Most people will tell you that viral is the key to success online. However, we’re here to tell you that those people are terribly wrong.
You can’t deliberately create viral content whenever you need a boost. What you can do is create high-quality content that will always be interesting to your target audience.
Viral content is undeniably powerful – it created entire companies and helped them earn millions. However, the key component of viral content is luck. Unless you’re a gambler, you don’t want to spend your marketing budget on attempts at creating viral content. That is where evergreen content comes in to save the day.
Evergreen content is always relevant. Sure, it won’t bring in thousands upon thousands of people at once, but it will bring consistent positive results. It will remain relevant to your potential clients and customers over a long period of time.
When you’re creating evergreen content, you need to think about providing information that will remain interesting, that is important for your audience, and that isn’t time-sensitive. If you manage to do this properly, your rewards will be a better search engine ranking, and a loyal following.
You see, content regarding the royal wedding of Harry and Meghan did drive a lot of visits – it was viral for a while. However, that hype has passed, and now articles linked to this topic can’t even get a fragment of attention they did a couple of months ago.
A viral video of a baby seal running with Navy Seals will be super popular for a month, maybe two, but then it will be old news. A viral photograph that asks which colour is the dress was all the rage a few years ago, and now, no one is even googling it.
This is why you should focus on evergreen content. If you select the right keywords that your desired audience is searching for, you will be able to generate a flow of traffic that is consistent and reliable.
You should focus on choosing strong keywords, but that is not all. You should also focus on trying to only use the keywords that connect with the intent of the search.
Sure, just using attractive keywords can generate traffic, but that is not the only optimisation you should aim for.
Ideally, you should also pay attention to the process of conversion rate optimisation (CRO). Paying attention to conversion rates will help you transform the regular visitors of your website into legitimate leads. And, more importantly, it will improve the online sales of your website.
Creating Valuable Content
In order to create evergreen content and use it to optimise your website, you should focus on the value. Namely, your content should be as useful as possible to your target audience, and it should be actionable.
But, most newer companies find an evergreen content campaign to be difficult to start. First of all, just choosing the starting point can be difficult. We would recommend starting by paying attention to new starters and potentials.
Focusing on the people who have only recently found out about your products and services is always a good start. However, that doesn’t necessarily make the targeting a lot easier.
If you spend too much time focusing on the newcomers, your loyal followers might not appreciate it. Balancing the content between starters and legacy followers is challenging, but ultimately rewarding.
When it comes to keyword research, make sure to bear social media in mind as well. It is very important to see how the keywords rank on social media as there are people who spend all of their online time on Facebook and other platforms.
You should also take your time with research and use historical analysis.
Namely, you would do well to understand how well a keyword has been doing in the previous years. And, if you can afford the time, you should track that keyword for a couple of months at least. The meticulous approach to research will let you predict the influence your content will have on your business.
No matter how much you read about online marketing, or how many people you ask, they will all repeat the famous phrase “Content is king”. And there is a good reason for that.
Content is what drives people to your website and what will eventually lead to revenue increases. And, again, good content has to be useful and actionable for your audience. But, how exactly does one go about that? Well, there is one question that you can ask yourself in order to find the right answer: “What issues connect all of my customers?” It does take some research and a full understanding of your customer base, but answering that question will let you create relevant evergreen content.
These are some of the examples of evergreen content that is very likely to be successful:
– Helping customers to resolve a serious issue. For example, recommending safe ways to prepare food that is free of things your family members are allergic to.
– Finding out what your customers want and offering it to them. For example, a new piece of tech.
– Giving valuable solutions to your customers. For example, teach them how to follow your steps in order to fix a common household problem such as having clogged drains.
Most of the time, determining which of these approaches is ideal for your business is simple. However, some companies can’t really define exactly which method suits them the best. For those companies, the marketing leaders should turn back to the reason the company was founded, to begin with. And, if that doesn’t help, turning to a detailed SWOT analysis is always a good choice. Determining the company’s strengths and weaknesses will allow the marketing team to properly target the audience.
Using one of the approaches we have recommended can help marketers who are in a pinch. They can give you an idea regarding the topic or the method you can use. But, most importantly, they represent evergreen ideas. The subjects will be relevant for years to come, and won’t just take up valuable space.
Establishing your status as an expert
Another thing you can use evergreen content for is making yourself stand out from the crowd. Search engines are made to give their users the best answers they can find.
In order to do so, they have algorithms running whose job is to recognise expert authors and put their content on the first page of the search. And, evergreen content has the power to give you that expert status search engines like Google always look for.
If you offer excellent evergreen content to your users, they will start coming to your website. Bit by bit, you will see the content driving traffic to you.
It won’t be as fast-paced as what can be caused by sensationalistic trending content, but the long-term results will outshine that by a mile. You should focus on providing content that goes into detail and showcases your topical capabilities.
But, you should also focus on including a number of keywords without making them stick out from the content. Essentially, using the keywords properly and naturally will showcase your expertise.
If you get a bit of help from the Public Relations teams or your executive branch, you can boost the content to generate some serious traffic to your website at the beginning. But, if the piece is compelling, it should be able to stand on its own two feet. After all, nobody can funnel support into a piece of content forever.
If you manage to create a successful evergreen content campaign, you will be able to see the traffic coming in. But, more importantly, it will do so passively.
There will no longer be a need for you to focus on link building in order to generate the traffic.
But remember, the most important aspect of a well-designed evergreen content that will make or break the campaign is how well you can establish your expert status with the public, the media, and of course, the search engines.
Making Sure Your Evergreen Content Sees Long-Term Success
“The proof of the pudding is in the eating.” You have probably heard that one before, and it also applies here. You can’t claim that your campaign was successful unless it survives and shows signs of longevity. The content should be valuable to your customers, and it should have long-term uses.
So, what can we do to make sure that your content will last for a long while? Well, for starters, if it doesn’t see success during the beginning stages, it could be wise to take steps to help the content out. Promoting or optimising the content further can help you rank highly and it’s not that hard to do.
But, here are some other steps you could take to help your content ideas grow:
– Double check your SEO optimisation.
You should bear in mind that Google changes their algorithms quite frequently. Make sure your keyword density is good and that the keywords are relevant to the content.
– Update your content.
While we did say that the content should stand on its own legs, there are situations that demand slight updates. The most common edits we would recommend are those that involve adding in new keywords your analysis gave you or following up on recent events that make your content relevant in the trending arena. You don’t have to update the content frequently, but updating it once or twice a year can be beneficial.
– Link back to it.
Resharing your content every now and then can help it thrive. Leverage the power of social media to showcase the content and even use your blog posts to link to it. Not only will those actions bring about the short-term traffic increase, but they will also build your authority on the subject matter.
Furthermore, if the content is doing well, and you really want it to last – use it. Feel free to place it on your homepage for the visitors to see. If you have a piece of content that is compelling and long-lasting, the worst thing you could do is let it be forgotten.
However, if it has already happened, and you believe in that piece of content – revive it. You can create a blog to mention it, use social media, and even newsletter emails to breathe new life into that piece of content. Do that right, and the content will start giving you results in the long-term yet again.
Why Should You Use Evergreen Content?
Using evergreen content can be incredibly beneficial for companies. It doesn’t take a lot of resources to create, and it can provide you with consistent traffic. Essentially, it can lead people to you in the long run. Not to say you shouldn’t use traditional promotions.
On the contrary, opening with a proactive promotion is an excellent way to get your evergreen content trending. But, unlike with regular content, this piece will outlive the promotional item.
Evergreen content provides significant value to your customers. It can strengthen your brand recognition and encourage loyalty.
For some companies, however, it’s a bit different. Some companies need the evergreen content to showcase their expertise. They need to establish themselves as the authority of the subject and build from there.