Blogging: Three Ways to Re-Use an Old Post

Mar 3, 2014 | Better Blogging

A reader wrote to ask if she could re-use an old blog post. Here’s my reply.

There are three basic ways to update/revise an older post.

You can change the original post and keep the original publication date, so it keeps its place in the queue. This works if the changes are minor, such as adding a resource or two, or deleting a resource links that doesn’t’ work anymore.

You can re-write the post entirely and keep the original publication date. This works if you need a total re-write, but want to maintain the same URL because of the number or people who link to it. Re-write the post and add something like.

“Since I wrote the original version of this post, new information has come to light. I’ve revised the post entirely, based on what I’ve learned.”

You can also write a new version of the post and publish it as new. In that case, tell readers when the original version of the post was published. You may also want to share the reasons why you re-published the post. Sometimes a link to the original is a good idea.

One person who does re-publishing well is Gwyn Teatro. She opens her post, “If I Ran the Zoo ~ A Whimsical Look at Leadership” with: “From February, 2012 ~ I had fun writing this, so I’m running it again in the hope that you will have fun reading or re-reading it.”

In “Creating Boundaries for Growth and Success,” she adds the following at the end. “Note: This post is a refreshed version of one originally published in December 2011.”

There’s no magic answer to whether you should re-use an old post. Whether and how you do it depends on the whys and the strategy.