Go Back + Re-Vamp
How can we improve and use them? I began thinking of this a few months ago after seeing one of my first posts. I cringed when I saw the short, impersonal, and unedited write-up I had posted, and I was confused by the haphazard image had chosen to represent my post. It didn’t match the content that I had recently posted, and so I decided to edit it. It took hours, but I went through post after post editing and updating what I could. I updated images, added in links, and then shared it again.Do you ever look back on your older content and think it needs a little tweak? Well, tweak and edit it! When you first started blogging you may not have had as clear of a direction for your writing and photos, and you want all of your content to be as appealing as your newest post. Update your older posts simply by adding in better images, new links, editing your write up – and then re-share them on your social media outlets.
Add Links
If you’re writing a new post and it relates in some way to a past post then be sure to link it within the new post. If there isn’t a way to add it directly into your content, then share it at the bottom of your posts and note it as a “suggested post”. The more consistently you do this, the more traffic you’ll see going back to your older content.
Best of all, by building links into your post (also called, Deep Linking) you’re also improving the SEO in your content. Yep, that’s right – you’re making your blog more searchable to google and also driving the users who are already on your blog to your older content. When you’re adding links into your posts be sure to share the entire title of the post, and not just “click here to read more on this!”. For example, you’ll want to say something like:
Promote On Social Media
Promoting your posts on social media is just another great way to get followers to click into your posts. By utilizing Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest you’ll be able to drive traffic to your newer and older posts consistently. Simply take an hour when you have some free time and schedule a few posts for each day of your week. I typically like to schedule 4+ per day and I never share the same link twice in the same day.
Many bloggers fear sharing their older content thinking that it could be irrelevant (this seems to especially be an issue for style bloggers) but just because a post is older doesn’t mean it isn’t interesting or informative in some way. If you’re concerned about readers being turned off by the older dates than you could remove the dates from all your posts.
Make Your Pins Pin-Worthy
Pinterest is one of the easiest tools to get your information out there and onto the screens of potential readers. Unlike other social media outlets, you’re not shouting out to readers saying “Hey! Check out my new post!” – instead, on Pinterest you’re letting readers come find you. Pinterest is the best tool to really hone in on your target market and audience because they have sought out your content. For this reason, you want to make sure your Pins are beautiful, eye-catching, and entice Pinners to click to see more.
My older blog posts were filled with really so-so images. It was all trial and error back then, and truly – I made a LOT of errors. Going back and editing my posts didn’t just mean I focused on my content and grammar, I also over-hauled my images. As one of my main sources of traffic is Pinterest, I wanted to be sure that my images were not only Pin-worthy, but they create curiosity so viewers would want to click into it to read my full post.
Suggested Posts
The easiest and most mindless way to increase your traffic is by having your posts automatically suggested to your readers. These suggested posts require no maintenance or updating which is why they are a bloggers best friend. The fact is, we already have so many other social outlets to manage, it’s kind of nice to have something that just helps you – no upkeep needed. These will suggest posts that are related to the topic being viewed by that reader which will help grow your traffic. This will also improve your bounce rate.
One tool you can install yourself is Linkwithin, Linkwithin is a popular tool for bloggers as it is free and gathers the information from your blog to suggest posts to your readers. I personally used Linkwithin for a long time, but I found the look of it somewhat unappealing. I decided I wanted a suggested posts widget that was custom made for my blog. I reached out to my web designer, Phil from Pipdig.co and he was able to build a prettier suggested post widget into my blog.
I once went back, added all my blogs to Pinterest after I added a picture or quote to them all… in the beginning I didn't do that. I fixed up what I could… I do need to share the older posts more often, I never thought much about that… I do have the link within… lots of great tips here Bree xox
Great ideas on how to use old content!
I could definitely go back and edit some of my old posts to be more cohesive with what I do nowadays in terms of my writing style and photo quality.
Thanks for the helpful tips!
Amanda ||
http://www.affordablebyamanda.com