Weidert Wednesday: How, When and Why to Republish Content

It seems counterintuitive to republish content, doesn’t it? Once you’ve written blogs, ebooks, guides, tipsheets and other content, why wouldn’t you just let it sit there and attract visitors? Well, because some content could be even more effective in drawing prospects to your website if you keep it “fresh” in the eyes of search engines and your audience. To do that, you can republish it.

But how? And when? We’ve shot a video that explains it all! Watch and you’ll learn some simple tips and steps for revitalizing existing content – and, in the process, easing your content creation burden. Check it out!

Transcript: Republishing Content

There comes a time in every company’s blogging journey that people within the company stand around asking, “What else can we write about?” While we believe that you’re never without worthwhile topics, one way to relieve some of the pressure of blogging and creating other content is to republish what you’ve already published. This is different from repurposing content, which is turning a guidebook into a video or blog series, for example. Republishing is taking an existing blog article or advanced content like ebooks or guides, and updating them, republishing – and promoting them again. This helps you keep your content calendar full and utilize evergreen assets.

How do you choose what to republish?

It’s simple, really:

• First, make sure the pieces you’re going to republish are valuable to prospects, and popular. You can find out what’s popular with prospects by reviewing the metrics. It may seem counterintuitive that you re-publish something that’s already popular rather than improving a piece that didn’t get a lot of traffic, but that popular piece is a known asset, and republishing it – with updated data, enhanced perspectives or whatever – will only build on that popularity and draw even more prospects to your site.
• But if a post is popular but getting traffic primarily from people who don’t fit your personas — if, for example, you’re getting a lot of students or people in the wrong industries — look for a different piece. The goal of course is to attract more of the right traffic, not just any traffic.
• Secondly, make sure any changes you’re making to the content piece are adding value. Don’t just change a few words; beef up the piece with updated information. If new data, perspectives or other information is available, add it to demonstrate that you’re on the leading edge of the topic.
• While you’re at it, take a good look at the headline of your original piece. If there’s room for improvement — if you can make it more compelling to your prospects — make that change, too.

Well, there, in a nutshell, is how to keep your content calendar full when you’re running out of topics — or you think you are. Look at what content has done well with prospects in the past, and improve on it!

To make your job easier, we’ve created The Ultimate Guide to Content Creation that includes templates and worksheets to help you formalize a structure for your content, whether that’s blogs or advanced pieces like ebooks and case studies. Get your free copy by clicking the download button below!