15 Jun A Quick Guide to Recycling Your Old Content

Content writing is a great way of promoting your SEO strategy. Yes, it is great, but when you are writing about the same topic over and over again, you soon end up fresh out of ideas. It is hard to keep your content’s quality and relevance after writing a large amount of articles on a specific topic. Procrastination is one way of dealing with this problem – take a break from writing until inspiration comes back to you.

However, “farming your goldmine” of old content is far better. You might think of this as cheating, but let’s be honest – there is no article on the whole web that hasn’t already been paraphrased. When you are writing articles for various topics, you just might find another angle of approach for the specific topic you are writing for now. For example, writing about public speaking can be approached from various angles such as health (yoga, breathing exercises for public speaking preparation), fashion (dressing up for public speaking), business (how to prepare for your public speaking), etc.

Rewriting your old posts can prove highly valuable for your SEO. Keep in mind that not all of your visitors have been there to check your old content and that you now have a chance to present a new spin. However, keep in mind that recycling an old post isn’t the same as the re-posting itself. Keep your content filled with relevant, present time data in order to engage your readers. Here is a quick guide on how to properly “farm your goldmine” of old content without endangering your authority as a content writer.

1^st Step – Using Google Analytics to see in which posts your visitors engaged the most

Google Analytics is a brand new Google service designed for real time tracking of your websites traffic. You can use it to see in which posts your visitors engaged the most and which of them had most comments and shares on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Google+. By targeting the specific topic, your recycled content will have more chances in succeeding. Take your time and review the content. Maybe now you will find a new angle to present that content and give it a new spin.

2^nd Step – Review feedback from your readers

This is actually quite useful for the process of recycling old content. By reviewing comment threads of a specific post, you just might find new ideas and new approaches to the topics given to you by your readers. You may just find a new angle of approach that you couldn’t think of yourself. After implementing the idea in your recycled content, make sure you thank the visitor who has inspired you – they will be more than happy to hear that you are listening and open to new ideas.

3^rd Step – Building up themed series

If you have noticed that some of your posts have met great reviews by the readers, it is great to build up themed series for that topic. Divide and rework your old content with new and deeper data. Leave your readers anticipating your next edition. Submit your articles on a regular basis and finish them with a “to be continued” conclusion. This way, you will build up stronger bonds for your readers and establish a solid reader base.open up to your readers

Giving a personal spin to your articles can really help you revive some of your content. For example, if you are into travel blogging and have written an article about the beautiful places you have visited which met great reviews and many shares on social networks, you can spice it up with another personal aspect. Just how did you come up with an idea to go to that place? How did you find it? Are there any tricks you learned when overcoming the problems on your way there? What did you do while you were there?

This will not only give you a new approach to your old content but it will also strengthen the bonds with your readers.

5^th Step – Updating your old content with more info

If you want to keep your content fresh, sometimes you will have to write about products, services or ideas that have been presented not weeks, not days, but hours ago. This way, you will not have enough time to research it or gather relevant material for the topic. Mark these articles in your directory and update them with new info when you gather more material. This way, you will have your old content revived so that it has a greater chance for getting better reviews.

6^th Step – Have you thought about an Ultimate Guide?

You have probably written many different articles on the same topic – after reviewing them a little better, you just might find that they fit together, don’t they? So, why not rework them into an ultimate guide? This way, you will present your readers with more articles on the same topic from various angles, giving them enough information for their points of interest.

An example of a great ultimate guide is An Ultimate Guide to Multilingual and Multiregional SEO by John E. Lincoln.

7^th Step – Try other types of media

Content writing isn’t the only way you can approach a specific topic. If you are writing DIY (Do It Yourself) articles, you might consider presenting the content using a video of you actually doing something.  Any type of craft, repairs, arts or home improvements you are writing about – you can make a video explaining everything step by step and thus revive your old content in a new way. Videos are more likely to occupy the reader’s attention and this will bring more relevance to your content. You can see some great examples of DIY videos on home improvement by Megan Elizabeth, who revived her content by creating and sharing videos on YouTube.