Fresh content is important for your website to remain relevant, but it can be difficult to publish new posts consistently. Fortunately, there are a few key tips you can use to keep yourself on schedule and interacting with your audience.
In this article, we’ll give you an overview of why updated content is so important to your site’s success. Then, we’ll cover three key tips to help your work stay fresh and relevant. Let’s get to it!
The Importance of Keeping Your Content Updated
There are a few key reasons to keep your content updated. One is the positive impact it can have on your Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Google uses a freshness algorithm to determine its rankings. Updated content is more likely to appear higher on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs), as shown in this example:
Consistent content also gives you an opportunity to build your brand identity. The more information you’re giving your readers, the more complete a picture they can form of your business’ personality. It also gives them more opportunities to engage with your site through comments and social sharing.
You might be wondering how often ‘consistently’ is. The truth is that this timetable will vary from site to site. When deciding how often to update your content, consider the length of your typical posts and how long they take to produce.
You may also want to take your competitors’ posting schedules into account. This can help you compete for traffic more effectively. You can also monitor levels of audience interaction, which can point you in the right direction.
How to Keep Your Quality Content Consistently Updated (3 Key Tips)
Producing quality content on a regular basis can be a challenge. We’ve collected three effective tips to help you meet your goals.
1. Keep Some Content on Reserve
Planning ahead is almost always a useful strategy. Try to produce some content that’s not as time sensitive as your other pieces (also known as ‘evergreen’ content). This gives you the opportunity to publish one of the posts you have on reserve if you have a busy week and little time to create new content.
One avenue you might want to try is content that focuses on historical concepts. For example, we recently published an article on the evolution of digital marketing:
As opposed to content that focuses on trends and recent news, content with a historical viewpoint tends to stay relevant longer. If you create a quality article with a historic focus, you can keep it in your back pocket until you need it.
Consider working the creation of evergreen articles into your normal production schedule. It’s an easy way to ensure that you always have an option for those slow weeks. As long as you’re still creating quality content, timeless articles can be an effective time-saving tool.
2. Collaborate With Other Blogs
Each member of your audience is a little different. They might have some interests that are related to but slightly outside of your normal topics. Working with other blogs to produce guest posts can be an easy way to expand your scope while keeping your content fresh.
Guest blogs and writers are pretty common these days. Even the popular blog arm of the Huffington Post works with guest writers to keep its site updated:
Quality guest posts can take some pressure off of your workload. However, you should be prepared to return the favor by producing some content of your own for their other site as well. The good news is that this gives you the opportunity to access new audiences in your niche.
If you’re interested in guest posts, try reaching out to blogs that are similar to yours. You might also want to consider ones that are a little different from your normal fare. This can add variety and new perspectives to your archives.
3. Refresh Your Older Pieces With Updates
If you run a blog, you’re probably familiar with writer’s block. A strategic way to overcome it is to revive your old content. You can add recent developments, new data, or a different perspective. It’s an easy way to make the most of your content, like the Wine Folly blog does:
This can be especially valuable if you’re short on time. You’re still producing unique quality content in your niche, but you can focus on the details instead of coming up with a new idea altogether. Just make sure you’re actually adding something to refresh the post and not simply changing the publication date.
If you’re not sure how often you should be updating old content, try checking in with your site’s analytics. Posts that performed well in their original run but are now lagging in terms of traffic are ideal candidates.
You can also use analytics to track what happens when you adjust your posting schedule. This can help you figure out the ideal amount of content to publish per week. In addition to ordering your schedule, it can also help keep you from burning yourself out.
Conclusion
Creating quality content for your website at a sustained rate can be a challenge. Fortunately, with a few guiding principles, you can get into a groove of producing engaging, interesting, and consistent posts.
What strategies do you use to keep your content up-to-date? Let us know in the comments section below!
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay