Once upon a time, your article was on the first page of Google search results. And now, though your article topic is still the highest searched, unfortunately, your written content is hardly even listed in search results. If you think your long ago written blog article holds no value then you are luckily wrong.
Yes, as per content marketing it is crucial to keep your blog updated with fresh content but sometimes you run out of new topics or always worry about the efforts, money and of course, time invested writing some awesome blogs which are now just unproductive. The bitter truth is by not promoting your old evergreen posts, you are missing the biggest opportunity to catch the interest of the search engines as well as loyal readers.
If you want to still enjoy the exposure as your article used to get before and once again see your article on top search results then here are some effective ways that you can follow to promote your old blog post.
DO NOT FORGET!
Before promoting your old post, make sure you update it with some fresh content. Proofread the old content, make some grammatical changes if any, try using the trending keywords relevant to the article, increase article length, make it attractive with some images, graphic or infographic. And yes, don’t forget to change the last updated date or publish date of the article. Once you are done with the updating part, you are ready to go with the promoting part.
Share it on social media
Social media is definitely a vast channel where you can easily catch the eye of people. Create some attention-grabbing caption, conveying the audience that you have revived the old post. Add hashtags and good visuals to make it more noticeable. Share the article link on social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
You can also make use of ready-made tools that automate the process of sharing old posts on social media channels. Most of the public around the globe are online on some of the other social media channels, so promoting on these platforms would increase your chances of getting organic traffic to your blog.
Link old posts in your new blog posts
If you want to bring your old blog posts back to life then another effective way is to link it in the new post. If you are focusing on a particular niche, it is mostly possible that the topics would be interrelated. So, in such a situation you can add a link to your old blog post. If there is any term in your newly written article which needs to be explained and you already have an old post explaining it in detail then don’t miss the chance to link and bring traffic to your new as well as old post.
Repurpose the old posts
Repurpose holds great significance. It’s like presenting an old regular recipe with great garnishing and presentation. You just have to change the face of the content by transforming it to slideshow, infographic, and make it more interesting. You can share it on any slide sharing or infographic directory site and create backlinks to your site. This can bring organic traffic to your website/blog.
Converting blogs to videos and sharing it on any popular video sharing channel like YouTube, Vimeo is also an effective way to promote your old blog.
Link them in guest posts
If you are a big-time blogger who also spends time freelancing or writing guest posts, then again here you have an opportunity to lead your readers to your old posts. Instead of adding linking to your website in the bio section, you can add a link to the old post which you wish to promote. If the guest article is related to the old post then certainly don’t miss this golden opportunity. In case you have written any expert posts, you can do the same.
Show them in related posts
On many of the popular blogging websites, you must have noticed at the end of every article or any of the sides of the article there is a section of related posts that actually doesn’t go unnoticed by the readers. If you have any article in that section that is related to the article above then certainly there are chances of the old post getting clicked.
There are plugins available that will help you to add the ‘Related Posts’ section to your blog.
Add recently updated posts widget
If you don’t want to put up any section that showcases recent posts or popular posts then you try out using the widget that displays recently updated posts. This is a great way to increase traffic to the old posts which you have recently updated.
Include old post in the newsletter
This is by far actually the best alternative as you are directly inviting your target audience to check out the old blog post which is recently updated. The newsletter directly reaches the subscribers/target audience inbox and if it is compelling enough then the article gets clicked.
You can create a newsletter either completely dedicated to the post or something which is related to the post. Either way, it can drive attention. This promotional technique is expected to receive more interactions. Make sure the subject line is engaging or else it will end up being treated as a spam mail. Also properly update the old blog post to interest the readers.
Create custom archive pages
If your old content is useful then another best way to highlight and promote it is by creating custom archive pages. With this, you can display the most popular posts, the most commented articles, the recent posts, etc. Apart from this, you can also add post categories, add tags, search forms, compact archive, and so on.
With custom archive pages, your article will be easily searchable and also it will give the blog visitors a brief idea about what the post is all about.
Apart from all these effective ways, if you have more options, use them too to promote your old posts. Don’t miss a single opportunity to bring your old posts to life. The time and effort, you’ve invested before have now got another chance to pay off, so grab it.
