Delete that post – stop holding on to old content
Caption created using Dall-E 3.
I am a hoarder, but not in the obvious way.
As a content creator I make a lot of stuff. For my work specifically, most of that is digital. I am mainly a graphic designer and photographer; however, I also do video, social media, UI, etc. Countless design files, raw photos, word documents live somewhere in my possession. JPEG, PDF, TIFF, you name it!
Needless to say, these files have piled up after 7+ years of content creation. To make things worse, only some of the files are organized. The first few years’ worth is mostly unorganized since I was just starting. The middle couple of years, the files are kind of organized. Now, the past few years the files are organized.
Where the real problem lies is that everything is in different places. I have a number of 2TB SSD’s that content is scattered throughout. Other files live on my computer or Google Drive. Additionally, my blog and social media profiles have old content posted that really has no place there based on my current content strategy.
Clearly, I have a problem. If you are in a similar situation as me, or you are just starting out with content creation, getting files organized and properly managed is a must. Luckily, after some research and strategizing, I have come up with a few strategies that I will be implementing to get my content organized.
Know what to keep.
As much as it pains me to say this, you don’t need to keep every file! It’s good to hold on to certain things, but when is the last time you opened that high school photoshop file of you face swapping your friends?
The easiest thing to do is to have a system. Whether it is content you have saved on a hard drive or that is posted on your website or social media: know what you are going to delete, what you are going to keep, and how long you plan to keep it for.
For example, when I am photographic a sports game, I may will likely have on average of 1,500 raw files depending on the sport. Of those 1,500, I may pick out the best 100. Finally, I’ll likely only export and publish 20-50 of those. So why do I hold on to all 1,500 photos, three years later?
A strategy for this can be to keep all of the files for one year, then delete everything other than the 100 best that you picked out initially. To take it a step further, one year later you can get rid of everything other than the 20 you exported. If you stay organized and have one day every month where you purge last year’s raw files, you will save a lot of money on storage in the long run.
When it comes to published content, look through your blogs, videos, or posts often and determine if the content still matches your goals and strategy. If it doesn’t that probably means, it’s time to delete it.
Auditing your content every so often is also just good practice to become a better content creator! An article from DivvyHQ states that, “the results of a comprehensive content audit reveal countless opportunities for improvements and new content, and guide future strategy and planning.” Being in tune with your content means you are always analyzing it and seeing where you can improve.
I get it, this can be hard to get yourself to do. As the guy who has only ever deleted raw files due to a hard drive failure, I get it. But some of the files we use as content creators can be tens or hundreds of gigabytes each! Save yourself the storage and money and delete the files you are not going to ever touch again. Come up with your own system or time periods to keep files, then get rid of them.
Use consistent naming and organization methods.
Proper naming for files and folders will save you a ton of time when you are trying to find content. This makes using the search bar more reasonable and helps you to know exactly where things are. For my saved files I use the following naming scheme: date-filename-number if needed. An example would be: 20240827-contentcreation-001.
When it comes to published content, make sure content is dated and titled (if possible) regardless of the platform. If you look at the blog post you are currently reading, the date it was published is at the top and there is a proper headline at the top.
Beyond naming, use folders to keep things grouped together. A good system for folder organization is Year > Month > Project > Sub Folders for project.
Regardless of the system or methods you use, keep it consistent. If you name and categorize everything the same (both published and backup files) you will never lose anything.
Invest in a storage system
Keep multiple copies (2-3) of your content is crucial when managing large amounts of it. I personally aim for 2 local copies (whether that’s on external drives or on my computer) and 1 cloud copy (a personal website, Google Drive, Drop Box, etc.)
The good thing about storage systems is that there is something to meet every price range at every point of your content creation journey. You can spend $20 on a flash drive or thousands on a network-attached storage system. Just have a place for all your content and know where it is!
Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.
Hi! My name is Peyton McKenzie.
I am a professional graphic designer, photographer and content creator.
I encourage you to explore my portfolio to get a better idea of the work I create. If you are interested in working with me or have inquiries of any kind, don’t hesitate to reach out over email.
