If you’ve read around and you know your stuff when it comes to creating and running a blog, then no doubt you should know by now the value of sharing your new content as you upload it.
Create a post, share said post on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn… rinse and repeat. Simple!
But what if you don’t update your blog with new content every day? Does that mean you can’t do any promotion that day?
Of course not! It simply means that you should look for ways to promote your old content to get repeat traffic from old posts.
How to Get Traffic to Old Blog Posts
Keep Promoting Evergreen Content
Say you created a post on Maya Angelou, uploaded it to your site and then shared it on social media and it went somewhat viral. Maybe it got you thousands and thousands of hits on that day alone and then trailed off for the next few days.
Related Article: How to Get Your Blog Post Shared 1000 Times
Does that mean that you’re done with that post just because you already shared it once? Of course not!
For example an article on Maya Angelou is what you would call ‘evergreen’. That means that it will stay relevant no matter how old it becomes, because it isn’t based on current trends or on topical news items. Thus you could promote it again ten years from now and have the same amount of success.
In fact, you could actually post the content to the very same place and probably still get a big response. Why? Because there are billions of people online – if the community is a big one then chances are your post will be seen by mostly new people the second time around.
[Tweet “If you want to drive traffic to old blog posts, keep promoting them!”]
Share With New Networks
When you originally published a blog post, you probably shared it on specific social networks. It’s time to look for new places to share it! There are other social networks, forums and social bookmarking sites that you can find to share your content.
In addition to resharing your content on Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, etc., there are a host of new platforms that are launched each year. It could be that you were active on one platform at the time you originally hit publish, but as time passed you became active on other platforms. If you want to get traffic to old blog posts, you should be actively promoting your old content on these new platforms too.
If you consider that each of your blog posts has the potential to rake in thousands of views, that means you’re probably sitting on a veritable goldmine if you have a website packed with old content!
Include Internal Hyperlinks With New Posts
Are you using relevant internal hyperlinks within your blog posts? This is a great way to keep people on your site longer and increase your page views. Be sure to link back to existing evergreen posts as you publish new blogs. After all, as your audience grows, they may not be familiar with your old posts. What’s old to you will be fresh to new fans.
In addition, you can use plugins that suggest “related content” at the bottom of your posts. In this way, your readers can browse through related content on your site, yet another way to keep readers on your site longer and get traffic to old blog posts.
[Tweet “Keep visitors on your site longer by adding related content at the bottom of each post.”]
Include External Hyperlinks With Relevant Content
As more and more content is published online, there is an abundance of information that can be relevant to your old post. A great way to get traffic to old blog posts is to find new, relevant external (third-party) articles to link to.
For example, there may be updated statistics you can include to add credibility to your post. If you’re in an evolving industry, there could be new insights in your industry that are relevant to your old content, in which case you can offer an updated perspective. If you add external hyperlinks, do some blogger outreach and contact the third party you’re linking to. It’s ok to ask them to share your post!
Maintain and Update Old Posts
Want to get even more use out of your old posts? Then consider updating old blog posts from time to time. This way you have a legitimate reason to post them in the same place you’ve had success before and Google will also see the content as being relevant and up-to-date.
[Tweet “An easy way to makeover old blog posts: update the images and formatting.”]
Is there a post you wrote a couple of years ago (or maybe even a few months ago) that you can add to? It could be a list post in which you’ve found more resources. Or perhaps you have a fresh insight on a position you’ve taken. An update could be as simple as replacing the images in the post, to give it a fresh look!
Whatever the case may be, periodically recycling your old posts helps to keep the traffic flowing through your website, and it’s a big help for your SEO!
Ciao,
Miss Kemya
How do you drive traffic to old blog content?
Hmm…this is interesting. You have tons of awesome and thoughtful advice on here. All of your tips in combination are sure to be very helpful!
Happy to be helpful Maddie!