Category Archives: Blog

Content Marketing Tip: Recycling and reuse

The following post is an excerpt from Chapter 6 of Online Content Marketing In 30 Minutes by Derek Slater.

A great idea should never die.

One of the big criticisms of blog-based sites is that today’s post, however good it is, sinks lower and lower on the page under the gravitational force of each subsequent post. Once it’s off the front page, it’s hard for readers to discover it again.

For some types of content, that’s appropriate. Nobody wants to re-read old news, for example.

But if you do a good job of capturing context, as mentioned in the preceding section, there’s a good chance that your content will deserve a longer shelf life.

Articles about products age quickly, because products change. However, there are aspects of your audience’s life and/or work that don’t change very quickly at all. Businesspeople have to go to a lot of meetings. They have to cost-justify purchases in order to purchase them. They have to persuade co-workers to do things they don’t like to do. They have to deal with bosses and subordinates. Articles that address these contextual issues are of high value and tend to be relatively evergreen, meaning they remain current and useful for a long time.

So the ideas in those articles will continue to provide your audience with value, if you can find ways to resurface, reuse and recycle the ideas.

To read more from this and other chapters in Online Content Marketing In 30 Minutes, please purchase the paperback or download the ebook on the Kindle, iPad, and Nook. PDF and other formats can be purchased here.

11 Effective Headlines For Online Content

The following list of 11 effective headlines for online content comes from Online Content Marketing In 30 Minutes, by author Derek Slater. The book describes an eight-step process that you can use to leverage online content to promote your business or website. Order the paperback, Kindle, iPad, and PDF versions here.

11 Effective Headlines For Online

  1. The top 10 _____
  2. _____: Myths and misconceptions
  3. The 7 deadly sins of _____
  4. How to win at _____ every time
  5. How to do _____ in half the time/for half the money
  6. 10 bad _____ habits you should kick NOW
  7. _____’s secret plan for world domination
  8. The real truth about _____
  9. 5 simple steps to do _____
  10. How to spot a fake _____
  11. Everything you really need to know about _____

In 2009 Chris Garrett of authorityblogger.com published a handy PDF of “102 proven headline formulas”, which has been widely pirated on other websites. One of the strangest pieces of advice in his e-book:

“Headlines that contained odd numbers had a 20% higher click-through rate than headlines with even numbers.”

The source of this information was a 2011 study performed by the Content Marketing Institute.
At any rate, yes, you still have to back up a good headline with good content. But a great headline really sells the story for you. A favorite on our website was “8 Dirty Tricks: Social Engineers’ Favorite Pickup Lines”. We knew it would be popular before we had written the first word.