There is no such thing as a right or wrong answer when it comes to good content. Marketers will all give you a different answer. And they will give you a lot of them! But there are key goals you are trying to achieve when it comes to your website material. And especially your posts. You need to learn how to create Evergreen content.
You could be looking at trying to drive traffic.
Or you want to put in backlinks, and develop more shares.
Or you want to get your SEO game up.
However there is one thing all marketers are in agreement on.
The longer your content can keep fulfilling your goal, the better.
It’s much better to have a blog post which is still delivering helpful tips and information to new visitors a month, or even a year or decade after it has been created.
Does this sound far fetched?
It shouldn’t do. You don’t just want your content to be popular.
You want it to be evergreen. Which means its as relevant in 10 years as it is today.
“The best evergreen content is the holy grail of content
marketing. It’s that article that consistently ranks well in search and drives
65 percent of your site traffic, even though it was written in 2011.”
So how do you create this kind of content?
Here are some tips to planning your successful evergreen content strategy.
Take Your Time To Create Evergreen Content
It takes a lot more time to create evergreen content because it needs to stand the test of time.
However, the rewards are most definitely worth it.
If you create a really successful piece of evergreen content, it can have an impact on your business for years to come.
This can be a repeatable process. You just need to look for what is really populsr in your industry and delivers the best value to your audience.
A great way of getting ideas is to brainstorm.
You need to create content that consistently drives traffic to your site so you get a win.
However, not all traffic is created equal. The challenge is find that balance of what is interesting, sustainable, and relevant to your business interests.
Find Evergreen Content That Already Exists
Make sure you choose content that is a topic which will never expire.
What does that mean?
It means it is more than just popular. It’s more than just a trend.
It’s more than the top picks for the year.
So for example, in my business, a blog post about writing blog posts and what to put in them.
That is something people are always going to need to read about and learn if they have any kind of online presence.
Look For Opportunities To Improve What’s Already Out There
There is a term the “skyscraper technique” which was developed by Brian Dean.
He says whenever he sees a listicle, he uses items from what he has read, and then adds to it with more material he has devised himself.
This means he puts his post in a place to beat already popular content ahead of him on Google.
If it’s not a listicle, there are other types of format you can use and extend:
Why posts
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is posts
Glossaries
How To Guides
Industry Resources
Tutorials
Infographics
Always Make Sure Your Evergreen Content Is Helpful
You must always want to help your customer with your evergreen content. Think about the best way you can serve them.
It needs to be genuine and write without expecting anything. This is not about trying to get emails or phone numbers.
This is about building trust with your readers and audience. So they feel they can get the answers from you.
Here are some ways you can get ideas for what your customers and clients would like:
Listen in on customer calls so you know what they need.
Attend industry events and networking groups to get a feel for what people are most concerned about and need help with.
Call customers directly and ask what they want. You can also reach out on social media.
Seek advice from your colleagues.
Use search engine result pages and forums
Make sure you take plenty of notes when compiling your ideas and list.
You can even interview your customers. This will give them the chance to open up to you about things they are struggling with.
Which you may not have known about before.
Create A Schedule And Include Updates
Doing this is so much easier when you are following a schedule. It enables you to see what you are doing and when you are doing it.
And the bottom line is to get traffic to your site and get it seen, you need to be updating it all the time.
You should look at doing this once a year, so you can add more information and the latest tips in.
If your content starts to lose popularity, you can simply update rather than start all over again.
You can also get great value out of the URL on your content. Make sure they don’t have dates or numbers and always update them.
Julie Bramble has some great how to’s on this topic:
Choose a theme or subject that is as timeless as possible.
Remember not to include dates where at all possible, or references such as ‘last year’ or ‘2 months ago.
Try not to include references to very popular celebrities or TV programs that could date your content.
Review your content from time to time, to make sure that it still comes across as being vibrant and relevant.
An alternative approach is to make your content very specific to a particular time point (for example a list of online tools) but then to make sure it gets updated at very regular intervals.”
If you liked this post, then please check out my other post on how to get yourself on a guest blog and what to write. And you can also get more tips and tricks on my Facebook – Media Content Guru, and Instagram page – @theoriginalzoenauman.
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