With many brands and companies using social media to share topical bite-size pieces of content, it’s easy to forget about arguably the most important form of content: evergreen.
Evergreen content is information that doesn’t have a use-by date. It remains relevant and useful without the need for constant updates, and acts as your bread and butter when it comes to continuously driving traffic to your website.
Evergreen content: the basics
Having timeless resources is key to any content strategy, whether those are white papers, how-to guides or any number of other ideas that won’t expire. But how do you make sure that this type of content gets seen among a crowd of ever-updating social campaigns, topical blog posts and news articles?
At the heart of all good content are three key qualities: make it useful, make it shareable and make it link-worthy.
Consider the needs of your customers first and foremost. What questions do they need answering? What problems do they have that you can solve? By building a knowledge base of helpful content that can always be found easily, you increase brand trust while paving the way for that evergreen information to be shared on from user to user. Good evergreen content continues to be relevant long past its publication, which means that traffic towards it continues to grow over time.
Types of evergreen content you could create
Creating evergreen copy might sound like hard work, but in reality, there are all manner of easy and effective opportunities. Popular choices include things like:
• ‘How To’ or ‘Where To’ guides and tutorials
• Best practice guidelines
• Histories of your company or its industry
• Case studies and white papers
• Problem solvers and FAQs
• Content curation
• Checklists and beginner’s guides
What to consider when writing evergreen content
The aim of any evergreen piece is to drive traffic to your site, which means that good keyword research is an important part of the process. Look for high volume, low competition terms that your site could and should rank for, and develop your ideas around them – SEO copywriting is key.
It might feel like the topics you’d most like to write about have already been covered. What’s important when creating your own evergreen content is to add a unique viewpoint, or to go into more depth than your competitors. Take the time to do thorough research and make sure that copy stays as informative as it is readable. Evergreen content should not be a brief overview – plan longer content that contains more information and stands a better chance of being favoured in search
Lastly, know your audience. In many instances, you are writing as an expert but to a target audience of beginners. In some industries, you are only writing for experts. Pitch the tone and style of your piece to suit your audience – not solely the readers you want, but the readers you are likely to get.
Making the most of it
Don’t be afraid to use an evergreen piece as the building block for other content. Repurpose information into blog posts, infographics and videos, and link back to the original information each time. It’s also worth remembering that people aren’t just going to find the original post on their own – written correctly, evergreen content is relevant whenever you share it, so share and reshare through social channels and get your work the attention it needs.
While this type of content shouldn’t need any huge rewrites or updates, it’s also a good idea to keep an eye on any new SEO considerations that might arise in the time after the piece is published. The content itself may be up to date, but SEO practices are always evolving and checking up on your content to make sure it still ticks all the boxes is not to be overlooked.
The take home
Ultimately, a little evergreen content goes a long way. It provides you with a real opportunity to nurture and grow your brand, wherever you are, through the use of central pieces of re-marketable content over a substantial period of time.
Are you looking for high-quality copywriting services to take your business to the next level? To find out more, get in touch with our experts for a personalised quote.