Make The Most of an Old Post Getting New Attention
Posted on 26. Oct, 2009 by Jeremiah Hoyet in Blogging, Blogging Tip, Traffic
One of the magic qualities of search engines is their ability to breath new life into an old blog post. Months, even years, after you have published a blog post, good old Google could start sending lots of traffic to your old post!
If you’re monitoring your blog traffic and you notice this happening, it’s a good idea to go back and revise your post. The information may need to be updated, or maybe you have since written about something relevant to the topic of the post and want to provide a link. There are many ways to make use of the new traffic, and here are a few tips for doing just that!
Add Links in the Content
A great way to increase the potential of your old post is to add links to newer posts inside the content.Find keywords or phrases and link to relevant content within the text. This can increase the value of the information readers are seeking, increase page views, and help you to build your internal link structure for better SEO.
Update The Information
Sometimes an old post can have outdated information, and this can be a problem if it starts to get new search engine traffic. Users looking for information want the latest information out there. Don’t let them be disappointed, go back to your make sure the information you provided is up to speed.
You can also use this opportunity to write a new blog post with updated information. Be sure to go back an add a very visible link to the update at the top of the old blog post. This gives both new and current readers the latest information, and increases your page views.
Create a List of “Further Reading”
Although the visitor might be satisfied with the information you’ve provided in the old post, they might want to read further on the topic or a closely related topic. Take the chance to go back and add a list of any closely related blog posts at the foot of the old post. There are related post plugins that can do this for you automatically, but manually adding the links can increase the chance of them being directly related to the post content and increase their value for the reader.
Turn New Visitors Into Subscribers!
One of the best ways of making the most of new traffic is to turn new visitors into subscribers! There are a few effective methods for doing this, here are a couple in short:
- Add an attention grabbing graphic to the footer or header of your old blog post.
- Use a plugin to suggest subscribing to first time visitors.
- Add a subscription link to the “Further Reading List”.
Don’t Sit Around!
If you see an old blog post getting some search engine love, don’t sit back and do nothing! Using a couple simple techniques can help you make the most of this new traffic.
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4 Responses to “Make The Most of an Old Post Getting New Attention”
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Roschelle
27. Oct, 2009
google is fantastic as far as breathng new life into old post. But linking to your older posts from within your current ones is pure genius. Brian Clark over at Copyblogger has this one down to a science. I try to incorporate older posts into my new stuff. It’s easy when your blog’s topic is pretty consistent.
Jeremiah Hoyet
28. Oct, 2009
I agree, in-line linking of older content is probably the best “linking activity” a blogger can practice!
Amar
03. Nov, 2009
Hey thanks for this post, I understand that some great posts vanish and no body checks them out again. These tips would certainly give them exposure again
Gordon
30. Nov, 2009
Post recycling is a thing every blogger should do. Update your posts and interlink them to extend your readers interest. Re-tweeting old blog posts from time to time also helps.