Are You Ignoring This?

Between you and me, are you ignoring “the olds?”

No, I’m not referring to your OK Boomer and Gen X readers — or anyone over 25 that may be considered “too old” to get it.

I’m referring to your old blog content that may be ignored, unappreciated and un-promoted — even if it’s still accurate and well-written.

You know, the content that makes up the majority of your blog (or, maybe even your site.)

I ask, because most content marketing articles you read talk about how to write and promote NEW content.

If I randomly check Twitter right now, I’m sure I would see at least a couple, “Hey, I just wrote this post — check it out” tweets.

But, I probably won’t see anything like, “Hey, I wrote this post 10 years ago, but it’s still accurate and good and helpful. Read it!”

Why?

Because we often downplay the value of our old content and focus on new, shiny posts with more recent date stamps.

And that’s sad.

Here’s the thing…

Not all of your old content is worthy of new promotional efforts.

The article may be out of date. You may currently focus on slightly different topics, so republishing an old post would feel off-brand. Or, your old writing style makes you cringe a little inside.

(Hey, we’ve all been there.)

Having said that, most site owners have some old content that they could polish  up and make shine.

And really, it (normally) doesn’t take that much time. Maybe 10 minutes a post.

Here’s my process…

To make things easy, I have a huge Google Sheets document that outlines every post I’ve written since 2009, if I’ve updated the article, and when I’ve published it on social media.

I’ll quick-scan my list, pick an “old” post, and make some standard changes:

• Replace the header image
• Check all the links
• Review the information — is it still accurate? 
• Make any necessary format changes
• Push “update”

A “last updated” date stamp appears below the original, showing readers that I’ve made some changes since the original publication date.

Done! From there, I freely promote my “old” posts — yes, even posts that are 10 years old — on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.  

In fact, some of my older video posts are some of my most popular — and many of them are from nine years ago.

Granted, some posts take more updating — such as my big authoritative posts like this. Others need slightly more than 10 minutes to make them shine. That’s OK.

But, the majority, like my 23 amazing tips post and this one about spicing up B2B content, took virtually no time at all.

Nice.

Why else is this important?

Because it’s just darn wasteful to spend time and money creating fantastic content — and then toss it aside because it’s perceived as “too old.”

Let’s face it: even if your followers are glued to your social media feed, they aren’t going to read everything you post. Nor remember every post you publish.

Republishing old posts helps your posts get seen (and shared) by more people — and, it’s one of the easiest ways to increase your content’s return on investment. Especially posts that don’t perform in Google, but do pull well on social.

Can you help your clients with this?

You bet!

Chances are, your client doesn’t remember (or recognize) that her “olds” content is still hot. Instead of leveraging her “deep cut” content, she may focus all her promotional time on writing and promoting new posts.

Just imagine how she’ll feel when you tell her that her old content can drive new traffic. This saves your client time (she doesn’t have to keep creating new content) and money.

Pretty cool, eh?

What do you think?

Is your “olds” content gathering dust? Or, do you update it, promote it, and give it a new life? Leave a comment and let me know!