Everyone who has to deal with content in any of its manifestations knows that it is the key to everything in digital and social media. Whether we are talking about a blog, website, or even creating social media content, if the delivered information is fresh and engaging, it will attract the audience and become a warranty of success – especially if it is evergreen content.
Respectively, if the data you provide is not appealing, your site is doomed to fail. It doesn’t really matter whether you are the one responsible for content writing, or if you prefer to collaborate with freelance writers. Even if you are not involved in the process itself, you still need to have a strong sense of what your audience craves.
How else can you satisfy your target audience’s needs and ensure your website’s or blog’s success?
And how can you keep your content fresh and trending? Several solutions could help. First of all, you can invest lots of time and money in generating more blog posts. However, the easiest way to drive more website traffic, rank well in search engines, and ensure long-term success is to engage in creating evergreen content!
What Is Evergreen Content?
Speaking of content that rank well and bring your blog or website numerous benefits, it is impossible to go past the concept of evergreen content.
The main idea behind the type of content that we call evergreen is that it never becomes obsolete. In simple words, this term relates to materials that remain relevant over the years and keep driving traffic to your website in the long run.
So, basically, if you engage in filling your site with this type of content, you only need to write it once. Later, you’ll continue getting benefits from it for years to come. How cool is that?
However, defining this concept, there is one thing to keep in mind. As you can already understand, not every type of content can remain fresh and relevant to the day. For example, you can never turn a news post into an evergreen piece.
News is only relevant for a short time, and often, such posts become obsolete in a few days or weeks, if not hours.
What topics remain relevant? Apart from time-sensitive subjects like gadgets, presentations, or news, there is a whole range of themes that never become irrelevant.
Articles on topics like health, personal development, blogging, and other evergreen themes will contribute to your blog’s long-term success. People will be interested in reading such pieces, even five years from now. Let’s figure out the many themes which could be classified as both evergreen ones as well as those with a short expiration date. For example, when someone posts the results of Facebook quizzes, this info is a flash in the pan, but it can be noticeable even years after posting because some researchers may use it to create broad analytical reports.
What forms of delivering content work best with evergreen topics? If you are looking for content ideas that will bring lasting benefits, here are a few suggestions from Jilian Woods, an expert from EssayPro, a professional essay writing company. She defined a few options as working well in most cases:
● Product reviews. Reviews on different types of products are always in high demand. Therefore, such pieces can remain relevant over time, but only if you pick the right product. If you believe that the chosen product will be relevant in the market for years, then writing a compelling analysis of it will bring you significant traffic.
● Case studies. Although the data presented in a particular case study becomes a bit outdated over time, the piece itself will remain relevant, as others will use it in their research.
● How-tos. There are plenty of reasons why how-to posts are trending. First of all, they are always relevant as they offer solutions to some recurring issues that people never stop facing. Besides, such materials are easy to read, and they are proven to drive lots of traffic.
● Glossary. This type of content is meant for defining the main niche-related terms. Although every niche faces numerous changes over some time, the key terms typically remain unchanged. Thus, such pieces remain evergreen as long as the niche itself is relevant.
● List posts. Similarly to how-to’s, list posts are super easy to read. Therefore, if you include some evergreen ideas into such a material, it will keep bringing you benefits over the years.
What Is the Opposite of Evergreen Content?
Now, as we have defined the concept and main ideas of this type of content, let’s define the topics or niches that you should not write about if you want your articles to stay trending for years.
Breaking News
Of course, trending news sparks up the interest of the audience and can drive lots of traffic almost immediately. However, this is a short-term phenomenon. No one is interested in reading week-old news. Thus, as soon as the interest around the chosen event starts fading away, so will the interest in the post.
Fashion
Although the topic of fashion is evergreen to a certain extent (meaning that there always are people interested in it), fashion trends are changing rapidly. Thus, if you write an article about the main trends of the season, it will become obsolete already by the beginning of a new season.
Tech
Tech topics are always trending. If written well, pieces on related subjects can spark up the genuine interest of your readers and drive lots of attention to the source. However, such content is not evergreen, as well.
The world of tech is fast-paced. New gadgets and solutions are introduced every month or even week. That is why posts in this niche can’t remain fresh over a long period.
Press Releases
Just like in the case of breaking news, press releases are also time-sensitive. Such posts are only fresh and relevant for a short period.
Education
College students have always been a large part of the audience, which means that writing for them can definitely help you drive more traffic.
However, the topic of education is not really evergreen. As technology and other industries evolve, the teaching methods, as well as the demands of colleges, are changing. Today, the studying process is already much different from what it used to be a year ago. Thus, such content becomes obsolete quite soon as well.
Trends
In every niche and industry, there are specific trends. However, as a rule, any tendency is being replaced with a new one in a year or less.
Thus, writing about trends related to any industry, don’t expect it to remain relevant for a long time.
Statistics
Statistical data also becomes obsolete rapidly. If we take a look at some major agencies that collect and publish statistics, we can see that their data is being updated regularly. Thus, statistical information also can’t be called evergreen.
The same applies to numerical reports. Such pieces may be engaging and useful for the readers, but only for a short time. Statistical data delivered in reports expire quickly and soon becomes irrelevant.
Innovations
People love learning about new solutions, concepts, and ideas. Therefore, content on innovations is engaging.
However, innovations, regardless of the industry they refer to, are only fresh as long as they are new.
Seasonal Content
Regardless of the niche of your blog or website, you might want to write about specific seasons or holidays, either for marketing or entertaining purposes. Many businesses release fresh pieces dedicated to holidays to promote their special offers.
Blogs also use such topics quite often as they can generate lots of traffic. For example, articles on topics like “how to decorate your home for Halloween” or “how to pick the right present for your beloved one for Christmas” are trending at that specific time of the year. However, as soon as the holiday season is over, such pieces become obsolete.
Articles on Some Events
Pieces that are written about specific events also have a short expiration date. Information about both upcoming events and those that have already taken place will not retain its value in the long-term perspective. Thus, this is one more example of content that is not evergreen.
All the above-mentioned types of content marketing are clear examples of what is not considered evergreen. These topics may be trending, but you shouldn’t expect them to continue bringing long-term results.
What to write about? Remember all of the types of evergreen content mentioned above, which work well regardless of what is going on in the world. They remain relevant, engaging, and bring value for years to come. That’s what we call evergreen content.
Final Words
Without any doubt, evergreen content is great for marketing purposes. It minimizes the time spent on creating articles but, at the same time, allows you to collect traffic from a long-term perspective.
However, in order to get all those benefits, it is vital to choose the right topics, the ones that people will gladly read about in a year or even later.
The most significant advantage of such content is its timelessness, so you have to write about something that always remains relevant.
Hopefully, this article will help you get on track and define what topics will work best for you!
This is a post written by me on behalf of one of my marketing partners. All opinions are 100% mine.
Neal Schaffer is a leading authority on helping businesses through their digital transformation of sales and marketing through consulting, training, and helping enterprises large and small develop and execute on social media marketing strategy, influencer marketing, and social selling initiatives. President of the social media agency PDCA Social, Neal also teaches digital media to executives at Rutgers University, the Irish Management Institute (Ireland), and the University of Jyvaskyla (Finland). Fluent in Japanese and Mandarin Chinese, Neal is a popular keynote speaker and has been invited to speak about digital media on four continents in a dozen countries. He is also the author of 3 books on social media, including Maximize Your Social (Wiley), and in late 2019 will publish his 4th book, The Business of Influence (HarperCollins), on educating the market on the why and how every business should leverage the potential of influencer marketing. Neal resides in Irvine, California but also frequently travels to Japan.