I don’t know about you but, I do know what it feels like to spend close to 6 hours in writing a very interesting and engaging article that might sometimes, be up to 2000 words and after some days or weeks, it will stop gaining visitors.
Most often, those contents normally go viral the first time they were published but as time goes on, you will notice that the people viewing the post will stop dropping gradually until it will not get viewers again.
In this case, what do you normally do? Do you leave the article and let the sleeping dog lye or, do you usually breath in more life into the article knowing that it will still help lots of people if only it can be discovered.
Recommended Reading: 7 Surefire Ways to Increase Your Blog Traffic Starting Yesterday
One reason why SEO is good is because, if the article is well optimized and ranked well in SERPs, the amount of traffic it will bring back to your site will be unimaginable but with time, other people will also start optimizing and ranking for the keyword you once ranked for which will now cause your post to drop its ranking thereby dropping its traffic as well.
My question now, how do you handle this on your own blog or, are you not yet seeing what I’m seeing or, thinking the same way I’m thinking?
If your answer to the above question is yes then, you need to tighten up your belt and pay attention to me because, I’m about to tell you something you might not know before. I will also announce the three winners of my last giveaway at the end of this post so, keep your fingers crossed.
You see, I’ve been thinking about this for some time now and each time I remembers that each of the articles I published on my blog was created to serve a purpose and that most of them are no longer serving their purpose, it makes me angry and that was why I started searching for a solution which now led to the inception of this post.
Let’s see what you can do in order to be repackaging your older posts for more traffic.
Repackaging Your Older Posts for More Traffic
1. Better Optimize the Posts: One of the best ways I’ve discovered to revive your older posts for more traffic is simply to optimize the post again. This is a very simple process. All you need to do is, conduct some keyword research and find some low competition keywords that people are using to search for posts that are related to the one you want to repackage and then, optimize the article with that keyword.
You can also know those keywords you’re already ranking for and then, optimize them the more in order to remain on your position in the SERPs.
Recommended Reading: How to Increase Traffic to Your Blog by Optimizing Older Posts
But remember; don’t end up messing up with your article all in the name of optimizing it as this will only course you more harm than good. Just allow things to flow naturally and then, fix the keywords according to where they will fit in the article.
2. Convert Them into an Ebook: Another great way you can repackage your older post is by converting them to an ebook. This is so awesome that, I was wondering why I didn’t know about it sooner than now.
This is not going to cost you a dime, just copy the post to a word document, add some links to your older posts into it and then, converts it to pdf and there you are. You can either give it out for free via some ebook distribution sites like Scribd or, use it to gain more likes for your facebook fan page.
When someone downloads the book and read it, there is a great chance that he will click to your older posts via the links you added on the ebook. It’s as simple as that.
3. Convert it Into a Newsletter Series: This is yet another mind blowing way of repackaging older posts for more traffic. This is for the people that are into email marketing which every blogger and internet marketer should be doing.
The concept is just to simply break down some of your older posts into a newsletter series whereby each one you will send out will contain a link to the original article and also links to your other old posts.
This way, your email subscribers will also click back to read the full posts especially if you make the newsletter more interesting and enticing.
4. Presentation and Slideshares: Slideshare has become very popular lately and, most big bloggers out there are using it to boost their traffic. Most of you might have known what slideshare is all about. I’m yet to explore it myself but after reading Ana hoffman’s case study on how she got 243,000 Views in 30 Days with it, I was really thrilled and, it’s one of those things I will be getting involved with soon.
Recommended Reading: Slideshare Traffic Case Study: From 0 to 243,000 Views in 30 Days
Below is an example of a slideshare presentation she made, this will help to tell you more of what I’m talking about.
You can also convert your older posts into a slideshare presentation which can also skyrocket your traffic to an extent that will wow you J.
5. Your Own Method: I guess you will be amazed by what I mean by your own method. Now, what I mean is that you should complete the 5th method yourself. Tell us some other method through which you’ve used to repackage your older posts which I didn’t mention here.
Please, use the comment section below to tell us your own style. Thanks and please, also tweet and share this post with your friends if you really enjoyed it.
My Last Giveaway Winners
1. Enstine Muki
2. Victor Noah
3. Chadrack Irobogo
Yet Another Interesting Giveaway
Win $150 straight to your paypal account
Photo Credit: Freedigitalphotos.net
Lisa says
Hi Theodore, I’m glad to said to update them, I’ve been working on many of my old ones and am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I have one more to update, my post on Bloggers as it is now officially closed down. I love using SlideShare, they are fun to make and get creative with. I hope to get better with them over time. Ana’s SlideShare’s are great! Thanks for mentioning the contest too.
Theodore Nwangene says
Hello Lisa,
I’m happy to hear that you’re also with me on this. Its good to be updating those old posts from time to time so that they will not loose their value. Thanks a lot for the visit :).
Jan Koch says
Great tips!
I’m experiencing as well that re-optimizing old posts works great, though it takes some times.
Similar to you, I’m creating a niche site right now too. I’m going to use the contents as autoresponder series and build a small eBook oit of those as well.
I hadn’t thought of converting posts to slideshare. This is definitely going to happen 🙂
Another way would be to use your posts as a lineup for youtube videos. Discussing what you said some time ago and how it works today is almost a guaranteed way to engage your audience.
Cheers,
Jan
Theodore Nwangene says
Thats another great point Jan,
Using the article as youtube videos will also work very well. How is your niche site going? Thanks for sharing your own opinion with us :).
Harleena Singh says
Hi Theodore,
Ah.,..glad I made it here finally 🙂
Yes indeed, I wouldn’t be lying when I say that ALL of these options have been on my mind and something that I’ve kept on my to-do list, but haven’t yet got down to doing them because of the lack of time. There are a few of my older posts that need to see the light of day once again, especially with the new SEO rules according to the latest Google updates that keep changing all the time. Nevertheless, some of my old posts are shared as they are tweeted further whenever they are tweeted once in awhile and I even get comments on them. However, if they are repackaged it does make them better.
Oh yes…I enjoyed that SlideShare of Ana’s when I’d seen it in her blog and redoing up your older posts that ways is another nice idea, but not something I might do entirely, though maybe make it part of the blog post.
Thanks for sharing. Have a nice week ahead. 🙂
Theodore Nwangene says
Thanks for this awesome opinion of yours Harleena,
Really, i just thought of this thing and decided to start doing them in order to see if those old post can regain their strength again and yes, i really enjoyed that slideshare at Ana’s blog when i saw it first.
But just like you, i don’t think i will try the slideshare for now but, its part of the things i will be trying later. Thanks a lot for taking your time to visit me again today in-spite of your busy schedule :).
Ryan Biddulph says
Super creative tips Theodore!
By being innovative you can find that yep, bloggers NEED NOT re-invent the wheel each time they sit down to post.
If you want to save time and energy start re-packaging your old content to get some serious mileage out of your old creations.
I like creating new posts based on portions of old posts; I mist read a tip, or step, or tactic, which I discussed in the past, and then expound on the topic with a new blog post.
Thanks for sharing Theodore!
Ryan
Theodore Nwangene says
Hi Ryan,
So good to have you here again man. You are really correct on the issue of creating new posts with some portion of old ones. I never thought of that before man. Thanks a lot for telling us about it too.
Thanks what i will be doing too.
Thanks for coming again my man 🙂
Victor Noah says
Thanks so much bro Theodore for the awesome tips. It works so well for me.
Theodore Nwangene says
Thanks Victor,
I’m glad you like the article
Pawan says
Awesome explanation on how to repack old posts. I’ll certainly share it with my blog readers.
Coming back to the repacking of old posts, I certainly think putting them in one series can be useful. This can act as a resource for one type of blog post. Though they require extra time, it is definitely worth doing it.
Theodore Nwangene says
Thanks a lot for your awesome feedback Pawan,
I’m very glad that you like the post. Thanks for stopping by 🙂
sherman smith says
Hey Theodore,
These are some innovative ways to repackage your old blog posts. I like the idea of turning your old post to ebooks. I’m finishing up on my first ebook and have been looking for some ideas of how I’m going to write my second ebook and this definitely gives me some good ones. Thanks for sharing!
Theodore Nwangene says
Thanks Smith,
I’m happy to hear that you’re writing a book, hope you’ll give me a copy. Thanks a lot for the compliment and, more strength to your elbows 🙂
Chadrack says
Hi Theodore,
This is really an interesting read. I personally have been researching some ways of putting the backlog of blog posts to use. I discovered the first method you mentioned a few weeks ago and I’m really facinated by it. I’m thinking of putting it to good use.
For the second method, I actually used that some time ago. The ebook I’m giving away on my content writing site is simply a compilation of a blog series I did sometime ago. It’s a method that every blogger should really consider. If you have a blog that is about 3years old you definitely have a lot of content you can use in different ways.
One other method is actually rewriting the post and publishing it afresh! I did this for some posts a few months ago and you will be surprised with the response. These were some of the earliest posts I made on the blog when I started. Most of them had no comments but I know they were very good. And so, instead of leaving there in the blog without any usefulness for the blog I simply rewrote them, change the publish date and they were fresh on the blog. Some of these post later had about 30 comments!
It’s a pleasure to once again be among the winners. Hope I get one of those themes I had in mind 🙂
Thanks for this.
Theodore Nwangene says
Hi Chadrack,
Thanks for your amazing contribution on this one. I think i like the idea of rewriting the post and, thats certainly what i will try this time. Thanks a lot man and, have a fabulous weekend.
Adrienne says
Lately Theodore I’ve had people coming to my old posts and then of course commenting on them telling me why this doesn’t work now. I really am trying my best not to come across in a rude manner but I have all my posts dated so it’s pretty darn obvious that if you’re reading a post that’s a year and even two years old of course it’s no longer going to be the same. I’m thinking I might even have to start putting at the bottom of my posts that if you’re reading this six months after I wrote it then tread lightly. I would just assume most smart marketers already know this. So updating them really is starting to become quite important.
I’ve never really taken the time to repurpose any of my old content so I don’t actually have any suggestion other then what you shared here. They are all great suggestions by the way so thank you for this reminder. I guess I just prefer always trying to find fresh new things to write about but so many new people continue to find my posts and don’t have a clue about half of what I write about. Imagine that.
Hope you’re enjoying the weekend Theodore.
~Adrienne
Theodore Nwangene says
Thanks for that awesome contribution as always Adrienne,
Yea, its also important to be coming out with fresh ideas. But, repackaging the post will also be a suggestion because I’m sure you already have lots of content there, 4 years is not 4 days :).
Thanks a lot for coming and, happy new and blessed month.
Tim Bonner says
Hi Theodore
I’ve not thought about repackaging older posts but using them for an eBook sounds like a really great idea.
I’m a bit like Adrienne in that I’m always trying to find new material but I’m sure in a couple of years when I have more posts behind me, I may do an update on ones I’ve done in the past.
Theodore Nwangene says
Thanks for coming Tim,
I like the style of getting on new ones too. Happy new month and have a blessed week.
Navid Moazzez says
Hi Theodore,
Really great and useful post, thanks for sharing! I like the idea of repackaging my content, and as I get more pots up on my site, and the more interviews I do with people, I may turn them into an ebook or newsletter series to build my list further.
Keep up the good work 🙂
Navid
Theodore Nwangene says
Thanks and welcome to my site Navid,
Its a nice idea and I’m sure it will work for you pretty well. Just give it a shot. Thanks man
Amal Rafeeq says
Wow man.
I don’t share blog posts usually. But this one really leaves me no chance.
I have so much dead posts on my blog and I thought there are no more use with them.
eBook and Slideshows. That’s something which didn’t even came close to my thoughts. Thanks a lot bro 🙂
Allow me to share it.
Theodore Nwangene says
Thanks a lot for the share bro :),
I’m glad you like the post
PNG Travel says
I like your approach on the topic. Your article is as interesting as your previous writings. Keep up the good work, thanks a lot.
Theodore Nwangene says
Thanks
Silvia Zhang says
Really amazing work shared here, thanks for your kind information. I will back soon again.
Theodore Nwangene says
Thanks Silvia,
I’m glad you like it
Sukhen Tanch says
Nice work shared you in this blog, I hope see again new article. Thank you.
Theodore Nwangene says
You welcome Sukhen
Sukhen Kumar Tanchangya says
There are lot of guest catch these increase traffic way from older posts, I’ve impressed when read your article. I hope next awesome feature like this. Thank you & subscribed
Theodore Nwangene says
Thanks for the visit man
Ely says
I’m a fan of ebook collection and you amazed me with what you said in this post. Great idea that I never could think about it.
I think repackaging idea can also help reader to quickly find and search what he want.
Theodore Nwangene says
Thanks Ely
Arshad Ali says
dear you have mentioned a major problem of every blogger so thank you for sharing and hope that you will continue sharing. 🙂
Ashely john says
There are lot of guest catch these increase traffic way from older posts, I’ve impressed when read your article.
Mark Henry says
Thanks for your great article.
David Waise says
Thanks for sharing your amazing thoughts.