5 Dos & Don’ts to make your content timeless

Whether it’s a blog, your website content or a social media post, investing in content creation is a big commitment. It takes time, energy and money so it’s important to maximise the life of each piece.

Here are 5 important Dos and Don’ts to ensure your content can be used, reused and re-purposed so you receive the biggest bang for your buck!

  Don’t Instead do …
1. Don’t quote research that’s more than 12-18 months old. While there are exceptions, 18 months can be a long time in the research world. So quoting an older piece of data will instantly date your content.  
2. Avoid stating the number of years you’ve been in business or working in your industry. For example, don’t write: Oz Tradie has built beautiful houses for 11 years. Otherwise, you’ll need to update your content annually to keep it accurate. Instead, state the year you began. It means it will simply roll on every year to build your credibility while avoiding the need for annual updates. For example: Since 2008, Oz Tradie has built beautiful houses.  
3. Winning industry awards is something to be proud of. Unfortunately, it will look stale after a year or two. It can also damage your credibility because people will wonder why you haven’t won anything since then. So don’t specify the year if you won an award over 2 years ago. Instead, if it has been a while since you won an award, simply list the awards you’ve won without specifying the year. Alternatively, call yourself Award Winning (or Multi-Award Winning if it’s accurate).
4. Only reference a particular event or season when they’re crucial to your message. Otherwise your content will sound outdated. For example: This winter will immediately date your content during every other season. Instead, write generically. For example: During winter. Then your content will remain relevant whatever the season. Disclaimer: Sometimes, you have to write about a special event or holiday like Christmas. That’s perfectly OK!
5. If you have high-performing content that’s working for you, don’t reinvent the wheel by recreating it.   Instead repost it, reuse it, repurpose it and consider boosting it. If you’re in doubt about the wisdom of this strategy, just think about some of those popular, classic TV programs that we watch time and time again. If you want to refresh it, change the image and the headline but keep the content the same.

Do you maximise the life of your content?

Sometimes, it’s the way you put a phrase together that will determine whether your content has a long life or will quickly date. We recognise all content is an investment for our clients – wherever they choose to use it. So we make sure it’s worded in a way that will help it stand the test of time.

If you would like to maximise the life of your content, get in touch with the team from Consider It Done Australia. We’re experts in Writing Words that Sell for all our clients. For more information, call Karen on 1300 780 642 or contact us here.

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