How To Organize Past Blog Posts On Your Squarespace Site
This week I received an email from a friend and client who was wondering what she could do on her Squarespace site so her past blog posts don't end up buried in a blog graveyard.
The good news is Squarespace offers some easy visual options to keep older (but still valuable) posts available to readers.
Every time you write a blog post, you are marketing your business. If you're just starting out, your posts pay not get a lot of traffic, but if you optimize your posts with a little SEO goodness, and keep them displayed and ready for newcomers to enjoy, over time your posts will ripen in the search engines.
Before we get into the how-to's (visual learners rejoice! I created four quick videos for you below), there are a couple foundational things to know about the content on your blog.
What topics do you write about?
Your topics will fall into into categories. This is very important. Here is a post with step-by-steps to help you figure this out.
Who are your dream clients?
Being clear about who you are writing for will help minimize blog overwhelm.
What is your business model?
All the content on your website - especially your blog - should serve your business model.
Your business model is how you make money.
Does your business serve many people at a time?
Or does it serve one client at a time?
ONE-TO-ONE MODEL:
+ tailored & customized projects
+ serve specific clients, one at a time
+ collaborate with colleagues
+ high priced services
ONE-TO-MANY MODEL:
+ evergreen courses
+ serve many clients at once
+ sell products for colleagues
+ inexpensive digital products
The biggest difference between the models above is the first one requires a wide net. The second, a deep net. Both nets are good, but you need to know what kind of net is best for your business and blog.
Do you need a big audience to make a lot of sales to make a nice income?
Or do you need to make a couple sales each month to feel fulfilled and cash happy?
A wide net requires consistent expansion (you'll definitely need an editorial calendar) and audience growth (you may want to consider hiring a content coach or social media strategist).
A deep net requires consistent improvement to your processes and client experiences which incrementally increases the value you deliver. Increased value = increased rates. (You may want to take a course or hire a coach to help you get clear about your services or clean up your systems).
Currently my business is in a one-to-one phase. (Here's how I started from scratch). I don't need a big audience to create a nice income. My goal is to create experiences that knock people's socks off when they hire me. I spend the majority of my energy sculpting and polishing my brand from the inside out - starting with my systems and client experiences. Most of my clients come to me from raving referrals.
But I've seen people build thriving businesses by beginning in one-to-many mode and that works too. They grow their blog, podcast, or social audience and leverage that into a client pipeline.
Eventually my business might serve one to many, but first I want to get excellent at the one-to-one version of my business.
How you do it is up to you.
Because I serve clients individually, I have found it helpful to use my blog as a place to give potential customers little sips of my customer experience. I also like using it as a place to curate a collection of resources to share over and over with clients. My business model (at this point) doesn't require blog popularity to support my version of success. Could my business improve if I focused on growing an audience? Probably. But right now I can't fit one more thing on my plate and stay sane. Growing and managing a large audience is a wonderful goal, but I don't have the emotional, physical or mental bandwidth for it right now. I've made peace with that.
How I think about past blog content:
Growing up, my mom owned a clothing store, so I learned early on that it helps to keep your windows displayed with new and seemingly new items. I can't tell you how many times my mom would take something that had been hanging on the rack for months, freshen it up, arrange it with new accessories - and sell it (to someone who'd been in her store many times but had missed the item).
That's how I think about my blog posts. I channel my inner Carla Caneva (my lovely mother) to keep past content arranged in fresh, engaging ways so readers can discover other content, beyond the article that brought them to my site. Plus, when I'm working with a client, I can refer her or him to a particular section on my website to easily grab the exact resource that would be most helpful.
How to use the integrated squarespace plugins to keep your content up front and accessible to readers and clients:
I hope today's post inspired some engaging ways to keep your content displayed and ready for readers! If you have any questions, let me know:)
