Get More Mileage Out Of Your Past Posts

It starting to look a lot like the busiest time of the year. The holidays are coming and that means shopping, cooking, wrapping, eating, parties, family time and the list goes on and on. I know some bloggers take the holiday season off and others will cut back on their posts, but I know all bloggers want to keep their traffic high. So what to do?

You could fill your blog with promos and book blasts, but that content might be a bit boring for your readers. If you are really lucky, you may be able to get authors and other guests to write up posts for you. Of the 13 guest post spots I offer in December, I've filled 5 (let me know if you are interested in filling a spot).

It is okay if you don't post in December, I'm thinking of taking a few days off. Yet, I don't want to lose my readership. I have been blogging for 3 years and have 1000 posts. And do you know what? People are still reading posts from the beginning. You may have noticed this week that I haven't been posting my afternoon ebook deal posts. I wanted to try a little experiment. I know my traffic numbers go up when I post twice a day. Could I keep the numbers up without doing a second post? Instead I would promote an older post or two each day.

How do I decide which past posts to promote? Blogger has a nice little status block that shows which posts are being viewed. I look at what has viewed in a two hour period and choose an older post. I usually look around lunch time and then again in the evening. If it is a review or guest post, I try to tag the author who will most likely retweet the post. So far my numbers have been about the same as when I was doing two blog posts a day. Furthermore, over the weekend I promoted the "popular posts" that you see on the sidebar and that kept my weekend numbers from dropping - I did not have a new post over the weekend.

I feel confident by interspersing new content with promoting past posts that I will keep my traffic consistent and even find new readers. Why? I often discover new to me authors years after they have published their first book or sometimes I miss the release of new book from a favorite author (like I did with Never Knowing). I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one that this happens to. There are constantly new readers you can reach who have yet to discover the author or book you featured last week, last month, or even last year. So get some more mileage out of your past posts by promoting those older posts and make your holidays a little less stressful by crossing blogging off your to do list.

Donna Huber is an avid reader and natural encourager. She is the blogger behind Girl Who Reads and author of the how-to manual Secrets to a Successful Blog Tour.

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