Repurposing and republishing blog post have both similiar and different meanings. Both mean handling a past post in order to post it again. However, repurposing is merely changing the date to the current day for publishing while republishing is totally removing the old post, and starting fresh.
The reasons for both article marketing techniques are to bring a post that the author may feel relevant now, but it did not get as much attention the first time around. It is also a great way to pull up those posts, freshen them up with any new information and then release it to your readers again.
In repurposing a post, everything is retained, even the original comments. If a person republishes a post, any comments that had been associated will be lost. Also, in repurposing, it could mean that the author could publish the post in another medium, or in several mediums, like video blogging, or even podcasting. While both ways are great for any blog author, repurposing a post might be a better choice.
Why?
In most content management systems and blog platforms, including WordPress, the blog author can change the status, the visibility, and when the article was published. As said earlier, the older comments remain intact with the article, keeping the conversation open for newer comments. The other great thing about re-purposing is that it is posts to the social networks like a fresh new post and put as the most recent post in your RSS feed.
In entirely republishing a post, while the article may be listed, the comments are lost. This really is much like a slap in the face to past readers who have commented on the article.
It is your choice as the blog owner to decide which method works best for a particular article. However, remember, that if you are trying to get more traffic to that article, as well as your readers to leave comments, you will have to do a little more effort on the social network sites other than just posting your article.
Which method do you normally do – repurposing your posts or completely republishing your articles?
Finding a new purpose for your blog is hard because you have to find that certain situation for things that needed.But if your willing then definitely you can do it.
Hi Mark! This is not a post about repurposing a whole blog site…but merely single posts within a site.
Nile, I wasn’t aware that, by republishing a post, I would be deleting all the comments with it. So I would agree with you that it would be a slap in the face to just republish a post. One consideration for re-purposing, though, might be to turn the written blog post into an outline for a podcast. What do you think?
You could keep the blog post, and expand upon it in a podcast. 🙂
If you repurpose a blog post however, wouldn’t it be considered as duplicate content by Google? Unless you rewrite most of the old blog post before posting it again, I am unsure how it could help with SEO?
And wouldn’t the readers be unhappy that they read an old post over again?
Regards, Mike
If the title is the same and you completely removed the original post, no. There is only 1 article, not more than 1.
reading form this article i am understanding that adding a comment to a Facebook status update of ours is like re-purposing. and republishing is like sharing the same content with a different message title or message.Felt weird when people do that, nice to know it also exists in blogsphere.
I prefer to rewrite my old posts from time to time to add more interesting and new informations into them. I find this more helpful then promoting an old post on my home page.
For me it’s just like bumping an old thread on a forum. some things are just worth mentioning again or updating.
Nice and great post.
Thanks & regards
Hi Nile, I haven’t tried both. Thanks for giving me idea so if I try both I won’t have to encounter mistake.
I never reuse an article, but it seems a good way to recycle old content, provided it is done correctly
What I have found when it comes to re-purposing a post is that using the post as a base for creating the same content but with a different medium. Maybe create a podcast, a video, or info-graphic. In this new post you can link back to the old post helping your readers see the content in many different ways! By doing this you are ever expanding your blog!
Another way to re-purpose a blog post is to take a bunch of old ones about the same topic and create an E-book for your readers! This is something I have done in the past with great success!
Hi Nile,
I have seen many blogs repurposing or republishing their old blog posts, even though it’s not something that I have done it looks a great method if you want to share an article that it did not get much attention the first time around, thanks for sharing…
Hi Nile,
Historically I try to keep posts updated with new information, either by re-writing to remove very old information, or just adding updated information to the top.
It depends on how critical the information is, or how outdated it becomes. If it becomes too outdated, I make a new post, as the conversation can get outdated as well.
Thanks!
Great post. To the point, but clearly defines the difference between repurpose and republish. I am trying to figure out an application for republish, since I wouldn’t, personally, want to lose the comments… Thanks!
Republishing the old blog posts is one of the best way to boost your SEO ranking more importantly it will help your readers to read the content you published early
I would prefer to repurpose a blog posts because I do not want to loose all those valuable comments.
Funny I just made a comment on TSA blog about redoing a blog post… I am not planning on re purposing the post, but update it and adding new info so that it sees more traffic.. So I will read thru this more carefully and see if it will helps me with what I want to do!!
Great information Niles…I like both concepts for different reasons and both have their advantages…possibly even from Googles standpoint.
Blogging is always work…a lot of work, but I like re-purposing a post. Often in our crazy lives, our time is limited and if you have great information from the past, why not bring it back up. Studies have shown that you must hear something 3 times before it really begins to stick with you…so important posts are good to bring to life mor than once. Thanks.
Hi Nile,
I think re-purposing content is a great idea. Many very successful bloggers and authors recommend this. I like the idea of creating a video instead of reworking my writings.
however when you have been blogging for a few years, it is easy to rework an article and no doubt your audience will be keen to hear the subject again.
Clare
HI Nile, I never thought about repurposing or republishing blog posts since I am so new to blogging. I will consider possibly doing one of them when I have more content on my blog. Thanks for explaining the differences.
I’ve never republished or repurposed, Nile.
I have thought of updating some old posts, but my feeling was to basically spin it into an entirely new post with updated information. I guess that would simply be a spun article or post.
In any case, I don’t like the idea of republishing as in removing an old post, unless there was really something wrong with it, either informationally or technically.
Thanks, Nile, for pointing out the different option we have, here, along with the pros and cons.
Nile,
Another great article. I never knew the exact precise difference between re-purpose and re-posting but now I do. As you stated, one must be very careful about re-posting because if you lose all the comments, there could be some very unhappy blog followers. I guess the ideal situation for that is for bloggers that did not have a lot of comments on that blog post, AND you can see whether the people who did comment are still around. If they commented a year ago and haven’t commented lately, then maybe it’s not such a big idea. Blogs can grow by leaps and bounds in a year or 18 months, so if that old post was from your first year when nobody was following you and you think your new readers definitely should have that information, then re-posting or re-purposing is a great idea. Thanks again for clarifying the terminology!
— Jupiter Jim
Really its great post…your post is very helpful for me improving my blog and old post updates.
Excellent article! You made such a great point.. And for me I like Repurposing more than republishing simple because I don’t want to loose their valuable comments..
Thanks for sharing this blog, by this I am able to know what is the difference and function between repurpose and republish… Thanks a lot.
This is so informative! I’ve learned something new today.. Thanks for sharing this! Great job!
thnx a lot for your this post. as being new to blogging i think this will have provided me good direction to move on
Hi Nile,
So far I haven’t done either. But thanks to your advice I will re-purpose rather than re-publish when I start to recycle posts. Thanks for letting me know the difference!
Tom
this is very great post. Thank you so much!
Hi Nile:
I typically use the repurpose method with my posts. I find that I have a lot of old posts that didn’t get a lot of attention that I feel would be valuable to my current readers.
Kevin
Hi Nile, thanks for another great article. I was not aware of either of those techniques and your content was highly informative. Personally, I don’t think I could re-purpose simply to put it on social networks, but if I ever expand to other media, it would be something I would consider.
Nathan
Actually I do neither. It’s not like I don’t have plenty of content, but I just feel my readers deserve better. Now what I have done a few times is go back and take an older article and rewrite and expand on the subject – but that’s as close as I’ve come to re-using previous articles.
Hi Nile nice describe the difference between repurposing and republishing blog posts….It’s essential for promoting our older blog posts…………….
nice post Nile i will use it for my old posts.
Thanks for giving such a nice idea through your post……….
I didn’t know that a post can be republished. I know that a blog has to be constantly updated to be noticed by SEs and read by readers. But republishing a post is a good idea!
Republishing a post is waste of time and resources…. i would never republish a post…
Visiting your blog for very first time, and this post was my first read! Very thoughtful, and innovative way of thinking. I do believe that Re-publishing is never a good idea. Will be reading more on here.
Excellent article…..for me I like Repurposing more than republishing simple because I don’t want to loose their valuable comments..and republishing is like sharing the same content with a different message title or message…Thank you for a post
Hi Nile,
I personally like to repurpose posts, as I’m able to reach a different audience by say, turning my blog post into a podcast, rather than simply resubmitting an old post.
I really like this article, though, in the sense that it’s not telling us one way or the other, it’s telling us the options and for us to choose which is best for our particular needs.
Thanks a bunch!
Great post, Nile! I must admit that I tend not to do things like this, but if I were going to do so, I would repurpose. Usually, though, I just point to the archives when I want to go to something that is quite a bit older.
Enjoyed your post. Many of us are super busy professionals and don’t have a lot of time. I love repurposing ebooks, articles, and blog posts.
Great post, Nile. I agree with you in that I have always found the difference between repurposing and republishing rather confusing.
It’s becoming clearer, but I feel I prefer to rewrite an old post rather than republish. Seems more useful, but I suppose it depends on how good the original content was.
Made me think, anyway.
I think that republishing the post is the best way to keep things updated and fresh. That way new readers can have something that looks new to read and form an unbiased opinion on it instead of reading previous comments and judging from there. I do see the benefits of both though. Thanks for explaining it so clearly.
Thanks for the information. Both ways you have mentioned have their own advantages and disadvantages. Trying out which gives you more benefits is a sure way to get results. Appreciate the tips. Thanks again!
Nile, I had only republished one article and after reading this information. I believe more of them need to be done. So many new visitors request me to continue off the article and that can be done by expanding the original to include the next step.
I truly love getting over here today. I found two of your articles priceless.
Thanks for keeping it real and giving us readers something useful to look forward to.
I’ve found that republishing blog posts is best when your website is first starting and trying to gain traction. You’ve got to write and write until one article usually hits it big and gets decent traffic. Every article before that usually falls by the wayside because it has an older date. Once your site gets decent traffic, you can republish your first articles and your regular readers will eat it up.