Blogs are a great way to show off fresh content. They attract Google spiders and readers alike with their hot-off-the-press posts. But what happens to a blog post when it’s lukewarm-off-the-press, or even a few weeks “cold?” Should you just leave it there in the archives to rot? Or are there ways to drive tons of traffic to old blog posts?
By employing just a few small tricks, you can get your blog readers to stay on your site a little longer. They can dig a little deeper and get more familiar with your brand, recommend your old posts to their friends. Basically, you can get them reading more, more, more of you, you, you!
- Facelift a Post: Look back at your old posts. Could any of them be re-run with just a little “refreshing up”? Drag a very old post out, dust off the cobwebs, add an introduction that makes it timely. Add images. Kill any language that ages it and then – voila. You have a brand new post.
- Easter Egg Hunt: One great trick is to run an ‘Easter egg hunt’ themed contest. Quiz your readers on something they can only answer by reading your archives – and then reward those who do so with a free drawing. It could be something as simple as a $10 Starbucks card – but your readers will love the fun exercise and they’ll read a lot of your content in the meantime.
- Clip Show: Another way to revive old posts is to model your blog after an old sitcom formula. Do a “clip show!” Create a post that is comprised of excerpts of past posts. It can be all the most popular posts or the posts that were the most controversial or the posts that you personally loved the most. Doesn’t matter what the category is, just link back to those old posts.
- Related Posts: You know when you’re shopping for clothes online and underneath that photo of those snow boots is a “related item” link. Usually it’s something like a photo of the wooly socks that would go just great with those new boots? Do that with your blog posts. If you post something this week about how to make the most of a winter holiday, link to last year’s post on how to make the most of a summer holiday. There are WordPress plugins that make creating this “Related Posts” area a snap.
- Email it out: Finally – don’t just rely on new people to show up on your site and have the wherewithal (or the time!) to dig through your blog archives. Instead, blast your email list a compilation of your blog post links from time to time. Catch up the new readers with old content they may benefit from – and which they may have missed.
There are more ways, but these will provide a solid foundation. Use these five tips to reinvigorate your archives and re-excite your readers.
What other ways have you used to get more traffic to old blog posts? Share them with us by leaving a comment below.
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I like the idea of the face lift. I will remember and use that one myself. I also like to relevant posts (archives) from within current posts.
One thing that I do is link relevant parts of a new post with old posts. Say I’m talking about calligraphy, and I’ve written about writing systems before, I could link that old post from the new post with related terms. 🙂