A Quality Article Is Timeless

It should come as no surprise that high-quality content benefits everyone. In the online deluge of quick and easy, a well researched and well-written article can help a website, a writer, and a brand, stand out in a single post.

Content like this requires a lot of work and, most importantly, a lot of time. It’d be a shame to let that effort evaporate after a single exposure. Writing the article is only the first step. Extending the article’s usefulness and lifespan is the follow-up.

Guest Posts Increase An Article’s Lifespan

There are many tricks to repurposing and re-releasing an article after the fact, along with a variety of initial release methods. Posting the article to your website will not set the world on fire. Even with proper SEO and your own personal social media shares, you will primarily be reaching your established audience. The key is to reach the audience of others.

Repurposing old blog content for guest posts allows you to do just that. It’s a low effort and highly effective way of expanding your circle of readers and gaining good will with other communities.

Step 1: The Reach Out

If you’re planning a guest post for another website, you must first research whether their website is relevant to you. By that we mean: if the article performs well with their audience, will they convert?

Trust is key when partnering up with other websites for a guest article. They are tying their brand to yours, even if it’s in a minimal way. Contact the site’s owner or head writer with a mutually beneficial offer. They get quality content, you get (potential) click through. Never grovel or imply they should ‘help’ you out of pity or kindness. This is a business transaction that benefits them as much as you.

Step 2: The Rewrite

You know this. You wrote this. You did the research. Now all you need to do is streamline it further for this new audience. You can leave out parts that are less relevant, switch up the flow of the article, and change the wording to better suit readers of the website. If you leave readers wanting more, they’ll be inclined to check out the back-link and visit your own website.

Make sure that the finished article adheres to the format the website owner would like it in. It makes things simple for them to post, but also makes sure you retain the SEO and layout of your content. It’s best if they don’t meddle at all in your work, so make it as easy as possible for them to publish.

Step 3: The Reshare

This is the payoff. The scorecard for your entire endeavor. Your Step 1 research will ensure the targeted referral traffic has a higher conversion rate than usual. This new audience has been handpicked and catered to with the Step 2 rewrites. With a little bit of encouragement you can even have the guest site’s owner spread the word further through social media. Don’t leave any possible stone unturned when it comes to increased exposure.

In the long run, your own website’s SEO will improve thanks to these repurposed articles. If you chose your websites well, they will rank as relevant and high-quality back-links. The more articles you get on quality websites, the more back-links you generate to increase your own website’s stature.

Guest Posts Are A Slam Dunk

Guest blogs aren’t the only way to add life to an old article. You can start sharing (and linking) to summarized versions through Quora answers. You can send out reminder emails to reintroduce your following to an article they might have missed. Repost the article to social media and schedule repeats over the following weeks.

Guest posts require more tact and effort but are a slam dunk in the end. It’s smart to keep guest posts in mind even when first writing an article. Think of potential off-shoot ideas or spin-offs on the subject that might be elaborated into guest posts later. Research that wasn’t relevant to this article, might be their own article on future partnered websites.