Evergreen content is the same way. Here’s how to create, care for, and bolster a thriving content marketing forest with your evergreen content. Before you start adding to your content calendar, check out analytics and search data to find existing content that reliably gets traffic. Read: What is Influencer Marketing? Give your readers something they can really dig into, something that covers everything they need to know about a specific, relevant topic. How to Promote Evergreen Content In theory, evergreen content (when crafted with a best-answer mentality) should bring in search traffic without much extra attention on your part. Promote your evergreen content with ads and test different audiences with each post. But as algorithms and how people search evolves, make your content even more of a search engine magnet by sprucing up your SEO. How to Keep Content Fresh Once your evergreen forest is growing and thriving, make sure to keep it up-to-date and relevant. Don’t Include Dates in Your URLs Okay, I admit that we break this rule on the TopRank Marketing Blog from time to time.
Evergreen trees are a symbol of life and renewal because they never lose their leaves; they stay green year-round.
Tell that to anyone who has dragged a Christmas tree to the garbage on New Year’s Day.
The truth is, evergreen trees are part of an ecosystem. When they’re rooted and cared for, they thrive and the whole forest benefits. Cut one down and take it home, and it won’t be green for long.
Evergreen content is the same way. We tend to think of it as stand-alone pieces of content that bring in traffic without any additional effort. Something isolated, set-it-and-forget-it. But if you treat your content that way, it will start dropping needles on the carpet with a quickness.
Here’s how to create, care for, and bolster a thriving content marketing forest with your evergreen content.
Evergreen trees are part of an ecosystem. When they’re rooted and cared for, they thrive and the whole forest benefits. #EvergreenContent is the same way. – @NiteWrites #ContentMarketing Click To Tweet
How to Create Evergreen Content
As a famous content marketer (probably Ann Handley) once said:
Some posts are born to greatness; others have greatness thrust upon them.
Some evergreen posts will naturally arise from your content library. However, unlike a viral post, evergreen is something you can actually do on purpose.
Before you start adding to your content calendar, check out analytics and search data to find existing content that reliably gets traffic. You can promote and refresh these posts (more about that later), and you can use them as springboards to generate new content ideas.
Once you find your old-growth evergreens, put some new ones in your content calendar. The following types of post are good candidates for evergreen status:
Influencer Content
When you co-create content with influencers, you’re providing your audience with content that has authority, credibility, insight, and expertise. And that kind of content tends to have enduring interest for an audience — provided the influencer stays influential.
Read: What is Influencer Marketing? Definitions, Examples, and Resources
In-depth Guides
It’s hard for short content to get attention now — there’s just too much mediocre, shallow content to compete with. But long-form content is having a renaissance. Give your readers something they can really dig into, something that covers everything they need to know about a specific, relevant topic.
How-To Posts
There’s no simpler value proposition than learning how to do something you need to do. Make sure your how-to is simple, direct, easy to follow, and not overly-promotional, and you can create a resource built to last.
Tool Roundups
These posts are both easy to create and incredibly valuable for the reader when done properly. There are hundreds of software tools available for virtually every industry. People need help navigating the landscape. Publish your comprehensive guide to the tools you and your brand find useful, and update it frequently as the landscape changes. Here’s an example of one of our own…
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