How to update old posts to increase traffic

Have you ever seen another blogger’s post go viral and you think to yourself “I wrote on that exact concept a few months ago and no one cared???”

It can be a bit frustrating, but rest assured this has happened to all of us. Sometimes it’s just because the other blogger already has a larger platform with more people to share their content. Other times they may have just caught a lucky break or posted at the exact right time. But there are some things you can do to get more attention to your posts.

One of my favorite things to do is go through old content that never really got off the ground and fix it up to share again. So many times, I’ve found that by making a few changes, you can take your old posts from “meh” to amazing.

Most of these things simply have to do with making your posts more reader-friendly.

Stop asking permission Take a look at your intro, those first few paragraphs of your post and see if they are really needed.

In general, introductions are helpful for the reader in providing context or simply for introducing your post, but all too many times they are unhelpful and not needed.

Your readers don’t need to know that you were standing in line at the grocery store when the idea for this post popped into your head.Maybe they do…sometimes that’s important to the storyline, but oftentimes it creates an excess of words that already has your reader clicking away before they even got to the point of your post.

You don’t need to apologize for sharing the content with them or ask permission via extensive introductions to even write your post. Share your wisdom with the world, without apology! Take a look at your intros and delete anything unnecessary.

Shorten Your Posts – Cutting back on the intros can do a lot to shorten a post, but sometimes this needs to be done all throughout the writing as well. Take out the sentences (or paragraphs) that are adding unnecessary “fluff” and keep the vivid writing that’s showcasing your ideas, and communicating your point.

Many posts flop because the reader has to wade through several different thought processes and ideas before arriving at the main concept the author is trying to convey. Keep it short and sweet. Use fewer words to convey more powerful concepts. When looking at old posts, see if there are sentences or paragraphs you can eliminate entirely because they aren’t helping improve your point.

Multiple Posts/Series – If you have a lot of content on one particular topic, instead of putting it into one HUGE post (see above), consider breaking it up into multiple posts or even making a series out of it. This can do wonders to create excitement for your topic, and it makes it easier for readers to find what posts they are looking for, instead of having to hunt through an obnoxiously long post.

You can also get ideas for new content by looking at old posts and writing new ones to go along with them! Then, link them together so that they will point traffic to one another, improve your bounce rate AND pageviews.

White space – Make sure your posts have lots of white space. Readers love to skim, so make it easier for them. Break up large blocks of text to make it easier to read, and don’t be afraid to play with making specific phrases bold or italicized to make them stand out.

Even making a sentence it’s own paragraph can bring attention to it and make sure your readers see it.

The Point – I can’t tell you how many lengthy blog posts I’ve read and when I get to the end I find myself thinking “…and what was your point?”. When you write, you are taking your readers on a journey with you, so don’t leave them hanging! Make your point clear in your writing and make sure you end your posts well.

If you aren’t sure you’ve effectively communicated your point, email it to a friend or family member, ask them to look over it and tell you what THEY think the point of the article is. Getting an outside perspective can help you get out of a rut and improve your communication through writing.

Title – You don’t want to change the title up top, but if you use the YOAST plugin, you can sneak in to the “social” part of the plugin to change the title that appears on Facebook. This is a great way to play around with different titles until you find what resonates with your audience!

Images – Lastly, changing your images can change your entire post! Once you’ve updated the content, the title and maybe even the grammar of your old post, go in and update the image! Make sure there is at least one pinnable graphic (vertical image that clearly communicates what the post is about), one link-share size for facebook (560×292) and if possible a square one for uploading to facebook.

Images can take some trial and error so if you’re confident you have a great post, don’t be afraid to change the images every month or so until you find an image that WORKS.

 

I know it can seem like a pain to go back through old content, but it’s also a great way to make your site stronger. Chances are, you have a lot of valuable content buried under poor blog practices that you didn’t realize you were doing at the time.

There’s nothing like breathing new life into an old post and watching it go viral. Once, I did all of these things to an old post I loved that hadn’t ever caught on, it quickly racked up over 100k pageviews and continues to get traction every time it’s shared, just because I went back and tweaked some things!

What can you tweak today? I challenge you to choose two posts to update this week. One evergreen post, and one holiday themed post to get you ready for the holiday rush! See how updating and re-promoting the content can really make it shine! Once you’ve updated it, share in this thread in our facebook group so others can have the chance to share it too OR add it to our BP bloggers tailwind tribe!  (if you’re new to tailwind, you can use tribes for free, but using my affiliate link will also give you a month free of my favorite Pinterest scheduling service!)