One of the many things that I have always found most appealing about blogging is the endless possibilities for monetizing blogs and increasing revenue.
But, to be honest, there are times that I’ve become lazy with my blogging. I tend to go with the thought process that if it’s not broke, don’t fix it. Then something big usually breaks – my laptop, the car, one of the house pumps or a trip to the dreadful dentist – and it’s never cheap; but, rather, something anxiety inducing. It is also right then that I start to think what I shoulda, coulda, woulda done with my blogs to make them even better so that they would make even more money.
So, after exhausting the regular avenues – Google Adsense, Affiliate Marketing, in-text ads, Sponsored posts and the like I was still looking for yet another way to bring in more money on my sites when I started reading about using my Blog Archives.
Coming up with fresh, quality blog content on a regular basis can be a daunting task in of itself, but the archives are already there. So, basically what I’m saying is, with some minimal effort on your part, your blog content can be a consistent revenue source for years to come!
Five Ways to Profit from Your Blog Archives
Keyword Optimization – Chances are you are much more versed in the world of blogging now compared to when you first started, unless you are brand new to blogging altogether. Go back over your old posts and see if they need any updating and re-optimizing. Depending on the size and age of your site, this might be a big job, but it will be worth it.
Call-to-Action – Review each post for a concise call to action and give your reader a reason to click. To make this task less tedious, start with your site stats and analyze the top posts that get the most traffic each month. Is there a call to action? Or, do you need to add a call action? There is always room for improvement.
Inbound Links – Get fresh, high quality links that point to the great posts you just dusted off when you were updating the keyword optimization and call to action. One fairly easy and popular way to do this is to Guest Post on other blogs but link back to the individual post, not the index page of your site.
Mention Archived Posts in New Posts – Don’t miss the opportunity and benefit of internal links. Not only is it beneficial for SEO purposes, but it is also helpful as a resource for your new readers.
Sidebar Feature – In the sidebar of your blog you can add a section labeled “Popular Posts” and within that list include the most popular posts on your blog that you already know about from all the other research you’ve done. You can easily switch out the links and add or take away. It’s not only good for old posts but you can use it to feature new posts that you want to become popular.
The process of going through your blog posts might be tedious but why let this opportunity to make extra money, slip by? In all honesty, it doesn’t get easier than working with content you already have; for me that is often the hardest part.
To recap – Optimize your posts, add or update a call to action, add new inbound links by guest posting on other relevant sites, link to old posts in new posts and consider adding a sidebar feature to host popular posts and new posts that you want featured.
Ashley is a freelance writer for DIY Mother and specializes in all things DIY/home improvement. She’s been known to start painting or resurfacing a table on a whim, which often perturbs her husband, but he’s a good sport. In her spare time, which is rarte, she builds Websites.
