So for the past few weeks, I’ve been really busy and felt as if I needed some new seasonal content. You know the type: pumpkin recipes, Christmas guides and anything with the word ‘autumnal’ in. Since I already get some traffic from Google and Pinterest, I noticed some of my previous year’s posts were starting to get more hits- for some reason it’s now perfectly acceptable to google Christmas advent calendars in September. The old content was being read but to be honest, it was bit tired: dead links, crap images and very 2016. The solution was clear: to start working on my old content and make it as good as new! Here’s what I did:
1.Reshoot pictures
An easy place to start is to start looking at blog posts that just need an image update. I talked about this in my How I Reached 1000 Daily Views blog post; where I decided to revamp my pumpkin pie smoothie.
The good thing about creating new images is that it makes much easier to pass it off as a ‘new’ post. Even the most dedicated reader won’t probably remember that they read the blog post last year (if indeed they did, the beauty of revamping new content is that your new readers are exposed to lots more old content) but an image is something more likely to be recognised. New images also create more pins for your Pinterest feed, which should translate into more traffic too!
2.Change dates
Should you think readers will be put off by seeing the post is several years old; it’s possible to change the publishing date in WordPress. Simply click on the calendar and it’ll already show a published date (say a date last year) but you can change this date-great if you also want to bump content up in your blog feed or even schedule it for the future.
3.Set evergreen content on a constant loop
Once content is revamped; it’s important it’s shared regularly. Especially if it’s ‘evergreen’ or seasonal. Make sure you take the time to schedule Christmas content- old and new- over November and December. I’d also recommend trying Buffer’s Hiplay app which sets evergreen content on automation constantly (you can currently get a free trial of this).
4.Monitor Stats
Keep your eye on google analytics. If a post is doing well, go back and revamp it quickly. Consider doing things such as:
—Increasing the number of interlinked blog posts.
—Making it easier for the reader to follow your social media or mailing list from that blog post.
—Making sure photography and text is spot on to encourage reader’s to stick around.
—Consider doing similar content again.
5.Create a roundup of your own.
We all like a roundup- 10 craft tutorials, 10 Christmas recipes, 10 hacks to grow your mailing lists (the last one’s mine: I do love a good listicle). But what about if every single item on your roundup was a blog post of your own? This is an amazing way to create a new post with resources you already have and get tons of traffic. Here’s an example I made last year…
Doesn’t 10 gut health recipes sound better than one? What’s more, once the reader clicks on to the post; they’ll find an image and brief description of each recipe; with a link to read the full post. So, not only are you creating more content- there’s every chance that a reader who finds it may well click on 10 more of your posts. This is another example of 80 festive recipes.
This is something I’ve then linked to on Pinterest and I’ve noticed in brings me a small amount (say anything between 30-50 views a day) but since a) it took 30 minutes to compile and b) those 30-50 readers are then likely to click and view 10 more of the blog posts- it makes me pretty happy indeed!
6. Find a new angle.
Never be afraid to revamp something if it becomes more relevant again. For example, before World Vegan Day; I’ll spend some time looking over my vegan recipes and getting them up to scratch for sharing. I might even create a round-up post of the best too! Keep an eye on awareness days and weeks!
7. Don’t feel bad about it.
Do you know how many blogs are read each day? Most of the time, a reader will appreciate a revamped post- it’s not being lazy; it’s given them the very best version of your content; rather than having lots of posts your not really happy with on your post. What’s more, you probably have loads of really good content existing on your blog; content you worked incredibly hard on. Why shouldn’t you reap the benefits of that?
My instagram: @jennafarmeruk
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Info on my ebook all about working with brands: Pitching Toolkit
Just a quick note about changing the dates on a blog post – you can only do this if your permalink structure doesn;t have a date in as lots of them do. If you change the date in this case then you’ll be changing the whole URL of the post which will mean all your existing pins and links will be dead.
You can change your whole permalink structure but I got some one to do mine for me as I was worried about messing up 😉
good point! I’ve always just typed my own urls into links and doesn’t show dates; I think it’s a box you can tick on wordpress?
I guess you could set up some 301 redirects from the old post the the revamped one?
what’s 301 redirect?
Fantastic advice!!!
I’ve looked over some of my old content before, but you’ve given me a few new ideas, so thanks 🙂