Content After Life

In the fast-paced world of digital content, the lifespan of a blog post feels fleeting, like a shooting star that briefly captures attention before fading into obscurity. But what if your carefully crafted words could have a lasting impact? How can you extend the shelf life of your content, ensuring it continues to shine brightly long after its initial release?

The answer lies in a strategic approach to content creation and dissemination. Rather than simply churning out rehashed articles or fleeting posts, it's time to harness the evergreen potential of your content.

Here are a few simple tactics you can use to give your content a new lease on life, allowing it to stand the test of time and provide ongoing value to your audience.

Start with an original blog post. Don't just re-purpose something you find elsewhere, produce something only you can write. Spend time crafting something worth reading, 750 or more words on a topic you know something about will you something to work with down the line.

Write an interesting excerpt. Don't just rely on the first sentence to do the work for you. This short teaser should be about 120 characters. It's what will appear when you share the link on Facebook and LinkedIn. It will also serve as the simple meta description which will help Google index the content appropriately.

Build a series. If a post is successful, it will continue to attract traffic after the original posting date. When you notice this is occurring, consider developing a series building on the first post. Remember to cross link between related posts. This will guide interested readers to more content they find valuable.

Include it in a newsletter. Whether you do a roundup of your most popular posts or a collection on the same theme, use your newsletter to introduce the new content to an audience that already knows and loves you.

Publish an ebook. Finally, if you find yourself returning to a topic again and again, bundle the posts into an ebook. With short introductions to link the content, it becomes a great standalone piece. You can use it as an offer to encourage people to subscribe to your mailing list or as a part of your proposal package to demonstrate your expertise in a particular subject.

The bottom line - if you spend the time to create high-quality content with a plan for the future, you will have something that will live on beyond the day it is first published. In the long run, focusing on the afterlife of your content will save you time.

Looking for more content tips? Check out some of my favorite conversations with other marketing pros on this subject.

Erik Deckers - The Future of Content Marketing

Stacey Hall - Better Content in Three Easy Steps

Kathleen Celmins - Stop Creating Content and Start Telling Stories”