As a blogger by passion and copywriter by profession, I’m constantly looking for better ways to write. One mistake I’ve often made is creating relevant but time-bound content like Digital Marketing Trends to Watch Out for in 2020 or Top Punjabi Songs that are Breaking All Records in 2021. These articles result in a sharp spike in readership which declines to ‘zero’ in the long run.
A little research saved all my hard work from going down the drain and I thought of sharing my learning with you!
What is evergreen content?
True to its name, evergreen content is a piece of work that remains relevant over a long period.
It is any written, visual or audio piece that covers the basics of a topic in such a way that it’s useful today and 10 years from now. Some facts will never change, like the sun rising in the east or rivers flowing from the hills to plains. You need to find a constant in your niche and talk about it. Instead of writing about the fashion trends of a season, you could talk about how you can fix a fashion misconception that people have had over time and are likely to have in the future.
What is sought today, might not be tomorrow, so it’s always a great idea to have a good mix of trending and evergreen content.
What’s the difference between trendy content and evergreen content?
Trendy content has a shelf-life. It covers news and current affairs - Neeraj Chopra bagging a silver at the World Athletics Championship or the swearing-in of President Draupadi Murmu. It also includes season and festival-specific topics that don’t even last the year.
Don’t get me wrong! Sharing your opinion on what’s NOW is a brilliant idea. It grabs eyeballs and lets you express yourself right in the minute. In fact, brands like Amul, Durex and Dunzo thrive on Moment Marketing - the kind of marketing that lies on the opposite end of the spectrum from where you’ll find evergreen marketing.
Evergreen content, however, has long-term relevance. Creating guides, tutorials and listicles on Why Businesses Need a Content Strategy or 5 Kitchen Hacks for a Working Mother is one way to go. You can opt for writing handbooks that will be used as reference at any point in the future. Add to this some reviews and testimonials and you have a handful of evergreen pieces in the pipeline.
Tips to create evergreen content
1. Pick ‘evergreen’ topics
How-to articles, tips, hacks and definitions related to your niche are popular themes to think about. Surprisingly, case studies and reports are evergreen too. The importance of the latter two might seem time-bound but they are a treasure trove for researchers. Such pieces of work garner clicks and linkbacks over the years due to their veracity.
What’s more, you can do plenty with valuable content:
- Write a blogpost/infographic today
- Spin it into an ebook or guide tomorrow
- Turn it into a podcast simultaneously
- Pin it up as a series of social media posts
And whatnot!
2. Update regularly
Picking a topic, like 7 Tips to Be a Great Copywriter, is only the first step. The real challenge that comes with ever-relevant topics is the fact that they’ve probably been written and spoken about several times over. You need to take an idea you like and give it your personal spin. Expertise and opinion are welcome. It provides freshness to an otherwise ‘used’ topic, making it relevant and valuable.
Creating evergreen content might be a one-time effort but that doesn’t free you from the responsibility of keeping it nice and spruced up. Google and other search engines, like people, prefer fresh articles so even though your topic is ‘forever’, you need to tweak the matter with new perspectives and discoveries.
In fact, the whole point of evergreen content is to be loved by search engines. If they don’t see it fit to be shown to readers, all other efforts to appeal to people are in vain.
3. Be transparent
Don’t hide the date of publication or article date stamp. Say, if you’ve published an article on your blog in January 2019, you can always update it from time to time with a note stating the fact - This article was updated in April 2022. Being upfront about the date of publishing lends authenticity and shows your honest effort.
4. Leverage the power of social media
The power of social media is massive - use it. Your job doesn’t end with churning out great content. To ensure it reaches the right set of audience who is interested in your kind of articles, you must learn how to navigate various social channels.
Especially those channels that support evergreen content unlike Facebook, Instagram and Twitter where trending posts flourish. Pinterest and LinkedIn are platforms where your content will be appreciated for its evergreen nature.
Pro tip: Especially for bloggers - Link back to articles on your blog! Add direct links of your evergreen content to your most popular blog posts where people can easily access them over time.
5. Be mobile-friendly
Today, people are mobile and so are their devices. In a world where people live their days and nights on their phones and tablets, your content must be hosted on a responsive website. If your site is slow or doesn’t open well on multiple gadgets, you may lose significant traffic and readership.
In the end…it all matters
Certain articles will never cut it as ‘evergreen content’ and that’s all right. Continue creating it nonetheless. However, remember, with evergreen content, you don’t need to invest time and energy into creating fresh content all the time. Its relevance will see you through with just a little touch-up, now and then.
