Use Your Archives as Inspiration

Blog Tip 15. Read your Archives

After you’ve been writing on a topic for a year or more it’s normal to get to a point where you feel like you’ve said everything that needs to be said on a topic.

While you might have covered your topic fairly comprehensively it’s worth remembering that most of your readers will not have read everything that you’ve previously written – and if they have they are unlikely to remember it all. I’m constantly being asked by readers about topics that I’ve already covered which proves this point.

There’s no rules against having two or more posts on your blog on the same general topic.

Go back over some older posts and tackle some of the topics you’ve written about previously again.

One way of doing this is simply to write a new post on the same topic – another way that some bloggers use is to update an old post and then to change the post day to be the most recent one on your blog. The good thing about this is that it means your archives don’t become quite as dated as they could otherwise – especially useful if you are giving tips on an industry that is changing quickly.

Of course you can only write on the same topic so many times so be a little careful about using this technique too much or you run the risk of disillusioning your readership.

Bounce off Yourself – Another technique that I notice some bloggers use is to write posts that bounce off previous posts like you might bounce off another blogger’s posts. To do this pick an old post that you’ve written and write something that extends what you previously wrote. For example:

• take a list of tips you’ve previously written and add a second post with some new points
• take an old opinion piece and tell readers why you don’t agree with what you once wrote (bloggers are allowed to change you mind)
• look back on a post you wrote ‘this date last year’ and reflect upon how things have changed
• look at a ‘prediction’ post you wrote earlier in the year and see how much of it came to be

Looking back on what you’ve previously written is a fascinating exercise on so many levels – do it regularly and you might be surprised with what you find.

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