One of the rules for writing any type says that you need to create content that's relevant - you always have readers. But what to do when ideas dying or even disappearing?

Although it's unlikely that the will be no idea, especially when dealing with content marketing, it is possible at one point to stop and not know where to go. The fact is that the world around us is changing at an incredible pace and sometimes superhuman efforts are needed in order to stay in contact with the development of the industry.

One possibility is to look for associates' advice on what they are interested in reading, what they would like to learn more about and cannot find enough good and reliable sources.

The second option is to refresh the old content. This text is about it.

WHAT IS THE OLD CONTENT?

The old content is everything that has already been published on the Internet, regardless of the date of publication. It can be published 5 years ago, 3 years ago, or half a year ago - the main criterion is that it already exists on your site and that you want to make changes and you have the opportunity to actually do it.
Before we continue, refreshing the old content does not necessarily involve redesigning the website, Redesign of the Site signifies a new, creative and modern site appearance, in line with the latest trends in web design, with the increase in the rating of the site. On the other hand, refreshing the old content represents changes to the existing text on the site.

If you take a closer look at the site's site analysis, you will notice that these are the oldest articles that are among the most read and most visited pages: partly because the content exists for a long time, and the greater chance that users accidentally come across it, and partly because it sometimes takes a lot of time for content becomes really read.

So far it should be clear that at least two of these reasons are enough to seriously deal with the refreshment of the old batch.

WHY REFRESH THE OLD CONTENT?

Refreshing the old content means additional work on something that already exists, and the time depends on how many changes you want to enter. Either way, there are more reasons for refreshing the old content, and these are just some of them:

- reaching out to a wider or different audience,
- you will remain current,
- You will publish new information,
- It's easier to customize the content of different social networks and promotion channels.

HOW TO REFRESH THE OLD CONTENT?

Before we go into more detailed ways to refresh old content, we can split it into two types:

1) old content that has already attracted a lot of attention
2) old content that was not spotted by readers.

Both of them deserve a transformation: the first to be even readier, and the other to perhaps reaching the target audience.

Please note: do not make mistakes when linking content!

While it may not seem necessary for you to refresh content that is already well-quoted, the reason is that - smart updating of information can make it even more useful. On the other hand, the content that went unnoticed may not have been broken down in the right way, or simply did not appear at the right time. Take advantage of new opportunities and you will probably succeed!

1. ADD LINKS

Linking is always a topical issue, but you also need to know how to create space for a proper link. Do not conceal the text inside and outside links - leave the reader the opportunity to read the text to be a pleasant experience.

Every good article should include links to internal pages on the site, to related articles on the blog (if you have a blog), or to the products you offer (for example, if you are online sales). It is desirable that the links naturally fit into the text, but if that is not possible, and a few thematically related articles at the end of the text will not be too much.

The second type is links to external parties. These can be texts that served as an inspiration, or from where you have downloaded information or photos. The most important thing is to always give credit to those from whom you have taken something or who inspired you - simply, it's an online netiquette or a rule of good behavior on the Internet.

Adding and updating links is important because you will also pay attention to other content. If you already have links to internal pages in the text, be aware of whether the related parties are still relevant as at the time of their initial publication. On the other hand, with external links, there is always the possibility that the link page is deleted or moved. Pay attention to this and flip through the flaws with some of the add-ons to check the links on the site such as e.g. Broken link checker.

2. ADD NEW PHOTOS

Whether you already have photos in the text, you can always replace them - more appropriate, better-quality or more useful illustrations.

Maybe you changed the company's corporate identity and it's time to replace the illustrations? Maybe you have a new logo and the old photos are in the product photos? Do you have brochures, brochures, and catalogs of new products and should you promote them? All these are the triggers for photo updates.

If it is a text that promotes products, the new packaging is always a good reason for new photos; If you promote nature, natural phenomena, national parks, natural beauties or tourist destinations - photos during different seasons can always highlight the extra beauty and attract new audiences.

3. CONVERT THE TEXT IN VIDEOS

The ever-faster pace of life is becoming increasingly less read. Whether you are at home, at work, or in transportation, you will end your time with some interesting story or information. If an article that has already been actual is turned into a video, the audience will become more receptive and easier to use.

Lately, great popularity is experienced by the so-called. video tutorials (explainer videos) - animated representation of companies or advertising of products so it is less like advertising and more on a short film or interesting animation with which the audience will be easier to connect. If you are an intimate animation and love experiments, that's ideas!

4. CONVERT THE TEXT IN PRESENTATION

Whether it's a presentation that you will offer for direct download from a PPT site, or through sites like slideshare.net (where you can upload a document) or prezi.com (which offers the ability to make presentations for display exclusively via the Internet), a presentation will indicate that you organize information differently than plain text.

Content that can be downloaded certainly has a greater chance of becoming useful to people and sharing it with friends through social networks.

5. OFFER DOWNLOADING DOCUMENTS

When the article is informative, it is useful to offer the reader a way to preserve it. Visual presentations do not have to be liked by everyone, so there is another possibility for it - a PDF format.

The good side of PDF is also that you can use images and text as links to your site, and even after a few years someone opens a document and clicks on a hyperlink, it will bring it right to your site. And it's up to you to make sure that in the meantime you continue to create content for which the audience will return to you again.

6. OPTIMIZE THE TEXT FOR SEO

Include the right keywords in the text. Maybe a few years ago you did not know anything about keywords. You may have expanded the list of keywords for which you want to rank. Perhaps the keywords you ranked in the meantime are obsolete. Change what needs to be changed.

Optimize photos, rename them, add meta descriptions and alternative titles.

Fill in the fields for meta descriptions of the text, SEO title, social network, keywords.

7. FORMAT THE TEXT

Text formatting involves technical text processing.

If you do not have subtitles, reorganize the text so that you can split it into logical units and give them subtitles. Even subtitles have different levels, so note that you do not have <h1>, (assumes that the title is <h1>), but <h2> is superior to subheading 3, <h3>.

Align or change fonts. Forget Comic Sans, unless you sell toys or talk to children.

Instead of trying to always have the most current content, it's better and more useful to occasionally scrub old content and give it a new face - either by changing formats, refreshing links, photos or information in general. Not only will you avoid pressure and stay up to date with the industry, but you will also connect with some other audience and find new ways to promote.

Do you know yet another good way to refresh the old content? Share it with us in the comments.

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