What is evergreen content, first of all? It is the kind of content you can read or watch year after year and it is still relevant. And it keeps ranking in Google searches, bringing new readers to your web page without extra effort on your part. In other words, it is the gift that keeps on giving.
Therefore, every marketer and business owner should strive to become a master of creating evergreen content. For one, your Google page rank will keep growing. For another, you will spend less time dealing with obsolete content (we discussed this issue in a previous article).
But how do you really create evergreen content? How do you know that a topic will continue to interest people next year and beyond? Here are a few ideas:
- Understand the Principle of Timeless
What is a timeless topic? It is not tied with current events or technologies. It is not a recent trend. It is not dependent on a specific medium, or tool, or system of thinking. It is something people will always do, believe, or want to learn.
For example, a timeless topic is “how to improve your time management skills”. A time-dependent topic is “top apps for time management”. Apps become obsolete, discontinued and replaced. But the need to manage our time is constant and will never go out of fashion.
- Address Beginners in Your Topics
Most evergreen content pieces deal with basic instructions and tutorials. Over-specialised topics are not evergreen for a few reasons:
- Specialists are fewer than the mass of beginners
- The top technology of today becomes obsolete and irrelevant in a few years
- Top level specialisations evolve – just compare the work of a top IT engineer in the 1980s with the work of today’s IT specialists.
On the other hand, people will always want to learn how to become better at writing blog posts, how to take better photos and how to improve their communication skills. These are basic topics with millions of daily searches since the advent of the internet.
- Use Simple, Easily Scannable Formats
How-to articles and lists are some of the best evergreen content formats. The information contained in them is not related to news events or current trends, but contain reference to actions or resources which do not change or lose relevance.
An easily scannable format is also time-proof to the evolution of devices. Right now, people love large screen mobile phones (5.5” and above). What if smaller devices become fashionable in a few years? If your texts are nicely formatted, with lots of white space, sub-titles and bullet points, they will still be easy to read.
- Obtain Interviews from Industry Leaders
Interviews are, by their nature, evergreen pieces of content. They express a specialist’s views and opinions, and they continue to remain relevant and interesting for people in your niche. After all, how many people still watch Stephen Hawking’s lectures and interviews from the 1990s? Millions. And no matter how much science and knowledge of the universe has evolved since then, people still want to watch or read about it.
- History Topics
The history of the computer, or how the first iPhone was launched are evergreen topics. They deal with events which impacted our lives and will never become obsolete, however they may evolve. The history approach is always preferable to the approach tied with specific events (the launch day of your product, the first 100,000 units sold, etc.). Rather than focusing on the outcome, tell the story of how you got there and what it meant for you and your company.