Waste Not: 5 Types of Underutilized Content on Your Site

If your site is anything like most of the Internet, it’s wasting valuable content.

Somewhere, your site is wasting conversion opportunities because of bottlenecks, formatting and naïveté, preventing keyword-rich content from being indexed or improved. And it’s a shame, because in many cases, you’ve already done the heavy lifting, but the content is in some format that isn’t optimal for users or search engines.

Let’s get all repurposey.

Too often, “repurposing” is viewed as a dirty word. What it doesn’t mean is rebranding or failing the original intent of the content. It also doesn’t mean rewriting every word, unless the content is outdated, inaccurate or is already on 3,476 other sites.  It means utilizing what you already have and making it better and worthwhile.

We’re asking more of everything else these days, so why not ask more of your content? Here are five types of content on your site that should be repurposed or at least rethought.

1. Sellsheets, Brochures, Case Studies, White Papers, et al.

The Library of Congress has an inferiority complex compared to most company’s PDF libraries. And while you can optimize PDFs for search, and the GOOG is getting better at reading PDFs every day, why wait? Get your content in the most crawlable and SEO-friendly format possible as soon as possible, as in, turn that PDF into a webpage.

Often, however, this is where the process screeches to a halt. What will they look like? Who is going to update the site?

You don’t have to do it all at once, and while I certainly understand the need for good design and brand consistency, what’s the point of good (or even great) design if no one can find it? Besides, how user-friendly are PDF downloads these days? You’re adding three steps between eyeballs and content.

Find a compromise. Tease most (or some) of that written word onto a page while giving readers a chance to download the whole shebang (after filling out a form, of course).

2. Press Releases

Good news: Most companies already have them on their site.

Bad news: Most press releases are filled with vague titles (which often double as the title tag), no internal links and non-search friendly verbiage.

<INSERT APPROPRIATE SOUND EFFECT>

Stop believing that press releases are some sacred, untouchable portion of the site. There is no Vatican City in SEO.

While I wouldn’t recommend changing releases immediately after they are posted (if they can’t be written with SEO in mind originally), there is no reason why a company shouldn’t modify old press releases to reflect the current keyword focus or company services. What’s the purpose of having press releases from 1999 anyway? Congratulations, you made it through the first tech bubble.

Pro Tip: Make sure you aren’t changing earnings figures. That could end badly.

3. Videos

Videos can keep visitors around longer and in some cases, can make them more likely to fill out a form or buy your widget. With the right strategy, videos can also be a great offsite SEO tool.

But they can do more.

If you’re doing a two minute interview or product overview video, you’re probably writing an approved script, so don’t waste it. Insert the video and that transcript into a blog post or as a standalone page in your newsroom and link to that new page from the offsite video page.

4. Email

More and more companies are beginning to understand the power (and of lower costs) of email marketing. And to squeeze some return out of those emails, there must be some decent content. Often, that content is brand new, but none of it makes it back to the website.

If writing new content for email is a consistent bottleneck, use existing blog posts or white papers in your email newsletter to tease the reader and get them onto your site on a repurposed landing page. Isn’t getting the viewer back on your site the goal of the email anyway?

5. Blog Posts

That pristine, shiny new blog post? That masterpiece will be outdated soon enough. Understand from the get-go that it’s fair game, especially if it’s ranking for decent or long-tail terms. Feel free to update, add to or correct the existing post, snazzy top 10 (now 11) list, product reviews, etc. to make these old posts relevant.

This is a very short list of things you can do to prevent content waste. The key is to remember that any and every piece of content you produce online can be optimized.  For more of our thoughts on SEO, check out our SEO blog posts or our SEO strategy capabilities page.

Flickr photo courtest of trp0