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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. Excellent idea. I love being able to repurpose content and add more value to readers / visitors along the way. Very interesting that the conversion rate for the recommended product went up. Can’t wait to try this.

  2. Love this! I was thinking of different ways to create “reports” and this is a terrific idea. Off to hunt through my archived material now….

  3. I love the idea of creating free reports from blog posts.

    You can also compile a number of blog posts to create free reports. Obviously, this can create a number of different uses for “old” content.

  4. Great post. Especially the info on duplicate content, which has alway been of concern. This is going to make my life a lot easier!

  5. This a great post as it has given me another fantastic way of generating more traffic, I do employ “deeplinking” and it works well.
    this idea of “re-packaging” my most popular content will be a useful addition to my “traffic toolkit”
    Thanks so much, keep up the awesome work
    Michael

  6. Wow! I love these repurposing strategies.

    Great idea about the PDF. I’ve been doing that for a while… turning my articles into PDF format and submitting
    them to sites like Scribd.com, DocStoc, Free-ebooks.net, etc…

    Another really easy way to turn your articles into a PDF is
    to use YouConvertIt.com. It’s a free site online that will
    convert almost any file format.

    I was really surprised that the PDF file converted readers into buyers 4x more than the blog post. That’s incredible!

    I’m going to have to try that out. I wonder if that would also
    work well with your mailing list… (sending a link to a PDF
    in your emails.)

    Thanks for all of the incredible tips Lynn!

    You sure know how to over deliver :)

  7. Hi Lynn,

    Thank you for the great tips. I have never thought about re-purposing my blog posts as articles. I have been blogging at The Invisible Mentor for nearly six months and there are some gems hidden in the archives. I will take your advice and convert them.

    The idea of turning some blog posts into a report is great as well and would work for me. I have been working on a series about what 10 innovative thinkers would have blogged about.

    I submit my articles to Ezinearticles and Selfgrowth, just in case some of your readers want another option. Thank you! Avil

  8. I have to say the woman is really an expert. I always think that Internet marketing is men’s work, not women’s. Now, she teached me a lesson: don’t ever contempt women.
    I really enjoy this, wish in the future I could post a guest post on Problogger.net :).

  9. Great article. It’s a good idea to make the most of the content you already have.

  10. Another great post here Darren.. hope I can implement it right away.

  11. I have a question, which is not related to this post.But i will wait for next entry and hope that i will ask my question in relevant Post.
    Thanks for another good post.

  12. Excellent post Lynn, thanks 4 the Useful Tips

  13. Great ideas Lynn. I only started my blog a few months back and I feel like some of my posts that I’ve written are pretty good, but because I was just starting out, they didn’t get much traffic. I felt resigned to that just being how it was…but now I’m going to re-think that and see if I can breathe new life into some of my earliest posts.
    Thanks for the fab insight!
    Cheryl

  14. Hey Lynn. Thanks for sharing. You insight into all things Marketing is a boon for us all. I have been thinking of late that I might try submitting some stuff to Ezinearticles, but I wasn’t sure what…now I know…:) Thanks again and thank you to Darren for giving yo a guest spot. I look forward to more. All the best.

    Lyle

  15. Hi Lynn,
    Great information about submitting post to ezine and the clarification about duplicate content.

  16. Sweet tips about using ezines and also converting into pdfs.

  17. Thanks Lynn, great tips for optimizing past work. I’ll be sharing referrals back to this blog from a number of my networks. I’m writing a book on social media monetization for Pearson from a marketing perspective and if you have some more of these goodies I might be interested in somehow having you quote in some sections of the book. If you are interested please get in touch with me via email.

  18. Hi Andrew,

    I can’t connect with you through your link on FB for some reason, but you are welcome to contact me via email: Lynn-AT-ClickNewz (dot com)

  19. Okay I took the plunge. I chose one of my best articles and submitted it. It’s going to take a week or more for approval and then we’ll see if this works.

  20. Not only ezinearticles, but articlesbase is great place for submitting articles and getting backlinks.

  21. Again a great guest post. Your idea on converting and editing the blog article to make PDF files and then uploading the same to various websites for getting inflow of traffic is really amazing.

    Keep blogging

  22. Love the PDF idea ! Thanks.

  23. Thank you so much Lynn for an excellent post. I never thought about turning blog posts into .pdf reports.

    Putting together a free report has been something that I have been seriously considering, and your post has helped to make the task that much easier. Not only will I do one, but several of them.

    Thanks for explaining how to funnel new traffic & sales from buried blog archives to me like I was a 2-yr. old:)

    I also bookmarked your .pdf report on “How to Write a Product Review.”

  24. That product review report outlines the exact methods I used to SMOKE the sales in a big launch last year – make it to the sales leaderboard and win some cool prizes. Including a beautiful 50″ Samsung TV that I use as an external monitor for my laptop -ha!

    Enjoy :)

  25. Great idea, I usually submit my articles to ezinearticles.com then wait for my articles to be approved. Once they are approved then i take the whole article to my website and make a post out of it, change the title so it gets indexed by Google and send the original link back to ezinearticles.com. I also like to send back links to my xml feed of my ezinearticles.

  26. This is a great idea Lynn.

    I have at least one good blog post on it’s way to Ezine articles.

    Thank you Darren for having Lynn guest post here.

    Clay

  27. thank you for the very use full post.

  28. Thank you Terry. This is a great idea that I’m off to try right now! Best regards. P. :)

  29. Wow ! Lynn you just showed the other side of the aspect “More Sales with good search engine ranking.”

    I just opened a new tab on my browser to find all the free eBook directories …getting ready to submit few of my PDF’s.

    Thank you for sharing such a good piece of info.

    Amit

  30. I’ve been trying to contact professionals in my industry to let me repackage their content for months with no avail. I read this and am now thinking, I’ll just repackage my own stuff!

    This article was so good that I’m printing it out and putting it on my Reference Wall :)

    Genuinely,
    Pete | The Tango Notebook
    Latest Post: How to Lead and Follow Tango Like a Pro

  31. Hey, that pdf idea was great! In our industry, we need to rename it as White Paper on …. and it would do still better. Of course, you need to have much quality content on it – I would suggest combining two or three similar posts on the same topic and giving it as a pdf report or white paper. Would do great. Thanks for the tip.

    excITingIP.com

  32. This article is really timely!

    I have 96 of 101 pillar content articles on WordPress written, and I need to go back through everything that’s done and bring them up to date as well as implementing these suggestions.

    4/100

  33. How soon after you’ve written a blog post will it get buried in the archives?

    Very interesting read because it’s a great way to generate more links and content for your blog or website without having to actually write anything more. Submitting these blog posts to free article directories could also help indexing.

    For more traffic tips and a free affiliate e-course visit http://www.theeasyincomepro.com

  34. Excellent tips! I’ve often thought about digging up those old posts – revising them even, but you’ve suggested a whole new level that I’m going to jump on asap! Recycle and reuse – talking about going green…money green that is! Thanks – this excites me!

    http://www.twitter.com/krenee76

  35. Wesley – that depends on the frequency of your publishing schedule. I have been blogging for 5 full years, so I usually go 6 months back to poke around. But I don’t have a set rule on this, and have used the distribution model on posts as fresh as same week.

  36. Wow great ideas. I want people to go to my website. That is the only reason why I am posting. It has art and is updated every day.

  37. What a great article! I will definitely be putting some of these suggestions into practice.

  38. This post sounds familiar to affiliate/internet marketers, perhaps a little foreign to bloggers. Well done nonetheless..

    I am continuing my informal series of posts on how to become a better bloggers and when I say “better” I mean “more traffice” and/or “more money.” Problogger.net is one of my favs in this area, especially as he talks so much about repurposing your content. Write once and sell it over and over again. This is not the lazy mans guide to blogging, it is the smart mans guide to blogging.

    PS – I am very aware of the fact that I just posted on measuring the weight of our soul prior to posting about how to be a better blogger. Weird? Yes, but the fish is thirsty for ideas and curious about the world in all it’s dimensions.

  39. Lynn,

    Once again you’ve pushed my brain into overload. So many great ideas to take things to the next level.

    A long time ago, I made a commitment to “learn something new every single day” – your site, blog and Mastermind Group make that really, really easy to do! :)

    Keep the great stuff coming!

  40. Thanks, Lynn, for a great post. I love that point about going back into your blog archive, tweaking content and submitting to ezine articles. I’ll be reviewing some of my early blog posts in a new light.

  41. I like to going back into blog archieves

  42. Thanks for the incredible tips. I’ve been thinking about how to bring some old posts to life and you gave me great ideas. Thanks!!!

  43. Fantastic article thanks! These sorts of tips and ideas are so helpful and really inspire me to keep going even when I feel a bit disheartened at my rankings.

    Thank you!

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