the episode

When it comes to content creation, more is not always better. I’ve been blogging since 2008. And I have a library filled with thousands of blog posts which I  wrote as resources for for clients and prospects and because Google loves fresh content. Unfortunately, only a fraction of those posts drive much traffic.

It is exhausting to churn out three to five posts a week, only to have them sink into oblivion, buried under a sea of new posts. So, a few years ago, I switched my approach to blogging. Sure, I still write some new content every month. But the majority of my content creation time is spent reviewing and updating old posts. In addition to reducing my overall workload, I have rich content, which is better for building SEO authority. I have fresh content for social media, and an improved visitor experience because there are more in depth answers to visitor questions.

So how does this work? Here’s seven simple steps to create less content and improve your results.

Do the Research – Go back and look at old posts. Figure out what’s still relevant, what needs a little update, and what’s as good as the day you wrote it. Look for content that once generated traffic but doesn’t anymore.

Then select one keyword for that post and tweak the copy and optimize it just a little bit around that phrase, change your meta description, but don’t change your URL that will screw up any of the inbound links that already exist.

Add at least 100 words to your content. That sounds like a lot, but really 100 words goes very fast.

Don’t forget your pictures 25% of all search his image search. And so add those new pictures. Remember to include your keyword or phrase in the title tag and in the description of that picture and add links.

If you’ve been blogging for any length of time, you’ve got related articles, so put them together, link them and show visitors where they can find more information, keeping really interested visitors on the site longer.

Consider adding multimedia. If you’ve recorded a podcast or video on that same topic, embed that in the page as well. The additional content keeps visitors hanging around longer.

Now that you’ve got all this updated information, let people know you’ve got it. The truth is, if that blog post is a few years old, most people either didn’t see it or won’t remember it.  Then new traffic will send positive signals to Google that there’s something worth seeing.

Re optimization takes less time think creating new blog posts.  So as you’re planning out your content strategy for the next month, plan on writing one new post and then updating other content that’s already in your library.

If you’ve enjoyed this video, and you’d like to learn more about content based SEO strategies, we’ve got a class for that. REGISTER NOW 

about the marketing minute

Each week, host Lorraine Ball shares just a few words on a marketing topic. She boils down creative ideas, practical tips, and decades of real-world experience into a mini podcast which is always less than two minutes.

Look for these mini bits of marketing inspiration every Sunday.  Then come back and enjoy the longer interviews every Thursday.

Look for the mini podcasts and full episodes on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play and wherever you listen  to podcasts.