Some content is more powerful than others. Some articles hit all the right keywords and address a surprisingly popular topic while sister-articles sit nearly unread. Many blogs have a few articles that are big hits when they are posted, sometimes unexpectedly. But what happens when the best content you’ve ever printed starts to age out? Or even if you discover another article written years ago that would be amazingly popular now?

Once-great content never has to die. By digging into your own archives and the internet past, you can discover buried treasure and repurpose that content with a fresh new approach for today’s ready audience.  With visitor analysis, you can dig up your most valuable old articles, update the information, and reuse the best parts for even better SEO results the second time around.

Why Dig for Buried Treasure?

For many teams, the idea of repurposing old content sound preposterous. Why wouldn’t you just write new, you may wonder. But some content is worth saving. Actually, a lot of it is. Repurposing an article isn’t about being lazy, it’s about bringing good, in-demand information back into the spotlight. Many business blogs have one or two articles a year blow up with unexpected popularity. Sometimes, an article written three years ago is the best source of information or best quality content on a topic that is hot today. And sometimes a competitor or distant contemporary tried something and you want to use the same strategy.

These are all great reasons to repurpose content for a fresh new reintroduction. Not to copy it or pass it off as new, but to reinvent, approach, or legitimately reference the work that was done before. Not only is it OK to bring old content back into the spotlight, it’s often doing people a favor by updating outdated content that is still in demand.

Identifying Content Gems from the Past

There are many ways to identify old content that is worth saving. Partly because there are so many ways to salvage content and reintroduce it through your blog, videos, and social media posts. The best place to look is through the most popular posts in your own blog archives. but you can also use search results, analytics tools, or resurrect cool pages of old content you found while doing your own research.

• Popular Content from Your Blog
• Old Top Search Engine Results
• Research and Forgotten News
• Analytics Results from Various Tools

Refreshing Your Blog’s Best Articles

If you’re looking at renewing your old hit content, the best way to do this is to be up-front. Mention the past article, that it was popular, and that you’re bringing it back with a new kick for the new year/month/subject.

This is often how blogs develop popular series in a particular style and focus of content. Best-Of lists, detailed reviews, industry predictions or best practices are all types of article that do really well when renewed with an annual or regular series upgrade. Re-do your research and write the article in the style that worked so well the first time.

You can also make your own unique series or rendition of a great past article from somewhere else. The key is to use your own industry knowledge, insights, and research to make the content unique. This allows you to learn from the styles and topics of those who came before while crafting your own 

Rewriting Old Content with a Fresh Approach

For both your old work and the buried treasure works of others, you may also find that a subject, style, and even perspective are worth reintroducing to today’s audience. You want something ‘like that’ but you don’t want to copy or even closely mimic the previous work.

You don’t have to! Let the previous work be an inspiration. You can even organize your thoughts in the same way, but let your own perspective, knowledge, and independent modern research shape the content. Interpret what the previous content taught you for today’s audience.

Bringing Recognition to the Original Researcher or Journalist

If you do revitalize the content of others by springboarding off their old once-popular or now-topical work, you can also choose to share the love. One of the best ways to give your own content credibility and share the credit with those who deserve it is to directly reference, link, and name the original work.

This works best with research material that might be too dry or industry-specific for your audience to have discovered on their own. Or it might be a once highly popular article you’ve dug up from the past that your audience will enjoy either remembering or learning about. It not only boosts your own reader results, it also builds the reputation of your inspirational source.

Shed New Light on an Old Subject

Finally, you can even use these techniques to build your own authority positioning. Whether you’re crafting an annual series in your own blog or revisiting content originally popular from another source, the key is to add your own industry knowledge, insights, and detailed research to the piece.

Any time you reuse old content you found buried in the internet’s past, make sure to re-write it with current facts and ideas that update the once-popular subject matter to truly apply to current events and interests.

Reusing Buried Treasure Content for Shiny New Results

No matter where you find old great content, you can reuse it in many different ways. You can write an update piece or let yourself be inspired to create something original based on what you learned. You can reference academic research and old news or you can look for recent news that reflects the same trend. Old content doesn’t have to die. Not when you know how to use it. For more awesome insights into the briny secrets of digital marketing, contact ustoday!

[Holy cow. Deepest apologies for the long delay.]