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What is Evergreen Content and How to Use it to Build Your Brand

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Search engine optimization takes time. It’s like building a house where each new addition strengthens your construction. Every blog post you write, and website page you add gives you more authority and ranking potential. Today we dive into strategies to build your evergreen content. Covering trending topics and the latest news and stats is vital for remaining relevant, but those topics don’t rank in search engines for very long. Those topics receive a considerable boost initially, but you’ll see traffic die down as people move on to the next greatest thing. Evergreen content is the opposite of that. This is a cornerstone topic that doesn’t go out of style. It just keeps generating more traffic. It ages like fine wine, becoming stronger the longer it’s alive. But, like fine wine, evergreen content requires care to hold its value. We’ll explore what evergreen content is and how you can use an evergreen content strategy to build a solid online brand. What Exactly Is Evergreen Content? Evergreen content remains relevant and doesn’t go out of style. It’s the exact opposite of breaking news and trending topics. It doesn’t expire, and people don’t lose interest in the topic over time. Here are a few examples of evergreen content: Educational Guides: How-to articles, tips, and steps for completing tasks are all examples of evergreen content. People consistently need tutorials for completing assignments and ways to sharpen their skills. Fact Articles: Facts remain relevant for a long time unless new information emerges. For example, a post on the history of newspapers won’t change much over the years since no one is taking time machines to the past and changing history. Think about encyclopedia articles. People continually consult this content to learn more about a topic or cite research in an industry. Industry Resources: Industry guides, case studies, and glossaries are necessary for employees to understand their industry and find solutions. Here are some examples that are NOT evergreen content: Current Events: If something is breaking news, readers will probably lose interest as soon as the next big event occurs. Suddenly, that article sounds outdated. Reviews: People and businesses change over time. Just because Suzy loved a restaurant in 2014 doesn’t mean that the restaurant still offers the same quality food ten years later. People who want reviews on businesses, media, and products are usually only interested in recent reviews and testimonials. Statistics: Statistics have a varied shelf life. For example, statistics from medical research studies done five years ago can still be relevant today because research studies are costly and don’t receive regular updates. However, social media usage statistics from five years ago are outdated and usually have a shelf-life of a year or two because that’s a fast-paced industry. Technology: Content referencing technology usually has a short life because technology constantly changes. Something as simple as an image or mention of a smartphone can date an article since smartphones receive annual updates in appearance and function. References to how you can use technology and what technology is available will start an expiration timer ticking. Most of your content will usually be evergreen, as that will be your primary traffic driver. How to Turn Trending Topics into Evergreen Content Here’s an insider’s tip on evergreen content. You can turn your trending content into evergreen topics through regular updates. In each update, check statistics, technology changes, and current event mentions so you’re referencing the most recent updates. Here’s an example of an article Backlinko published in October 2019. Backlinko updates the article with the new year each year, updating any out-of-date statistics and adding new facts to the post. Does this work? The article’s search traffic says it does. You can see where those updates happened, as each update caused a jump in website traffic each year, keeping it relevant. Trending vs. Evergreen Content Examples Let’s look at examples of what evergreen content isn’t, followed by examples of what evergreen content is. Here’s an article that appeared in February 2022 when the Rams won the Super Bowl. Now, let’s look at this article’s traffic trends over time. You’ll notice the immediate peak when Fox Sports published the article. It was breaking news, fresh, and exciting. People everywhere were searching for Super Bowl results. However, just a few months later, it nearly flatlined. You’ll notice again that the columnist updated the article in 2023 in preparation for a new wave of searches as the next Super Bowl arrived. That update was delivered when another spike occurred. However, a year later, the article nearly flatlines again. This is not evergreen content. This is trending content. Trending content is crucial for showing you are relevant, connecting with new traffic, trending term searches, and being an authority in your field. However, trending content won’t bring in consistent website traffic. That’s why most of your website should be evergreen content. Let’s take a look at an example of evergreen content. You’ll notice first that there are no dates or breaking news information in the title. It’s a topic that has stayed relevant through the years because people are still coaching sports teams today, just like in 2015, when this article first came out. And the numbers don’t lie. The organic traffic grew after Harvard Business Review published the article in 2015. It peaked five years later! It wasn’t until it had been out for five years that you saw a traffic dip. Even in 2024, nine years later, the article still brings in a trickle of traffic. What Is the Best Evergreen Content Format? Evergreen content can appear in any online format other than social media. Here are the most popular ways to publish evergreen content: Blog Posts: Blog posts will be your SEO’s primary strategy. They usually appear on a resource or news page on your website. Visitors can search for specific topics, share posts on social media and emails, and see these articles appear in search results. You will also link to past blog articles through internal links. … Read more

How to Grow Your Inbound Traffic by Writing Evergreen Blog Posts

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How to Grow Your Inbound Traffic by Writing Evergreen Blog Posts

This post was updated October 2019.  Picture this – summer is here, and your calendar is full of pool parties, barbecues, picnics, and whatnots. You’ve been waiting for this moment for what seems like ages. ☀ There’s only one small problem. You want to look great in your bikini, but it’s been cold out there for the past few months, so maybe you’ve stayed in and eaten one, two, or twenty more pizzas than you should’ve (no judgment, we’ve all been there!). At this point in the game, you don’t have a lot of options. You can go on an aggressive diet, use a body wrap or two, or skip a few meals. There are a lot of ways to get fast results, but the thing is, you shouldn’t be focusing on quick fixes. What you want is a sustainable approach that can get you the best results possible, and the same goes for blogging. For a long time, my approach to blogging was all about putting out as much content as possible. That’s not necessarily a bad idea since there’s a correlation between high publishing rates and increases in traffic. The problem is, quick-fire content isn’t a sustainable strategy, much like any diet that promises dramatic results in a matter of days. If you want to grow your traffic and maintain it, you need powerful, evergreen content that’s going to keep your website in the best shape of its life for years and years to come. 4 Types of Evergreen Blog Content 1. List-based articles 2. How-tos and tutorials 3. Frequently asked questions (FAQs) 4. History-based posts That’s a quick cheat sheet if you need help coming up with evergreen blog post ideas. If you stick to those types of content, you’re on the right path. However, you may need a little help coming up with ideas, so keep reading! [bctt tweet=”If you just fire out short trending posts that will be irrelevant tomorrow, you’ll have a hard time getting results. Better grow your traffic with evergreen blog posts. @JuliaEMcCoy shares what you should start posting now. ” username=”ExpWriters”] 2 Types of Blog Content: Evergreen Posts vs. Trending Topics We can break down most of the content you’ll run across in blogs into two categories: Posts that have to do with current trends Evergreen content Both types of blog posts have the potential to bring a lot of traffic to your website. However, content that focuses on trending topics has an expiration date. The best way to put that into perspective is to take a look at Google’s most popular searches for the past years. Here are some of the shiny things that caught our collective attention in 2017: Source: Google Now compare that to 2018 and you’ll see there’s little overlap: Source: Google The trends themselves change, but certain topics never go out of style. For example, those two breakdowns tell us that as a society, we care a little bit too much about sports and celebrities. Spotting those types of big-picture trends is important because it enables you to come up with blog post ideas that tap into more lasting concerns. I’m talking about the type of content that your readers care about now, and they’ll still care about in five years. Chances are if you’ve been blogging for a while, you’ve already written some evergreen posts without even noticing it. The best way to spot them is to take a look at your website’s analytics. Usually, there’s a spike of interest around new content. It brings in some traffic, and then that flow of traffic turns into a trickle. Evergreen blog posts, on the other hand, tend to bring in a steady amount of traffic over time. Source: Google Analytics Blogging about current trends may give you a great ROI in the short term. However, evergreen content is the equivalent of that healthy lifestyle that will see you get to the pool party with the same six-pack you’ve been sporting all year. Keep in mind, though – just because you follow a healthy diet, doesn’t mean there isn’t room for burgers and pizza somewhere in there and the same goes for blogging. It’s very difficult to build an entire blog around evergreen content only because it tends to require a ton of work. Ideally, you’ll have a healthy mix of blog posts that target current trends and evergreen articles. That way, you’ll maximize your traffic growth, and you’ll be able to maintain it ✔️ 4 Types of Content That Make for Great Evergreen Blog Posts As a rule of thumb, evergreen content is in-depth, and it has built-in longevity. Let’s break down the five types of blog content that fit those criteria. 1. List-Based Articles The web is obsessed with list-based articles. If you do a random Google search right now, I’m willing to bet that most of the articles that come up are based on lists. The logic here is simple. List-based articles enable you to judge an article’s worth at a glance. Know what’s better than learning 5 ways to tie your shoelaces? Learning a cool 15. Can’t argue with that logic. When it comes to evergreen content, you want lists that aren’t tied to specific products or events since those can change over time. Instead, go back to the basics and focus on everlasting advice. Articles like “6 Super Simple Tips for Writing Clear Sentences” will never go out of style. 2. How-Tos and Tutorials The internet is amazing for a lot of reasons. Not only is it the best source for cat-based humor, but you can find guides on how to do anything. Let’s say, for example, you want to learn how to change a tire. It doesn’t matter if no one ever taught you – you can look it up online, read a quick tutorial, and you’re in business. Notice how lists are also incredibly popular when it comes to tutorials. If you can find a topic that you can … Read more

How Effective Is Evergreen Site Content for SEO & Websites?

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How Effective Is Evergreen Site Content for SEO & Websites?

This post was updated October 2019. Most websites live and die by search engines. Searches drive 34.8% of all online traffic, so it shouldn’t surprise you that, on average, 27% of marketing budgets go into content. After all, if readers can’t find yours, your website might as well not exist. Here’s the problem, though – most content has a limited shelf life. We’re not kidding when we say limited, either. Some studies say, by the time a blog post turns one-month-old, it’s already past its peak. That’s about the same as the lifespan of a common housefly. Nowadays, the flow of information never stops. Every day, WordPress users alone publish a staggering 2.75 million new articles, and those guys make up about only about 60% of the internet. To put it simply, if you want your website to stay relevant, you need content that can stand the test of time. You need evergreen, onsite content. Are you ready to increase your post’s longevity? Of course you are, so let’s get to it! Why Evergreen Site Content Is Essential for Your Website’s SEO Evergreen content on your site is the little black dress of the marketing world – it always works for you, and it never goes out of style. We already talked about the short shelf life of most online content. That happens because as time passes, the things people search for change. Let’s say, for example, you’re in the market for a new computer, and you’re looking for a buying guide. The search results you see in 2019 aren’t going to be the same ones as the ones from 2018. New products come out so fast, the results you see during Q1 and Q4 within the same year will probably look very different. [bctt tweet=”Clueless on what to publish? Go for something that lasts — start writing evergreen site content! @JuliaEMcCoy tells why they win over content with limited shelf life and some tips on creating one. ?” username=”ExpWriters”] Now, what happens if instead of looking for a buying guide, you search for “what do I need to know when buying a computer?”. Here are some of the results you’d see: While the products themselves might change, the basics of what you need to know before you buy a computer likely won’t for a long time. Here’s why that’s good news for you: Evergreen content will keep bringing in traffic long after other posts on your blog start collecting dust. Evergreen content is more likely to attract backlinks, particularly the more in-depth you go. If you choose your topics well, evergreen content will always be of interest to your audience. In movie terms, think of evergreen content as a baseball field. “If you build it, they will come,” and they will keep coming for years. 2 Simple Tips to Create Evergreen Site Content for Your Blog We know evergreen content is the bee’s knees, but how exactly do you go about creating it? That’s the kind of topic we could write a book about. For now, though, let’s talk a minute about the two key pieces to getting evergreen content right every time: 1. Pick Evergreen Topics The bad news is, not all topic ideas lend themselves well to evergreen content. When we create content, one of the things we ask ourselves is who are we writing for? You always need to have an audience in mind, and your content needs to answer a specific question. If you think people aren’t going to be asking that question in a month or a year, then that’s not an evergreen topic. Some examples of imaginary articles that are not evergreen content would be: Best Running Shoes to Buy in 2019 Your Guide to The Emmys (And Who Won What) What if we were to flip those ideas around and look for an evergreen content angle? Here’s what that might look like: What You Need to Know Before You Buy Running Shoes (X Important Tips) The Emmys Throughout History: X Key Defining Moments Evergreen content doesn’t need to come in list form, but hey, who doesn’t love a good list? Search engines most certainly do! The takeaway here is, in most cases, there’s an evergreen angle you might not be considering. With a little brainstorming, it should come to you. 2. In-Depth Research Makes Truly Evergreen Content Content that stands the test of time does so because it’s thorough. To put it another way, there are articles and there are articles. The latter category includes the type of content that’s evergreen because it covers a topic from every angle you can imagine. It’s the same logic behind Skyscraper pieces. Someone might have already tackled an idea before you do, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do it better. But to get there, you need to do tons of research. If you don’t know a topic in and out, you can’t write about it with authority. Without authority, your content will wilt, and other websites will knock you out of the top spots in the search engine result pages (SERPs). We know what happens once you lose those coveted spots, you want to hold onto them as tightly as possible. Writing evergreen content requires a massive investment of time, which is why, in some cases, the smart move is to bring in expert help. [bctt tweet=”Two key pieces to remember when creating evergreen site content: 1) pick the right evergreen topics — have your audience in mind and your content should answer their questions. 2) research — and tons of it!” username=”ExpWriters”] Get the Most Out of Your Content Marketing Budget with Evergreen Site Content If you want truly evergreen content, your best bet is to hire expert writers that know the subject in and out. They can help you pick the right topics, do the research for you, and then you can sit back and let your website reap the rewards. Evergreen content is a surefire way to enhance your content … Read more

How to Build Evergreen Content That Actually Builds Your Brand: 5+ Tips, Tricks and Methods to Get Started Today

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How to Build Evergreen Content That Actually Builds Your Brand: 5+ Tips, Tricks and Methods to Get Started Today

Evergreen content is magical. ✨ Why? It never loses its green. While lots of other types of content eventually turn brown, lose their readers, and die off, evergreen content remains fresh, interesting, and relevant. It’s always green, and it keeps bringing in the green – whether that means traffic, engagement, conversions, or even sales. So, the question at hand is not whether you need it. Let’s face it:  you do. If you haven’t yet… The question now is how to build evergreen content that is actually forever green.  Today on the blog, I’m answering that question. Let’s dive in. First: What’s the Opposite of Evergreen Content? Evergreen content has a polar opposite, and it’s important to define that as we get started. Content that is fleeting or quickly dated because it’s based on current stats, trends, news, or data is not evergreen. Some examples: Announcements and event summaries Blogs discussing trends in your industry News stories Holiday or season-centered posts (with exceptions) The information in these types of content has an expiration date. They will cease being useful after a certain point in time. Meanwhile, evergreen content is always useful, relevant, and valuable, even if a reader stumbles on your content months, or even years, after you publish it. A good mix of both is a healthy way to publish content on your website. Take a look at how Content Marketing Institute mixes up the two on their blog: 5 Evergreen Content Examples and Topics with Everlasting Life Before we get into how to build evergreen content, let’s look at some examples in action. These evergreen content topics are tried-and-true, as you’ll see from the blogs below. 1. How-To Blogs and Articles A good, evergreen how-to post teaches your readers a concept, idea, or skill that has lasting value. It’s something they can refer to over and over, now and in the future. Copyblogger – “How to Get More Value Out of the Content You Consume” Copyblogger has lots of examples of great how-to posts. One that has lasting value is their blog on how to judiciously consume content. 2. Curated Content Lists Curated content lists have a lasting value up to a point – they may include tools or tips that can lose relevancy. But, as long as you update them to reflect changing technology, you’ll have a solid evergreen post that will last and last with little effort. Social Media Examiner – “18 Apps and Tools for Social Media Marketers” This post from Social Media Examiner is a perfect example of a curated list. If any of the tools become obsolete or outdated, they can update the post on an as-needed basis. 3. Stories/Interviews Stories and interviews have lasting value as content because they tap into the wisdom of thought leaders, innovators, or pioneers in the industry. Or, think of it this way: Storytelling never goes out of style. People love hearing about people, so including real human stories in your content has evergreen value. Content Marketing Institute – “’Stay Scrappy’ and More Wisdom on Creativity from a Pixar Animator” Pixar is a successful animation studio known for its innovation, creativity, and storytelling chops. This interview with a Pixar animator by Marcia Riefer Johnson for CMI showcases how you can successfully glean inspiration and wisdom from creators across industries. This information will stay relevant for a long time. 4. Original Research/Case Studies Despite the fact that the data they present will eventually become dated, case studies and original research are definitely evergreen content for two reasons: 1. You can pull universal truths from them – strategies, techniques, or steps that others can learn from. 2. They tell a story. These two factors are universally valuable, no matter the date of the study/research. EW – “Blogging ROI Case Study: How 18,000 Keywords in Google Bring Us Six-Figure Income Months” For our own case study here at EW, I get transparent and share how we have grown our success using blogging, SEO, and content strategy. (This particular piece of content pulls double evergreen duty – it includes an interview with one of our top clients, too.) 5. FAQs + Answers to Common Industry Questions Odds are, people/customers new to your industry or brand ask a LOT of the same questions. This lets you assume there is a base of knowledge you can share that has lasting value for ALL newbies who come through your door. Hence, the FAQ post. In this content type, you list the most frequently asked questions you receive from said newbies, then offer definitive answers. Search Engine Watch – “Duplicate Content FAQ: What Is It and How Should You Deal with It?” SEOers get regular questions about the mysteries of Google search regularly. This post smartly addresses a general topic area (duplicate content and the effect it has on SEO) and answers FAQs that many confused marketers ask over and over. How to Build Evergreen Content It’s time to get down to creating evergreen content. Our best tips to get started are right here: 1. Write for Beginners When Building Your Topic For any type of content creation, you need to have an audience firmly in mind before you begin. However, when building evergreen content, you should hone in on beginners to your topic vs. any other group. Why? Because these are the people most likely to be searching for help. And, above all, evergreen content is helpful and useful for the long-term. 2. Narrow Your Focus If you attempt to explain a topic that’s too broad in your evergreen content… Well, you could be writing for weeks. Take, for example, a topic like World War II. This is a huge, sprawling topic that has innumerable sub-topics. For example, which year or span of years during WWII are getting your attention? Will you approach the topic from the viewpoint of the Nazis, the Allies, the Axis, or the Americans? What countries will you cover? Which battles/attacks? Which leaders? Screenshot via Wikipedia Behemoth topics like this one are also harder for readers to immediately … Read more

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