great results. You have to improve the content. Update the old content.
Reposting old blog posts requires more finesse than a copy and paste job. You’re bringing them back to life, and that means improving the post – even if it was already amazing.
Select the Right Old Content to Update
Some old posts should remain old. Anything dealing with current events that aren’t even remotely current can stay in the past. Advice that isn’t relevant or is flat out wrong can be left behind. What you’re looking for is content that was useful and still is.
Be careful about selecting pages of content that are still generating significant amounts of traffic. Those pages likely rank well already and are useful. Removing large pieces of old content as you update from a popular post may leave it in a worse position. If you’re going to work with an already popular piece, make small changes and additions. You don’t want to risk having to start from scratch.
Revive Old Post Content Correctly
Once you have a post in mind, your task is to simply improve it. Think of this as a “now with more!” sort of improvement. To improve material rather than reposting old blog posts, you’re going to need to add worthwhile information and materials. Worthy additions include:
Video and Images
We like images and video, so make sure your audience has what they want. Adding useful videos that further explain a concept images that enhance and further describe an idea are the best additions. You might also consider the way some native ads might work alongside your other videos and images.
New topics
Your old post might include 12 good ideas on a particular topic, but surely there are more than 12! Add more ideas and topics and expand your post into new areas. This gives you a chance to deal with new keywords, new multi-media opportunities and fresh ideas that can build on the old post.
Examples and How-to Instructions
If your original post had some great ideas, go back into that post and enhance the ideas by adding examples and even step-by-step instructions on how to do whatever it is your post is encouraging your audience to do. A few screenshots and images can do a great deal to make a post easier to understand and more useful to audience members.
Infographics
Infographics are taking the online world by storm. What better way to improve old content than by adding eye-catching graphics that help to actually show readers what you’ve trying to tell them?
Resolve discrepancies
Reposting old blog posts means you may have information that is simply out of date or no longer completely accurate. As you are working to revive old post content, correct these mistakes or explain how what is old is no longer correct. This is an excellent opportunity to prove the depth of your knowledge and your experience in a particular field.
Add and improve links
Check that old links are working. Then, look for options on how to add useful links both within your site and outside of it. Internal links help boost your own SEO and linking strategy. External links to other authority sites build reader confidence in your posts and material. It’s a win-win.
Audio
We don’t mean the annoying music that everyone frantically rushes to turn off, but why not include a podcast or some audio on the site with additional commentary and details? This might be a pure audio file or part of a video you’ve included, but offering individuals more ways to access information is always good.
Rewrite your title
A quick change that can improve your content overall is to improve your original title. If your title didn’t capture a good keyword or seems a bit flat, improve it. Just be careful to change and 301 redirects to your new URL if the updated title updates your URL as well. You don’t want to lose original rankings and traffic.
Speed the Page Up
If may be that you have a pretty good post already, but nobody visits it because it is so slow to load. If that is the case, consider smushing images and finding other ways to boost your load speed. Fast websites are more appealing to visitors.
Promote Your Updated Post
Once you have your post improved and ready for new visitors, promote it the same way you would a brand new post. This time, when you promote your content, you can focus on the new material you’ve added. It’s an “old favorite, now updated to include _____!” type of announcement, which is more appealing for readers.
Your promotions should include email, social media, and traditional channels, but consider a few extra channels as well to get the ball rolling. This might be a time to pay for a bit of traffic. After all, your post that was popular once could easily be popular again, and that is a worthy investment.
What do you think? Have you had any success with old post content of your own? Tell us about it in the comments!
