7 Smart Ways to Attract Readers to Old Blog Posts

Dear Fellow Bloggers,

I feel your pain. I wrote blog posts in the past. 

Some are awful.

The perfectionist in me wants to fix them.

Some were brilliant, but no one had discovered my blog back then.

Some are incredible, jammed-packed with great information, and went viral.

People still visit those posts. And, frankly, letting them look at them is the digital equivalent of that picture of me in the 1980s with my mullet.

(Stay tuned for that goodness, later in this post!)

There is a solution to reviving past blog posts and making them new again!

In just 7 steps, I make sure that old posts get better and GET NOTICED!

1. Assign a day of the week or the month for a flashback post.

Every Sunday, I featured an old post that has been made new again. My long-time Loyal Readers enjoy the glimpse at something they may forgotten and new readers get to read a classic post.

TIP: When you create the new post on Sunday, link back to the old post. I did that here, here, and here.

Internal links keep people on your blog and reduces your bounce rate.

2. In your flashback post, give new information.

If you give new information, people will read the new flashback post and the old post. They want to see what has changed since back then.

I mostly write about day planners and organizing, so I compare the old post to new changes in how I use my planner. 

If nothing has changed, that is worth noting if only to stress that my original post stands the test of time!

3. Create a better title.

You've probably learned a lot about titles since you started.

Numbers do well, like "7 Smart Ways to Attract Readers to Old Blog Posts" as seen here.

Titles should be short enough to show up when shared in social media, compelling, and never deceitful.

4. Update your photographs.

Add pictures to the old post. 

If the pictures don't have a Pinterest worthy watermark and title, add those to the old photos.

5. Monetize it.

People want to learn from your blog, not read advertisements. 

But if a post has good value for the reader (usually demonstrated by how viral it went), it's worth adding Amazon links or other ads to it.

That way, you can minimize the number of sponsored posts in a week (trying to keep that number under a 1/3 of all posts), but make money on the old post!

Another option is to monetize the new post instead of the old one.

Either way, readers won't get overwhelmed with ads and can focus on the content, while still producing an income to support the blog.

6. Optimize the Old Post for SEO

I add descriptions to photographs, labels to the post, and search descriptions, based on the key words that one uses in Google to search for a post on my topic.

7. Share on social media.

Now you have two posts, the old one and the new one, that you can share on Facebook, Pinterest, or anywhere else!

I hope these 7 tips help you bring in more readers to your blog. 

If you enjoyed what you read, please subscribe to my email list (in the right sidebar).

Oh, I almost forgot! I think I promised you something earlier?

Yes, that's me with a mullet circa 1985. Shush!

Etcetera.

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