That's how blogging helps you increase blog traffic and generate leads for your business, after all. There is a significant amount of work involved in blogging. Let's assume that you have some SEO best practices in place. That includes a distribution system, a way for new audiences to discover your content and a link-building plan.

Every blog post then starts with keyword research (something even content marketers underestimate). This is followed by competitor research and some ideation. Then you need an angle, sources to reference, a draft with a structured format and visual collateral. Finally, you proofread it and hit publish.

Next, you share it with your readers, share it with your network, secure a few backlinks and possibly run some ads on it (if you're about that life and have the budget). You can check out this post on optimizing ad spend.

The reason you do all this, of course, is to entice Google. Once it discovers your content and sees that it performs well, it might bump you to the first page. This is not always the case, but it is definitely the aim. If you continue to drive traffic and secure backlinks, you'll trickle upwards and possibly sit on the first results page.

Why you need to update your blog content

In time, your blog post will begin to drop in ranking. Newer, more current content will replace older content traffic will drop on a number of your older posts. This happens to most content marketers writing posts for their blog. They see a momentary surge in traffic and then it dies off.

Writing a ton of new posts is NOT the answer. We already know how much work that actually is. Instead, regularly update your old content. Updating old content is a blogging best practice for maintaining an engaging blog. It's also a great way to increase blog traffic with minimal effort.

Updating content makes sure that your content is always relevant and valuable to readers. It's also a chance to make sure that your older content follows any SEO best practices that you may not have initially applied. It is also much easier than posting brand-new content.

It is entirely up to you how much you want to update the post, however. The reward is relative to how much work you put in. You can:
  • add a new section 
  • update some headings
  • add new visual content
  • design an entirely custom infographic
  • create an explainer video for the post
Venngage updates its graphic design post each year. That includes designing a new infographic that features the hottest design trends. Each year, it drives new waves of traffic, shares, mentions and links. Individuals can also turn them into infographic templates that anyone can use to create their own viral infographics.

All of this leads to new traffic for the same post, with the same URL. While it's very important to update the publish date, you need to do a lot more to have any meaningful impact. Your content should look and feel different to readers, as well as Google.

I suggest focusing on one page first; measure its performance, update it and then track its performance for the weeks that follow. This can tell you if updating your post had any positive affect.

Updating content should be a habit. In the world of content marketing and search results, you need good, consistent habits. Google will continue to evolve, ranking factors will change, competitors' content will get better and so your content needs to adapt.

Format updates, bulleted points, numbered sections or jump links are examples of content updates. These are changes you can make to your existing posts that lead to more traffic. It's a way to stay on top of changing trends and could be the edge you need over your competitors.

For more information, www.venngage.com. You can also follow Venngage on Facebook, Twitter or on Instagram.

*Image courtesy of Vecteezy