Timeless evergreen content can attract right traffic to your site for a long time. This investment gives good return, so we recommend making evergreen materials a part of your content strategy.
In this article we will try to denote the value of timeless content, explain what exactly makes it the way it is, and give you some tips on what really works.
What is evergreen content? It is a type of content that loses its value slowly. Think of manuals, guides and other reference materials. Such kind of content is helpful for users and does not require frequent updating.
Example
Here is an article about 14 examples of scrolling websites, which I wrote more than a year ago. I think it is exactly an example of eternal youth. Statistics shows that the material is still attracting readers.
It’s incredible that a post on a narrow subject of scrolling websites brings more than 15 000 page views per month, but it does. Maybe, this is the reason?
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It is a classic reference post, training and telling the history, a middle way between these two directions. Only this one article brings four-digit ad revenue per month, which is not a bad return on investment at all.
So where does the secret of creating powerful evergreen content lie? Take a look at 15 tips.
Planning
Find a middle way
Remember, content is all about your brand. The key question when creating evergreen content is: “What namely must be recognizable?” Bring the articles to the brand and vice versa – and attract a necessary audience.
Fill in the gaps
A small research can bring serious dividends. Keep an eye on trends and try to catch the wave before it subsides. Google Trends is a perfect tool for this. At the graphs note the rapid growth.
Create fresh content
Your content must look fresh no matter when it was written. Active Voice can help here.
Don’t forget to establish a high level of quality. Think of the future and avoid everything that can look outdated in a couple of years. You will possible have to update content. Dictionary is a prime example of evergreen material. Words develop over time and their meanings change. Therefore dictionaries change too.
Take a certain niche
Evergreen means not necessarily popular. You will possibly have to aim at some specific searches coverage. First, analyze the most important customer segment to understand how exactly they found the site and what attracts them. Aim the content at this group of people exactly.
Identify posts that bring the most traffic
What is the idea of these articles? Why do they keep attracting visitors? We will risk guessing that they take the first lines in the Google SERP. But why? Usually they are well-written, they are exchanged in social networks, and multiple links lead to them. Such content is very effective and, if it gives a good click-through rate, Google has no need to lower it. As soon as you understand why the posts keep working, repeat the same for other sections.
Tips
Beware of dates!
Adding a date turns content into outdated. Don’t worry about time notes in headers but try to avoid such phrases as “Last summer London hosted the Olympic Games”. News gets outdated very quickly as well as their analysis and experts’ opinions. Events are also tied to the dates. Trends and statistics data can also become out of date very quickly, but there are exception here.
Use the dates!
Sometimes content does not become outdated just because of the season. St. Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day … Traditional and religious holidays repeat from year to year and seasonal demand can bring impressive traffic. Just make articles, tips or guides on these events.
Work with emotions
Emotions cause a reaction in people, so it is important to act on people’s feelings when creating content. Make them value your help. Shock them. Make them laugh. Play with contrasts. Watch these 12 videos from Unruly Media and realize the power of different types of emotions.
Add internal links
In order Googlebot processes content properly, adds links to other articles, promotes them on your site, you should use internal links in the articles. It will help attract more visitors and promote materials in the Google SERP.
Use different platforms
You can benefit even more adding slideshow and video on the sites and distributing them through Slideshare and YouTube. People use these platforms to find an interesting material, and the best one really becomes popular. Good marketers use this method to expand the coverage of the search.
Format
Answer the questions and submit information
Create an incredibly useful content. People often look for the answers in Google, so give them information! Find appropriate questions and answer them by composing in this manner the article of a necessary type that will not become outdated and will stay in the search engines results. Use Google search query suggestions, adding “as”, “why”, or “what” to the questions on your main subjects.
Understand the trends
It may sound odd, as trends become outdated very quickly, but some of them stay longer than the others. Study the most recent and your audience will love you. Content that helps people understand the emerging trends is highly valued; it will be shared in social networks which will help you succeed.
Learn to love lists
People seem to speak ironically about the lists, but the problem is not with the form of presentation. Lousy list – lousy article. Good list – good article, which will be distributed. Readers like the lists as they are easy scan and understand. On the list of the most popular posts of 2012 from Econsultancy the lists occupy a significant share.
Learn to remodel news reports
News reports are easy to reproduce. They are often very much alike; however information material can be an excellent starting point. Find out how you can turn news report into something durable, unique and useful, like, for example, a practical guide.
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