13 Ways to Easily Update Your Website Content for 2017

5 min read

It’s a new year!

Is it time for a new strategy?

Your content has been online for some time – maybe years.

When was the last time you refreshed it?

Is that content working as hard as it could be?

Probably not.

2017 is a great time to rethink your branding and your content. It’s a fresh start to the year. A perfect time for a fresh approach.

But while it may be a new year, you will certainly be just as busy on January 1 as you were on December 31. That’s why we’ve compiled a list of easy, non-time-consuming ways to give your content a refresh this year.

Check for the Obvious

Pull up your site and check it out. Is there a big broken image on the front page? Are you still advertising a sale that ended two years ago? Grab that low-hanging fruit and fix the issues that are the easiest to spot and the fastest to get right.

Revise with Fresh Eyes

Revise with fresh eyes

Sometimes we miss a glaring problem when we make a site because we read it as what we meant to say, not what we actually say. Did that happen on your site? Check it out and see. Use your fresh eyes to read what you’ve written, look at the images you used, and check to be sure your site still says exactly what you meant it to say. And if it doesn’t? Better a late fix than never!

Remove Excessive Material

Often you can say more by saying less. Long-page sales letters have their place, but the average website visitor spends just a few minutes scanning your site. Can you change some of your bigger paragraphs into lists? Would a table or graphic say more than the big article you included the first time? If nothing else remove all of the jargon and extra words you used a few years ago when you were trying too hard.

Add Updates

If everything on your site is still looking good, why not do the simple thing and simply add some updates to the more popular posts and pages on your site? Add a special offer to catch people’s eyes. Add a few paragraphs to the top of a blog post to provide an update on what you’ve been up to since that post was written. You don’t have to start from scratch when you can just add a paragraph and breathe new life into a page.

Look for Broken Links

Broken Links

Stuck on hold? Take that boring time and click on your links. All of your links. Find the links that are broken and remove them or replace them.

There is nothing that says “sloppy site” more than links that go nowhere.

Add New Affiliate Links

While you’re replacing old links, why not look into adding some affiliate links to your more popular posts? If everyone is reading about your adventures, why not link to a travel book or your favorite adventure gear? Just be sure to add a disclosure about affiliate links to stay honorable.

Identify Popular Posts

Pull up your stats and data from the last year or so and see where your visitors spent most of their time. Then, rather than refreshing the whole site, spend some time improving those pages to encourage readers to visit other pages of your site or add some monetizing techniques to make those pages work a bit harder for you.

Check on Old Strategies

Check on Old Strategies

If you had an old strategy for monetizing a website, check back and see how it’s doing. If your site was sandboxed years ago, see where it is now in the rankings. Chances are if your site is old enough to forget about, Google may have forgotten it too. What better site to revisit than one that used to be a grand experiment?

Improve Conversion Techniques

You probably know a lot more about building websites and grabbing conversions than you did just a few years ago. When you revisit an old site, you’ll often see that your best work is now sorely out of date and out of touch. Use some of your new knowledge to improve the site by making small changes like images, formatting, and even text selections.

Add Images

The world is more image-conscious now than it ever was. People like pictures. If your site is light on pictures, dress it up with some new ones, but not the same tired pictures everyone already has. Invest $10 on some new images that will impress new (and reoccurring) visitors.

Identify Native Advertising Opportunities

Native advertising is a huge new field, and if you’re not taking advantage of it already, revamping an old site might be a nice way to try it out. You can experiment with hosting native ads and creating your own without risking your current sites and brand while you find the perfect tone and approach.

Look For and Use User Comments

User Comments

If you’re stuck on what you can do to update and add dimension to your old site, check out what your previous visitors have asked you about. Use those comments and questions as fuel for new posts and updated topics. Simply answer the questions, slap on a new image and you’ll have a new blog post ready to go.

Clean Up Your Architecture

If it’s been a while since you played with your old site, consider looking at the architecture before adding too many new things. A site that is poorly structured and laid out is hard for visitors to understand and navigate. It could be that cleaning up your categories and subcategories is enough to breathe some new life into your post without having to write a word!

Creating brand new content for a brand new site is time-consuming. But improving what is already there and what has already been working for you takes just a fraction of that time. Why not spend thirty minutes to an hour refreshing your site? It may pay off handsomely.

90 thoughts on

13 Ways to Easily Update Your Website Content for 2017

  • SM Nuruzzaman

    Hi,

    Updating old content of a blog has much importance & all the points mentioned here are way too helpful for doing the job effortlessly.

    So I’m grateful for having a nice post to read & and obviously thank goes to Mr Amar for sharing such a nice post on his Facebook wall.

    Thanks
    SM

    • Oleg Calugher

      Hi SM,

      welcome to Temok and thank you for the comment,

      Good to know that you liked the article,
      thanks,
      – Oleg

  • Josephine Stalin

    You have to make a fresh review of your website , so as to make it sure that it looks more beautiful attractive and user friendly. Design of a particular software also plays a vital role in maintaining the quality standards.

  • Nishant

    Nice article,

    It is a good strategy too revamp the website. Last time when i checked for broken links i was able to find a couple of broken links in my website. Broken links can affect your SEO rankings. Definitely search for old content, having an expired promotion on the site will give a negative impression. Make sure that your website is updated with recent and trending information.

  • Ryan Biddulph

    Hi Oleg,

    I find stray comments and respond to them when sifting thru old content. Super tips dude.

    I added a popular posts widget to my sidebar last week. I checked out some old posts from 2014, with over 100 comments, and saw I forget to respond to a few. So I responded to them and also visited their blogs for a tweet or comment. Fun way to build bonds. But you must needs be vigilant to scoop up these comment outliers. Per usual with my blog, I did so by accident 😉

    Ryan

    • Oleg Calugher

      Hi Ryan,

      thank you for the comment,

      Love your blog and the activity that you have there,
      So far none of our posts have crossed 100+ comments, we average at about 40+ mostly …

      I make sure to respond to every single comment myself and do check old posts in case I have missed out in replying anyone,

      thanks,
      – Oleg

  • Chery Schmidt

    Hello Amar! You have shared some very good tips here with us to easily update our old content! I am going to go and take a look around my site ( With Fresh Eyes)
    Awesome Share.
    Thank You
    Chery :))

    • Oleg Calugher

      Hi Chery,

      Thank you for the comment,
      Good to know you liked the article and the tips,

      thanks,
      – Oleg

  • Darrell Harris

    Hello Oleg
    Great post! All the points you mentioned are very helpful and useful. This is some extremely timely and wise advice. I will definitely be implementing your advice as far as refreshing my site and keeping my brand fresh. Thanks for sharing Oleg and have a super day

    • Oleg Calugher

      Hi Darrell,

      Welcome to Temok and thank you for the comment,
      Great to know that you liked the tips,

      Let us know your feedback after implementing the tips,

      thanks,
      – Oleg

  • Dana

    Hi Oleg,

    First time here 🙂

    Funny that I came here because I JUST republished an older post and changed the featured image. I’m also (slowly) going through previous ones and doing some housekeeping on them to bring them up to date using a lot of the suggestions you’ve mentioned here.

    It’ll take a while to get through all of them, but I’ve already gotten started.

    Great ideas here, and awesome topic.

    • Oleg Calugher

      Hi Dana,

      Welcome to Temok and thank you for the comment,

      Good to know that you are checking older posts and updating them with fresh images etc.
      Content is our biggest asset and we should take proper care of it.

      Thanks,
      – Oleg

  • Nithin

    Hello

    I’m visiting this page for the first time, From now onwards, I would be among your subscriber’s list as you have done a great thing here by sharing worthy contents. As a newbie at digital marketing, i usually closely follow authors of impeccable talent. I will be trying out the tips mentioned above.

    Thanks

    • Oleg Calugher

      Hi Nithin,

      welcome to Temok and thank you for the comment,
      Good to know that you liked the content,

      looking forward to see you more often,

      thanks,
      – Oleg

  • Akaahan Terungwa

    Hi Oleg,

    First time here and I’m already impressed 🙂 You write in an awesome manner 🙂 🙂

    Personally, I have already done the clean-up for my sites and put them on ‘holiday-mode’ already. However, I am launching brand new sites in the New Year and will remember some of the tips here that equally apply to completely fresh sites, like looking at things with fresh, different eyes.

    Do have a great day!

    Always,
    Akaahan Terungwa

    • Oleg Calugher

      Hi Akaahan,

      welcome to Temok and thank you for the comment,

      Yeah, I have noticed some of your new sites already and looking forward to see more.
      Good work, keep expanding and keep growing,

      thanks,
      – Oleg

  • Joy Healey

    Hi Oleg

    That’s a great post. Some of the tips I have used before, others I will try out.

    One question please…. if I significantly change / update a post, is it a good or a bad idea to change the publication date?

    Joy – Blogging After Dark

    • Oleg Calugher

      Hi Joy,

      Thank you for the comment,

      Yeah, if you edit the post a lot, then perhaps changing the date is a good idea. New posts get an edge in the ranking algos of search engines – so changing the date will give you a direct benefit.

      If the post has too many comments showing a back-date, then perhaps you can even mention at the bottom of the post that – this post was re-published.

      thanks,
      – Oleg

  • SURESHA B

    HI Oleg.

    Recently I follow you on twitter !

    and

    Thanks for sharing great post

    • Oleg Calugher

      Hi Suresha,

      Welcome to Temok and thank you for the comment,
      Good to know that you have followed me on Twitter, always good to keep expanding our social networks,

      thanks,
      – Oleg

  • Bren Pace

    Hi Oleg,

    Your tips are spot on, my friend. Sometimes, us bloggers, get blogging so long that we forget we need to look at our websites from another point of view. Less is more, right? Passing this along!

    Bren

    • Oleg Calugher

      Hi Bren,

      Thank you for the comment,
      Yeah, very true – a 3rd party assessment is always good to know what others think about our blog.

      Surely, less is always more.

      thanks,
      – Oleg

  • Vayam

    Hi Oleg,
    Excellent blog. We should redesign our site time to time. Now simple, sleek designs are in trend which include quality rich content, high resolution images etc. Thanks for sharing.

  • Shamsudeen Adeshokan

    Hi Oleg,

    Yes, writing a new post is more time-consuming and stressful than updating an older one to make it more appealing and better.

    Since I started with updating older post regularly and usblihin new once less often, I realize the positive impact it had on my blog growth. What makes this tactic good enough to try is the rise in organic traffic to these older post.

    This is something I might consider doing throughout the new year holiday week.

    Thanks Oleg, nice share.

    • Oleg Calugher

      Hi Shamsudeen,

      Thank you for the comment,
      Yeah, totally agree with you – updating content is far easier and creating new from scratch. Since the older content is already indexed and ranking somewhere, updating it and fine-tuning it with fresh content and a bit of SEO will surely help it to rank better.

      thanks,
      – Oleg

  • Shameem

    Hey Oleg

    Good tips I’ve tried some of yours between do we keep changing the post date will gets any result in SERP ?

    • Oleg Calugher

      Hi Shameem,

      Welcome to Temok and thank you for the comment,

      Yeah, changing the post date does have a positive effect on the SERPs, but we shouldn’t keep changing it all right time – because that will result in manipulation which might not be a good idea.

      When you change the date, make sure to update the post with fresh content,

      thanks,
      – Oleg

  • Mark Stephen

    Updating the content is beneficial especially to maintain the quality of work. The more your content will be updated the more you will get the appreciation form your new as well as existing users.

  • Babanature

    hello Oleg,

    You have shared some tips that will help bloggers kick-start their blogging this coming 2017.

    I find your first point brilliantly said. Sometimes, we do need a third eye to check out our work in case if there is any problem or something the author misses out.

    Have a good week start 🙂

    • Oleg Calugher

      Hi Babanature,

      Thank you for the comment,
      Good to know that you liked the article,

      Yeah, the 3rd eye is absolutely required for pretty much everything that we do online – because if you are the creator, you will only see from your own point of view.

      Thanks,
      – Oleg

  • Renee groskreutz

    Your point about checking out the obvious is so right on. It is funny how we can start to overlook the obvious on our own blogs. Great post here.

  • Dhaval Parmar

    Hello Amar!

    You have shared some very Helpful tips here with us to easily update our old content! I am going to go and take a look around my site.
    Amazing Share.
    Thank You

  • Emenike Emmanuel

    Hi Oleg,

    This is awesome. With these strategies you listed here my blog will take a new look in 2017.

    I’m already beginning to cast my mind on images that must be removed and replaced.

    I will be working from the beach the first week of January. There and then I will do an overhaul on my blog, especially adding more affiliate links on top performing posts. I’m excited I read this on time. I will surely apply them.

    Thanks for sharing.

    Emenike Emmanuel

    • Oleg Calugher

      Hi Emenike,

      thank you for the comment,
      yeah, great suggestion about the images – we too have plenty of images and other graphic elements that needs fixing – will do that soon.

      Working from beach – what could be better than that!

      thanks,
      – Oleg

  • Shafi Khan

    Hi Oleg,

    That was a hell lot of information and something unique which I have read on other blogs. I guess, now I’m ready for 2017.

    And Happy New Year!

    • Oleg Calugher

      Hey Shafi,

      welcome to Temok and thank you for the comment,
      Wishing you all the best for 2017, do keep us updated with your progress,

      thanks,
      – Oleg

  • Muhammad Tabish

    Hi Oleg.
    How Are you? Hope you good, This is Mindblowing Informative Post Thank’s For the Article, It’sMy First Visit Your Blog, I like Your Stuff, Good Work,

    Have a Nice Day Ahead 🙂

    • Oleg Calugher

      Hey Muhammad,

      Welcome to Temok and thank you for the comment,

      Good to know that you found the post informative,
      looking forward to seeing you around,

      thanks,
      – Oleg

  • Mi Muba

    Hi Oleg

    Nice to see here wonderful level of readers engagement and that’s the proof how engaging your contents are.

    Diversity is must in updating contents just like it is in other blogging chores. Just updating the info and correcting links is not sufficient it requires a complete update as you pointed out with brilliant explanation.

    Thanks for sharing.
    Have a great weekend ahead.

    • Oleg Calugher

      Hi Mi Muba,

      thank you for the comment,
      Good to know that you noticed the engagement levels here. We are particularly happy on how the blog section of Temok is getting active and growing its readership every day. This is only possible due to readers like you so thank you for your continued support.

      thanks,
      – Oleg

  • Cori Ramos

    These are great suggestions Oleg. It doesn’t take a lot to update our website. Making changes like the ones you suggested does wonders. I made some of these changes myself. 🙂

    Thanks for sharing. Hope you’re having a great weekend!

    Cori

    • Oleg Calugher

      Hi Cori,

      Thank you for the comment, good to know that you have implemented some changes already,
      do let us know your feedback

      thanks,
      – Oleg

  • Erika Mohssen-Beyk

    Hi Oleg,
    I am glad that I landed here today. I id many of this tips you did give here and looked with “fresh Eyes” on my posts. I updated some of them and republished and changed the date. this I was not sure if it is right. Now I found the information about here. Thank you for all the tips.
    Erika

    • Oleg Calugher

      Hi Erika,

      Thank you for the comment,
      Always happy to see you around, please do land here more often 🙂

      Good to know that you have already applied some of the tips. Adding more content and making the old posts resourceful and valuable is a great idea – one should do it actively, all the time.

      thanks,
      – Oleg

  • Donna Merrill

    Hi Oleg,

    I love your suggestions. I’m so glad you mentioned to update content and not just throw out old content without even one little change lol. Content can easily be updated with a few tweaks. It does save time.

    I haven’t done it yet…. Maybe it is because I have too much to say. Yep…I talk a lot and it comes out in my writing he he he.

    -Donna

    • Oleg Calugher

      Hi Donna,

      Thank you for the comment,
      Good to know that you liked the suggestions.

      Yeah, always good to upgrade and upcycle content, no point throwing our content that can be still useful,

      thanks,
      – Oleg

  • Aswani

    Great read. I have been working on the content update for my blog. Though very frustrating, it has become very mandatory for me. I have been focusing on content quality as I believe low quality content is harming my website. And there’s a lot of them. Hopefully I can get rid of it all very soon. Thanks for sharing such informative post.

  • Joy Healey

    Thanks for your reply about changing the date when I update my posts. Great tips and a nice reason too.

    Joy – Blogging After Dark

  • Debadeep Biswas

    Hello Oleg,
    Yes, I agree, updating our old blog contents are very important because I personally don’t want to lose the value of those hard works I did while writing them. Thanks for sharing such useful information.

    • Oleg Calugher

      Hey Debadeep,

      Welcome to Temok and thank you for the comment,
      Yeah, no point losing the hard work that we put into creating those posts in the first place … need to keep improving those posts so they remain valuable for ever,

      thanks,
      – Oleg

  • Jayce Ooi

    Using user’s comment is a great idea. Will try to include that someday…

  • Emenike Emmanuel

    Awesome. This is liberty that comes with running an online business, you can work from anywhere in the world as long as you are connected to the internet. Keep it up, Oleg.

  • Larry Frank

    Hello Ole,
    It’s my first time here, and let me commend your good work, you are doing a great job here.
    This is indeed an awesome article, you know, I try updating old posts, and trying old strategies, this has in turn worked for me.
    Thanks for sharing such informative piece.
    Do have a wonderful day ahead.

    • Oleg Calugher

      Hey Larry,

      Welcome to Temok and thank you for the comment,
      Good to know that you liked the tips and implemented some too with positive results,

      thanks,
      – Oleg

  • Santanu

    I think giving life to old content with much more SEO optimized ways is the best way to update blog regularly. This will also give you enough time to write a new content and keeping yoru blog posting schedule as it is. many thanks for this guide.

    • Oleg Calugher

      Hey Santanu,

      Thank you for the comment,
      Good to know that you liked the idea of updating old content,
      surely, it is a great way to keep the posting schedules going,

      thanks,
      – Oleg

  • sangeeta

    hey, I read your blog first time and really this very creative and informative post about web design. Thanks for sharing with us.

  • Dhaval Parmar

    Hi,
    Updating old content of a blog has much importance & all the points mentioned here are way too helpful for doing the job effortlessly.

    So I’m grateful for having a nice post to read & and obviously thank goes to Mr Amar for sharing such a nice post on his Facebook wall.

    • Oleg Calugher

      Hey Dhaval,
      Welcome to Temok and thank you for the comment,

      Please do add your profile Pic in Gravatar …

      Glad to know that you found this post from Amar’s wall,

      thanks,
      – Oleg

  • Navin Rao

    I think I have landed at the right place… Fantastic Post.
    I have seen plenty of bloggers kept on updating their older post by updating some fresh content into it. Which is an excellent idea as these days things kept on changing…

    Thanks for the valuable post… willing to visit again and again.

    • Oleg Calugher

      Hey Navin,

      Welcome to Temok and thank you for the comment,

      Yeah, very true – things keep changing and updating content keeps you current with the trends,

      thanks,
      – Oleg

  • Rajkumar

    This is for sure wonderful a checklist to update a blog/website. Its is mandatory to update the expired posts and also to we need to upgrade the theme as well.

    Thanks for sharing

    • Oleg Calugher

      Hey Rajkumar,

      Thank you for the comment,
      Yeah, always good to keep updating and improving the content and design,

      thanks,
      – Oleg

  • Ruth

    I was planning to update old posts of my blog since I read somewhere that updating posts are very important get more traffic.

    So these tips are very useful.

    • Oleg Calugher

      Hey Ruth,

      Welcome to Temok and thank you for the comment,
      Yeah, updating old posts helps in keeping the information current and that way the post still stays relevant with the current changes and trends,

      thanks,
      – Oleg

  • Salauddin-Bangla Books

    Hi, Oleg
    The idea of updating frequently a blog is new to me. I will follow your techniques or ways when I take this approach. I think this idea is really good because updating website offers a fresh content source.

    Thanks again for sharing valuable information.

    • Oleg Calugher

      Hey Salauddin,

      Welcome to Temok and thank you for the comment,
      Fresh content helps in many ways, for both search and users – fresh content will help in growing engagement and activity,

      thanks,
      – Oleg

  • Angel Rita

    Hello Oleg,

    You have shared some excellent tips here with us to simply update our old content! i’m about to go and take a glance around my website.( With Fresh Eyes)

    I think this idea is really good because updating website offers a fresh content source.
    Thanks..Share Good Tips

    • Oleg Calugher

      Hey Angel,

      Welcome to Temok and thank you for the comment,
      Good to know that you found the tips helpful. Yes, updating old content is useful to keep it relevant with the current times and trends.

      Thanks,
      – Oleg

  • Gaurav Kumar

    Hi Oleg,

    These are the really workable tips that you have shared here to update the blog content for 2017. It is always good to analyze which content has lost it`s worth with the time and change that with most updated content.

    Blogger can also work on adding infographics and videos to blog posts. Adding images which are more appealing and also the title modifications can play great role.

    Updating affiliate links, new advertising opportunities and continuous improvement always help in good way.

    Thanks for sharing!

    • Oleg Calugher

      Hey Gaurav,

      Thank you for the comment,
      Glad to know that you found the tips actionable,

      Yeah, always good to keep the content trending with what is working at this moment,

      Totally agree with you, adding images and graphic elements in the posts help in user experience which is a major ranking factor right now,

      thanks,
      – Oleg

  • P V Ariel

    Hi Oleg,
    Thanks for sharing this informative piece.
    I have a good number of old posts which needs lot of attention in this regard.
    I will surely follow the tips mentioned in this post.
    Great ideas shared.
    Thanks for the comment shared on my post.
    Keep sharing.
    Best Regards
    Wish all at Temok a wonderful weekend.
    -Philip

    • Oleg Calugher

      Hi Philip,

      Thank you for the comment,

      Good to know that you liked the tips,
      Updating old content on a blog is perhaps one of the best ways to stay on trend and keep things fresh and actionable,

      thanks,
      – Oleg

  • Aaron Carpet Cleaning

    Good afternoon Phillip,

    Thank you for writing this blog! This is a great reminder to check my all my content and to see if I have any broken links.

  • Tina East Lansing

    Hello Phillip,

    I always update my listing’s, but still have old content from years ago. I think it’s time for me to update content as well. I’m not sure how to check to see if I have any broken links?

  • ASAD Niazi

    Thanks for the awesome guide. No doubt is a great reminder to check my all my content and to see if I have any broken links.

  • John Anderson

    Hi,

    After Reading this Post I Updated my old content of my blog and found some broken links.
    Thanks for the useful guide.

    • Oleg Calugher

      Hey John,

      Welcome to Temok and thank you for the comment,

      Good to know that you have already applied the tips and fixed the issues too,
      thanks,
      – Oleg

  • Puspendu Seth

    This is really a awesome post. In this post you have says about 13 ways to easily update your website content for 2017. This post has helps me to know something new. So thanks for sharing such a awesome post.

  • Hamza Hassan

    After Reading this Post I can only Say About this Post is Awesome
    I have learned a lot from this post and Updated my old content of my blog and found some broken links.
    Thanks For the Awesome Guide

    • Oleg Kaluger

      Hey Hamza,

      Welcome to Temok and thank you for the comment,
      Always better to get a Gravatar, the default picture on a comment seems pretty bad,

      Good to know that you have updated your old content and found some links too that are now broken. That happens with time, many links that had valuable content in the past are now broken because their owners had other things in their minds … seems bad, but that is how it works …

      thanks,
      – Oleg

  • Md Arman

    After reading this post only one words comes out from my mouth that is “WoW”. This post has helps me to acquire some new knowledge. So thanks for sharing your valuable ideas with us.

  • Mary G. Harris

    Thanks for this amazing guide. I have applied all the steps that you have metioned

    • Oleg Kaluger

      Hey Mary,

      Welcome to Temok and thank you for the comment,
      Good to know that you have applied all the tips, keep checking future articles for more ideas,

      thanks,
      – Oleg

  • ali

    Hi,

    After Reading this Post I Updated my old content of my blog and found some broken links.
    Thanks for the useful guide.

  • matinsafi

    Thanks for Sharing!
    I like your user guide.

  • Peter Johnsen

    Hi,
    Thank you so much for sharing this valuable guide. Google now focuses more on fresh content over quality. This guide will surely help us to keep our blog updated regularly.

  • john

    Hello, I read the whole content of your website, so then I action for this article, finally, the result was so good, thank you! you save day.

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