Six tips for generating evergreen blog content
Published: July 3, 2017
Author: Vincent Hill
As its name suggests, evergreen content remains fresh and relevant, driving traffic to your company’s site as long as the Internet exists. Unlike other types of content, it’s meant for long-term success and never becomes obsolete.
The importance of posting evergreen content on your blog cannot be overstated. Not only can it be enjoyed by a wide range of readers over an indefinite period of time, it also sheds light on basic information that can serve as a starting ground for other content, turns your blog into an authoritative source for information, is highly SEO-friendly, generates leads, and drives traffic. But exactly how can you create timeless content to increase your chances of success as a blogger?
To help you, here are six ways that you can generate evergreen content to make your blog more successful:
Narrow down the topic
The first step to creating evergreen content for your blog is to determine a topic or idea you want to write about. This is the phase where countless bloggers get stuck. For them, timeless topics are hard to come by. But it’s actually not as difficult as it seems.Once you’ve come up with ideas for your content, narrow the topic down. In fact, not only do narrower topics perform well in search results, but they also tend to rank well (they’re less competitive). On the other hand, content that covers general topics doesn’t rank as well in search engines. Be specific when it comes to your titles and the content in your post.
Make your content scannable
When you post a lengthy and detailed article containing a ton of information on a specific topic, chances are that your audience won’t even bother reading it word-for-word. It’s no secret that readers scan; why not make their life easier? Instead of incorporating large chunks of text into a single paragraph, consider splitting them into shorter ones or even bullet points. Help your audience easily figure out whether your content is worth reading or not. Also, using the appropriate text-formatting tags can aid in creating scannable content.
Include attractive graphics
Appealing visuals, such as high-quality images and memes, are effective in encouraging people to read your content completely. For longer entries, make it a point to insert an image at least every 500 words. Visuals play a big role in emphasizing critical information and display a sense of professionalism (HubSpot has a great list of free do-it-yourself visual tools). Perhaps most important, remember that pictures (and screenshots) are worth a thousand words; if you find yourself spelling out something that a picture can capture, always include the latter.
Make changes to old posts as necessary
Even evergreen content may need some adjustments to make sure it still looks as fresh as the first time you posted it. Revising old content periodically ensures that it remains relevant. Additionally, remember to keep your calls-to-action updated, and always check old links to make sure they’re still valid – particularly if they’re internal links, and you’ve had a website change or overhaul.
Find a great niche
Focus on finding a great niche for your blog to help it stand out. There’s always that one thing that you are an expert in, so make it a point to create content based on that specialized knowledge. Your audience also falls into the same niche your blog is in, so writing about related topics will definitely help in drawing them in. However, if you’re having problems with this particular aspect, try first determining what your general business idea or purpose is. As soon as you’ve figured that out, come up with a narrowed-down list of specific topics or issues within that category. When you do this, it becomes easier to think of evergreen topics to write about.
Include content upgrades within your posts
An effective way to gain a larger audience (and collect leads) is to integrate content upgrades within your posts. Consider including a PDF of the post or other freebies, and collect the emails of your readers. Doing so will help you grow your email list in a consistent manner. Otherwise, there are plenty of plugins you can incorporate in your website that lock premium content under share buttons to help you increase your social signals.
Breathe new life into your blog by posting evergreen content. Doing so will help you in building your brand, increasing traffic, expanding your audience, encouraging interaction, and drawing inconsistent page views over an indefinite period of time.
