Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Recycle your old blog posts.


I saw this article by Michael Hyatt's, Recycling Your Blog Content, recently and I had to share it with you.  I didn't wright this article but I knew it would be helpful.  
Don't let the great posts you've written in the past get buried in all the new stuff you are publishing today!
Recycle old postsPhoto by Mykl Roventine
Old content with a timeless quality about it is often referred to as "evergreen" content. Here are a few ways to get it seen again:

1. Tweet 'em.

As Michael Hyatt recommends, tweet your old posts once a day.

2. Facebook 'em.

Reposting works on Facebook too. Sometimes I've posted older posts on Facebook and labelled them "oldie but goodie" so people know it's not new.

3. Book (or eBook) 'em.

Combine a bunch of your old posts into a PDF or even an ebook. You could give it away for free or you could sell it. A lot of people will pay for the organization of old content.

4. Link 'em.

Link internally of course. Always link to older posts in your new ones whenever possible.

5. Archive 'em.

In my new design I added an Archives page and I've gotten a lot of great feedback from people who say it's been so helpful to see all my older posts at one glance.

Bonus Tips for Recycling Old Content

  • Read through your post quickly before highlighting it to make sure it's up to date.
  • Don't change the permalink (!) but consider freshenin' up the title.
  • I'm a big fan of linking to old posts, but I think the actual re-posting of them should be done very sparingly. By that I mean, I wouldn't recommend copying and pasting an old post into a new one and republishing it as new (not so good for SEO). Just work a link to the old one where you can.
  • Why not make recycling content part of your regular blogging routine? It doesn't take long and has a lot of excellent benefits!
What about you? How do you make sure your older content doesn't get buried?


Thursday, September 8, 2011

YOUR Blog

Designing a new blog is so exciteing for me.  I love to set up a blog for a customer and look back in 3 months and see how far my customer has come.

When I design a blog...I just design how it looks I don't really do much with the content.  BUT without content a pretty blog is not very useful.

Before adding your blog you need to know what it is you want to do with it....
Is it for a hobby
A how to blog
Your life blog
Your etsy business blog
???what.

I have alot of folks who want to set up an etsy shop blog and that is so fun and a great tool for your business.  To have a sucessful blog, post atleast once a week.  You can blog about new listings, the materials you use (this is a great way to show the value of your product...what makes it vintage?, EXAMPLE if you make handmade Llama yarn, take your readers on a field trip to show them the process of your craft...) you can blog about sales, you can blog about your family, you can blog about treasury lists, and craft shows you will be at....This will keep your blog updated EASY....You will want to add extras like a facebook feed, twitter feed, etsy mini, and maybe a gallery of your past work..(I don't have a gallery...instead I use my facebook page. but that is my choice works best for me.....(these extras you will need to intsall...but they are super easy)  

You can laugh at me....I know the rules but look at my posts....LoL.

The people that want to set up a fun craft blog......with galleries, contests, crafter of the month, links of your favorite pages, giveaways and more.  You are ready to go guns blazeing....

BUT YOU NEED TO STOP.....Here is how you set up that type of blog
1.  Have me design your blog....
2.  Set up your social media if you want them
3.  set up your gallery if you want one....In flicker...or smug mug...or a smiliar company.
4....GET STARTED BLOGGING...
Once you start posting projects....people will follow.  when people start following you will have submissions to the gallery, you will then have a group to select crafter of the month, you will then have interest from vendors to do giveaways because you have followers,  You will then have contestants to begin CONTESTS....as time goes and the word gets out...more followers will come..and before you know it you will have your hands full....and your dream of having a successful blog has come true.

It is okay to say....coming soon...And it is okay to fine tune things as you go to find things that work for you.

What do you think????  Did I make any sense???  Do you have any questions???