There are still posts on my blog from the very earliest days of its existence, when no-one read a thing I had written, no-one even knew it was there and, to be fair, there really wasn’t anything worth reading. I was taking my first baby steps out into the blogging world and hadn’t a clue about how it worked. The first year, three posts went out… and… wait for the drum roll… five people I didn’t know ‘liked’ them! Five! Whoo-hoo! That was the most fabulous feeling!
The following year, when I started writing of past events, sharing old journals, just as they had been written lots of people started reading! I had several views!
That was it…. I was a blogger.
I started writing in earnest. The stats page became a fascinating and gratifying place to wander… for a little while. ‘Several’ became double, then triple figures every week and as the readership grew, the old posts faded into the background and sit, unloved and unnoticed, mouldering in the dust of the archives. And some of the stuff was okay. In fact, some of it wasn’t half bad…
It is the nature of blogging that there is a fast turn over and short shelf life for posts. I believe the average period of maximum visibility for a post is about four hours… it can take that long to write a good one! The sheer volume of posts and sites soon bury even your best work. On top of that, thanks to the vagaries of WordPress, the number of ways in which your work can be acknowledged without even being read… as well as read without being acknowledged, either by the reader or as a reflection in the stats… means that it is pretty much impossible for the average blogger to know what has been read at all.
The stats we are given on WordPress.com sites may be consistent on their own terms but they make little sense if you try and do any basic maths. You can have more ‘likes’ than page views… ‘likes’ from the Reader, for instance, do not count as part of your total unless the reader clicks through to your post’s URL. Conversely, you will have reads that are not registered as views… posts read by email subscribers, for example, will not register as page views unless they too take the time to click through to the blog. Which all means that unless you are subscribed to a service that gives you detailed analytics… and how many of us are?… you have to take one piece of information to use as a measuring stick. For me, the one consistently reported figure is the number of ‘likes’ and that also tells you who has left their calling card.
The blogosphere is not a static environment. People come and go. System glitches erase subscriptions surreptitiously. People’s lives change or they find some new interest and are never heard from again. Some readers will have been with you from the start, becoming familiar faces and often real friends… others will be here today and gone tomorrow.
Which all means you probably have a treasure trove of posts and ideas going right back to the beginning of your blogging days that few of your current readers have ever seen. It seems a shame to waste them.
So how can you recycle them?
1. ‘Related posts’ – The simplest way has to be a bit of automation we owe to Automattic. You can set your blog to display related posts after every new post. By keeping an eye on your tags and categories, you make it easier for the programme to select three articles it thinks are related to your new and shiny post. You can choose to have these display discretely, as larger, illustrated boxes or not at all.
So, if you have written a fantastic article on the history of tea-cosy fabrication, if you tag wisely, three other tea-cosy themed gems should now be available for interested parties. Automation being what it is, you might find it displays that ancient article on the breeding habits of Patagonian flying snails instead, but that might catch their interest too.
For the old dashboard, hover over ‘My sites’ top left of the desktop screen (or click ‘Site Admin’ in the ‘meta’ menu on your home page.) Click ‘site admin’ on the drop down menu, select ‘settings’ and ‘reading’ and scroll halfway down the page to select your chosen option. For the new dashboard, click ‘my sites’ top left, settings and scroll down.
2. Links – Writers know what they have written. You may not remember every word, but the ideas remain. Don’t write in order to include links or it will just seem contrived, but when you go back and proof your post, if it brings an earlier article to mind, link back to it. That way your readers don’t have to search for more information…or can simply explore a train of thought easily. Apparently the Google-bots like that sort of thing too.
3. Share – The social media sharing buttons are not just for readers to press if they are kind enough to do so…you can use them too. Although your Publicize feature will automatically share a new post across any connected social media sites, you can manually re-share older posts again via Twitter, Google+, Stumble-Upon etc.
4. Read – You seldom have room in a blog post to explore an idea fully. Sometimes the ideas just need time to mature. Or you see a different angle that needs to be explored. Re-reading an old post can be a rich source of inspiration for a new one and take the thoughts in completely new directions.
5. Reblog – The dog has eloped, the cat is stuck in the dryer and the kids have decided to finger-paint the hallway…. when time is short and life away from the keyboard has precedence, you can simply reblog one of your older posts to your own site in the same way that you would reblog from another writer’s site.
6. Reschedule – If you have more time, you might prefer to revisit the old post, add new pictures or thoughts, tidy the formatting and generally update it. You don’t want to lose the comments by reposting it from scratch, as there are often really interesting points made by readers. You can just reschedule the post for a time in the future… an hour, a day, a week… very useful if you know that you will be away. The entire post then moves forward in time and can reach new readers.
7. Re-post – The oldest posts on a blog seldom have many, if any, comments, so it is very simple to copy, update, redesign and delete an old article, re-posting it from scratch. Those with a special comment you might like to keep can, instead of being deleted, just be ‘withdrawn’ by making them private by altering the visibility setting in the editor. You will be able to see it, the world at large will not, they will see only the new and improved version of the post.
An old post represents a rich vein of ideas and possibilities. If you repost an old one in an identical format to the original, I have come to feel it is only fair to readers who have been with you a long time to state that it is a reblog. If you mine the vein for ideas, change, adapt and draw inspiration from a previous post, you may add something more to what you have written and give a deeper insight into why you took up the pen.
Sue Vincent's Daily Echo 
Great ideas, Sue. I’ve saved this to Pinterest too. Thank you.
Blessings ~ Wendy
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Thanks Wendy 🙂
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Reblogged this on ladyleemanila and commented:
useful tips from Sue 🙂 thanks, Sue ❤
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true 🙂
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I do a lot of rescheduling and re-writing. I have almost 4,500 posts and I don’t remember a lot of them. Some got short shrift when they were first run, some deserve an edit, new pictures, or a face-lift. If TV networks can rerun shows I see no reason why I can’t rerun a post.
I’m often baffled by WordPress’s stats. Number of likes is a better gauge, but the best for me are often the comments. Which posts generate real interest.
Yesterday, I noticed one thing that you may find amusing. At least recently, any post whose title includes the word Memory or Memories gets about 50% more hits than one which doesn’t. Go figure, right?
Good post!
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That’s an odd one. You would think that memories would be one of the last things folk would want to read about 🙂
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I know. But memories are often the material I have to work with. Lucky that nostalgia is quite the rage. I think for a lot of people, nostalgia is the same as history.
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Nostalgia is the history of daily life… and it is nice to look back and smile, either in recognition or wonder sometimes.
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Very helpful post, Sue – thank you! 🙂
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Thanks, Ruth 🙂
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Extremely well-written, Sue. One of your best posts I’ve read so far! I absolutely agree with the points stated above..you’ve spoken my heart, exactly…:-)
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Thank you, Maniparna 🙂
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all great ideas, sue –
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Thanks, Beth 🙂
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Great ideas, thank you, have just reblogged one, just hope I have done it right 🙂
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Looks fine to me, and what a great find that little church at LLanina 🙂
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Thank you for looking Sue, I’m ok at the straight forward stuff, but not so good at deviating, so your post was a great help 🙂
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I find just playing around in the settings teaches me a lot 🙂
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Motto for today….I shall be braver 🙂
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🙂
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Good post again Sue, especially for those relatively new to blogging and feeling a little downhearted! I’ve been referring back to ‘unfamiliar’ previous posts lately which has encouraged traffic, and also WP has been ‘relating’ posts all by themselves too!.
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Thank you. It’s not so long ago that I knew nothing at all… and I learn something new every day. It is nice to be able to share 🙂
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Reading your post put me in mind of an old record by Ashton, Garner and Dyke (I think) called Resurrection Shuffle . I think reviving old posts sounds a great idea Sue.
xxx Unlimited Hugs xxx
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Goodness, I haven’t heard of that one in decades 🙂 I remember it well 🙂 xxx
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Reblogged this on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog.
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Yes I read – and tried to comment to let you know, I REALLY read it (cuz I first hand now how stats can lie – – LOL) – alas – week ending from Dantes 7th level of Hades and just why, would I take it out on one of my favorite people who doesn’t care whether they argue with me or not? Cuz they know I rather depend upon them to speak their mind, rather than telling me what I want to hear – – 🙂
Cuz, yes, that’s who you are, to me – I don’t give a flying rip what the online stats report says- I count upon you as part of my local tribe -in ways no reports or stats could ever hope to capture –
Stats -Schmats… LOL but yes, I hope you also know, I may not have worked through your entire, online life archive to the beginning, but you’ve forgiven me enough times for logging in, liking and commenting as I worked through recent posts, I figure – you probably already know – if only I could just read everday – and connect with others – or debate – or ask questions – etc., wouldn’t, I, too, figure we had really gotten rid of the whole stats myth – single handedly – – 🙂
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No-one could read everything that’s posted everywhere 🙂 We all have other jobs to to too 🙂
Comments are always the best confirmation that someone has read what you’ve written… but really, it doesn’t need that confirmation. It just matters that words are out there that might, one day, be the ones someone needs to read.
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You have given me some useful information and for, thank you.
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Thank you, Ken. I’m glad 🙂
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Reblogged this on Anita Dawes & Jaye Marie and commented:
recycling can be useful and rewarding…
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Your post is really very informative for us.
I want to reblogged this If you get permission to me to do this.
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All my posts are free to reblog, Akki. Thank you.
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Thanks!
It’s a good news for me.
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🙂
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: )
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Reblogged this on BlogBuster and commented:
Originally From – https://scvincent.com
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Excellent post Sue and what a coincidence, too! I have been thinking about dusting off old posts and (re-)introduce them to my readers. However I’m still thinking about which method I prefer most, haven’t decided yet! Thanks for the tips! 😉
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Try them all and see what happens 🙂
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I suppose trying is the best way to find out what works best for me. 😉
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I find I use them all, depending on the moment 🙂
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Thanks for sharing these ideas, Sue. How right you are about the very early posts that maybe one person stumbled upon, often by accident!
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I’m convinced they were accidents, Jean, though with five likes for the whole six views that first year, I am not going to complain 😉
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Hello, Sue! Thanks so much for sharing another useful and valuable post about how to use hidden gems on WP. You deserve more than two thumbs up for your generosity. Unfortunately, I only have two. Excellent post, my friend. I think you should be working for Automatic. I am serious. You do a better job explaining the stuff that lives under the dashboard than they do.
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Well as I am soon likely to be out of a job, perhaps they would consider it…unless they’ve read my diatribes against their ‘improvements’ before… 😉
Thanks, Noel 🙂
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Very helpful post! Thank you.
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My pleasure, Khaya 🙂
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Reblogged this on The Writers' Workshop Blog and commented:
How to reblog an old post. Many thanks to Sue Vincent for these tips.
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Thanks, Jean 🙂
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I know that other bloggers will find it very useful, too.
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I hope so 🙂
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Thank you Sue for this very timely advice. I’ve been worrying about keeping regular posts going when I’m away from access to the internet and this is very helpful. I’ve reblogged, if that’s okay. 🙂
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Thank you for reblogging, Jean! I have to be away for several days a month, and although I try and leave new posts in the works for while I’m away, it is very useful to be able to draw on the older ones too.
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Some great advice here Sue, thanks.
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Thanks, Miriam 🙂
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never knew that reading a post on the reader doesn’t get counted in views – that explains some of my stat confusion
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There must be a click-through for it to register, tough a post can be ‘liked’ without clicking through… which explains a lot 🙂
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This is really interesting. I can’t seem to reblog my own posts…. WordPress won’t let me so I did some rescheduling but then realized that if I had link that post in another blog than the link no longer works as it is looking for the original post which is now moved…. I’ve never tracked which posts I link so now I feel like rescheduling is not really an option….
Have you experienced that?
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Yes, if you reschedule, the post is moved to another position and address so any previous links will be broken.
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Reblogged this on Don Massenzio's Blog and commented:
Here are some great blogging tips. Enjoy.
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Thank you 🙂
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You’re welcome. Useful post.
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I hope so 🙂
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Reblogged this on carsonrenomysteryseries.com.
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🙂
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Reblogged this on theowlladyblog.
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🙂
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Thanks so much for these tips! Am still finding my way around wordpress.
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There are a lot of bloggers who share useful tips… and there are a few on my blog somewhere 🙂
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Thanks for the great tips, Sue! Sharing on Twitter & Pinterest. Have a fantastic week! 🙂
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Thank you, Bette. You too 🙂
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Great suggestions! 🙂
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Thanks, Lynette 🙂
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What a coincidence that you posted this, as I’ve been reworking an old post to republish (suggested by another blogger). It was among my first posts and it was interesting to see how my writing style has evolved. Those early days I agonized and revised a lot, now it is much more fluid. A good thing to do now and again!
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It does change a good bit over the years, doesn’t it? Like growing into a relationship between you and the words 🙂
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Exactly! 🙂
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Thanks for the tips Sue
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My pleasure, Denis 🙂
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Thanks Sue for sharing this.
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My pleasure, Joel.
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loved this post. Great insights. 🙂
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Thank you 🙂
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Thank you. The pleasure was all mine. Loved the way you structured all the information. Will look out for more of your posts.. 🙂
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Thanks, there are one or two posts out there 😉
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Ok. 🙂
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Thanks, Sue, for posting this helpful item. I don’t blog much any more, nor do I keep up with the reading unfortunately. See you are as industrious as ever! Congratulations!
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I’m subscribed to your posts, Ellen, so I know when you do post 🙂
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Brilliant post my friend. Great ideas, and I love the skeleton photos for emphasis! You can be sure I’ll be putting together a reblog of this post! I’ll ping ya when I’ve done it. 🙂
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Thanks, Debby 🙂 x
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I agree, Sue, “there’s treasure in there archives of our blogs ” (do I sound like a Pirate?)
I’ve also written about this subject and I recycle old posts quite a lot, many of which have gone on to receive lots more views and comments. Somebody mentioned in a comment that our blog audience changes every six months, so I think it’s a great idea to republish older posts from time to time.
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🙂
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I’ve been starting to do this as well – so interesting to see posts which had half a dozen views and maybe one like do so much better, the second time around 🙂 Lots of good stuff hidden in the archives…
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I never knew this. Thank you for the information!
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My pleasure, Laura 🙂
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🙂
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You remind me of the many things I’m actually doing right and have listed some new tricks to try, Sue. You are also very funny – the dog has eloped, the cat stuck in the dryer – who knew – ha!
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Thanks, Marian. You’ve met my dog, then? Never a dull moment 😉
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Reblogged this on Judith Barrow and commented:
A very useful post from Sue
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Thanks, Judith x
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Great stuff. I have done some, but certainly could do more recycling myself. Thanks!
One other item to consider when doing this. Assuming you do have some links to sources or other websites, blogs, etc., you can take the opportunity to verify that they’re still good. I had occasion for other reasons to do that recently and ran a plugin that revealed a number of 404 (unlocatable/broken) links. I fixed the ones I could and deleted those I couldn’t. I find it annoying when I’m reading something and find broken links. Other people probably do too.
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Yes, the links are a consideration too when you know a post has been reblogged and delete or move it… the link back will no longer work.
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Wonderful advice Sue and it is something I have done more often lately.. I didn’t know you could reschedule an old post though so I had been reblogging them.. that is great for as you say often the interesting bits come from the comments left by readers.. Thank you for all the tips..
Hope all is well with you.. Enjoy your Sunday..
Sue ❤
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Thanks, Sue… it is a shame to let the good stuff stay hidden, both our own and the old posts we come across on other people’s sites. x
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Too true 🙂
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Thank you for such a helpful post.
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My pleasure!
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Reblogged this on firefly465.
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Great ideas, Sue! Thanks for sharing! 😘
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My pleasure, Janice 🙂
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Great advice, Sue. I think I had 7 likes my first whole year, so lots of material there to brush off, tidy up, and reuse. 🙂
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You did better than me for that first year 🙂 Not that I posted much… but the second wasn’t all that much busier 🙂
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Ha ha. Me too. Isn’t it funny? I feel like I’m still winging it! 🙂
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So do I… even the figures don’t feel quite real ( mind, it is WP 😉 )
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Excellent suggestions, Sue. Thanks to you for sharing, and to DG Kaye for reblogging.
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Thanks, Cynthia 🙂
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Thank you for more of the survival tips.
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🙂
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Sue, I hadn’t thought of doing this. Thanks for the great ideas.
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It comes in handy, Michelle 🙂
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I am learning more about videos. There are lots of easy apps to help you make videos with cool images – and once you have it mastered, you might look at “renovating” an old post into a video!
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