Ever withhold your greatest work because you don’t feel you have quite the audience for it yet? I mean, who really wants to post a killer article and have it sit there on a site with nearly no visitors and zero comments?
Last week I published an article about choosing a blog topic that you’re passionate about. Other than a handful of loyal readers who actually dug deep into my archives, I bet no one even thought for a moment that I wrote that article about eight months ago. That wasn’t the first time I republished an article and it certainly won’t be the last.
Look, it isn’t a “pillar” article nor was it my most impressive piece. However, I love the message and I’m pretty sure that it was missed by over 99% of everyone who has ever visited here since the site was so new when I first published it. As a result, I republished it with the intention of garnering more views for it. Of course, I took the opportunity to do a few minor tweaks but all in all, the message hasn’t changed.
We, as bloggers, learn quickly that we’re writing to a pretty small group when we first start out. The “audience of one” experience is almost a rite of passage so there’s really nothing to be ashamed of. I know it can be challenging to continue to pour your sweat into something no one will ever read. I’m here to tell you that someone will eventually read it, even if it takes a second push by you.
Once you gain a bigger audience, simply take some of your older works and republish them. With that in mind, it’s never too early to put together an excellent collection of articles since your work is never wasted.
BTW, prior to the republish, the aforementioned article had zero comments.
Have you ever republished your own work?
I am a business professional
with an entrepreneurial spirit. Although I have an MBA and managed websites and IT departments
for several Fortune 500 companies ...
I’ve never done a republish. I guess I thought it would blow up my blog. What a great idea for my early blogs before I got my Massive Audience.
Give it a shot, I’d bet your blog won’t blow up!
Everyone should receive the feed, including those who got it during the first time you published.
There’s a good chance you’re the only person who got both feeds.
Confusion – if everyone should receive it, why would I be the only one to receive both?
.-= Dennis Edell | Direct Sales Marketing´s last blog ..DEDC Remains DoFollow – BUT… =-.
@Dennis, because you were probably the only one who saw it the first time around!
It’s actually pretty fun to go back and take a look at old articles. Even in a few months, a blogger can see how much they have grown in writing style and knowledge.
For beginners, I say go for it. Spew out the best work you can no matter how few people read them.
Why just beginners?
.-= Dennis Edell | Direct Sales Marketing´s last blog ..DEDC Remains DoFollow – BUT… =-.
IMO, at some point, if you’re putting out incredible articles and no one is reading them, the time is probably better spent in balancing fresh content along with promotion.
Very good point, I have been re-tweeting old posts, but I guess what I really need to do is republish them.
.-= Ms. Freeman´s last blog ..Get out for a Date Night! =-.
Great idea Gabe… I was thinking the same with Tinh… the idea is not to republish the article, as if it will appear to SE as it’s a new article… great tip though…
.-= Cebu Tech Blogger´s last blog ..iPhone OS 4.0 “Tentpole” Features from Apple Announcement =-.
Correct. You’re publishing the same article on a different date.
Just edit your post and change the date.
I have linked to articles from back when but have never republished old articles. I should actually consider rewriting some articles rewording things and then I’ll have double the articles to link back to and triple and so on as I go.
.-= Eric´s last blog ..The Power Of A Lie, Is It True? =-.
Actually, if you update your articles, simply change the date of the publish. That way you don’t have duplicate content.
If I were to republish something I’ll look into that.
I also need to figure out how to put the writer’s bio at the bottom of every post.
Any suggestions?
.-= Eric´s last blog ..The Power Of A Lie, Is It True? =-.
It depends on how you want it to look. You can just type in what you want in regular mode.
Personally, I usually go into the HTML tab and add it there using basic code.
My designer recently hard coded one into my blog, I can send you her info if you wish.
.-= Dennis Edell | Direct Sales Marketing´s last blog ..DEDC Remains DoFollow – BUT… =-.
Please do. I feel having that box at the bottom would improve my site quit a lot.
Thanks!
.-= Eric´s last blog ..My Best Blogging Tip =-.
I think it’s really important to know how to bring an old article back from the dead. I mean, it’s too bad if no one read it so you have to refresh it! Make sure it talks about something new though.
What’s a guid?
.-= Dennis Edell | Direct Sales Marketing´s last blog ..DEDC Remains DoFollow – BUT… =-.
Nerd Speak about the core attributes of an RSS feed. From the RSS 2.0 Specs:
guid stands for globally unique identifier. It’s a string that uniquely identifies the item. When present, an aggregator may choose to use this string to determine if an item is new.
.-= K. Praslowicz´s last blog ..Chocolate Milk = Black Baby =-.
I’ve went and rescheduled a post from a year ago that actually got a lot of comments for a time when I only had 20 RSS subscribers. I’m not planning to get any new content out anytime soon, so hopefully this is a good way to plug up the holes so to say.
One thing I did notice though. I use post month & day in my WordPress permalink structure. The URL got updated to the new month & day, and the only one just 404s. So make sure to add a redirect from the old page if you use the date in the url in case anyone out there is linking into it.
.-= K. Praslowicz´s last blog ..TIME-O-LITE – 1947 Advertisment =-.
@K. Praslowicz – regarding Guild – sorry man, all I heard was the teachers voice from peanuts. lol
.-= Dennis Edell | Direct Sales Marketing´s last blog ..HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!! And a Bonus for YOU!! =-.
I feel the need to ask again, does a re-dated/re-published article get sent through the feed again – for everyone or anyone???
.-= Dennis Edell | Direct Sales Marketing´s last blog ..HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!! And a Bonus for YOU!! =-.
Yes…it will be re-fed. Those who saw it the first time will see it again.
Hah! So that is how you “republish”. I was thinking about some of my earlier articles and was thinking that I needed to rewrite the content and publish again. This is waaaaay better, makes a whole lotta sense … also a great time leverage mechanism.
Thank you.
.-= Valentina´s last blog ..The Week That Was : April 04 – 10 =-.
Other than any time spent reviewing your old work, the process to republish is really just a few clicks.
I imagine that the guid would remain the same, so the only people who would receive the republish would be those who are new subscribers since the original publishing. But that is just my assumption. No evidence to back it.
.-= 1skyliner´s last blog ..Find Blogs Using the Top Commentators Plugin =-.
When I republished my post, it never reappeared in the feeds I had in google reader & Opera mail. Feedburner e-mail subscription sent it out again, and the view count for the item seemed typical. From the RSS specs I read, it sounds like how the guid get handles in terms of reshowing an item is pretty much up to the application using to fetch the feed.
.-= K. Praslowicz´s last blog ..Fish Don’t Like Juice Drinks? =-.
Yup, feedburner sends it again, that much is certain.
To everyone, new and old?
.-= Dennis Edell | Direct Sales Marketing´s last blog ..YES it is Time for ME to TWEET! What’s my username? Part 1 =-.
Yes. If you posted an article last year and a visitor saw the feed, he will see it again this time around. So will the people who new people.
Thank you too much for this great subject .
I enjoy reading your subjects .
Best of regards
.-= NoTime Topics´s last blog ..íÂáíáÊä ÌÊäÜÿ Èáí ÕÂÍÈÜÿ ã ÊÓÊÍíä =-.
Dear Gabe,
It’s interesting as a lot of my continous readers start out by finding out about the later posts written.
I have been resurrecting my old posts in various ways to bring them to life to new users, but I have realised that now that whatever happens, a reader always makes use of each post in a unique way.
My intention is not for a reader to comment, it is for a reader to be moved by the post and if it touches them in some way than my work is done.
.-= Ana Goncalves´s last blog ..Open heart =-.
Dear Gabe,
It’s interesting as a lot of my continous readers start out by finding out about the later posts written.
I have been resurrecting my old posts in various ways to bring them to life to new users, but I have realised that now that whatever happens, a reader always makes use of each post in a unique way.
My intention is not for a reader to comment, it is for a reader to be moved by the post and if it touches them in some way than my work is done.
.-= Ana Goncalves´s last blog ..Open heart =-.
Yes. If you posted an article last year and a visitor saw the feed, he will see it again this time around. So will the people who new people.
Dear Gabe,
It’s interesting as a lot of my continous readers start out by finding out about the later posts written.
I have been resurrecting my old posts in various ways to bring them to life to new users, but I have realised that now that whatever happens, a reader always makes use of each post in a unique way.
My intention is not for a reader to comment, it is for a reader to be moved by the post and if it touches them in some way than my work is done.
.-= Ana Goncalves´s last blog ..Open heart =-.
Dear Gabe,
It’s interesting as a lot of my continous readers start out by finding out about the later posts written.
I have been resurrecting my old posts in various ways to bring them to life to new users, but I have realised that now that whatever happens, a reader always makes use of each post in a unique way.
My intention is not for a reader to comment, it is for a reader to be moved by the post and if it touches them in some way than my work is done.
.-= Ana Goncalves´s last blog ..Open heart =-.
Yes. If you posted an article last year and a visitor saw the feed, he will see it again this time around. So will the people who new people.
i think its a great idea to republish an article…i have to work on my old articles again
I’ve actually never republished my articles, because I am no longer a blogger.. I was a blogger, but my blog actually had like 10-20 visitors a day.. and I bet that only 2-3 of them actually readed my articles..
I am bulgarian, and my blog was in bulgarian language, and maybe that is the reason? blogging isn’t that well developed in Bulgaria..
Justin’s last post…Response cached until Wed 23 @ 22:24 GMT (Refreshes in 23.89 Hours)
Having spent the better part of five years writing constantly, you do have to republish some of your content, especially when the popularity of your blog increases and you have some great posts that have not been read by most of your readers.
I think that’s an excellent idea! When I first started blogging, like any other blogger, I’ve done my best to start with some interested and more juicy topics, but knowing that the blog wasn’t obviously popular yet, with time, those articles will eventually get drown in the archived, republishing them at some point may have them exposed the readers as ‘new content’
Thanks! This is something I’ve really missed and was very happy to find.
nice post and thanks for this useful information:-)
Thanks fowr sharingdw nice blog and good list Gabewd
If you posted an article last year and a visitor saw the feed, he will see it again this time around. So will the people who new people.
Great post daniel, that really makes interesting reading
Thanks a lot sharingThanks a lot sharingwdwd
Thanks a lot sharing