When sites report the latest trends, there are usually massive spikes in traffic. For some weeks or even months, such sites enjoy massive traffic due to that story. However, this traffic begins to fade with time because the hype dies down. This throws you into the task of having to constantly keep up your content to avoid the massive plummet. However, there’s a solution to this problem.
The solution: Evergreen content.
When something is evergreen, it can constantly retain its freshness and relevance. Evergreen trees retain their green leaves all year round, regardless of the season and temperature. So, evergreen content is simply content that retains its appeal, freshness and relevance long after being posted. This type of content usually deals with topics relevant to readers regardless of the season and news cycle.
Evergreen content is typically SEO optimised, and its search traffic does not stop increasing. This is why it typically forms the backbone of any successful SEO strategy. Generally, content is one of the most important ranking factors for SEO, but a specific type of content called “evergreen” is an essential arrow in your SEO quiver.
Why you need to invest in creating evergreen content
- It revolves around topics that maintain a sustained level of interest independent of the season. Content like this makes your blog valuable all year round and keeps your business relevant.
- When you focus on creating evergreen content, it reduces your workload because you don’t have to create new content all the time when you can update what you already have.
- It is more likely to be shared and reposted across social media platforms.
- It helps you boost search rankings and grow your organic traffic.
- It is one of the most sustainable, long-term lead generation techniques.
- It helps with your backlink and SEO strategy.
- Some kinds of evergreen content like guides and glossaries establish you as an authority in your niche.
- Evergreen content drives prospects into your sales funnel.
- It connects people to your brand because you are seen as valuable.
Best evergreen content formats
Some content formats do much better than others when creating evergreen content. If you want to create evergreen pieces, the content formats to consider are:
- Listicles
- How-to blog posts
- Pillar pages
- Interviews
- Tutorial videos
- Guest posts
- Curated links to other content valuable to your audience
- Case studies
- Glossaries
How to create evergreen content
For your content to qualify as evergreen, it must have lasting value in the minds of your audience. To start creating evergreen content, you need to:
- Identify your topic
- Identify your keywords
- Identify the format you want to use
- Create your content
- Identify your topic
To find the topic for your post, the first thing you must do is study your audience and find answers to their questions and problems. Create a user or reader persona with as much information about your audience as you can find, and use it to narrow down their pain points as they relate to your niche.
Once you have narrowed down their pain points, note the questions they will need answers to. Their most frequently asked questions, most common challenges etc., will show you what to write on.
- Identify your keywords
After noting the questions, the next thing is to distil those questions into keywords and research search volumes. This step helps you understand how much search potential is in each topic and how best to couch the topics of your posts.
Keyword research is a crucial step in creating evergreen content because you can create valuable content that does not rank because it is not adequately optimised. SEO tools like SEM Rush and Ahrefs.com offer excellent keyword research services.
You should also ensure that the topic is not seasonal. Google trends is the best tool to check whether a topic is seasonal, declining or evergreen. Some topics may seem evergreen but are declining because they are running out of use. For example, a tutorial post on setting up a Blackberry phone may have seemed evergreen when it was created, but it has declined now because Blackberries are no longer in use.
- Identify the format you want to use
After identifying the topic and keywords, the next step is deciding what format is best for the content and the audience. A guide that solves a real problem such as fixing a pipe, cooking a dish or painting a wall is most likely better in video format. In contrast, a guide that solves an intangible problem such as setting up a Facebook account may be better in text format.
In deciding your format, the factors you must pay the most attention to are your audience, niche and topic. If you did all previous steps right, all three factors would be in sync. You can also do competitor research to find out which content formats worked best for that particular topic.
- Create your evergreen content
Now, it’s time to create your evergreen content. Whether in audio, video or text format, the most important thing is to be simple, valuable and directly applicable. This is why it is highly recommended that you create evergreen content with beginners in mind. Keeping people at the beginner level of your niche in mind when creating evergreen content helps you maintain the simplicity of your work, and it helps you reach more people within your niche.
Now that you have seen how to create evergreen content and why it is essential, you must note one thing: the fact that your content is evergreen does not mean that it will not need to be updated.
Many people make a mistake with evergreen content by thinking that there is no need for recourse to it because the content is evergreen. This is not true because while the topics may remain valuable, the specifics included in the content, like dates, names etc., may change. A relevant topic with outdated information still loses some of its value and may lose all of its value in extreme cases.
Also, you should note that evergreen content should not be the only arrow in your content strategy quiver. Although people love having valuable posts they can always refer to, they also want to be in the loop and see content relating to current trends. Don’t ignore industry news and trends. Instead, incorporate them into your content strategy to work alongside your evergreen content. This will balance your brand and ultimately increase its value.