When I had my Edit This® website rebuilt from scratch a few months ago, the biggest concern I had was making sure I didn't lose all my blog content.
I had roughly 60 individual blog posts covering all sorts of topics related to writing and editing – and there were more on the way. That's a ton of valuable online real estate that I worked hard on. Naturally, I wanted every bit of it saved.
I had a smart web designer in my corner, and it all worked out fine, but all that stressing out got me thinking about the importance of repurposing old blogs and how some people miss the boat on breathing new life into their content. What's the point of working so hard to create quality content people want to read and that we want to keep if we aren't willing to put hard work in on the back end to keep the conversation going?
What happens is all those old blog posts just end up sitting there – wasted and forgotten.
Your older blogs can be repurposed – much like a fresh coat of paint and elbow grease can transform your grandmother's rickety dresser into a bookshelf – to provide more value to your faithful readers while reaching a potentially larger audience and building your brand.
Here are 6 ways I have repurposed blog content for my business:
Link to old blogs in new posts
I'm looking for ways to work in at least one or two links to previous blogs I've written every time I write a new blog – especially if those blogs add to the current blog's topic. For example, a month ago I wrote a post telling readers that Edit This is the perfect choice to help write or edit their next blog. In it, I included a link to an earlier blog on 7 reasons why I love to blog. See what I did there? This is easy and provides more depth to every post.
Write follow up blogs on a previous topic
This tip piggybacks off the previous one. You can write follow up posts that are related to an older and perhaps more detailed post. In some cases, you can eventually have five or six related posts branching off from the main one. And yes, always link to the original.
Repost older blogs on social media
This is also incredibly easy and something I need to do more of moving forward. On the day after Thanksgiving, I did repost a blog from 2016 on pluralizing last names. It was fun seeing it gain new traction on Facebook. Bottom line: if you're used to blogging once or twice a week and sharing to social media, reposting an older blog gives you a bonus post without all the heavy lifting.
Repurpose blogs with updated content
Instead of linking back to an old post or reposting the original content to social media, take the idea of the original blog and freshen it up with new and updated material. This is especially true for blogs that are five or six years old. Maybe concepts that were popular back then are now outdated. Refresh your content and add new elements to get it back up with the times and reach a larger audience.
Create a presentation
In February, I was asked to use an older blog as the topic for a speaking engagement at a local networking breakfast. I was elated because not only was the topic something I was incredibly passionate about, but the content was done. All I had to do was create a slideshow. I did something similar for a radio interview, and I've been asked to do the same presentation two more times for the upcoming year. You can also think in terms of converting your blog into a video or offline material such as a company newsletter.
Email your older blog content to clients I am not a proponent of spamming people to death, but there have been plenty of instances where I'll be sitting down with a client, and a particular topic comes up that I know I've covered in a prior blog. If the client expresses interest, I offer to email them a link to the blog post so they can refer back to it later.
My challenge to you today is to incorporate at least one of these blog tips into your routine – whether you have 600 blogs, 60, or 10. And if you need help with the writing and editing of your blog posts, give Edit This a call. You won't be disappointed.
Thanks for reading!
*STEVE GAMEL is the President & Owner of Edit This, LLC, a writing and editing services company located in Denton, TX. Along with being a sports writer for the Denton Record-Chronicle, Steve handles anything involving the written word. Give him a call today to help give your business a clear voice.