Does your website or blog feature evergreen content? This type of content has a longer shelf life than most of the information we publish. Because it’s not tied to the latest headlines, evergreen content remains relevant for years and attracts inbound links.
As you know, Google loves sites with plenty of genuine links coming in. I’ve found some of my evergreen posts about writing and blogging bring in traffic for 6 years and counting!
So here are a few ideas on creating evergreen content:
Where to Start
If you’re considering evergreen content, you might include how-to videos and blog posts, white papers, and “explainer” pieces. An explainer doesn’t just define something; it makes it clear and easy to understand.
I’ll let you in on a secret: I sometimes mine my own outbox for ideas for evergreen content. You can do this too. If you hear the same question from umpteen clients, you know the answer could very well be turned into an evergreen blog post, podcast, or video.
At the same time, look at your Google Analytics and Search Console. What types of content are people consistently visiting? If your blog is like mine, a few dozen posts garner the most visits.
Finteza can provide an even deeper look into your evergreen content performance as you can see exactly how its traffic is interacting with your sales funnel:
Evergreen Content Ideation
I’ll bet you can quickly come up with plenty of ideas for evergreen content. Here is some inspiration to get you started:
- Check your own files or your email outbox to determine the questions you answer most often for clients and prospects.
- Examine your web analytics to discover the topics your audience wants information about.
- Consider writing a “how to work with ___ (your profession)” post. So if you’re a freelance writer, you’d write a post about how organizations can get the most of their relationship with a freelance writer. A graphic designer or web developer could write a similar post. So could any professional.
- Do a roundup post of the best sources of information in your field, or a directory of the top 10 podcasts in your niche, in your opinion. You get the idea. Use your expertise and knowledge to curate information and create useful content.
Evergreen Creation Tips
As for the creation of the content itself, here are some tips:
- Keep written material short and to the point. People often don’t really read; they skim.
- Use bullets and subheads.
- Add a photo or graphic to attract the eye.
- If you produce a video, keep it to one or two minutes. Be sure the quality is good and the sound pristine.
- For text, audio, or video content, be sure to keep SEO in mind when you create your meta-data.
Make the Most of Your Evergreen Content
So you’ve successfully come up with an evergreen content idea and implemented it. With time you are hopefully going to see some incoming traffic. And here the main question arises: What is it to your business?
You see traffic in itself doesn’t matter much: It doesn’t really affect your bottom line unless it converts. So one last step here is to come up with an evergreen conversion optimization method that would work for some time. Here are a few ideas:
Create contextual CTAs
The most effective way to utilize your evergreen content is to funnel your readers into your sales channel by using in-content CTAs. Hubspot is a prime example of those done well:
Many of these CTAs can be set up using these WordPress plugins.
Set up lead generation forms
Your content readers may not be your immediate buyers as they were referred to your site by an informational search query. So you may want to treat them as leads (someone who will buy later through clicking a link in your email) rather than buyers.
This is where prioritizing a lead generation form (versus your primary call-to-action) is usually a good idea (when it comes to evergreen content). Conversational forms tend to work well here as they easily blend into the content.
Install web browser notifications
With email fatigue becoming a real thing, it is a good idea to use an alternative engagement method that wouldn’t require your readers to share any private information. Web push notifications provide a way to get those readers to subscribe to your site without giving you their email address. A great part about this method is that these notifications can also be segmented to personalize those:
Conclusion
Evergreen content ideation and creation may take some time but it is well worth the effort because that type of content can bring ongoing traffic for months and years. Good luck!
