So, you have a blog and you’re writing them frequently. Great! But, what do you do with those old ones? It kind of seems like a waste to let them just sit there and be neglected. Sure, some people are still finding them through search and your posting them to social media sites but why not show them some extra attention? Recycle your blog posts! Why?how? Keep reading!
Many of us are guilty of forgetting about the content we have produced in the past. If you have great content already, use it to your advantage!
Example: Do you have a blog post that has been trending socially or is ranking high in search results?
- Make it into an offer
- Create a slideshare
- Create a new blog post on the topic that is more current
- Expand on that topic in a new blog post
- Create an infographic
- Create a video
Is Recycling OK?
Yes! As long as you are not repeating the content verbatim, recycling is encouraged. Old blog posts get cataloged very fast so if you have one that’s doing well, bring it back out and take advantage of that. It’s obviously something people are finding helpful! So, think of it as you are just providing them even more helpful information.
Warning
Of course there are exceptions and rules to this, just like everything else. Make sure you have a strategy in place before beginning. Don’t just recycle anything and everything. Have a purpose and a reason.
This article I came across explains those particular steps wonderfully. If you are interested in getting the most out of your content I suggest you give the following article a read and continue on to read the original version.
Posted by Cassie Gillette
Turning Old Content Into New Links
It’s no secret that in order to build good links, you typically need to build good content. The problem is creating good content takes time and resources, and after the piece has gone live and been promoted, it’s often forgotten about. What a waste!
One great way to put that content to good use and build new links is to revisit and repurpose. After all, if a piece was successful once, it probably was successful for a reason. Take advantage of what you already have.
Audit Existing Content
Before you can start repurposing your content, you have to identify what content should be repurposed. I recommend starting in analytics. Take a look at visits, social shares, referral traffic and referring domains.
Also be sure to check out which pieces have the most inbound links. This can be done through a number of tools including Open Site Explorer, Majestic SEO or Raven Tools, to name a few.
As you’re going through your analytics, keep track of your top posts. This will become extremely handy as you start scoping out content ideas and think about promotion. Make note of the following factors (an excel sheet is great for this):
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Title
-
URL
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Type of Content (Blog Post, News Story, Infographic, etc.)
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Style of Content (List, Opinion, Gallery)
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Shares
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# of Links
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Linking URLs
Once you have identified your top pieces of content, it’s time to start creating a plan and repurposing your content.
Repurpose & Reach Out
There are a number of ways to repurpose content but there are a few easy routes to take if you break your content down by type. Here are a few ideas:
1. Turn List Posts Into Slide Decks
List posts are perfect for creating slide decks. They are already concise, they contain the best pieces of information, and people tend to love them. A beautiful slide deck can result in a new piece of content both off-site and on-site, and creates a new way to generate links.
Link Opportunity: Who are the people who linked to the original post? Would they be interested in this new version? Possibly. Would they be interested if they were a part of it? I’d say it increases your odds.
Include a quote from someone who referenced the post somewhere else or add a couple slides that showcase tweets. This provides an easy in to then reach out to those people, let them know you updated the content and, more importantly, let them know you featured them in the deck.
[Continue reading original article: Turning Old Content Into New Links]
