I was reading posts in a Blogging LinkedIn group last night and I saw something pop up about running out of things to blog about. I made a comment about an idea on extending the life of an existing blog post that I wanted to discuss here. There are five ways, off the top of my head, in which you could extend a blog post:
#2 Make a video based upon the previously released post.
Videos are an important part of any marketing plan today and they will only become more important as time marches on.
More than 80% of markets use videos on their own websites.
As you will see in the blog post that I wrote on the DFW Website Desginers blog: Video is an important part of digital marketing it is important to make your videos somewhat professional. Now, this does not have to be something as pro as having a green screen but it should be planned out and the sound quality should be good. One of the best tips that I can provide you about making a video is to have a script. You do not have to script every single word but I would recommend having a general outline.
The video above is a video that I made in response to the blog post The Fear of Blogging. I had written a post and I had a video in mind that I thought would go really well with the post. I hope that you watch the video and the post and let me know what you think.
#2 Make a Slideshare out of it.
Slideshare has over 60 million visits and 120 million page views a month. source: Content Marketing Institute
If you are not familiar with what Slidshare is then just think of it as a website full of power point slides. Check out this Slideshare: The history of blogs from Erno Hannink
#3 Update the Post with new information.
If you have a blog post that has proven to be particularly popular but is a bit old, you should consider updating the post with new information. For example, in the world of Social Media change is common. As if we blog about a social media platform and how to use it we would expect as the platform has updates that we would need to update our blog post. If you are doing any type of informational or how-to blog then you can probably find ways to add more content or update a popular blog post. Even if your blog post is philosophical in nature you could probably update it with new ideas.
#4 Create a list of resources that are related to the topic.
A great example of this is if you are blogging about how to do something and the post was focused on specific steps. The odds are good that you could do an associated blog post on what tools that you used and any sideways related ideas. For example, I could do a blog post about the tools that I use to create a post such as Evernote, SpringPad, MindJet etc. If your business is lawn care and you did a blog post on tips about watering the lawn, you could follow up with reviews on different types of water hoses and sprinklers.
#5 Create an infographic out of the post.
Infographics are hot right now. I have not created one myself but I sure love looking at them. I know that food is popular on Pinterest but so are infographics. People love to share these and add their on comments. If you create an infographic make sure that your business name, logo and website url are on it. If you add your information it will always lead back to you no matter who references it.
If you start feeling like you are out of blog post ideas, just go back to the past and see what inspires you. I have a small personal goal of going backwards and making a simple video where I discuss my thoughts behind each of my existing blog post.
How do you extend the life of a blog posts? What ideas did I leave out?
I get very discouraged when I write blog post and after blog post and no one leaves comments. I hear about consistency all the time, but mostly I am not sure if blogging is making a difference for my biz. Thanks for the note about MindJet, though. I use it a lot to help me brainstorm.
I have the same problem – when I first started blogging in 2009 bloggers were a lot more co-operative and commented on each others’ posts, but there doesn’t seem to be the same level of interest in what other people are doing any more.
Hi Renee, great post! Another idea is to share an old post on social media and try to get some discussion and life back into it. Updating is a great point because if it’s outdated it can look a little behind the times. So it’s a good idea to check back old articles and update with any new developments. Keep up the good work :)