6 ways to give your old content new life
Remember that blog post you wrote back in September 2008? Remember how earth-shattering you thought it was? How it would take on a life of its own, make its way around Twitter and Facebook, and change lives forever? You weren’t on Twitter yet — LinkedIn didn’t offer status updates and your friends on Facebook were too busy with Scrabulous to care. Sadly, no one but you read it. And now, hundreds of posts and a redesign later, no one ever will.
But what if some of those old thoughts are just as relevant today? What can you do to reinvigorate these old posts? Here are some tactics to give your old ideas new life.
1. Update the post. Just like a new edition of a printed book, you can add a new “forward” to your post, explaining how it’s either more or less relevant given what has transpired since it was written. Repackage it and republish. If it’s put into the context of today, it’s as fresh as can be.
2. Reference the post. A link back to that post from a new one is a great way to give it new legs. It also increases the chances of someone stumbling upon it in the future.
3. Comment. Sometimes a new comment will spark new conversation. As I keep tabs on this blog, it amazes me how some posts get hot weeks after publishing. At the very least, if you have a “recent comments” widget, the post will gain some additional visibility.
4. Check the tags. Perhaps your content tagging strategy has changed over the months and years. Make sure your post has up-to-date tags and is categorized correctly. You can even look to your search logs and see if there are terms that you didn’t think of that could be a good fit.
5. Add plug-ins. There are a variety of WordPress and TypePad plug-ins that will help link your content. Related posts will give much of your old content new visibility and embedded tags can also help in this department.
6. Start over. Maybe you were too early. Maybe you were a bit off-target. Either way, you’re probably a better blogger now and more knowledgeable on the subject. Build on what made the post great and nix everything that kept it average.
I’m as guilty as the next guy of being a “time-stamp snob.” Often, if I see a tweet that interests me and then find it was posted more that a week ago, I simply move on to the next. But if that time stamp is updated, or the discussion is as fresh and valuable as ever, I’m on board. You wrote and published that old post months, if not years ago — but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t deserve a fair shot. After all, “A Confederacy of Dunces” was published 11 years after John Kennedy Toole’s death and it was still hailed as an instant classic upon its arrival.
Image credit, jgroup, via iStock
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Tags: blogs, comments, content, tagging
Categories: Blogging, Ideas in Action
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Posted by Kaila S | Vertical Measures on January 15th, 2010 at 11:15 am
I heard similar advice to this from Rand Fishkin while I attended Pubcon. A question I never really got answered was this: if you are updating an old post do you want to completely change the old content and keep the same URL? Or is it better to leave the initial post intact, and just edit the top portion of the page? I am just curious to get a little more information on the logistics of #1 in this example: Updating the post…from a link building/SEO standpoint. Rand had mentioned in his presentation at Pubcon that you should keep the URL, but I never got a clear answer on what to do with the old content. His thinking was this: keep the same URL as it likely already has many links pointing to it, and make it ‘new news’ to expand on the jump started link building already done for the post. Thoughts?
Posted by Tweets that mention SmartBlog On Social Media » 6 ways to give your old content new life -- Topsy.com on January 15th, 2010 at 11:49 am
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Posted by Rob Birgfeld on January 15th, 2010 at 1:27 pm
Kaila,
Since we’re ultimately talking under the banner of social media, transparency must continue to take precedence. That said, if you would be planning an overhaul of an older post, I’d adjust and create a brand new URL. After all, those who provided you with link love would lose their original context– and we don’t want to penalize them. I think if the changes are cosmetic or simply updating a post– fine, work with what you’ve got. Otherwise, create a new URL entirely.
Posted by donna on January 15th, 2010 at 2:30 pm
Thanks for the great tips on revamping old content. Do you see this as a way to optimize a website for search engines as well? t I just registered to attend an online Content Marketing Summit that will hopefully address this. http://www.brighttalk.com/summit/contentmarketing I’m especially looking forward to Joe Pulizzi’s presentation.
Posted by jens on January 16th, 2010 at 5:50 am
This step very very usefull,,, thank you so much
Posted by D1nx on January 16th, 2010 at 5:55 am
Excellent article – very sound advice. Thank you for sharing.
I love the Torah (scroll) graphic – may I use it?
Posted by Jorge Fusaro on January 17th, 2010 at 2:03 am
Great post and suggestions!
I have a couple of questions:
1) on #1, do you mean republish with new date, or simply update and re-tweet?
2) Do you suggest having less tags and group everything under them or have as many as you think? Should we us one work tags or phrases?
3) any special widget for related posts?
Thanks a ton!
Posted by uberVU - social comments on January 17th, 2010 at 10:10 am
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by KendraAtAllCom: RT @SBoSM 6 ways to give your old content new life: http://ow.ly/WNdB...
Posted by Rob Birgfeld on January 17th, 2010 at 10:40 am
Jorge,
Thanks for your questions! Here are some thoughts for you:
1. I was suggesting more an update and retweet (if applicable). I would not suggest republishing with a new date unless you completely overhaul the content.
2. Tags present some interesting decisions– but it’s important that you consider that if you make them too broad, they will not serve your audience. From an SEO perspective, think about the long-tail and the impact that can have on new readers. While you shouldn’t get too granular with your tags, if you provide target content effectively, your readers (new and old) will thank you for it.
3. Depending on your blog platform, there are a variety of services that can be customized. For instance, we are on WP and use YARPP (Yet Another Related Posts Plugin). It can be found here: http://mitcho.com/code/yarpp/
Posted by Matches Malone on January 19th, 2010 at 9:19 am
Of course, then there are those that comment three days later….
Posted by The benefits of updating your existing content on January 23rd, 2010 at 3:25 am
[...] or blog but there is another way of having fresh content, as explained in this blog post titled 6 ways to give your old content new life. Personally for me it’s quite difficult to sift through my old posts and articles and update [...]
Posted by social network design on January 26th, 2010 at 12:07 am
Old is gold. Old thing are good examples to lead a nice future life.
Posted by How to Create a B2B Social Media Game Plan: S.E.L.L. » B2B Bliss on January 28th, 2010 at 6:47 am
[...] and think – is the current conversation what you expected? How is it different? Will your initial topics still work for your content? Do you have idea “gaps” that need to be [...]
Posted by pal on March 18th, 2010 at 3:57 pm
thaaaaaaaanks man