Writing a post about a current trend or fad will surely attract large number of visitors to your website. But have you ever asked yourself if the content you just posted will stay relevant in Internet in the next few months or years?
It is not a doubt that one of the goals of content marketers is to write something that is going to be useful for their audience and website over time. So discovering how to harness the power of Evergreen content can be your key to a successful content marketing campaign. Evergeen content is usually a content that does not get out of date, always appears “fresh” and “timeless”, and lastly very useful and relevant to readers.
On this article, we have compiled the tips to create an evergreen content straight from the experts in this field and steps on how to do them, check them out below.
1. Write for Beginners – Stephanie Norman of Positionly.com
Why? Because many of your readers out there are only just starting out on the topic you are writing about. Remember that your goal here is to write a content that will impart knowledge to your readers over time, especially for the newbies.
Things to do:
- Start with an introduction by explaining what your topic is all about.
- Explain common ideas and knowledge in your industry for your reader.
- Avoid using technical words too much, but if cannot, explain them.
This infographic from Red Evolution is a great example of a piece written for newbies in SEO:
2. Don’t Overdo it- 1st Quality Content
Overdoing your topic may get your readers confused and bored if you focus too much on it. Try to keep your content as simple and dynamic as possible by:
- Avoiding information overload by using some informative and entertaining information.
3. Write a convincing headline- Graham Charlton of Search Engine Watch
Sometimes, a convincing headline is all that it takes to persuade your visitors to click your blog article. A convincing headline should be but not limited to:
- Unique, so your readers will perceive your post as fresh and different.
- Specific, to let your readers know whether or not you are presenting something interesting for them.
- You can also use numbers, so that your readers will know how much information they are going to get in your blog.
- Should convey usefulness, to give the readers a reason to continue reading.
A good example of a headline that has these qualities is this blog from Stylist: 
4.Be the definitive source – Kevan Lee of Buffer Blog
By being the ultimate expert on the topic you are covering, search engines like Google will definitely love you and will give you a sweet spot in its search results page. You can achieve this by:
- Making sure that your article is “in-depth” and contains all the elements that your topic should cover.
- Pulling a research process to gain more knowledge from interviews and other documents related to your topic.
5. Narrow down your topics – Ramsay of Tyrant Blog
One of the major characteristic of an evergreen posts is that it only covers a very specific topic. This ensures that you will sustain the originality in your post and will also provide you the opportunity to create another topic related to the one you are writing.
- Break down your general topic into its sub-topics
- Choose which of these sub-topics is the most compelling and what the readers will expect from you to write.
6. Consider writing in different formats – Sujan Patel of Search Engine Journal
Evergreen content does not only come in articles (usually in a text format). So if you ever have a hard time writing your first one, consider the following formats:
- How-to’s, Guides and Tutorials – If you have some knowledge on how to create or do something (like this one) in a step by step manner, this format is for you. Let’s just assume that the steps or techniques involve will not be outdated in the near future.
- Infographics – Perhaps the most widely used format these days. Infographics are simple visual contents that were converted from text contents. Infographics usually works well vs the standard format due to its nature of easy readability. (If you ever need an infographic creation service, don’t hesitate to drop us an inquiry).
- Frequently Asked Questions- FAQ posts reflect what the beginners want to know in your niche. You can follow great examples compiled at Hongkiat website.
- Definition Post- Explaining something for beginners has and will never go out of style. It also makes a great evergreen content, too. From “What is Content Marketing” to the “What is CMS”, definition post is one of the easiest content to create since a lot of information are out there already. Just make sure to add twists and latest information and you are way to go.
- Historical or Origin Posts- This one requires more time to make since you have to research about the history or origin of the subject first. But when done right, it will usually pay off. A great example is this infographic from our blog about the history of Google Updates:
If you want to see more formats to use in writing evergreen content, check out this website.
7. Make it Action-oriented – Susanta Sahoo of Top League Technologist
Write your evergreen content in a tone that it offers immediate value to its readers. The secret here is to use keywords that signifies immediacy like:
- Today
- Right now
- Immediately
- At once
- Instantly
Ideally, these keywords should be placed in your headline or in the meta description of your post. A great example for this one is this blog by Man Vs Debt: 
8. Be comprehensive – Al Gomez of Content Marketing Institute
Perhaps, one of the most important (if not the most important) strategies that you can do to create an evergreen content is by making it comprehensive, longer and usable.
If you go to the Internet’s most popular marketing blogs such us Buffer, Quicksprout, Hubspot, Content Marketing Institute among others. They all have 1 thing in common, most of these blogs have longer contents! So if you are wanting to create an evergreen content for your business, make them longer.
But just because most successful blogs make them comprehensive does not necessarily mean you have to do it in ALL occasion. Some niche may not be suitable for longer and comprehensive strategy so be aware and use with caution.
9. Keep it up to date – Amie Marse of Business.Com
Occasionally visit your content and check if some of the information you placed there are still up to date. Remember that change is constant and there is always a room for improvement. Here are the things to check if your evergreen content is still fresh as it’s supposed to be:
- Information that changes over the course of time. If you’re an SEO, these things are most probably the Google’s search engine algorithms.
- Information that has to be added aside from the things you placed in your content. Examples like: the newest factor that will help you to rank well in search results that has to be added in your list, or questions received in your social media account that has to be answered in your FAQ.
- If you placed links in your content, there is a chance that they are outdated. Updating your links is great because it ensures that your readers will get all the information you shared and Google’s search algorithm counts content freshness as their basis for ranking pages.
10. Back-up your claims/points with citations (our tip)
Perhaps the last important thing that you should remember if you want to create evergreen contents for your business or website is by backing up your claims or points with citations. Just like in the Academic setting, citing sources to back-up your claim is the norm. You will not be viewed as someone who has an integrity in the Academic setting without proper citations.
In the digital marketing world, citation is a must too. You can’t go around claiming something to be true without a verifiable source or citation. So make sure that you properly cite authority sources with your points to make them much more powerful and thus make your content evergreen.
Evergreen content is a must nowadays especially in complex world of digital marketing, and now you know how to create one! As they say, knowledge is power if properly applied, so apply these tips today and let us know the results.
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