Image via Flickr user theunquietlibrarian.

Here’s a quick exercise that I encourage you to do every now and then.

Identify a post in your archives (preferably something that is a year or more older) and then ask yourself these three questions:

Can I update it?

Many times the posts in your archives can do with a refresh. While you might not want to do this with every post – if you have an older post that gets traffic from search engines it can be well worth doing!

It might be that you can add newer or up to date information, fix broken links, add some further reading to other articles you’ve since written, correct errors etc.

Can I Promote it Again?

Many of the posts in your archives could probably be promoted in some fresh way. The key is to find ‘evergreen’ content that hasn’t dated (or to update older posts with fresh information).

Late last year I wrote a post about how every day I try to find at least one post in my archives at Digital Photography School that I share on social media.

Can I Do a Followup Post?

The posts in your archives can be a great source of inspiration for future posts on your blog.

There are many ways to extend a post without simply rewriting the content you’ve already published. These might include:

• Writing a post that explores an opposing view
• Create a discussion post that asks readers for their thoughts, opinions and experiences on the topic
• Write a post that gives an example, case study or tells a story on the topic
• Repurpose this content in some way. For example as a slide share, infographic, podcast, webinar, report?

In each case above you not only are creating an extra post but you also can link back to the previous post to give readers a more holistic perspective on the topic. By doing so you also potentially are taking your readers on a bit of a journey through your archives and creating some momentum with your content over time.

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

3 Important Questions To Ask About Posts in Your Blog Archives

@ProBlogger

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