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prettywordsyouleft · 4 years ago

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MonX Hospital | Minhyuk

Pairing: Lee Minhyuk x reader

Genre: orderly – hospital au / strangers to lovers / angst-fluff

Warnings: medical terms and illness

Word count: 3778

“Who ordered a ride?”

The pale child lying within his bed turned, perking up and smiled at Minhyuk’s arrival. “It’s you!”

“Why, who else would be able to make the best hospital bed turns than me?” Leaning down to pat the child’s head affectionately, Minhyuk then smiled at the nurse waiting for his arrival. “I hear we’re off for a scan!”

“Will it be scary?” the child asked whilst Minhyuk took the brakes off the bed. Stopping for a moment, he shook his head. “Ever wanted to fly up into space?”

“Like in a rocket?��

“Yeah, just like that. Close your eyes and imagine you’re flying right up and past Jupiter! That’s a long way to go, isn’t it?!”

“Will I get to see Pluto?”

“Well, I don’t know,” Minhyuk answered, pretending to ponder his thoughts. “Will you tell me if you do?”

“I will!”

“Then let’s get going!” Minhyuk exclaimed, shooting a wink at the grateful nurse who fare-welled him and the patient off.

Minhyuk enjoyed his job as an orderly at MonX Hospital. A lot of people aimed to become a doctor or nurse to help the sick but there were a whole lot of roles that a hospital needed people for. Cooking and cleaning employed just as many staff as doctors and nurses, and lab technicians supported findings that doctors weren’t trained to process themselves. There were countless maintenance teams, receptionists and administrators who filled in all the paperwork and kept the place running efficiently.

No one seemed to think of the orderlies though. The role had challenges with being time-dependent and efficient with knowing where to transport a patient to. They were a fundamental part of a well-planned surgery timetable, getting patients there in time for the doctors to heal the sick, and taking them to appointments so the nurses could continue to look after the other patients in the ward. It was important to Minhyuk to not only do all the above but make the experience of being in a hospital a little brighter.

It was far easier with children and older women, admittedly.

“You remind me of my first love,” a frail elderly lady exclaimed as Minhyuk wheeled her towards her scheduled hip replacement surgery.

Shooting the woman a surprised look, Minhyuk then chuckled. “Really? Someone as handsome as me existed before now?”

“Oooh, you’re trouble!” she giggled, swatting him away gently. “You’re definitely just like him.”

“Did you marry him?”

“Oh no, he chose the prettiest girl on the block over me.”

“He was blind then because you, Nancy, are too fetching to have not married!”

“Are you married, young man?”

“No ma’am. I’m looking for my Nancy.”

“Honestly!” she breathed out accompanying another giggle and Minhyuk grinned. She then grew serious. “I think you’ll meet her soon.”

“You think so? Oh good, I don’t want to be single for much longer,” he mused and the older woman nodded. His humour eased. “What makes you think I will?”

“I don’t know, it’s just a feeling I’ll get.”

“Well, I thank you for feeling something about me, Mrs Rhodes. Afraid we’ve arrived at our destination, however.”

“That was quick, I didn’t even have time to worry on the way here.”

“It’s my job to make sure you don’t get a chance to! Now you go in there and knock their socks off! You’ll be back to walking again in no time after they’re done with you.”

“This hospital needs more people like you,” she called as he waved her off, clapping the shoulder of one of the surgeons he passed in the process.

Sewoon stopped him. “Oh Minhyuk, we’re missing a patient that’s surgery was scheduled for this morning. I’ve dispatched for another orderly to get her but-”

“I can go get her. Ward and name?”

“Y/N?” he called when he entered the room a few minutes later, catching his breath from rushing here from the surgery department. You looked up at him anxiously and Minhyuk’s growing smile halted.

Wow, you were beautiful.

Gathering himself together enough to walk over to your bed, Minhyuk managed a smile. “I’m your chauffeur for the morning. Shall we get going?”

“Chauffeur?” you repeated and let out a small laugh. “That’s cute.”

“Well someone as special as you should be transported in style.”

“I bet you use that line with all the girls.”

“Would you hate me if I did?” he confessed and you grinned at him as he unlatched the brakes on your bed. “Ready, my Lady?”

“Oh yes, going to have surgery sounds thrilling.”

“It’s a necessary part of your journey here, I’m sure.”

“Have you ever been in my place before?”

Minhyuk nodded. “When I was ten, I broke my leg and needed surgery. I remember being petrified that I wouldn’t wake up and get to play on my bike again.”

“You broke your leg on your bike?”

Minhyuk nodded. “My orderly told me not to be scared, that he would be there for me when I woke up.”

“Was he?” you asked quietly, your eyes widening at the prospect.

Minhyuk watched your expression morph into hope and he nodded again. “He was. I mean, I had thought he just stood there the whole time whilst the doctors fixed my leg, granted. But he was definitely there when I woke up again. And he even had a toy bike for me.”

“I’m not broken like that though,” you murmured and Minhyuk glanced down at your chart briefly before nodding.

“You’re here to be healed. So you’re not not broken either.”

“I guess when you put it like that,” you started, sending Minhyuk a genuine smile soon after. “Is it silly of me as an adult to want you-”

“I’ll be there when you wake up,” he assured and your smile grew, tears welling in your eyes. “Do you want a toy bike as well?”

You laughed. “What’s your name? Minhyuk?”

“That’s me!” he replied, letting you read his name tag more closely. “I’ll make sure I’m here as soon as your eyes open, alright?”

Nodding softly, you didn’t take your gaze off of his as he wheeled you into the surgery ward, watching him as he got your bed situated into your cubicle and handed your notes to the waiting nurse. Before leaving, Minhyuk felt compelled to go up to your side and you suddenly clutched at his hand, taking a deep breath.

“You promise?”

“Just you wait, when you open your eyes next, you’ll be disappointed that the first thing you see is me.”

When you did eventually come around in the recovery room, Minhyuk perked from the seat he was in. He had swapped his lunch break with another employee so he could make it when your surgery was over, grateful that he could keep his promise as expected.

You, however, were more than surprised to find he had followed through.

“Min…Min…”

“Don’t stress yourself to talk,” he urged with a gentle smile, alerting the nearest nurse that you had woken up.

As he checked your vital stats, he then smiled at you. “Miss L/N, you’re a lucky one huh? It’s not every day I see Minhyuk sitting here waiting for a patient to wake up.”

“I made a promise, I wasn’t going to break it,” he told the nurse and you smiled, reaching out for his hand.

Minhyuk held it towards you and then moved his other, shaking a little teddy bear in his grip. Your smile grew.

“I know it’s no bike, they didn’t have any in the gift shop,” he humoured and you tried to laugh, accepting the water the nurse offered you before swallowing with some effort. Blinking against the exhaustion wave that he could tell was washing over you, Minhyuk handed you the teddy and then squeezed your hand that was still holding his. “Rest well, my Lady. When it’s time, I’ll take you back to your room.”

Twenty minutes later, he wheeled you in to your room quietly, smiling as you continued to sleep peacefully. He didn’t know what it was about you, but he watched you a moment more before going back out into the ward’s hallway and slid the door closed.

Another nurse he was familiar with from crossing paths regularly stopped him in his departure. “Oh Miss L/N is back from surgery?”

“Yeah, she’s resting right now. The team up in recovery said she’s going to be really tired for the next forty-eight hours.”

“It was a big operation for her,” Lucy mentioned and Minhyuk nodded. “It’s a shame she’s here all alone.”

“Alone? No family?”

“Not that I’m aware of. She has no one down as her next of kin either.”

Glancing back at the door, now it made sense to him why you wanted his company when you woke up. No one should have to go through this alone.

“I’ll be back later to check on her, Luce.”

“You and that sweet heart of yours.”

“What can I say? I’m in the right place to have my heartstrings pulled, right?” he called over his shoulder with a smile before turning for the exit, letting his smile drop with the slump of his shoulders.

You were definitely pulling something within him.

Minhyuk was anxious to arrive for his next shift. He had twenty minutes before he was rostered to start, and knowing Wednesdays always seemed to be the busiest of days, he headed straight for your ward, greeting people along the way before knocking on your door.

You were sitting up in your bed this morning, attempting to eat the breakfast you had just been served. Upon seeing Minhyuk, you put down your spoon and smiled. “It wasn’t a dream.”

“I don’t think I’m that talented to step into the dream realm but you never know,” he answered with a chuckle and grinned when he saw the plush toy he had given you was sitting up in bed next to you as well. “How are we doing?”

“I feel as if a truck ran over me, reversed, and did it one more time.”

“Specific,” he commented and then stepped closer. “Did you get the licence plate? I’ll go report them for troubling you this much.”

“Are all the orderlies like you?”

“I would like to paint our service as one of the best in the hospital, but I can’t speak for all of us. Old Gary doesn’t talk and Pamela doesn’t know when to shut up.”

You laughed a little and then winced with the pain from doing so. Stepping forward and offering you a drink of water, you thanked Minhyuk silently and then sighed when you recovered.

“Part of me like this, you know?”

“The hands-free drink service?” You rolled your eyes playfully. “I didn’t need to come to hospital to get this type of attention though, admittedly.”

“Well, we can’t change that now. But I can continue to stop by if you like it.”

“Why? Is it part of the service?”

“I don’t do it for everyone,” he admitted and your growing smile got stuck. “But if you’d like it-”

“Why are you so considerate towards me?”

“I’m not exactly sure. I just feel this need to be around you.”

“Do you pity me? My prognosis isn’t great, even with surgery.”

“It’s not hopeless either. And no, I don’t pity you at all.”

“Then?”

“Maybe I met my Nancy after all,” he murmured and you frowned at the statement. Minhyuk smiled brightly and pointed to your breakfast. “Nothing worse than super soggy cornflakes. You best get on with your breakfast and I need to go bring smiles to the patients I cross paths with.”

“You’re magical, you know that, Minhyuk.”

“I don’t know about that, but I’m glad you think highly of me. Rest well, okay?”

“Will you visit me again?”

Minhyuk hesitated at the door he was departing through and turned back to you with a smile. “Of course, I can’t let you go without a bit of my magic, as you said.”

Minhyuk kept his word, ending his long shift by spending an extra hour with you.

And the following day, he greeted you before his shift and even joined you for lunch. By the end of the week, you were expectant of his arrival and seemed to brighten whenever he stepped through the door.

So was he. Even though he knew you were unwell, he found comfort in your company. Despite spending all his time around people day in and out, Minhyuk hadn’t realised how lonely he felt under it all.

You seemed to bring a lot of emotions to the surface within him.

“If you could be anything but an orderly, what would you do?”

“No,” he responded, handing you another hot chip from the food he had snuck in so he could share dinner with you. “This is it for me.”

“Really?”

“Do you look down on my profession choice, Y/N?”

You shook your head and hands at the same time. “No, I find it admirable that you’re so certain. Before being in here I was at a crossroads. I didn’t know what I wanted anymore. My degree had led to a career I didn’t enjoy and I didn’t want to go back to school for another four years to find I wasn’t happy with the next choice either.”

“What do you want to do?”

“Be around people,” you answered immediately, cheeks flushed. You then laughed. “But that could be anything!”

“What kind of people do you want to be around?”

“Grateful people. Those who smile and are happy for my assistance.”

“Well, retail is out,” he teased and you laughed in agreement. “Jokes aside, I think no matter where we go, there will always be people who take our service but don’t want to interact. I mean, even today, I tried to brighten up a middle-aged man and he told me to shut up and just wheel him to Orthopaedics in silence.”

“Well, that’s rude.”

“I guess I wasn’t his type,” Minhyuk said, pretending to curl his hair behind his ear.

“Oh my goodness, stop trying to flirt with all the patients!”

“If a bit of friendly banter brings a smile to their faces and eases their concerns, is it so bad? This place can easily turn dreary, even for the workers. I just want to help people feel a snippet of happiness within these walls.”

You didn’t respond, gaze intensely connected to his. You began to sink deeper into his eyes now entranced by you, struggling to remain coherent against the waves of what you were experiencing. Minhyuk was equally fighting against the current, his mouth falling ajar a little when he felt his heart begin to beat differently.

“Lee Minhyuk, I ought to have known!”

Jumping out of the trance with the new voice within the room, he glanced back at your nurse, Lucy’s hands on her hips as she looked over the takeout he had brought into the room with him.

“It’s my dinner, not Y/N’s.”

“You’re going to eat both those burgers and drink both those sodas?” Lucy questioned and Minhyuk grinned shamelessly.

“When a guy’s hungry he’s gotta eat.”

“I begged him to, Lucy. Please, just this once.” The nurse sighed at your hopeful stare and nodded. You grinned. “I’m blessed to have you both, you know.”

“You’re lucky we’re fools,” Lucy replied, shaking her head in Minhyuk’s direction. “This one is the biggest fool I know.”

“I take that title with pride.”

“Don’t let Nurse Joy find you both in here like this. She won’t be as lenient.”

“Nurse Joy is a contradiction. She’s not joyful at all,” you pointed out and both the professionals attempted to hold their tongues in response.

When Lucy shut the door after stealing a couple of fries for herself, you opened up the wrapper to your burger before looking back at Minhyuk.

“What?”

“Do you think I could become an orderly?”

“When you’re stronger, I don’t see why not.”

“You didn’t dismiss the idea,” you mumbled with surprised and Minhyuk narrowed his gaze on your face. You smiled weakly. “Just, in the past, that’s all they did.”

“Who?”

“It doesn’t matter.” Taking a bite of your burger, you then grinned. “This is so good!”

Minhyuk realised you had faced a whole lot more adversity than the condition that had brought you in front of him in the first place.

Over the next couple of weeks, you went up and down in health. There were moments where you had no energy to even smile at him, and others where all you did was hold his hand and laugh. You had exchanged numbers and in between patients he would continue conversation with you, making you laugh and then discussing the deepest concepts of the world in the next text. You enlightened him and made the exhaustion of each shift wash away when he visited you until visiting hours were up. He hadn’t even realised how involved he had become with you in his everyday life until he arrived at your room before work to find it completely void of all sign of you.

“Where is Y/N?” he asked and the nurse on the counter gave him a sad smile.

“She got moved to ICU overnight. She’s-”

He didn’t wait to hear the rest of it, rushing through the hospital maze until he reached the department he needed, sucking in a deep breath before entering it. The nurse here shook her head. “I’m sorry, she can’t have visitors.”

“I know, I know,” he repeated, all too aware of the rules and regulations of this department. However, he held up his index finger desperately. “Just a minute. Please, just let me see her before I go start my shift.”

Glancing at the fellow nurse beside her, she sighed and nodded quickly. Minhyuk thanked her before rushing around the counter to the cubicle she pointed at. There you laid, looking as pallid as the sheets beneath you. It didn’t suit you to be this deathly white and yet even then you were beautiful to him. Stepping closer to your sleeping form, he felt tears rise behind his eyes when he saw the teddy he got you held tightly within your hand. Shakily reaching out for you, he gave your wrist a gentle squeeze.

“You can fight through this, Y/N. I know you can.”

Minhyuk’s mood throughout his shift was subdued. He couldn’t quite bring himself to ease the concerns of a little girl going for an MRI as well as he usually did and he was late to pick up his next two patients, his feet dragging unintentionally.

He just felt completely drained.

“There’s my handsome first love,” the elderly woman within the wheelchair waiting for him exclaimed and Minhyuk looked at Nancy and smiled gently.

“Nancy, you’re looking better than ever.”

“Of course, it’s my discharge day.”

“Does this mean I get the honour of wheeling you out the front doors?” he asked and the woman nodded. “Wow, lucky me.”

“Dear, you look anything but lucky right now, what’s wrong?”

Minhyuk didn’t know why he told her about you. As he wheeled the woman slowly to the exit, he spoke as quickly as he could about his time with you thus far. And now with you in ICU, he couldn’t hold back the tears of realisation.

Nancy smiled and cupped his hands within hers when he stopped her outside the doors. “You’re in love.”

“I don’t want to lose it so soon.”

“You won’t, she’s going to come through,” she reassured him and Minhyuk blinked through his tears to look questioningly at the woman. Nancy nodded gently. “She has to. You’re waiting for her. Just as you promised to be there when she woke up, you will be there again. She won’t leave you, Minhyuk.”

He held onto Nancy’s hope for another week, finding it harder each day that went by without much improvement. After thirteen days of what seemed like a perpetual slumber, Minhyuk felt your hand twitch within his grasp. Glancing up, he was met with your eyes staring at him.

“You came back to me,” he murmured, tears running down his cheeks.

“You promised me you would teach me how to ride a bike,” you whispered hoarsely and he laughed, nodding repeatedly.

He would do anything to keep you at his side now.

“Minhyuk!”

Turning to follow the voice that called him out, he grinned when he found you standing there, wearing the same uniform as he did. Circling you to inspect your appearance, Minhyuk then folded his arms over his chest. “Not bad, Miss Orderly.”

“Miss Orderly in training,” you corrected, though you were brimming with anticipation.

“Well, I’m sure some lucky guy will get to teach you all he knows.”

You shrugged. “I don’t know if I want to learn from him.”

“What? Why not?”

“He flirts with the patients and not with his girlfriend nearly as much.”

Minhyuk looked around you both before leaning in and stealing a chaste kiss. “The good news is he doesn’t go around kissing anyone but his girlfriend though.”

“Maybe I’ll learn to flirt with the male patients. It might make them smile.”

“Don’t even dream of it!” he refuted and you laughed heartily. Slinging an arm over your shoulders, Minhyuk walked you towards the staff room. “How did you get here?”

“I rode my bike.”

“I told you I would take you by car.”

“I wanted to start my first day off on the right foot. I mean, I didn’t heal and get to this point in my life just to be chauffeured around by you like I once was.”

“Touché.”

“Though, maybe we could go home together?”

“We should since we live together,” he agreed, pressing his lips to the side of your head again.

“Don’t! Word travels too easily and I don’t want my first day to be plagued with rumours.”

“Everyone in this hospital will know by the end of the day that you’re my miracle.”

“Lucy was right, you are the biggest fool.”

Minhyuk laughed and nodded again. “That I might be, but it was this fool who got you out of this hospital, remember.”

“Only to bring me back into it,” you feigned disappointment and then grinned all too easily after. “You don’t think working and living together will be too much for us?”

“Even if it is, are you up for the challenge?” he proposed, stopping in front of the Orderly Services department.

You glanced up at it and then walked through the door, dragging him in behind you. “You better teach me to be the best.”

_________________

Next: Kihyun

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sivisgirlfriend · 6 years ago

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Tell us the story of how you and your girlfriend fell in love!!! Pls y’all are so cute

ahhh my favorite thing to talk about! sorry this might get long. we met on bisexual day of visibility 2016 because i identified as bisexual at the time (wild) and siv thirst followed me because of my bi visibility selfies. they tagged them as cute or something and i was very flattered and basically went through all of their blog but was too embarrassed to send a message. they also had a stat counter or whatever so they could see that i went on a little adventure on their blog, yikes.so fast forward a couple of days and we somehow start talking about our national swedish finals that we happened to have at the same time and we were both waiting for the results. at first i thought they didn't want to talk more but then somehow we ended up swapping numbers and talking all the time, like literally all day and i was so excited and confused because i had never felt a connection like it before and because my face hurt from all the smiling. of course we had an useless lesbianism element to this story as well because like a week before siv and i met they had posted about a cute karaoke host they had seen so when they started vague posting about a crush they had/a person they were interested in i was convinced it was the host and not me lmao. even though we were both googling like mbti compatibility charts and whatever. THEN on my 19th birthday (october 8) i was out with some really annoying friends that i'm not in touch with anymore and then we both kind of confessed our feelings and it was. so gay. the most magical moment (even though a friend that had an unrequited crush on me despite me telling him i was not interested repeatedly for years was crying in his bed next to my mattress). the next day we talked on the phone for the first time and it lasted for like four hours? and i kept having butterflies the whole time and god!!!!!! i had such a crush!!!!!a lot of stuff happened in my personal life but we finally managed to meet in november 2016 and i took a bus to siv's (and nowadays) my city and it was dark when i arrived and i took me like 4 hours and i was so nervous but then we hugged and i was fine. the first visit was so silly because even though we had been dating for a while we were so awkward around each other ~romantically~ and didn't know what to do so it took us like 3 days to kiss skksksks. these first visits were so weird because i always stayed for like a week and siv still lived at their mom's place and we didn't know if she knew about us (she did) so we were really low profile all the time and had to go out a lot to avoid the adults. it was winter during these visits but i had never felt more safe and warm and i have such good memories from this time. whenever i went home i kept googling stuff like "when can i say i love you" on the bus rkksksks. siv said it first. dang.this is when i realized it was getting pretty serious because i noticed that we didn't only have fun together but we were also very good for each other. for example after new year's we decided to try and go without alcohol for a month and it ended up lasting for more than 6 months and being actually really fun and then we both went vegan and that was even better for my health and life and just!but to go back a little we had one (1) struggle and that was my job at the junkyard. we had just started to study for our entrance exams (we both got in later) and then my mom let me know that she got me a job in my hometown which meant that for two months we could only see like... once every 2 or 3 weeks and that was only for a weekend too. during that time siv visite my family a lot and it was a sad and tiring time but long distance was okay because we had our long phone calls and skype study sessions and dates (on valentine's we got sacher cake and watched a movie. great)then! when my work ended siv had moved into an apartment with their friend and this meant good times for us because i could go over and stay for as long as i wanted and we really got to try out that adult life together. i started to look for apartments too and very quickly got one and it was the best because we finallyyyyyy lived in the same city. this was in april 2017 i think. it ended up being pretty wild because our aparments were at the opposite ends of the city and we never wanted to sleep apart so we had to go back and forth for like a year until we moved into our current place and got our two cats and ahh!!!!! our home is perfect!!!! our cats are perfect!!!!!that got very. long i'm sorry. i still wanna add that being with siv has helped me so much just to exist better and be calmer and know myself better. actually when we met we were both still kinda awkward because we were babies but now we're adults and very butch and i don't think (re)figuring out i was a lesbian would have been this easy without siv so. i just! love them so much!!!!! sorry about the embarrassingly long story fkdkskslsl they're the loml

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williamexchange · 5 years ago

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How We Increased Our Blog Traffic by 284%

A blog can be a powerful marketing and lead-generation tool that also contributes to a stronger presence in the search engines.

At the same time, it can be a drain on your time and resources that hangs over your head, demanding a constant stream of new content.

Every now and then, despite your best intentions, a lot of things can come between you and your blog, creating a rocky relationship that might even result in a temporary separation.

It can happen to anyone.

It happened to us.

The full details of why it happened aren’t important. Positions were shifted. New ones were created. The workload for our clients demanded more time from everyone. Strategies changed. And… does any of this seem familiar in your own company?

Whatever the reason, our blog began to suffer. So, last year, near the end of October, we decided to make the blog a priority and start rebuilding the traffic as part of our ongoing strategy.

Now, one year later, we can report that the traffic to our blog has increased 284%.

Our overall traffic is up. Our subscriptions are up. Our clickthroughs are up. And far more people are commenting or clicking on our calls to action.

It’s been a long time coming, and while we saw some immediate increases in the first few months, we’re not here to provide some kind of mysterious formula to immediately restore the relationship between you and your blog.

SEO and content marketing take time, and while a lot of articles may talk about how you can “increase your blog traffic in just a few months,” we are going to talk about long-term strategies that have resulted in sustainable growth.

So, if you came here because my click-baity title made you think this was some kind of miracle, super-fast solution for unlimited traffic, I apologize.

What you will get out of this, though, are reliable and repeatable strategies for consistent blog growth.

Start with a Usable Content Calendar

Sometimes, it feels like half the battle with a blog is coming up with fresh ideas for engaging content. How many times can you write about basically the same thing?

It’s easy to fall into a rut of producing content for the sake of publishing content – it’s there, it’s online, it has keywords, but it doesn’t have a lot of potential to escape that rut.

The solution we found was to engage more people in the creation of the content calendar.

Even if they couldn’t write anything for the blog, they certainly had the knowledge and experience to recommend some great topics.

We did not just make a Google doc and ask people to help us brainstorm, though. Instead, we sent a Word doc directly to one person at a time and asked them to add some ideas within the next two days.

This way, they could see what had already been suggested and play off some of those titles, and they had a definite deadline. If they didn’t get it done by then, we moved on to the next person.

These titles were eventually organized and put into a content calendar, which included some information that made it more usable than just a list of blog titles. Here, you can see:

The date that I wanted it to go live

Who would write it

The type of content

The category/topic that the content covered

The offer (the call to action) that would be included

The actual title

Space to track if it had been assigned, written, published, and link integrated

This worked great for a while, but we quickly learned the importance of flexibility in any strategy.

This is, after all, a content calendar, not an untouchable work of art.

For example, the original goal was to produce 3 posts a week and really hit the ground running.

However, we soon realized that that level of work wasn’t quite sustainable, or necessary, so we changed the calendar to one post a week, and that has proven to be sufficient for our current needs.

It also leaves us plenty of room to dive in and do more when we can free up more resources.

Historical Optimization – Resurrecting Old Content for Future Benefit

There’s been a lot of discussion around “historical optimization” for a while now, and after reading this article on HubSpot, I figured we’d experiment with it ourselves.

In essence, historical optimization (as defined by HubSpot) goes something like this:

Identify posts that are worth updating (could be more comprehensive, could have higher conversion potential, could focus on keywords that are worth targeting, etc.).

Look for posts that have middling rankings. I.e. posts that rank around the bottom of the first page of results or somewhere on the second. These have the most potential value.

Update the content with new additions, updated data, and improved quality. These should be noticeable improvements – not just a couple grammar fixes.

Optimize the post for conversions by including more relevant CTAs.

Publish the updated post as new, but on the same URL, and promote it as usual. However, you should also include an editor’s note that explains when it was originally published and why it was updated. We’re not trying to fool anyone with this, so be open about it.

Our first experiment with historical optimization was timed to take advantage of the season.

November was right around the corner, and our article titled: “Online Marketing for Black Friday – The Ultimate Guide” had performed well in the past. It looked ripe for an update.

It was still ranking well for “online Black Friday marketing” terms, but after its initial publication in 2013, it didn’t really generate much traffic over the next couple years.

So, I double checked and updated the data and information, added some new stories, modified the graphics, and republished it. The results looked like this:

Of course, the seasonal drop-off was expected, so while it didn’t provide any long-term traffic, it did get our new content push off to a great start.

Also note the stats for November of 2017. We didn’t do any historical optimization on it this year, but we did promote it on social again. The spike this year obviously wasn’t as big as the last, but it did still perform better than it had before re-optimization.

We tried this process on a few other blogs and, while we saw some success, it wasn’t all that impressive.

So, we decided to ignore one of the normal guidelines.

In the articles I read about historical optimization, most recommended using posts that were a year or two old, tops.

But here’s the thing: in the previous year or two, we really didn’t have that many great posts to pick from (remember how we talked about our blog not getting the attention it needed the previous year?).

We did, however, have a really old blog post that still got some traffic and, more importantly, seemed to address a question that a lot of people were asking.

And that question was: What is an SEO Specialist?

This was originally posted in 2011.

Let me say that again: 2011!!!

Is that really something that fits with this notion of historical optimization, or are we just being silly at this point?

Well, on February 8 of 2017 we gave it a go, and here’s what happened:

None of us expected to see it attract that much traffic that fast. Nearly a year later and this is still one of our top performing blog posts.

So, this historical optimization works right? Why not just do this on every blog that seems to have even a little modern relevance to it?

Well, because there is more going on here.

Extra (but relevant) Lesson: Content Doesn’t Exist in a Vacuum

Notice that from February of 2016 to August things were pretty much a straight line of mediocrity – right up until that noticeable traffic bump in September.

This was because our VP was doing a lot of long-overdue work on the site.

He wasn’t doing anything to the blog, just taking care of a lot of the technical SEO details that really needed an update.

As a result, we saw a lot of traffic increases like this across the board.

Why is this important to mention here?

Because there’s a tendency to believe that one can “SEO a page” and be done with it.

It doesn’t work like that, though.

SEO is big picture stuff. You can’t just do “the latest SEO thing” on one page and expect to succeed. You go big or you go home.

Would this page have performed as well without taking care of those technical details first? It’s hard to say for sure, but we can say that it at least contributed to the more explosive growth.

So, the moral of the story is: content marketing and SEO go hand-in-hand, and you can’t do one without the other.

Topics are More Important than Keywords

In the last few years, we’ve also seen a lot of people talking about the importance of focusing on topics over keywords. This article in particular caught my eye, but there is a lot of information around this idea.

In simple terms, the process works a lot like this:

Create a “content pillar” based on a specific topic. (In our case, we would focus on using each of our service pages as the topics and the content pillars.)

Create supporting content based on the long-tail keywords that are related to that topic. This will help you cover a wide range of subjects and even help you fill out that content calendar.

Link all the related content together. This way you’re effectively creating several “topic networks” within your website.

This idea of a topic network was very appealing, and it fit in well with historical optimization strategies.

After all, we’ve already got a ton of information surrounding that topic. We just had to go back and update those blogs with links to the content pillars as well as some of the other relevant blogs.

Get Your Social Sorted

Effective promotion is, of course, another cog in this grinding machine. Previously, we were at least guaranteed to post at least once on our social media channels about a new blog, but that was about it.

We never really revisited all our content after the initial posting, so we knew that had to change.

Many of you may have seen various charts and graphs floating around that recommend number of posts for every social media channel and how often they should be posted.

Most of those were a little heavy-handed for what we wanted.

The idea was to get the word out about the blog posts, not to flood our channels with reminders to look at our stuff.

So, the formula we used was something like this:

2 Facebook posts – One on launch, one a month later

3 Tweets – One on launch, one a week later, and the last one a month later

1 LinkedIn post on launch

1 Google+ post on launch

1 Pinterest post if it related to an infographic or something similar

And now, going forward, can start bringing some of these year-old posts back into the social rotation and get even more value out of them.

Summing It Up

It’s fun to say things like “the results speak for themselves,” but in this case, I apparently felt the need to add another 19k works on top of the results. So, if you didn’t make it through all of that, here are the takeaways.

This is not an overnight solution for more blog traffic. It’s a sustainable method for constant growth.

Build a foundation on a usable content calendar. Be sure to leverage the individual knowledge and specialties of people in the company so you can cover a range of important aspects.

Re-optimize older blogs that still have some traffic or conversion potential.

Remember that your overall SEO strategies will have a big impact on your blog traffic, so don’t just publish and hope for the best.

Improve your site-wide strategy by focusing on topics rather than keywords.

Make sure you’re supporting all these steps with proper promotion across your social channels.

You can get affordable SEO services in Breckenridge, CO from SEO company in Silverthorne and can increase your visibility and rankings in search results.

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yahoo-puck-daddy-blog · 8 years ago

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Puck Daddy Bag of Mail: Playoff points system; buy out Girardi or Staal?

NHL

Hey everyone, with the NCAA season over, it’s time to roll out a new feature for the summer. It’s a mailbag column. People love those.

How is it possible that one team is already through to the Conference Final? Didn’t the playoffs start just, like, a week ago?

Well since we’re chugging right along, there’s a whole bunch of new pressing questions that people need answered. And folks, who better to answer questions about hockey than your old buddy RL?

No one, that’s who. So here we go:

Zachary Martindale asks via email:

“Which point system should the NHL use for its regular season?”

First of all, I have to say this question was so good because my man Zachary not only asked it, but also wrote several paragraphs comparing various point systems — and even included his own, which awarded no points for any losses and brought back ties — and had two separate charts.

The email also pointed out that under just about any system, the actual teams that made the playoffs wouldn’t change, except that a 3-2-1 system like the one the IIHF uses would have put the Islanders in over the Maple Leafs.

Personally I advocate a system where the number of points awarded per game does not change. The idea of three-point games existing in a world where you only get two points for any sort of win is galling, especially because there’s no incentive to win in regulation except to avoid giving your opponent a guaranteed point and a coin flip’s chance at one more.

I also don’t like the idea that a loss in even a 3-on-3 overtime is worth the same as a shootout loss. Theoretically, having the ability to not-lose at 3-on-3 should be rewarded more than losing at 3-on-3.

Which is why I like a 5-to-0 points system. It awards points like this:

Again, the reason I think a shootout loss should be more valuable than an overtime loss is that you pushed it as close to a coin flip as you possibly could without winning. But teams would be so desirous of coming out on the right side of that huge swing between four and one point that playing conservative at 3-on-3 wouldn’t happen.

Good question. Very fun. Will never happen.

Kung Fu Kyle asks:

“What are the most obvious moves the Blues need to make for next year?”

If we’re all agreeing Jake Allen is their goalie, then the only real changes they need to make are in their depth. They’re bringing together a pretty good collection of higher-end young players at the forward and defensive positions (though obviously they need someone besides Parayko who can get the puck up the ice reliably).

I mostly like this team’s roster.

If you can find a way to not-play some of the guys the Blues played down the stretch, both on the blue line and up front, this team gets a lot better. As long as Allen is good — and I would say he wasn’t in the Preds series — this is a pretty strong Western Conference team already, and shoring up its few remaining depth issues will help a lot.

Another change I would make is to go back in time and not-fire Ken Hitchcock but my understanding is the technology just isn’t there yet.

Dan Michaelson asks:

“Have the Preds proven that they have the best D-corps in the NHL with their performance during the playoffs?”

I don’t think they really had anything to prove in this regard in the first place. This has been the best 1-4 (with a rotating cast of minor characters in the 5-6) pretty much since the start of the second half when everything came together.

All the talk about “PK Subban might actually be more like a No. 3/4 defenseman” was obviously silly on its face, but the fact that he’s only the best on this team by a relatively slim margin, and that there’s not a huge dropoff from second-best to fourth-best tells you plenty. Add in two guys who, in the playoffs, seem to be acquitting themselves well in support roles, and you’ve got a group that will bring you plenty of success.

Ask me on any given day who the second-best defender in this group is, and it’s likely to change. I think Ellis and Ekholm are both very good No. 2/3 defenders, and while Josi is probably a little overrated, he’s still clearly a No. 2/3 as well. When you have three guys like that, you’re going to go far.

I think what’s happening here is people are actually watching the Predators now, and seeing they play fun hockey in which the defense supports the offense getting the puck up the ice to an extent most teams can’t. You watch good teams for 10 games over two-plus weeks, and all of a sudden you start to say things like, “This is the best D-corps in the NHL.”

This happens all the time when good players on lesser-known (that is, not-on-TV-as-much) teams make deep playoff runs. If the Flames hadn’t gotten crushed in the first round, people would suddenly have a lot of good things to say about Dougie Hamilton and TJ Brodie, too.

This always had the potential to be the best ‘D’ in the league. Now it is. People are just now catching up.

Mike Haley asks:

“If Mike Sullivan has one more great regular season and another 4+ playoff wins – where do you start putting him on a top coach list?”

I’m starting to wonder if he shouldn’t already. The fact that the Penguins keep rolling despite all these big injuries, the year after winning a Cup and then finishing second in the best division in the league by far, is a testament to his quality.

You can say — and believe me, people have said, “Well look who his forwards are.” It’s a great group to be sure. But we saw what Sullivan’s predecessor (I want to say his name was Mike something? Steve? Who can remember?) did with this same group: jack squat.

And look, remember when everyone said Mike Babcock was a genius despite having Lidstrom, Zetterberg, Datsyuk, and so on to send over the boards every shift? Why should Sullivan be treated any differently?

If they make another Eastern Conference Final (or more) under this guy, then follow that up with another 100-plus point season and roll over whoever they play in the first round, anyone who’s still a holdout on the “Sullivan is an elite coach” bandwagon is just mad that he’s not Canadian.

Angry 1999 Banner asks:

“If NYR can only buyout Staal or Girardi, which should it be? Basically, what’s the summer plan for to fix the blue line?”

I think the addition of Neal Pionk out of Minnesota-Duluth is a crucial one. He seemed NHL-ready this season and having the ability to bring in a guy like that on an entry-level deal is vital with the Rangers relatively close to being capped-out.

They have about $12-13 million to spend, not accounting for any rookies (like Pionk) they can bring aboard, and some RFAs they have to re-sign, including Mika Zibanejad.

If you’re only going to buy out one of those two guys — and maybe hope the other gets claimed by Vegas — I think the one you have to buy out is Girardi, because he’s used in more high-leverage minutes and is also 33, signed for three more seasons. Theoretically he has far less value than does Staal in a potential trade, though I can’t imagine there are too many Staal suitors out there either.

Other than that I don’t know how much fixing the Rangers blue line actually gets. While the supporting crew beyond Ryan McDonagh isn’t great, it’s not that bad either, especially if you put Skjei into a bigger role and maybe find a relative bargain on the open market come July (there are always good depth options available).

But the thing is, time is of the essence. People are complaining about Henrik Lundqvist in these playoffs but he’s about .930 right now. Maybe you think his below-average regular season is a harbinger of things to come, which requires more immediate triage. But again, there are a lot of Rangers contracts the team is just stuck with.

In a perfect world they’re both gone. In a more realistic one, you keep Staal and don’t let Vigneault put him on the ice in late-game situations where you’re trying to protect a lead. But that’s a whole other thing.

Finally, JR Lind asks:

“Did the Preds win surpass WrestleWar ’89 as the greatest moment in Nashville sports history?”

As we all know, WrestleWar ’89 was a largely mediocre show, which included a famously terrible TV title match between Sting and the Iron Sheik. However, the show is also really memorable because of the Heavyweight title match between Ric Flair and the champion Ricky Steamboat.

Flair spends most of the match working the knee to weaken Steamboat for his patented finishing hold, but Steamboat’s knee buckled on an attempted body slam and Flair rolled him up for the pinfall.

It’s widely considered one of the greatest matches in the history of professional wrestling, and you can watch all of it here:

youtube

Of course, Flair and Steamboat had two other five-star matches in 1989 alone. They also, unofficially, had a match that surpassed them all at an untelevised event in Maryland the same year. You can find actual CCTV footage of that here, but the quality’s not great since it’s from 1989 and a single camera quite a ways from the ring.

Anyway, to answer the question, no, as good as the game was a 3-1 regulation win in a Predators/Blues game — no matter the stakes — does not equal this match. Is it more important? Probably, yeah, but Ryan Ellis didn’t put anyone in the Figure Four for a good three minutes, so I gotta say Flair/Steamboat are still the reigning champs.

Sorry.

Ryan Lambert is a Puck Daddy columnist. His email is here and his Twitter is here.

(All stats via Corsica unless otherwise noted.)