QUICKLY BOOST TRAFFIC WITH THESE 8 EASY WAYS TO REPURPOSE OLD CONTENT
Blog posts, videos, guides, news articles, webinars… over time, the average website accumulates a huge amount of content. While this is a great way to keep your site up-to-date, once active promotion is over, a lot of work ultimately ends up in the archives. So what can you do to avoid that?
There are two main options. First (and easiest!) - if you’ve got valuable content that’s been sitting around for a while, there’s no harm in starting a new round of promotion to increase its visibility to your audience and influencers. Take a read through, update any information that’s no longer relevant, and consider moving it to a more prominent place on your site for a while. You could even work on a redesign to give it a little more visual appeal and boost your outreach efforts.
The second option is to repurpose content, by taking core information and repackaging it in a new format. This is a great way to bring new attention to a topic that you’ve already researched, and although you’ll need to do a little work to adapt your content to its new form, it’s still a simple and time-effective way of giving old content a new lease of life. Here are eight of the best ways to do it!
1. Add step-by-step instructions to old explainers
Explainer posts can take all shapes and forms, and can often be just as much about providing an overview of a topic as they are about getting into the details. To spruce up old information, then, it’s often easy to identify processes that you’ve described in previous guides, and simply add a walkthrough of how to achieve them.
If you are already ranking for the article’s chosen keywords on Google then this can be a great way to bring some extra traffic to the page, as you’ll reach both those with an interest in the topic, and people simply looking to get things done.
Example: Turn an old ‘Introduction to SEO’ guide into something with real practical applications by walking readers through different keyword research methods. Remember, if you’re targeting users with limited existing knowledge of your topic, chances are that they’ll be heading straight to google for advice on how to carry out the processes you recommend. Keep them on your site by combining advice and practical solutions in the same article!
2. Turn previous blog posts into guides
If you’re using your website’s blog as a way to chat with users, reflect on industry developments, or add your two cents on topics of interest, then odds are that you’re putting out valuable ideas and useful information on a regular basis.
If you’re not convinced, have a look over your previous blog posts - are there any topics that you’ve written about more than once? Or interesting conclusions that you’ve come to? If the answer’s yes, then think about turning one or more of your old blog posts into a brand new guide. While some extra writing and structural changes might be required, the ideas are all there, and taking this approach could bring your thoughts to a much wider audience.
3. Make outdated news articles into shareable opinion pieces
It might seem like news stories quickly go out of date, but in fact old news can easily be extended into great new articles. Got a writeup of a newly launched product in your industry from nine months ago? Think about how successful it’s been, or how much things have changed since, and put together an opinion piece. If you’re in touch with social influencers, promote the finished article with an invitation to discuss, and don’t be afraid to touch on controversial topics - people love to share their opinions, and exchanging views is a great way to build relationships.
4. Convert webinars into video tutorials
If you’ve previously held webinars to introduce or explain your product, you’ve got hours of potential video goodness just waiting to be edited into new and shareable content. Whether you repackage them as video guides, or choose to cut them up into more bitesize chunks, webinars can retain their value long into the future by being turned into informative or promotional tools.
5. Transform longform articles and guides into ebooks
Ebooks are a great way to encourage engagement and gather user information, with common uses including as giveaways to newsletter subscribers, or free downloads requiring an email address or site registration.
While creating an ebook may sound daunting, it is in fact very straightforward, with multiple methods available. Once you’ve gotten your head around the basics of getting the job done, you can start looking for your content. Longer guides and power pages are often a good option, with bonus points for anything that will span more than one or two pages, and which can be easily broken down into chapters. It’s also well worth choosing a topic with fairly broad appeal, and which you have some useful information on, as vague or niche subject matter is less likely to attract downloads.
6. Use website comments, Quora, Reddit, and more to make yourself an FAQ
FAQ sections are an essential part of any website dealing in technical or specialist subject matter. To make the most of yours, draw on the subject matter raised in comments from your users, related forums and subreddits, and more.
If you’re not already familiar with Quora, welcome to one of the best real-world audience research tools on the market. Whether you’re looking for obscure information, want to crowdsource answers to a chosen question, or are looking for a way to demonstrate your knowledge, the community-based question and answer site is an almost limitless resource for experts, curious observers, and everything in between.
Using Quora should give you a good overview not just of your industry, but also of the gaps within it. A search for basic keywords should bring up plenty of results, and highlight those queries that come up over and over again - giving you the perfect basis for a FAQ that addresses topics of genuine value to your audience.
7. Single out statistics to create a useful infographic
If there’s one way to guarantee yourself some backlinks, it’s providing a quick and appealing way for other sites to reference raw information. Statistics are a popular example of this, as writers will hunt out sources of facts and figures in order to anchor and inform their own content. So if you’ve made casual reference to a set of statistics in your previous posts, consider bringing them to the forefront of a new post, and adding a few design flourishes to stand out from your competition. Just make sure to always acknowledge your sources!
8. Create a list of tips and tricks using information from old guides
Most articles have take-away tips that can be easily lifted out to create an actionable list of hints or recommendations. Whether you have enough material on a single topic to make a post dedicated to just one thing, or just want to put together a ‘10 best tips’, this will put your content into a new, easily digestible format which lends itself well to newsletters, blogs, and even infographics, and is a good candidate for social media promotion.
--
Repurposing content is a great way to get the most out of your work - breathing new life into neglected articles, and creating shareable posts that can reach a whole new audience. Leave us a comment and let us know what you think of our suggestions, and if there are any other techniques that are worth a try. Alternatively, why not follow us on Twitter or LinkedIn for regular updates and new posts!
There are two main options. First (and easiest!) - if you’ve got valuable content that’s been sitting around for a while, there’s no harm in starting a new round of promotion to increase its visibility to your audience and influencers. Take a read through, update any information that’s no longer relevant, and consider moving it to a more prominent place on your site for a while. You could even work on a redesign to give it a little more visual appeal and boost your outreach efforts.
The second option is to repurpose content, by taking core information and repackaging it in a new format. This is a great way to bring new attention to a topic that you’ve already researched, and although you’ll need to do a little work to adapt your content to its new form, it’s still a simple and time-effective way of giving old content a new lease of life. Here are eight of the best ways to do it!
1. Add step-by-step instructions to old explainers
Explainer posts can take all shapes and forms, and can often be just as much about providing an overview of a topic as they are about getting into the details. To spruce up old information, then, it’s often easy to identify processes that you’ve described in previous guides, and simply add a walkthrough of how to achieve them.
If you are already ranking for the article’s chosen keywords on Google then this can be a great way to bring some extra traffic to the page, as you’ll reach both those with an interest in the topic, and people simply looking to get things done.
Example: Turn an old ‘Introduction to SEO’ guide into something with real practical applications by walking readers through different keyword research methods. Remember, if you’re targeting users with limited existing knowledge of your topic, chances are that they’ll be heading straight to google for advice on how to carry out the processes you recommend. Keep them on your site by combining advice and practical solutions in the same article!
2. Turn previous blog posts into guides
If you’re using your website’s blog as a way to chat with users, reflect on industry developments, or add your two cents on topics of interest, then odds are that you’re putting out valuable ideas and useful information on a regular basis.
If you’re not convinced, have a look over your previous blog posts - are there any topics that you’ve written about more than once? Or interesting conclusions that you’ve come to? If the answer’s yes, then think about turning one or more of your old blog posts into a brand new guide. While some extra writing and structural changes might be required, the ideas are all there, and taking this approach could bring your thoughts to a much wider audience.
3. Make outdated news articles into shareable opinion pieces
It might seem like news stories quickly go out of date, but in fact old news can easily be extended into great new articles. Got a writeup of a newly launched product in your industry from nine months ago? Think about how successful it’s been, or how much things have changed since, and put together an opinion piece. If you’re in touch with social influencers, promote the finished article with an invitation to discuss, and don’t be afraid to touch on controversial topics - people love to share their opinions, and exchanging views is a great way to build relationships.
4. Convert webinars into video tutorials
If you’ve previously held webinars to introduce or explain your product, you’ve got hours of potential video goodness just waiting to be edited into new and shareable content. Whether you repackage them as video guides, or choose to cut them up into more bitesize chunks, webinars can retain their value long into the future by being turned into informative or promotional tools.
5. Transform longform articles and guides into ebooks
Ebooks are a great way to encourage engagement and gather user information, with common uses including as giveaways to newsletter subscribers, or free downloads requiring an email address or site registration.
While creating an ebook may sound daunting, it is in fact very straightforward, with multiple methods available. Once you’ve gotten your head around the basics of getting the job done, you can start looking for your content. Longer guides and power pages are often a good option, with bonus points for anything that will span more than one or two pages, and which can be easily broken down into chapters. It’s also well worth choosing a topic with fairly broad appeal, and which you have some useful information on, as vague or niche subject matter is less likely to attract downloads.
6. Use website comments, Quora, Reddit, and more to make yourself an FAQ
FAQ sections are an essential part of any website dealing in technical or specialist subject matter. To make the most of yours, draw on the subject matter raised in comments from your users, related forums and subreddits, and more.
If you’re not already familiar with Quora, welcome to one of the best real-world audience research tools on the market. Whether you’re looking for obscure information, want to crowdsource answers to a chosen question, or are looking for a way to demonstrate your knowledge, the community-based question and answer site is an almost limitless resource for experts, curious observers, and everything in between.
Using Quora should give you a good overview not just of your industry, but also of the gaps within it. A search for basic keywords should bring up plenty of results, and highlight those queries that come up over and over again - giving you the perfect basis for a FAQ that addresses topics of genuine value to your audience.
7. Single out statistics to create a useful infographic
If there’s one way to guarantee yourself some backlinks, it’s providing a quick and appealing way for other sites to reference raw information. Statistics are a popular example of this, as writers will hunt out sources of facts and figures in order to anchor and inform their own content. So if you’ve made casual reference to a set of statistics in your previous posts, consider bringing them to the forefront of a new post, and adding a few design flourishes to stand out from your competition. Just make sure to always acknowledge your sources!
8. Create a list of tips and tricks using information from old guides
Most articles have take-away tips that can be easily lifted out to create an actionable list of hints or recommendations. Whether you have enough material on a single topic to make a post dedicated to just one thing, or just want to put together a ‘10 best tips’, this will put your content into a new, easily digestible format which lends itself well to newsletters, blogs, and even infographics, and is a good candidate for social media promotion.
--
Repurposing content is a great way to get the most out of your work - breathing new life into neglected articles, and creating shareable posts that can reach a whole new audience. Leave us a comment and let us know what you think of our suggestions, and if there are any other techniques that are worth a try. Alternatively, why not follow us on Twitter or LinkedIn for regular updates and new posts!
Written as blog content for a small marketing agency, 2017.