We all know it’s a good thing to recycle our paper and plastic, but is it okay to recycle other stuff too? You know, like blog content?
Content creation is tough, and once you’ve put the effort into researching and writing a great blog post it’s natural to want to get as much mileage out of it as possible. The good news is that reusing your blog content isn’t just allowed, it’s recommended. You can and should be using that one epic blog post to create other forms of media and inspire fresh new blog content for future use. There are a ton of ways to do this, but here are 9 easy ways to repurpose blog content that don’t require a ton of time, effort, or technical expertise.
My Favorite Ways to Repurpose Your Blog Posts
Round ‘Em Up
If you’ve been blogging for a while, you’ve probably got a lot of good information on several specific topics scattered across your blog. Rather than make your readers hunt for each post individually, help them out by putting all of that expertise in one place.
A round up post is easy to write because all you have to do is come up with an intro, sum-up, and maybe a summary line for each post you’re linking to. The links are the point. A round-up post is essentially just a list of links to previous blog posts you’ve written, all on one particular subject. This creates a handy reference for your audience and one more piece of content for you with barely any effort at all.
Promotional or Informational Material
Again, if you’ve already got a collection of blog posts that cover closely related topics, you’ve got everything you need right at your fingertips. It won’t take much editing to turn those posts into an e-book, information packet, or guide. Most of the writing is already done, and Canva is a great place to design a simple downloadable that you can sell, offer as an incentive to join your email list, or send to when they reach out for more information.
Try Different Formats
The hardest part of creating a blog post is usually researching and organizing the content. Once you’ve got your ideas in place, you can make the most of your hard work by using that information on another platform. Try using your blog content to create a YouTube video, Pinterest post, infographic, or voice recording. Start with something that sounds fun to you, or something you’ve been wanting to experiment with. Using the same content in different ways increases your reach to audiences that may not love reading. Plus, it gives your content a new look and gives you a break from inventing something completely new to share on TikTok or Instagram.
Reshare on Social Media
If you’re on Facebook or Instagram, you probably already announce your blog posts there. (And if you don’t, you should!) But social media feeds refresh so fast (not to mention fill up so quickly with other people’s content) that there are plenty of people in your audience who won’t ever see your original post.
Rather than let that discourage you, use it as an opportunity. Give your original post a few tiny tweaks (only if you want to—I’ve definitely reposted with no editing at all) then schedule it out again for later in the month or year. That way anyone who missed it the first time around will have another chance to see it. And in the unlikely event that someone who saw your post the first time around comes across it again and recognizes it, they can be reminded of your amazing services or expertise.
Newsletters and Email Lists
Newsletters and email lists can be a great way to stay in touch with current clients and connect with potentials. But they can be more trouble than they’re worth if you’re trying to come up with brand new content every single time. Instead, try reworking your blog posts and use them to provide useful, up-to-date info for your subscribers.
You can even make this similar to a round-up post, but rather than gathering several posts on one topic, you can just showcase everything that’s fresh on the blog for that month. If your subscribers are anything like me, they may be interested in getting your take on a topic that interests them but need a couple of reminders before they actually get around to it. By using a newsletter or email to gently reinforce what you’re putting on your blog and social media you can increase people’s opportunities to check out what you have to say.
Link to Related Content
As you write new blog posts, you’ll probably mention topics you’ve covered before. When that happens, create a link in your current blog post that connects back to the older blog post so readers can find more information. This makes it easy for your readers to get more questions answered. It also brings the older post back to the attention of web crawlers, which is good for your SEO.
Remember, this is only going to be a helpful strategy if you link to relevant content. You’ll also want to use natural keywords that fit organically into your text, rather than language that could feel spammy, such as “click here” or “this page.”
Look to the Past
Blog posts you’ve already written can be the perfect springboard for new content. Spend an hour or two scrolling through past posts and I’m willing to bet you’ll find all kinds of great ideas for shiny new articles. For example, maybe you wrote a post about elevating the client experience that mentioned two or three different ways small business owners can go above and beyond to impress their clients. Why not take each of those points and expand on it to create a series of entirely new posts?
Top Recommendations
Whenever you write a new post, take a look through your past blog content to see if you have any related articles that readers might find useful. Most readers aren’t going to take the time to trawl the archives of your site, but if you point out some posts they might enjoy, they may take you up on it and check them out.
Showing two or three recommended articles below each post can decrease your site’s bounce rate (just like linking to related content) because readers are more likely to click to a new page on your site instead of leaving. Highlighting recommended posts can also help to position you as an expert. Additional articles on related topics show that you’ve got history and know what you’re talking about.
Time for a Rewrite
If you’ve been blogging for a while, go back and check out some of your past posts. Be brave. The oldest ones might make you cringe. It’s natural for your writing style to change as you increase in confidence and clarify your blogging objectives. If you would write an older post differently if you had the chance to do it again…guess what? You have the chance to do it again! Rewrite it in a way that’s consistent with who you are now and where you are in your business.
Even if your writing style hasn’t changed that much (maybe you’ve been blogging forever and are just looking through last year’s content), you can still take your old posts and freshen them up a bit.
In fact, you want to know a secret? That’s exactly what I did with this blog post about 9 easy ways to repurpose blog content. You can check out the original post from last year and compare the two to see the changes I made. Hopefully it gives you some ideas on how you can rewrite your own material to keep your blog updated with minimal effort.
I hope these ways to repurpose blog content have inspired you—and maybe even led to some ideas of your own! What are your favorite ways to reuse material for content creation? Feel free to share in the comments!
