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A Simple Way To Funnel New Traffic & Sales From Buried Blog Archives

Posted By Darren Rowse 4th of September 2009 Blog Promotion 0 Comments

LynnterryprobloggerIn this guest post internet marketer and full time blogger Lynn Terry of ClickNewz shares one of her newest tested blog marketing strategies.

On the current theme of Content Marketing, I have a super simple strategy I have been testing to increase exposure and profit that you’ll really enjoy. It’s simple, it’s free… and it works.

Darren gave us 9 ways to seed content to consistently grow our blog readership with each new blog post. This 10th method will bring you a lot of readers as well, without even writing a new blog post…

Putting Your Best Content To Work For You

If you’ve been blogging for any amount of time at all, you probably have some incredible posts buried in your archives. Even blog posts written only a month or two ago rarely get a new comment. Properly optimized posts might continue to receive new visitors through the search engines, but most of your content is buried – both in your archives, and in the search results.

I make a regular practice of browsing through my archives for pillar posts. I often repurpose these posts into articles for Article Marketing, meaning I make a few small tweaks and submit them to EzineArticles.com.

There are 3 good reasons to submit your better archives to EzineArticles:

1. A keyword-rich title on EzineArticles can easily get your article ranked very well in Google search results, as EzineArticles is a content authority site. If the article is not ranking well on your domain, or if you have a relatively new domain, this is a great way to get “indirect” top rankings very easily.

2. Each article you submit may include an author bio, or resource box, which will have a live link back to your blog. Readers and search engines alike follow these links, and inbound links will help your blog get indexed or better ranked.

3. Publishers search EzineArticles.com for great content to use on their websites, at their blogs, and in their email newsletters. In addition to getting more inbound links, you may also find your content in front of a very targeted audience.

Duplicate Content?

There are many theories about duplicate content, and possible penalties for using the same content in more than one place on the web. Most of these theories are completely unfounded. Read this if you’re concerned about duplicate content.

Basically, Google wants to offer a wide variety of results for any given search. If your blog post is not already ranking in the top 10 results for a specific keyword phrase, you can easily achieve an “indirect” top ranking by submitting the post to EzineArticles.com as an article with a keyword rich article title.

Taking it one step further…

This method has been working very well for me, so I decided to take it one step further. Instead of repurposing a great blog post into an article, I turned a couple of my posts into short reports.

It’s the exact same content, just a new format: PDF.

PDF files are very easy to create. You can use any number of free PDF converters. Or you can download OpenOffice.org for free, which will allow you to turn any document into a PDF file with one click.

Don’t be overly concerned with the length of the report. Even 3-5 pages of great content will make a very nice short report that you can give away.

You can also add a cover page, a copyright/disclaimer, and an about page to round it out if you like. If you want your report to go viral, be sure to include a paragraph that clearly spells out the giveaway rights to your reader.

The Results

I decided to try this with a great how-to post I had written for my blog. This particular post ended with a recommendation for Darren’s workbook titled 31 Days To Build A Better Blog. I didn’t do any fancy formatting, I simply copied the blog post and pasted it into a document – and then converted it to a PDF file.

The result? The PDF file converted readers into buyers almost 4x more than the blog post!

Thanks to that short report, I am nearing the $1,000 sales mark for a product that sells for less than 20 bucks – which makes for a nice little commission check… on just one post!

The obvious conclusion here is that a report, or a PDF file, has a higher perceived value. The exact same content, with the exact same call-to-action, has proven to achieve a much higher conversion rate in PDF format.

Using Reports For Links, Traffic & Sales…

You should use one of your new short reports as an incentive for your readers to subscribe to your newsletter or blog updates. This is a great way to increase your subscriptions, and therefore your readership.

You can use your other new reports much the same as you use articles, as well. Submit your reports to free ebook directories, the same way you submit articles to article directories.

Google will index PDF files, so the links within your report will count as inbound links to your blog. Your report may also rank well in Google, which is another great way to funnel new readers into your blog.

Tip: Don’t submit the report you use as your opt-in incentive in other places around the web. Your new visitors will be disappointed to arrive on your blog, subscribe, and receive the same report that brought them there in the first place. Mix it up!

Make sure you include a strong call-to-action in the PDF version of your content. If your content is not directly recommending a product, you can invite the readers to related articles on your blog – or to subscribe at your blog for more great free reports on the topic.

Browse through your blog archives today, and locate some of your best (buried) posts. Repurpose those posts into short reports, and put that great content back into circulation to bring in more readers – and make more sales!

Best,
Lynn Terry
ClickNewz

p.s. I found this method to be working so well for me, that I contracted someone to convert and format my posts into attractive PDF files. You can easily outsource this task by posting a request on freelance sites, or on Job Boards at various forums.

If you would like to see an example of one of my repurposed blog posts, feel free to download How to Write a Product Review.

About Darren Rowse
Darren Rowse is the founder and editor of ProBlogger Blog Tips and Digital Photography School. Learn more about him here and connect with him on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Comments
  1. Great tips Terry !

  2. Thank you Roseli!

    The first time that I made almost $10k in one month from a single blog, I was totally hooked. I am an avid reader here at Problogger, and constantly testing new methods & strategies to grow my blogs and their readership.

    I bought Darren’s 31DBB workbook when it came out, and am consistently following his teachings – putting each simple strategy into ACTION has produced incredible results!

    Blog on! ;)
    -Lynn

  3. I love the idea of creating PDFs from blog posts and turning out reports. It’s so fast and easy …. and it was right there in front of me all along!

  4. Thanks for the great tips. I write a significant amount of product reviews and some of your ideas seem like they will be useful. One of the hardest things to do with product reviews is pointing out negatives. I know that products that I write reviews certainly convert much better with affiliate sales.

  5. JennyLee Watson says: 09/04/2009 at 12:50 am

    This is great advice, especially when some of your great material was in the beginning days of your blog, when only you, Mom, and the dog KNEW you had a blog!

    Thank you for the vivid example.

  6. More “crazy good” stuff, Lynn.

    Content…not just for blog posts anymore!!

    Dan

  7. I love these ideas!! We have so much content we’ve already produced – and it’s just sitting back there in our archives, begging to be used!! ;)

  8. Great article–I especially like the first idea–publishing old posts on EzineArticles.

    A word on duplicate content–I am very lenient with use of one of my blog’s content (kuyakevin.com). It is ministry related, so I allow readers to repost, etc. I’m sure there are duplicate copies from that blog all over the place, but it doesn’t seem like it has hurt my page rank.

  9. Oh man, great find for me! I found the link to this blog post (on Twitter) just in time because today I was going to start a “new report”.

    I had also thought about doing it with some “repurposing” but wasn’t quite sure of all the steps.

    Thank you, thank you, Lynn. Now I know I’ll be on the right track because I’ll have notes from your post beside me.

  10. Good ideas lynn… I had tried the idea of submitting my articles to other sites such as EzineArticles (you mentioned) particularly when my blog was news. But what i found was the articles from those sites were ranking higher in SERPS then my original articles. (its not uncommon though) Then i decided not to submit to those articles directories but ya it would be great for the buried articles from the archives like you say.
    thanks.

  11. Hey Lynn,
    More great content. That is a great idea to put your posts on ezinearticles. And people are always looking for a way to create a product, well I’d say you came up with a great one with the PDF idea. Keep it coming.

  12. The PDF idea is great – a fantastic example of perceived value in action.

    I do have one concern, though – what’s the risk of alienating or disappointing longtime readers by re-distributing “old” content? Is there an “incubation period” that needs to elapse before you consider repurposing a post into a PDF/report?

  13. Jeffrey,
    My readers really seem happy with it, even on current content. If a post gets a lot of comments, I usually follow up with the PDF version and welcome them to download the “printable version”. No complaints yet! ;)

  14. Lynn,
    Wow–such great ideas! I’m going to try ’em all!

    You can also use Google Docs to convert files into PDFs. So easy and FREE. :)

    Thanks so much!
    Heather

  15. Instructional posts like this get me excited. I love to see methodology put into action and working in a tangible way. I’m going to try implementing some of the these ideas. I’ve been toying with the idea of re-posting some of my own archives, but debated. This makes the whole idea clear for me.

  16. Wow, inspiring and practical information that can be put to use today. I signed up for an ezine account a couple of years ago, but didn’t continue to work with it thinking it was just one more thing to do that didn’t help my cause of driving more traffic to my site. Thanks to your information, I will try it again.

  17. Great idea to turn repurposed posts content into a report. I do repurpose…but some how have not done that.

    What I find works well is to submit great work to eZine articles and get the backlinks. Don’t care if it outranks my blog–the key is exposure and, “Wow, gotta go check that blog out.”

    I take those articles and do not publish them on the blog but make them into my autoresponder series.

    Then I create a video discussing the topic using the article as a guide.

    It is working well for me and I’ll have to try the special report angle.

    Thanks for the idea–had to share mine in return.

    :-)

  18. Another great tips, I enjoyed the PDF part, I will put it into work once my e-book is complete. Thanks for the tips.

  19. I had tried this method once before, but the post was not acceptable, so I gave up.

  20. That is a fantastic idea. I am glad that I have heard about that opportunity to convert more traffic and get more links. Thanks for the information and a great guest post.

  21. Lynn, that is a genius idea.

    Also, for those with Macs, you can create PDFs directly from your word processing software. Just choose File → Print → Save as PDF.

  22. Hello Darren,
    Everywhere I found that “content is king” no doubt but content is not only the part of blog.
    Your tip about conversion of blog posts into pdf format is the wonderful idea to create ebook with the collection of selected blog posts.

  23. Actually not all method we using will work but anywhere we can build link to get better serp from google.

  24. Such good tips you offer, Lynn, and the example you show in how to do the right stuff easily is invaluable. Thanks for sharing and showing!
    best for now,
    Mary

  25. What a clever, simple idea to repurpose old blog posts into pdf’s. That simple act equals a great new product. Not going to hesitate using this on my blog.

  26. ‘Crazy-good stuff” for sure! I’m a kid in the blog-candy store again.

    Gonna re-configure my killer pillar posts as you outline to get Google sending me even more flowers..

    THANK YOU!

  27. Fantastic article Lynn.

    You’ve really inspired me about the benefits of republishing some of my better articles and creating eBooks.

  28. Frank Kern gave another tip that I’ve found useful for upping perceived value: make a video that points to your report. Make sure the video offers some good content as a standalone.

    This works really well because videos online still convey authority, even just a two minute video introducing the main concept in the report.

    Try it.

  29. Thank for the good idea. I ‘m new on blogging and have no idea how to find goods article on my blog . I ‘ll try with your guide to make my blog glow and hohe it make me some erning.

  30. Thank you for the pointer to demystify the double content myth. “There’s no such thing as a “duplicate content penalty.” (Susan Moskwa, Google Webmaster Central Blog) see link in article

  31. Seems to me that you have used Darren tips practically and now you are reaping the benefit.

    Nice to see this … We have also implement the theory of Pillar post and this one really works … in fact its always work.

  32. Very nice Post Lynn.

    Usefull Tips, the idea of the pdf is a must!

    Clever and simple is the idea.

    Thanks for Sharing

  33. Excellent advice Lynn (as always!). I’ve been re-purposing content since we returned from NAMS last month. Love it!

    Thanks for the great article, and thanks Darren for having Lynn as a guest blogger. ~ Traci

  34. This is great–I have so many posts many of them can only be accessed through Archives. I can see how I could do the same thing with my podcasts. Thanks!

  35. Really appreciate all the great comments here!

    To “Web Marketing Tips” – very true. The secret is in taking ACTION. Darren has laid out all of the details, especially in his 31DBB guide, for anyone to have a successful blog. It’s one thing to read a blog or guide, but applying it is what makes it work!

    Marshall – I agree with you on the video tip. I’m a huge fan of repurposing content in various formats. Nice add to the topic!

    “Blogger User” – it’s true that sometimes your articles on EzineArticles will outrank your own domain in Google results. For a new blog, this is a GOOD thing. If you are not experiencing good rankings yet yourself… using EzineArticles is a simple way to get “indirect” top rankings (ranked on THEIR domain) – then you funnel that traffic through to your blog with an awesome call-to-action in the resource box ;)

  36. After EzineArticles deleted links from my republished articles–even though the links were relevant, and explicitly allowed under their own editors’ guidelines–I vowed NEVER AGAIN.

  37. I would recommend you ONLY attempt “article submission” with material for which you have no chance of ranking alone. Maybe then, you have nothing to lose.

  38. Awesome idea. I like the concept of turning articles into PDFs or subitting them Ezine. Will check it out!

  39. It’s funny how a simply converting posts into a PDF can make them seem more valuable. Since I have a new blog, I don’t have a huge archive built up; however, I will be making note of articles that will be ideal candidates for converting into a report.

    Thanks for the tips!

    Blake

  40. Part of me is glad you wrote this post and the other part upset that thousands of people will be starting to use your PDF idea. Anyway, I just subscribed to your blog. You have a great writing style.

  41. Hi, Thank you for sharing this with us. It will really be great helped because I am a totally newbie about this. Thanks again. Keep posting more about making money online. :-)

  42. Content is always the king… we just need to provide the right information related to our topic and we’re in.

  43. Amazing tips once again. This week there has been a lot about content there out on the web/blogs, etc and I think it’s trying to tell me something don’t you? ha ha I have come a long way but still have a lot to learn. I’m glad to hear that it’s not too hard to make things into pdf. The easier the better for me.

    I think I have a few blog posts that I can re-purpose now that I think about it.

  44. LOL Carl – Thank you!

    I have to give props to my geek-bud Nicole Dean for inspiring me to create more short reports, and dig in deeper with repurposing. A favorite topic of ours when we’re hanging out. Check out clicknewz.com/2011/ for an a-ha moment on that point ;)

  45. It’s good to know that the belief of duplicate content has gone the wayside. I’m going to start using your ideas not only to earn some extra money but when I get “blog block”. Sometimes reading through my older posts can inspire me to write something on that same topic. Knowing that I can use that post almost word for word is a huge help.

  46. Lynn,
    Your ideas are just so simple, even relative newbies can use these type of strategies.

    It looks like you have inspired a lot of people today.

    I will be looking at how to optimise my PDFs a bit more now as I didn’t know about the Google indexing.

    You ROCK!

    Leigh

  47. Re purposing contents into PDF file is a fantastic idea. The first guy using this strategy that I know of is John Chow with his Make Money Blogging Report. I’ll be trying this method out for my site as well, when it have more articles. Thanks for the great tips.

  48. Looks like a ton of people really liked the idea of re-purposing content as a PDF and then using it as an incentive to opt-in, or a freebie (especially if it promotes a product), so I’ll chime in as well.

    Lynne Terry can also be heard on the Internet Marketing This Week podcast. Google “IMTW” and you’ll see it right away. Great podcast.

  49. Great article, great advice.
    Content was / is king,

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