This was originally published on the RelationEdge blog on January 29th, 2018.
The RelationEdge blog was deactivated in February 2020.
New Year, new… content?
The first few months of the new year are a time when many people turn over a new leaf and adopt healthier habits. But it might be just the time for your blog to slim down, too.
To help you, we’ve developed our very own content detox guide, so you can take a critical look at your content marketing and get your branding back into shape.
Why Do a Content Detox?
Times change. What you published on your blog three years ago may no longer be relevant — in fact, it may no longer even be accurate.
On the other hand, there may be content you published three years ago that remains relevant and insightful, yet few people are reading it. Maybe that content needs a little love to bring it more attention.
With a content detox, you’ll be able to refresh, re-promote, or delete your posts to ensure your branding and thought leadership is on point. But to know what content you’re working with, you first need to audit your assets.
Create Your Content Audit
A content audit will show you which of your content is worthy of refreshing or re-promoting, and which can go the way of the dodo bird.
Essentially, what you want to do is build out a spreadsheet with the title, URL, and metrics for your blog posts. Common metrics to look at include conversion rate, time on page, and social shares. From these details, you will be able to identify your valuable posts which should be updated or re-promoted, and the content that is nothing more than dead weight.
Breathe New Life into Evergreen Posts
It’s easier to refresh an existing post than it is to write one from scratch. Lurking in the depths of your blog is some great content that receives lots of views, but could use another paragraph or two with updated information.
Be sure to update the original blog post rather than publishing an additional article on your blog, — a new post about the same topic with vastly similar text could make search engines flag your blog for duplicate content. And keep the URL the same, too — if others have linked to the post, you don’t want those inbound links to become dead links.
In the name of transparency, it’s also a good idea to add an editor’s note at the beginning or end of your re-published post. This note should state when the post was originally published and that it has been revised for accuracy.
Let your social media team know when you’ve updated these blog posts – then they can be sure to reshare them across your social platforms and drive new views to your updated work!
Remind Readers of Great Content
As you conduct your content audit, you will also find content that still shines, even long after it has been written.
Just because it was published a while ago doesn’t mean it should be forgotten. Think of ways to make more people take notice of these posts. You can share this content regularly on your social channels and use it in your marketing automation drips.
You worked hard on creating this content. With a little effort, you can get it the attention it deserves.
Remove Underperforming Articles
You may think having old, outdated content does no harm. Think again.
Content deep in the archives of your blog may no longer reflect who your company is or what it does. It may detract from or misrepresent your brand, and if that’s the case, it’s got to go.
It can sound drastic to advocate deleting content, but done right, it won’t have any impact on your SEO or traffic numbers. One company actually found that deleting 900 posts — an incredible 30% of its website — had very few negative effects.
Do the Boring Admin Stuff
These aren’t the most awe-inspiring tasks, but that doesn’t make them any less necessary.
You should always go into your backend and clean up admin permissions. Are there still people with admin permissions who have left the company? Maybe some employees have moved into roles that don’t require them in your CMS. Either way, you need to update your admin permissions. This is a quick fix that keeps your content safe and sound.
It’s also important to update links in your older content to drive traffic to newer, more relevant posts. For blog posts that perform especially well over time, you should consider doing this at least once a year. You may be sharing old content again, but you want it to lead your reader to newer content, too.
After carrying out these actions, you’ll have a brand new, trimmed-down blog that better represents your brand. Detoxing feels good, doesn’t it?