Old Blog Posts

How to Use Old Content to Inspire New Posts

Last Updated on by Michael Brockbank

Old content can still be useful long after the posts have been created. This is often seen in evergreen content as the article could be relevant several years down the road. Old pieces of material can also serve the purpose of inspiring new blog posts. If done correctly, you could have a never ending supply of content ideas based from one older idea.
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Old Content Can Be Very Useful Today

A lot of bloggers will have pages that were created years ago. Although they might not see much traffic today, they can still be used to promote newer pieces. It may just take a bit of imagination. All you need to do is take a subject from old content and go deeper into the topic. For instance: If you had a post that mentioned certain components in a recipe, you could develop a whole new post by delving deeper into those parts.

Deriving Material from Numbered Lists
Numbered lists are very easy to get ideas from. It wouldn’t take much to embellish on something you’ve made a point on in the past. Here is an example of what I mean:

  • Let’s say you have an article titled, “6 Foods that Reduce Stress.”
  • In this list, you have “Spinach” as one of your points.
  • Write a new blog post embellishing on some of the finer points of spinach.
  • The new article can then also begin to supply new pieces depending on your new points.

In this kind of an example, the numbered list can provide a minimum of the same number of new posts. For instance, “7 ways to…” can then be used to create seven new blog posts each covering the points in greater detail.

Pulling from Instructional Pieces
Getting ideas from instructional posts, such as “How tos,” you want to find material that is relevant to your niche. This is a bit more difficult than a number list but no less effective. In fact, you may be able to pull more source material from these kinds of posts depending on how you created them. You want to find prominent points within this material in order to make the content more fluid. Here’s what I mean…

  • You wrote a post years ago titled, “How to Structure a Blog Post.”
  • Let’s say that you filled this post with information regarding headings, subheadings, keyword use and imagery use.
  • From there, you could create new articles from that old content by going into greater detail about each of those points.
  • Essentially, that original post could inspire four new articles.

Linking Back to Your New Page
When creating new posts from older pieces, it probably wouldn’t hurt to create links. Link the new page from the old post. Not only will it contribute to internal “link juice,” but it could also help new visitors find information regarding each of those new points sometime down the line. You could also link from the new page to the old content to demonstrate other points. For instance, a page about spinach could link back to the stress reducing piece if you make it a point to highlight “stress” in the new article.

When you take a look at old content, you might be surprised by how natural the material can flow together. In reality, a single article could fuel an endless supply of content branching off in a menagerie of ways while still remaining relevant to each prior piece. It can be an intricate web that can keep you writing for years to come. Never underestimate the value of something you created 10 years ago. It may still be relevant with a bit of imagination.

Michael Brockbank
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