SEO
25 Actionable Ideas to Smartly Re-Use Your Old Content (+ ChatGPT Prompts for Each Idea!)
We know too well that in order to succeed online we need to create great sharable and linkable content.
What many of us are missing though is that we may already have loads of great content piling up which we once created, promoted and then moved on.
That content is the huge asset we should be re-using again and again on social media and your own site.
Here are 25 ideas for you to start doing that right now (and ChatGPT prompts to make each idea a breeze!):
Content Re-Packaging Ideas
Content re-packaging is one of my favorite ways to market content and promote my website. It creates so many new opportunities and marketing channels that you find yourself constantly inspired!
*Content re-packaging means turning existing content into new formats.
1. Turn the Article into a PDF File
The easiest way to re-use an old article is to turn it into a new format. This trick works best for:
If you get into a habit of turning your guides into PDFs, you can then put together a members-only library! Using Google Docs is the easiest way to do that! Just copy-paste your idea into a new Google Doc and download it as a PDF file. Make sure to add a table of contents to make your PDF easier to navigate!
ChatGPT Prompt:
Here’s my text “PASTE YOUR ARTICLE HERE”. Generate takeaways, a FAQ section (4-6 questions with quick answers below each one) and a summary in a table format.
2. Put Together an eBook or a Whitepaper
Collect old articles you did on one topic and put together a nice whitepaper or an eBook.
Again Google Docs can help make this one an easy task. You can also create an ebook cover using Google Docs.
ChatGPT prompt:
Here’s my text “PASTE YOUR ARTICLE HERE”. Break into more chapters to turn it into an ebook. Suggest what else should be added to make it a better ebook.
3. Create a Podcast Show
Find an old article that’s still valid and create a voiceover for it. Fliki is an AI-driven voice-over generation tool. It solves the problem of many creators who are in need of high-quality voiceovers for their videos. It also makes it incredibly easy to create an audio or video version of blog posts.
You can then publish it as a podcast on iTunes, SoundCloud and more.
ChatGPT prompt:
Turn this article into a script for me to create a voiceover (to create a podcast show)
4. Turn It into a Video
Grab that voice-over, download screenshots from the article (as well as some inspirational videos using tools like these) and put together a video version of your article. Tools like Wave are perfect for that. The results are always great, and you end up with a new video within less than 30 minutes.
ChatGPT prompt:
Here’s my video script. Please come up with a video title and description for me to upload it to Youtube.
5. Put Together an Audiobook
Find more old articles on a similar topic, record more voice-overs and (apart from creating individual podcast shows and videos) create an audio-book to promote it via your newsletter list and generate more subscribers!
ChatGPT prompt:
I have an audiobook on this topic “Paste your audiobook title and description”. Generate 10-20 tweets, Facebook messages and Instagram captions for me to promote it over a few upcoming weeks.
6. Create a Video Course
With more voice-overs you can create more videos! See if there’s an opportunity to put them together into a video course and market on sites like Udemy.
You can also enhance your cource by allowing free ebook/whitepaper downloads you created above.
ChatGPT prompt:
Here’s my video course outline “PASTE YOUR COURSE OUTLINE”. Create quizzes for me to test my students’ knowledge once they finish it.
and
Here’s my video course outline “PASTE YOUR COURSE OUTLINE”. Create a 600-word article for me to promote it on Medium and Linkedin
7. Put Together a New eMail Course
Collect old articles you did on one topic and put together a useful email course to auto-send to your subscribers or market your list.
ChatGPT prompt:
I am going to create an email course. Here’s the outline PASTE YOUR COURSE OUTLINE”. Write a short and engaging email to send with each chapter.
8. Create an Infographic
Most of the articles can be turned into an infographic which work great for link building. Grab minimum text, numbers and stats and use easy tools to create an infographic.
ChatGPT prompt:
I’ve put together an infographic based on this content “PASTE YOUR CONTENT.” Create 500-word content promoting that infographic for me to announce it on my blog and to my email list.
9. Create a Cheatsheet
If you have an article listing shortcuts, ingredients, must-have things, etc., put those together into a quick downloadable cheatsheet and use it to promote your old article again.
ChatGPT prompt:
I’ve put together a cheatcheet based on this content “PASTE YOUR CONTENT.” Generate JSON-LD HOWTO Schema based on the steps described there
10. Create a Downloadable Checklist
For longer instructions listing steps, create a checklist.
ChatGPT prompt:
I’ve created a checklist based on this list “PASTE YOUR LIST HERE”. What is it missing?
11. Turn a Guide into a Mind Map or a Flow Chart
If you have a detailed guide with steps or an article explaining some complicated concepts, turn those into a mind map or a flow chart (or both).
ChatGPT prompt:
I’ve created a flow chat based on the process described here. Create the problem-solution type of content explaining who it can help and which problems it is solving.
12. Turn Old Interviews into Visual Quotes
Visual quotes provide great opportunities: They can be turned into new blog posts, videos, presentations and more. Plus they do great as social media updates too (especially Facebook and Pinterest). Use these tools to create awesome visual quotes.
ChatGPT prompt:
Here’s the quote I am going to turn into an image “PASTE YOUR QUOTE”. Generate engaging captions for me to promote it on Instagram.
Slideshare can be a great traffic source of its own and Slideshare presentations are actually not hard to create. Use these tools to put your old article images, quotes and screenshots into a neat presentation to upload to Slideshare.
- To create clickable links in a presentation, use Insert -> Hyperlink option in your PowerPoint
- Links are only clickable starting from Slide #4: Don’t include calls-to-action earlier than that as viewers will be confused and won’t try clicking it again.
ChatGPT prompt:
I am about to upload my presentation to Slideshare. Create a 500-word description targeting my keyword “KEYWORD” for me to use on Slideshare.
Ideas for Round-Ups
Articles referencing a collection of curated links are referred to as “link round-ups”. While most round-ups list industry trending content, creating round-ups of old links is a great way to bring more attention to your old content!
When creating round-ups, don’t forget to:
- Write a one-two sentence description of each link
- Mention the author of each article (And maybe even create tweet-a-quote links tagging him)
14. Create a Yearly/Monthly Round-up
Round-up most popular / useful articles you published the previous year or even a month (depending on how active your editorial calendar is).
- “What we published in 2022 and our plans for 2023!”
- “Most popular March posts and April plans!”
- etc
ChatGPT prompt:
This is my expert interview on “TOPIC” “TEXT”. Generate the introduction and the conclusion to go with the article.
15. Update the Article Using an Expert Round-up
Find an old article that have gone outdated and invite experts to discuss what has changed and how to approach that topic these days
ChatGPT prompt:
I have collected these expert quotes on new trends on “TOPIC” “QUOTES”. Generate subheadings and introduction for each expert point.
16. Create “Tweetable” Tips Round-Up
Grab a 280-character-long tip from each of your blog old articles and put together “Tweetable tips” roundup letting readers tweet each tip (like here).
ChatGPT prompt:
For this list of quotes “PASTE YOUR QUOTES HERE”. Create content to lead into each article. Break the resulting content into sections. My goal is to create a useful article that flows well, so you can change the order of those quotes.
17. Create “Best Tools of XXXX Year” Roundup
Do you cover many tools when you write? Collect them all and put together a separate round-up of tools your blog featured last year.
ChatGPT prompt:
Here’s a list of tools I covered on my blog (with links to each article). Create a short description for each tool and break the article into sections based on the goal of each tool.
18. Create Most-Popular-Article-of-Each-Year Roundup
Grab the most popular article of each year of your blog existence and create a cool round-up. Not only will this make those articles even more popular, it will give you an opportunity to re-package this list as a pdf (see above)!
Marketing idea: This trick works best for multi-author blogs: You can give away badges to the winning authors for them to place on their sites!
ChatGPT prompt:
Here’s the list of the most popular articles from my site with author names and their Twitter handles “PASTE YOUR LIST: ARTICLE TITLE + URL + @TWITTER HANDLE”. Create tweets promoting each article including author’s Twitter handle and a few relevant hashtags.
19. Create a Timeline Round-up (+Visualize!)
Create your own blog timeline: What were your favorite topics to cover and when? It’s a good opportunity to turn it into a visual timeline too!
ChatGPT prompt:
Here’s the list of the most popular articles from my site. Create a summary of my popular topics and generate a conclusion for that article
20. Publish Your Lists on List.ly
Now that you have plenty of curated links, re-market them on List.ly! If you spend some time there, it can become a traffic source for your blog!
ChatGPT prompt:
I am creating a list of ITEMS. Create a short description of my list to use as an introduction.
Your social media channels are a good way to turn your followers’ attention back to your older content again, especially if you present it as a fun tradition.
21. Publicize on Social Media as “Back in Time” Column
Use this WordPress plugin that emails you every day with links to content you published on the same day years ago. Each time you get that email, tweet your old link.
ChatGPT prompt:
Here’s my old article “TEXT”. Generate Twitter and Facebook posts for me to promote it. Make it sound like “Back in time” posts so that it is obvious I am promoting my old content.
Schedule your old articles to be re-shared months ahead. DrumUp is an easy way to do that manually. This plugin is an option too!
ChatGPT prompt:
Here’s my old article that was once very popular “PASTE YOUR CONTENT.” How should I update it before I promote it on social media again?
Ideas for Future Content
ALL of the above activities are most likely to provide lots of new content ideas but here are two more:
23. Go Through Old Article Comments and Put Together a FAQ Section on Your Site
A “Frequently Asked Questions” section is usually a goldmine of long-tail rankings opportunities. And there’s no better place to find questions to cover there than your blog comments.
ChatGPT prompt:
Here are readers’ comments to my article “PASTE YOUR COMMENTS”. Generate a FAQ section based on these comments.
24. Find Where You Reviewed Old Tools and Find New Alternatives to Compare
Tools! In many industries, there are dozens of new tools every year: Here’s your opportunity to create new content while bringing more attention to the old content. Find articles where you mentioned or reviewed tools, find newer alternatives and create comparison articles (Don’t forget to link to your old review too!).
Tool comparisons are effective affiliate commission earners too!
Note: Use Google Suggest to find popular & trending alternatives of tools you already covered:
ChatGPT prompt:
I am creating a comparison of “TOOL vs TOOL”. Create a comparison table in various categories I should expand on.
25. Create Follow-up Content to Your Older Content
Old content is a great source of ideas for new content, so make sure you check what you previously covered before you turn to other sources of inspiration.
ChatGPT prompt:
Here’s my old content “PASTE CONTENT”. Which are possible topics to write a follow-up article?
Over to YOU
And how are YOU (re-)marketing your old content? Do you see any missed opportunities there?
I am Ann Smarty, owner of SEOsmarty.com. I’ve been in the SEO industry for two decades. I am the former Editor-in-Chief of Search Engine Journal and a contributor to Mashable. These days I am running Viral Content Bee and writing for Moz, Buzzsumo, Wix and many others!
