7 Tips to Revive Old Blog Content
Increasing traffic on your webpage by constantly uploading new content is a great thing to do. Unfortunately, it can become tiring after a while.
You might run out of ideas or simply burn out.
Every blogger’s goal revolves around developing strategies which maximize efficiency and minimize time spent working. Reviving old website content is one of these great strategies. Here are some tips on how to do it.
Edit Titles
A good way to revive your old blog posts is modifying titles in such way that they become more attractive.
Go back to your old posts and change whatever it is you don’t like about them anymore; it’s a fun way to track your progress and it can potentially help bring more traffic.
You can change ideas, subtitles or hooks that you’ve been using. Try to make them more appealing and easier to find (more on that on point #6).
Rewrite Posts
Another good strategy is rewriting your old posts. Make sure you’re not repeating information, yet try using the same concept in brand new ways. I am sure they are great, so why should you change them? Reuse them properly and make the best out of your previous posts.
A classic example is by coming up with a “part 2” of a relatively popular article. If you had previously written about the 10 best websites for freelancers, why not continue with another list?
Of course, you should add new trends to the old posts as well, particularly by implementing new information and explaining it all from a different perspective.
Keep in mind that as time passes, audiences change preferences. Therefore, research current trends and then add fresh data to your bygone posts.
Link New Posts to Old Ones
One of the most common techniques of reviving old blog posts is linking new content to the old ones. Internal link building can bring in a lot of traffic since it looks natural and user-friendly.
Make sure you use the right anchors for organic links; the more interesting they are, the more chances readers will access them.
Leverage the Power of Pinterest
Creating new imagery is another clever strategy to use. By creating Pinterest posts and linking them to your website, your audience could rapidly increase due to this natural cross-promotion effort.
Pinterest is a popular website nowadays, after all; more and more people are using this amazing source, so tracking Pinterest posts back to your blog is a smart move.
Every one of your posts should have an image, so all odds are in your favor. What you should do is set an interesting description to your Pinterest image along with the right keywords for your blog. Avoid adding new images only for tracking them back to your content. Go big or go home.
If you want to have a wider audience, use proper images and great content to relate them back to. Don’t create Pinterest images only for the sake of creating them.
Use Other Social Media
You can now use new tools to revive the same content by creating presentations, podcasts, or even Instagram posts. Creating new images is a great idea, but using social media to promote them is even better.
Create videos that explain the old content and connect them to the old posts. You could record yourself and play the audio whenever someone accesses your old posts. There are many interesting ways in which you can refresh your old content.
Clara Mayfly, a social media coordinator and freelancer at RushMyEssay, believes that “Social media is one of the most powerful tools one can use. People spend an incredible amount of time on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. If your former posts are good enough to be shared again, simply add something new to them and reuse them. Don’t overstress about it – users won’t notice, as they don’t usually pay much attention to detail.”
Use Specific Keywords
We all know how important SEO is, so use it wisely. Carefully chosen keywords ultimately drive users back to your posts. Research the words people usually look for and incorporate them into your content for higher Google rankings. Moz Keyword Explorer is great for this.
Use smart tags into your titles and subtitles and add at least two new keywords per article section.
Another bright idea is using meta descriptions to hook your readers up. Provide a brief description of your content again and use energetic keywords and sharp-witted comments.
Share, Share, Share
Now that you’ve updated most of your posts, share them again! People will still be interested in reading them, especially now that you’ve changed keywords, images, and evolved the content.
The overall message will be familiar while also carrying new details, and that’s why they’ll like it unconsciously. On top of that, users will also share your posts if they liked what they read, so make sure these new details remain interesting throughout.
Wrapping Up
Reviving old blog posts is an incredible way of bringing in new traffic while saving precious time.
You still have to work on new imagery, refreshed descriptions, and adding something new to the former content, but it doesn’t take nearly as much time as it otherwise would. Work less by choosing to work smart!
If there is anything else you would like to add, don’t hesitate to leave us a comment. Your feedback – whether positive or negative – is highly appreciated!
Rich Witt
January 18, 2018 @ 7:25 pm
Thank you, Brandon. This is very timely as I have 5 articles that I hope to improve. 2 or 3 can really use some fresh pinterest images. I have found a few times that this has really created a nice boost for articles that were lukewarm in traffic before. Good point about optimizing the title, too. And, yes, I intend to do more interlinking. Thx for the inspiration. I have to start this project next week for sure.
Elvis Michael
January 19, 2018 @ 10:14 am
Thanks for dropping in, Rich 🙂
It’s amazing the amount of old content that can be revived and updated for the current year.
I actually have a few articles from 2014 / 2015 with some outdated information, which could potentially make the entire post look bad as a result. But once we update these old pieces, that also gives us the right to move it up to the front page and promote it as a brand new article all over again.
Elvis
Susan Velez
January 19, 2018 @ 7:09 am
Hi Brandon,
Great tips for us to use on reviving old blog content that we have already written. I actually love creating fresh Pinterest images because it adds life to old blog posts.
I now make it a point to create at least 2 images for all my new blog posts and add them to Pinterest. I’ve noticed that just by doing this, I am getting more repins. Plus this helps me split test two images in case one takes off and the other one doesn’t.
I’ll then take that image that got shared the most and focus on marketing that one.
Thanks for sharing these tips with us.
Have a great day 🙂
Susan
Elvis Michael
January 19, 2018 @ 10:18 am
Now *THIS* is something I have failed to do (embracing Pinterest in this manner). It shouldn’t take more than 10-15 minutes to modify an image with some creativity, so it’s a pretty neat idea.
A place like Myecovermaker.com is especially great for adding stylish fonts to existing images, by the way. I use it all the time for other projects 😉
Thanks Susan and Brandon!
Ryan Biddulph
January 20, 2018 @ 12:51 pm
Hi Brandon,
Super tip on resharing. I doubled down on this a few weeks back, sharing kinda recent numbers and also sharing some old skool ones. Actually, some of my old skool posts could use sprucing up. Which honors one of your other tips; smart guy you are 😉 Seriously though this post rocks. Why burn out creating new content when you have a store of helpful stuff already? Ramping up and sharing oldies buy goodies also helps you be grateful for all the content you have written already, putting you into a higher vibe.
Ryan
Max Greene
January 22, 2018 @ 5:41 am
Great post, Brandon. I love the idea of reusing and repurposing content to keep it fresh, and ultimately to get as many people as possible to see what you’ve been working on.
I’ve actually begun trying converting some of my most popular posts into short videos to share on social, but it’s SUCH hard work and takes me more time than writing a new blog, so I’m going to have to keep experimenting and try to find the right balance.
Simon Hockins
February 15, 2018 @ 5:17 am
Hi! Nice post.Great article.Thanks for sharing this blog post.