Top Tips for Creating and Maintaining Evergreen Content

The best thing you can do as a blogger is creating evergreen content. Most of us have already done that. However, only a part of an average blog consists of this type of content. Another part is about news, which means it will be worthless soon. In this article, I'll show you how to write content which your blog will benefit from even ten years from now.

What is Evergreen Content?

The term evergreen originates from music, and is used to describe a song that is always up to date. It was listened to a long time ago, it's listened to today, and people will still listen to it in twenty years from now. This is exactly what we have to accomplish with our content. We have to write content that is always relevant.

Tech-Blogs Have a Rough Ride

Evergreen content is contemporary content. It's the type of content that is always worth a read. This doesn't work for all contents, however. Tech blogs and news writers will have a rough ride, as too many things are changing too fast.

Evergreen Content or Not

When writing guides like "How to write evergreen content", you're writing evergreen content. However, when writing a guide on keyboard combinations of Windows or Mac, that's not evergreen content. The way of writing a product review won't be different from today, even in ten years. Keyboard combinations of operating systems might change in ten years, however. This doesn't mean that it's impossible to create an evergreen on keyboard combinations. You just need to know how to do it. By the way, the advantages are obvious: [caption id="attachment_78267" align="alignnone" width="598"] Evergreen Content Gets You a Lot of Page Views Over Time.[/caption]

Evergreen Content Can be Created

Not every article has what it takes to become an evergreen. But with some effort, a lot of them do. Google Analytics or the analytics software of your choice is your best friend for this job. When you've been blogging for a longer period of time, you have a large collection of articles. Make a list of old articles that still get a good amount of views. Take a close look at them and see if you can update them. If yes, do it. Your most popular articles should always be kept up to date and fresh. Additionally, it can also be advantageous when you display the date of the last update. There's a great plugin for this task. It's called Last Modified Timestamp. Always show the date of the last update, and not the date on which the post was published. This way, every visitor will be able to see if the post they're viewing is still up to date.

Different Types of Evergreen Content

You probably already published content that can be considered contemporary. A tutorial ("How to...") is an example for that. This also includes recipes, fitness tips, and other similar posts. Here's some advice on how to produce evergreen content. The following content types all classify as evergreens.

1 - Frequently Asked Questions

If you are tired of getting the same questions over and over, or you are certain to receive specific questions, setting up an FAQ page is a good idea. Here, you write down common questions, and the respective answers. That's a great example for sustainable content. As soon as new questions pop up, you add them to your FAQ, giving your readers just what they're looking for.

2 - Glossaries

As expected from a branch expert, you obviously know the meaning of all words on your website. This doesn't always apply to your readers, though. So don't alienate yourself from your readers, but provide an added value that puts them on the same level that you're on. Create a glossary, and use it to "translate" the terms so that everyone is able to understand them. Nobody likes to stumble through an article, not really knowing what it's about. Use a glossary to lead your readers into the light.

3 - Historical Posts

History is always in the past. It won't change. When writing about historical topics, you most likely won't have a single article on your blog that is not up to date. For example, you could write about the history of industrialization. Or maybe you dig deeper, and find a few famous people from the past years that are worth writing about. If your blog happens to be one of a few, or even the only one on the internet that deals with said topics, you've won the jackpot. It will be of enormous value for researchers in that niche for many years.

4 - Checklists

Checklists are similar to guides, but with an open end. They don't give precise intstructions, but rather a general overview on how to do something. Nonetheless, checklists are magical and everyone loves them, as they give you advantages in productivity. We all like completed tasks. So why shouldn't you write content that deals with this process?

5 - Productivity Content

With a few adjustments, articles of that type are always relevant. The topic is interesting to many people. Who doesn't want to be more productive? This type of content lets you steer your boat into multiple directions. You could work out how to get more done in a shorter period of time. For fast promotions, for instance. Another aspect could be getting the same amount of work done in less time. Perhaps in order to be able to enjoy more recreational time.

Bonus - Evergreen Webinars

Evergreen webinars are pre-recorded webinars that can run on autopilot without any effort from the host. As long as you choose a topic that will stay relevant over time, high-quality, long-form video content is a powerful tool to use for content marketing and lead generation.

Conclusion

If you have yet to publish articles of that kind, you should do so. Evergreen content makes for great internal links, and you shouldn't stop linking them over and over again. Over time, this type of content will get you an expert status, which will win you even more traffic.