Re-Use Your Blog Content Part One

re-use your blog content
Blog Editorial Meeting

There are lots of ways to re-use your blog content as I will demonstrate in this short series of blog posts. These include updating material, presenting it in a different way or format such as videos and e-publications, writing guest blogs based on your work and more. All of which I will look at over the next few weeks.

In Part One we look at the simplest way to do it, refreshing and republishing old posts. But why do it in the first place?

re-use your blog content
Blog Editorial Meeting

Re-Use Your Blog Content Part One

Why Re-Use Your Blog Content?

Here are just a few reasons to put in the effort to re-use your blog content.

  • It can give people access to your material who didn’t see your blog the first time around.
  • You might reach a different audience who prefer to see content in a different way. For example, some people like words, others like video presentations.
  • You spend hours researching and writing a blog so you want to make sure you get the best out of the results by building on earlier writing.
  • Re-use of an old blog can be quicker than writing a new one (and one good blog post can lead to several new articles/posts).
  • You get an SEO boost by refreshing old content.

Refreshing and Republishing Old Blog Posts

Don’t Just Use Any Old Blog

To be clear I am not talking about just re-issuing the existing posts on social media without doing any work on them. Nor will it work for every post.

It is important to be selective about which blogs to re-use.  Looking through my blogs there are those that were written as one off posts. Perhaps announcing a new art series or a new product that I have available. Those did their job at the time but have exceeded their ‘shelf life’. Those I would not re-use. But there are also others that last the test of time, the so-called ‘evergreen’ posts that you can work with to re-use the content.

re-use your blog content
The Naked Gardener

Pick Blogs That Last The Test Of Time

Types of evergreen content would include a blog about a national day or event that occurs annually. Examples include ‘World Naked Gardening Day‘ and the ‘International Day of Happiness‘. Or maybe a blog about a particular day in history (a good way of overcoming writer’s block by the way). They provide an easy opportunity to re-use your blog content.

Opportunities to Build on Previous Content

So you have a blog that may even be a couple of years old but the core of the information it contains has not changed. Let’s look at what you can do with it to refresh and update it easily.

re-use your blog content
In Search of Summer Pickings

Update Content

The first thing is to sit and read the blog and make any changes that are needed. We are looking for simple update activities here.  Where a lot more research and writing is required a new blog post might be more appropriate (referring back to the old one of course). I am talking about something much simpler.

Look for dates that might have changed and links will need checking too in order to make sure they are still current. Remember to check your post tags in case they need updating!

Remove any information included that is no longer relevant. For example, if you added a paragraph at the end of the blog giving an update on an earlier story or piece of art that meant something when you wrote it but doesn’t now. Stripping those out and just writing a simple, neutral intro and end to the blog means the main body of the blog is untouched.

With these simple activities you have a blog you can re-market with the minimum amount of effort.

Your Diary And Schedules Are Your Friends

I have many blogs that are written for specific dates. I gave a couple of examples above but they are usually related to national days or holidays. You can keep a log in your diary of these blogs and then re-use the content and schedule their publication on an annual basis. That way those blogs get dusted and come out once a year to be re-marketed and get another burst of interest from readers.

Remember you can schedule posts on Facebook Fan Pages. I use that facility and have a combination of scheduled posts there and notes in my diary for the rest of the year. Those act as my prompts to market more widely to other social media and beyond.

re-use your blog content
Humpback Breach

Think Outside The Box

Although I have mentioned specific days or national holidays, sometimes a post will be relevant to a national day without having been written for it. For example, February 16 is ‘World Whale Day’. I haven’t written a blog about World Whale Day. I have, however, written a blog about my experience of going whale watching. So that is a great opportunity to re-use an existing blog and market it in a new way.

To Re-use Your Blog Content Start Simple

To recap, the simplest way to re-use blog content is to take evergreen content, give it a quick update and then re-market it, taking advantage of anniversaries.

In my next blog I will look at how you can re-use your blog content by turning the content into a video.

Before you go

Mid-week Reflections
Dorothy and Barnet Boy

My name is Dorothy Berry-Lound an artist and writer. You can find out more about my art and writing at https://dorothyberryloundart.com.

You can follow me on Facebook.

Thank you for reading!

About Dorothy Berry-Lound 447 Articles
I am having fun living half way up a mountain in Central Italy with my husband Barnet Boy, Stevie Mouse and the rest of my fur family. I am enjoying creating art that people will love having on their walls. I also love storytelling through my blog and short stories.

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