DISQUS

Online Marketing Blog: 5 Ways to Re-Purpose Content for Blog SEO

  • Barry Hurd · 1 year ago
    I am amazed by the number of businesses that do not re-purpose content. They go through all the work to create some amazing material, then just let it sit on the back-burner or some invisible marketing site.

    One item I always tell clients to look at for re-purposing content is your e-mail inbox. Once a day (or once a week), select one of those "hefty" e-mails you wrote to a client or internal partner and strip it of the proprietary or confidential information. In an instant you have a 2-5 paragraph article with some highly useful information that you can share on you blog or newsletter.

    ~Barry Hurd
  • Lee Odden · 1 year ago
    Great point Barry. Answering questions via email is one of the goldmines for sourcing blog content. Especially with sales and customer service staff. The questions they're answering are often the same questions prospects and customers are asking online via search.
  • Wil Reynolds · 1 year ago
    Lee, good post! One thing I have found that can work is to take old posts and re-position them to fit the context of the day (politics, economy, hybrids, etc). Very often just changing the angle a bit can give a new context and new life.
  • Lee Odden · 1 year ago
    Thanks Wil. I do the "change the angle" thing but typically not on the same blog. Ex: I might write a vertically specific post on one nich blog and be able to repurpose the structure of that post to a blog for a different niche. Examples are different as are personalized intros and call to action but the core SEO, social or PR message is consistent.
  • Paul Dunn · 1 year ago
    How many times has someone sent you an email asking you for more specific information on a post that you've done? I've found that instead of responding with a detailed email to simply state "I'll get back to you with those details shortly", then write a blog post about it and then direct them to the blog. You can find a ton of ideas by looking in your sent mail bin!
  • Arnie · 1 year ago
    Lee, Barry & Paul,
    Some great suggestions. I am not the most prolific writer so it always helps me if I can start with some decent material. Still takes some work, but it's a very good starting point.

    Arnie
  • Mary Bowling · 1 year ago
    Great tips, Lee. Good, original content takes time and effort to create. There's no reason not to leverage it as much as possible.
  • Mark V. McDonnell · 1 year ago
    I rework similarly themed material I've contributed to Yahoo! Answers into blog posts as well.
  • Jason · 1 year ago
    Great post Lee, I like the powerpoint idea. You could then use a tool to convert the ppt file to a swf file and upload it as video!
  • Lee Odden · 1 year ago
    Great suggestions, thank you!

    Paul, tapping into that sent box is a goldmine.

    Mark, Yahoo Answers is a great idea and one I hadn't thought of before. Nice.

    Jason, I've thought about doing that with a voiceover and some intro music as well. I haven't implemented yet. Do you have any examples?
  • Jason · 1 year ago
    Not as yet. Bizarrely I have a batch being done for me as we speak. I'll post links when they ready. Nothing as flash with music though.

    Vozme is also kind a cool tool if you like a robo voice read article. It automatically reads your content and you can save it as an MP3 file.
  • Alastair Campbell · 1 year ago
    Great article. It is amazing how many items can be re-used for a blog. People often say 'I wouldn't know what to write about' when in fact they already have done most of the work - they just need to think about what to do with it next.
  • eagerstudent · 1 year ago
    great post everyone
    i'm new to blogging for a business... where do i get started and how do i use the skills i have for blogging to get a job. my 1st degree is in marketing and currently working on a mba degree...
    is there a link where i can learn the basics?

    any advice is great. thanks