One of the things I do during the day, to keep my mind engaged in my blog business, is check the real-time stats. I’m currently using Gaug.es, but have been happy with Chartbeat and Google Analytics Real-time Beta. (Overview of Alternatives to Google Analytics)

Here’s the six-step process I go through when an older post shows up in the real-time stream.

1. Date: Should we remove the dates all together?
   
   Or maybe just refresh and repost.
2. Categories: Are there any new ones to add?
3. Socialization: Changing the publish date would
   
   kill any built up Tweets or Likes. Not a problem
   
   on this post.
4. Signature Update: Mine now adds G+ and no
   
   more bitly permalinks.
5. Related Posts: It’s always a good idea to have
   
   related content to encourage deeper reading.
6. Tags: Tags are used by spiders and visitors. Can
   
   we expand or eliminate some tags?

If someone has searched for and found an older piece of content, it is likely that it can be refreshed and brought back into the stream of your content. It’s all about being found and continuously serving up valuable content.

View or download the single slide version: How to Refresh Your Online Content