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40 Cool Things to Do With Your Posts *After* You Hit Publish

Posted By Guest Blogger 29th of December 2012 Miscellaneous Blog Tips 0 Comments

This guest post is by Steff Green of Grymm & Epic Copywriting and Illustration.

Blogging isn’t a case of “If you post it, they will come.” Your role as a blogger doesn’t end as soon as you hit Publish. In fact, that’s only the beginning.

If you’re anything like me, most posts take you between one and our hours to write, maybe even more. For all that time and energy, you’ll want each post to do a lot of work for you after it’s gone live.

You want that post to:

  • demonstrate your writing and blogging skills to potential clients
  • attract new readers to your site, and encourage them to stay
  • solve issues faced by your regular readers
  • be linked and shared on social media
  • attract commenters to keep the discussion going
  • bring your blog to the attention of advertisers, companies and other opportunities
  • make you some money!

To get anything out of your blog post, you’ve got to put in extra effort, even after you’ve hit Publish.

Here, I’ve tried to make it easy for you—I’ve come up with 40 different things you can do to help give your blog post the best chance of success after it’s gone live.

  1. If your topic is an evergreen one, you could wait a few months, then republish your post with updated information. Getting your best content back in front of the eyes of your readers can be a great way to encourage sharing and point them toward the other great content on your site.
  2. Do you write posts filled with personal stories and the lessons you learn throughout your life? With a bit of editing, these posts could make great personal essays, which you could sell to freelance markets that accept these.
  3. You could combine pillar posts with additional content to create free, downloadable ebooks that you can promote through your site, or sell on Amazon.
  4. If you used a particular format for a post that was effective—like a 20 questions interview with an expert, or a particular set of subheadings on a review—you could turn that one-off post into the first instalment of a regular column.
  5. You could create a new page on your site called Free Resources or Start Here, and link back to some of your most popular articles.
  6. If you notice another blogger asking a question that you’ve answered on your blog, send them a link to the article.
  7. You could write Part 2 of a popular post and address another aspect of the topic.
  8. Turn ideas from your blog posts into pitches for magazine articles. Print publications won’t want articles that read like blog posts—the tone of the writing is very different—so you can often pitch an idea you’ve already written about. For example, I wrote a post on my Gothic Wedding blog on Wedding Advice for Shy Couples. I was then able to pitch the same topic to a bridal magazine. The article I wrote for them was much shorter, with a different tone, and I included quotes from real couples.
  9. Depending on the topic of your blog, you could turn old posts into short non-fiction pieces for children’s magazines. By simplifying the language and adding lots of interesting detail, you could sell 200-800 word info-snippets to help teach children about the world around them.
  10. Go back to your old posts and interlink them with newer posts on your blog, or to your Products or Service pages. A good internal link structure keeps readers on your site longer.
  11. Use your favorite blog posts as writing samples when you pitch articles to print publications. Most editors want to see a sample of your writing, and using a blog post has the added bonus of demonstrating your expertise in your niche.
  12. If you’ve created any tutorial posts, go back and check they contain sufficient photographs, diagrams, and screen captures. If not, spend some time drawing up, editing or inserting visual imagery, then announce the update to your audience.
  13. Do you write short, sharp, humorous posts? Why not contact a publisher about creating a gift book?
  14. If you’re looking for freelance blogging work, contact local companies who have non-existent or inactive blogs and ask if they’d like to hire a blogger. Use your post on a similar topic to demonstrate what you can do.
  15. If you wrote about someone’s product, service or resource, email them, or send them a tweet letting them know the post is up. Who knows, it might even lead to a brand collaboration in the future.
  16. Look for print magazines that accept “reprints”—these are articles that have been previously published, and can include blog posts. You’ll probably need to edit your post before you send it, to fit with the magazine’s format, culture, and content, but this can be a very successful way to get your brand in front of a wider audience.
  17. You can use old posts as springboards for guest post ideas—I struggle to think of ideas for guest posts, and I find looking back through my blog’s archives reveals ideas and themes I can jazz up and send off.
  18. You could create a photo essay, video, or cartoon to explore ideas from an old post, and link back to the old post when you release your creative project.
  19. You could create a press release based on a newsworthy story you wrote about one your blog, and use it to contact local and national press.
  20. You could approach the owners of a magazine or other popular site about syndicating your blog to their readers.
  21. If you want something physical to give potential clients, you could print out text or screen shots of your most popular posts and compile a print portfolio.
  22. Or, of course, you can put together an online portfolio for your web-based clients, showcasing your best work on yours—and others’—blogs.
  23. You could gather together blog content to form the basis of a workshop or seminar you could offer up to conferences in your niche.
  24. Or, if you prefer to teach online, you could use your blog content as a basis for creating a short autoresponder course or email workshop.
  25. You can embed links to your relevant posts in your Youtube videos.
  26. Send a few relevant links out to potential freelancing clients as examples of your skills.
  27. You could use your posts to pitch a newspaper column.
  28. Email your friends with a link to your post and encourage them to share it among their friends and acquaintances. As long as you don’t do this all the time, most friends are happy to share awesome things that are relevant to their interests.
  29. Advertise your post on social media. Don’t forget to track the results!
  30. Create a funky infographic that demonstrates the information used in your post, and either share it with other bloggers or use it on social media.
  31. Submit your link to sites like Digg, StumbleUpon, or Reddit.
  32. Create a Pinterest board based around the topic of your post—and make sure you link back to your blog!
  33. Create a poll based on a question from your article and place it prominently in your sidebar, with a link back to your post.
  34. Send a note out on your blog’s newsletter or mailing list, letting them know about the article. Depending on what your audience is happy reading, you could republish the whole thing to their inboxes.
  35. Start a discussion about your topic on a forum and use your article to back up your argument. But remember—you should only occasionally add links to forums and only when they add value.
  36. Add a link to your post in your email signature, so everyone you email has the chance to click through.
  37. You could create a competition to encourage comments, whereby one commenter on your post wins a prize. I do this with CDs, books and apparel on my blog sometimes and it’s always a great success.
  38. Turn your best-looking blog post into an artistic poster and stick it up all over town.
  39. Add some well-placed text ads or affiliate links to your post, and earn a little extra cash.
  40. Get a tattoo of your blog post URL!

There are plenty of ways you can extend the life of a blog post beyond the post-and-forget approach. If you put the extra work in to ensure each of your posts does as much as possible to generate new readers and new contracts, you’ll see your traffic—and your bank balance—will soon begin to reflect your efforts.

What do you do with a post after you’ve published it?

Steff Green is a creative copywriter, professional blogger and heavy metal maiden at Grymm & Epic Copywriting and Illustration (http://grymmandepic.com). Get her free ebook, Unleash the Beast: Release Your Inner Creative Monster (http://www.grymmandepic.com/blog/subscribe/).

About Guest Blogger
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Comments
  1. I usually after publishing a post, promote it and wait for visitors to come from Social sites and Search Engines and also I create many powerful backlinks to the post. Thanks for the post BTW.

  2. Hi Steff – some great ideas there. One question about your point number 1: I am always concerned about posting near-duplicate content, even if it’s slightly modified or updated from the original post. What does this do to search engine rankings? Is it only the 2nd post that doesn’t rank as high? Or would it affect both? I have read in the past that search engines might see duplicate posts as attempting to game the system, which could be penalized.

    • Hey Dustin, the way I read #1 is to go back into the original post and update it with better info, edit it, or fix it if the steps have changed. Say you had a tutorial about how to promote Facebook posts and the options have changed – you want to update to keep it current. I sometimes change the title of a post if I get a better idea after the fact.

      You are right, similar/dupe info would make the articles compete with each other in search results :)

      • Awesome – thanks for the clarification! That makes more sense to me.

      • Thanks Dalia – you’re exactly right in thinking that’s what I meant. For example, some of the oldest posts on my music blog are my most popular in search engines, but I wrote them before I was as experienced with blogging as I am now. I can now go back and update them, adding more relevant content, and also directing users to posts or areas of my site that didn’t exist when the article was originally posted. Cheers!

        • Yes, I tend to do this a lot with my posts too because I have how to’s and I make it a habit of checking from time to time to make sure my steps still work. And, of course, there’s always that darn typo that escapes ;)

    • I think what Steff means is we revisit our old post see if there is any significant change related to the topic, update and republish it. Not creating another blog post. I see this on many online newspaper or magazine when they have updated facts about news they posted awhile back.

      • I dont understand what you both are saying. But answer for Dustins questions is that —

        If you are posting a duplicate page (slight modifications) then the rank of either depends on which one is better. If the old one is good enough then it will stick to its positions and if the new one is better with modified and quality content then it will rank higher. It also depends on how you are optimizing the post.
        I hope this answers your question.

      • That’s exactly right what I thought of, Rina!

        I think it’s a great way to keep your posts updated and make sure you are continuing to provide correct and great information to your readers! This is how you grow your audience and it also makes all the difference about a professional and credible blog :)

  3. Hey Steff,
    Thanks for the list, it gave many new post ideas from the old ones.

  4. Great list Steff. Got a chance to learn new ideas.

  5. Really dig 17 Steff!

    Go back and observe old posts. How can you build a guest post around this idea? Create and leverage your presence into new blog audiences.

    No need to reinvent each time you sit to write a post or guest post. A world of prospering ideas waits in your mind and in the mind of fellow bloggers. Tap in, create and prosper.

    Thanks!

  6. Nice ideas, I think we will never run out of new ideas as long as long as have ourselves coming up with creative ideas.

  7. Very nice post. Too many of us fall into the trap of just making a post and forgetting about it. There are so many different things you can do after making your posts that we overlook and this list is a great place to get some ideas.

  8. The point is to remember our valued blog writings which we too forget by the time. Certainly this article is a great help to review our work once again to dig out more ways to spread our words and keep them alive for long. Thank you for a precious reminder :)

  9. Oh very cool list of ideas, Steff.
    I’m going to review the posts with the most comments to see what additional topics and guest post concepts fall out.
    I’m a little unsure about the tattoo idea though but to each their own :)

  10. Wonderful list of tips, Steff, really useful stuff here. I like to “activate” old posts from time to time by sharing on social media. You always get new followers and likers who may have missed them.

    Interlinking and cleaning up older blog posts are a must also, really important if you have set-by-step info to make sure that it stays current and you provide correct info to your audience.

    Giving an edit to published blog posts is also a great idea, most of the time you’ll notice typos or ways of conveying the information in a better way.

    • You’re right Delia – editing and tweaking published content is a never-ending, but vital process, because you’re always evolving, and so your ideas and brand and writing style need to evolve too. I am FOREVER noticing typos on my posts, and sometimes I find sentences I haven’t finished or bits where I’ve written “Insert picture here” but haven’t actually done it!

  11. These are very useful tips for newbies like me. I’m very appreciate it and would like to use so I can make blogs useful for me and everyone.

  12. Hi Steff, thanks for the great post. I think point 32 is something I need to add to my marketing strategy in 2013. I know Pinterest is HUGE, but I have yet to really get into using it for marketing purposes. That will definitely change in the coming year ;)

  13. Great post and good ideas! I take a post that was read the most but published a while back and republish it with a current date. It is also one I’m thinking of expanding into an ebook to get people to sign up with my blog. I too need to get on Pinterest with my blog. So much to learn and keep working on.

  14. Hey steff!
    Great list indeed. all are very helpful. specially # 37 is very interesting one. and i will definitely try to follow all these. Thanks for all these great points.

    Matt

  15. What a great list (although I probably won’t take you up on the “tattoo your post URL” idea!).

    I definitely struggle with worrying that I’m repeating myself by repurposing or republishing old blog content, but I try to keep in mind what a self-centered perspective that is. Very few site visitors have taken the time to read every sparkling word of content on my blogs, so sharing things in different ways isn’t repetitive – it’s actually helping to get information in front of people who want to see it.

    Definitely bookmarking this post to come back to when I’m out of ideas :)

  16. Great list! A lot of things I already knew mixed with some other new ones. I’ll consider all of them (except for the tattoo).

    Where do you find stagnate company blogs that need to hire a professional? And, is there a free list of magazines that I can send an article proposal?

    • Hi Bill. Thanks, and good luck with implementing some of these! With both corporate blogs, and magazines, it really depends on your niche. But it often pays to simply approach companies in your niche and offer your services.

      Two of my favorite resources for magazine markets are http://www.fundsforwriters.com (it’s a weekly newsletter that lists markets) and http://www.writingfordollars.com (they have a searchable database, as well as a free newsletter). I hope this helps!

  17. This list can keep me very busy, in a great way. Thanks!

  18. Its a great post.Its really important to get more and more readers to make money.I really like this post, thanks for sharing.

  19. And number 41: fix all these spelling mistakes that remained hidden during proofreading, but decided to reveal themselves right after you click “Publish” button ;) .

  20. Hi Steff,

    Thank you for providing such a detailled information.
    Even thought I am already making some of his actions, I just noticed that there is an huge space for improvement.

    Keep sharing such usefull information.

    Regards,
    Rui

  21. Wow, Steff! These are super ideas. i already do a few of them and this list has got my mind reeling with even more ways to recycle and promote. Thanks so much.

  22. That is a great list Steff but that last one #40 to get URL tattoo, has anyone ever done that? Thanks for sharing.

    • I have no idea – if you’re reading this and you have, speak up! (remember, pics or it didn’t happen)

    • This could work if it’s a temporary tattoo. I wonder if there is a company that makes temporary tattoos, the kind that wash off in the shower. Cafe Press and Zazzle make things like bumper stickers, T-shirts and coffee mugs, but is there a printing website that makes stick-on tattoos? A kit you can buy from Staples or a craft store?

  23. Hey Steff!

    It’s great list and I’ve got some new ideas. Thanks a lot.

  24. Thanks this list give some new idea on promoting blog

  25. Thanks for the idea i really appreciate it…i am using it in my blog

  26. Wow Steff, awesome list of ideas. Going back and updating older posts is something I always plan to do but never find the time.

    This is the perfect time of year to write about popular posts from 2012. A look back on the year kind of post

    • Exactly! I often do one of these “best of” posts for my music blog as I take a break for the holidays. It means people who want to read more of my site are reminded of some of the better articles I wrote in the previous year.

  27. Whoaa! Thanks so much. I got my 50 tips to master twitter from a to z as my second post at my blog and feel kind of waste just to let it passed away by some of my new posts. I just love your tips and definitely going to covert it into an ebook.

    Thanks – Ferb

  28. I”ve been thinking about an e-book for a long ltime. I’ll probably do what you write about and that is combine my post, add content and then make an e-book. Thanks for the tip

  29. Idea no 5 sounds excellent. Very simple way of introducing new users to your site, promote your best article, and give them some extra internal link juice.

    Will implement that on my own blog asap.

    Thanks

  30. Hi Steff,

    Hey, this post went in a completely different direction from what I was expecting from the title. I love how you recommend a lot of tasks to try out in the “real world” along with the standard “social media this” and “backlink that.”

    Hey, I would totally do the tattoo if it was a clickable hyperlink. Wouldn’t that be cool? I bet you some day technology will find a way to make tattoos that you can click on and link to the Internet somehow. I can imagine some pretty interesting places to put a “Like” button tat. LOL

    • That’s actually a fab idea of doing a tattoo as a QR code – people can just scan you and go to your website ;)

    • Love it! I eagerly await the day clickable hyperlink tattoos exist. My friend has an impressive Slayer tattoo – it would be cool if it could play “Reign in Blood”. :)

  31. i like all the ideas once I publish I feel the easy part is over.I liked the tatoo idea I would never do it but its fun to think about.I am so glad you mentioned the picture thing cause I never do that maybe I should go back and snazz them up. I am going to repost one of my old post with comments to re engage people thats a great idea thanks

  32. Steff – Thanks for the many great ideas. I had not thought of quite a few of these and this is now going to be my new go to “to-do” list every time I publish new content. You rock! Cheers ~Norma

  33. Blogging is really tough task to do. After you post a blog post work is not done, it just begin as the writer says in this post. You have to work hard after publishing your content. You need to achieve desired thing by that post which is not easy. So you have to promote that post in a manner in which it can gain maximum exposure.

  34. Thanks for sharing this list, Steff. I knew about these things but haven’t really practiced them. This was timely as I was working on my marketing plan for 2013.

    • Thanks Marcie, and good luck with your marketing plan in the New Year. It can be so hard to remember to do the things we need to do to promote our blogs, but it’s important to get into the habit, I think. I don’t do ALL of these things for EVERY post, but I try to make sure each post does some extra work for me outside the regular audience of my blog.

      Cheers, and happy new year!

  35. Thanks Steff, you tips are right on point. Even though I do some of the tips already, There are many I hadn’t thought about before now.

  36. Great advice here. I try and put all these steps into action. Writing a blog article is only the first stage of doing something with it. There is much, much more to it with promoting and getting the article noticed. Blogging is a very hard task to do right, even more so with the massive competition from other bloggers nowadays however it is still a very worthwhile and enjoying thing to do.

  37. Hi Steff,

    Thanks for sharing this informative post.

    I do agree that there is a lot more to do after publishing your blog post, I do a few of them, you taught me more. So many thanks for it.

  38. Recycling old evergreen topics is a great idea. Ideal for times when you hit a wall and can’t come up with fresh ideas.

  39. Some of these are exactly what I need to try. I’ve been doing the social media postings and email signatures, but I especially like the idea of contests and using blog content as material for workshops. I’m adding these to my list of things to do in 2013!

  40. I agree with the idea of updating your popular posts. Looking back over some of mine I find that I have new ideas for them. However, I think that submitting links to Digg won’t be beneficial for all types of blogs. Most of the top stories are about cars, technology and games, which probably reflects the interests of its users. I think it’s more of a popularity contest.

  41. Thanks, I will try some of them!

  42. Wow, Wow and Wow, i never knew there are several things to do after posting an article.
    Wonderful article here, thanks for the head up.

  43. As a localization marketer/translator, you Steff just gave me a great idea with #8 – Thank you! Perhaps I haven’t searched hard enough but I don’t see much evidence of this happening elsewhere so its time for me to get going on it. Keep writing the great stuff :)

  44. Thank you for this amazing list – in each point I’ve found something new and useful for myself.

  45. This points has given me a very cool idea about my new post also and how i can bring my old posts with a bang.Thanks will write again after completing my work.

  46. Tattoo it is, then. Thanks for the great tips!

  47. Thanks for this. I will definitely try these methods. :)

  48. Thanks this list give some new idea on promoting blog.

    Publish your ads and requirements for free. PlanetAdvert is the website to post jobs for free, meet job seekers, find employment, post your resume and much more.

  49. Haha I loved the last one! :)

    Definitely gave me some ideas though, I go over my old posts every now and again and see where I can include a few links.

  50. Hello !
    Great stuff. I totally agree with you on all the points.
    Really liked the # 25 and #26.
    Thanks.
    Brian

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