Everyone wants more blog readers. You could run a small business with 50 faithful customers or a Fortune 500 company with five million and you’d still want more. The more people that read your blog, the more engaged they are with your company. They probably follow your company on social media and buy your products, keeping your business afloat.
Marketing 101 says you need a blog, so every company has one. However, business owners get distracted. They forget to update. Months pass and the blog goes by the wayside, sitting untouched. Then there’s the opposite scenario: a business owner writes content on their blog just to write.
Imagine having one blog post that’s so authoritative that you’re regarded as an expert. Imagine having one blog post that’s so informative that anyone who wants to learn about that topic will find it and read it. Imagine having one blog post that for years drives traffic to your blog.
You don’t have to imagine with evergreen content.
Evergreen trees are named such because they always stay green. Evergreen content is named such because it always stays relevant.
Yes, depending on the topic you choose, that sometimes means going back every few years and updating your content. However, for the amount of traffic you can get, that bit of extra effort is worth it.
So how can you create your own evergreen content that will drive traffic? Where do you even start? Try these 14 ideas and suggestions.
1. Resource Lists
What resources do you use every day to run your business? Others within your field may use these same tools. If not, they just found a great new tool they can explore thanks to you. Make a list of 10 to 50 resources that help you do your job more efficiently. Tell people whether these tools are free to use or require a paid subscription.
To make the most of resource lists, you will have to go back at least annually and update your content. Check all your links and make sure they’re still active. Cut dead links and replace them with new tools and resources you’ve found.
How it gets you traffic: The companies responsible for these tools and resources will appreciate the free publicity and may be likely to share your list on their social media. As mentioned, others within your field who find your list handy will also share it.
2. Influencer Lists
If you don’t mind sharing some of the spotlight, an influencer list is another fantastic means of getting more traffic. Just like with a resources list though, you do have to comb through this annually and tweak it.
Who else in your industry is doing a fantastic job? Create a list of 10 to 30 (or more!) influencers and talk about what they’re doing that’s making such a big difference. Make sure to include links to their website or their company’s website.
How it gets you traffic: Just like with the resources list, this is free publicity at its finest. Who doesn’t like to be talked up? The influencers you feature are almost guaranteed to share your content to their audience. The more influencers, the more people the post reaches.
3. Historical Posts
You know what never goes out-of-date? History. It just is. If you’re absolutely stumped and can’t think of a single evergreen post to write, start with a historical one. These are guaranteed to always be relevant as long you as keep updating the history as it happens.
Okay, so what historical topic should you write about? Why not your own company? Transparency is huge in business today. Customers are eager to know more about the companies they buy from. Write a detailed post about your company’s origins. Describe how you got the company to where it is today.
How it gets you traffic: Historical posts don’t have an obvious traffic benefit like resource or influencer lists. You’ll be counting on your core audience to share this content. This is a post that pays off over time, though. For example, anytime your company appears in the news, people who haven’t heard of you will research you. Your evergreen historical post is probably one of the first results they’ll get.
4. Tutorials/How-Tos
Nowadays, you can look on the Internet to figure out how to do just about anything. Why not be the resource that helps your audience with a tutorial or how-to?
You’ll have to put a lot of time and effort into this, but you will be rewarded for it. Include pictures with every step in the how-to guide. If you can make a few accompanying videos to better illustrate the instructions, you definitely should.
How it gets you traffic: Let’s say you own a bakery and you make a tutorial for how to pipe frosting flowers on a cupcake. Each time someone wants to pipe their own frosting flowers on a cupcake, your tutorial will be one of the first results they find. If the post has enough rich media like pictures and videos, yours will be the instructions they follow. Since your post helped them, they’ll likely share it.
5. Informative/Educational Posts
Put on your professor’s hat and write an educational post not unlike what you’d find in an encyclopedia. This is your chance to show off your expertise in your field. As you draft this post, make sure to avoid talking about trends and anything else that could date the content.
This may be long-form content, and that’s okay. These types of posts are worth stickying at the top of your blog or even adding to your about page or FAQs section. You can write one huge post or a series of posts depending on your content and your audience.
How it gets you traffic: Think of these educational posts as a lengthy introduction your company or the products your company sells. When potential customers and the press want to learn more about you, they’ll click on this page, especially if you link to it on your about page.
6. Holiday Posts
Christmas only comes once a year, but out of all the holidays, it’s the one that requires the most preparation and effort. From September through December, people are looking for anything holiday-related they can get their (figurative) hands on: DIY craft tutorials, gift ideas, decoration tips, and wintry activities.
So go ahead and help them. In terms of being evergreen, this concept is almost an anomaly, because for 10 or 11 months out of the year your holiday post isn’t really relevant. However, that guaranteed burst of traffic you’ll get each December makes these posts worthwhile.
How it gets you traffic: This content will always resurface during the holiday season. While this tactic may not net you as much traffic as some of the other evergreen content ideas on this list, this is a fun, easy, guaranteed way to get readers, so why not try it?
7. Statistics
What makes you credible? If you say the sky is blue, everyone will believe you because they already know it’s true. However, what if you start writing about lesser-known facts, like how many ads the average American sees each day? How do people know the numbers in your post are true?
Statistics add to the credibility of your post. However, to keep your content evergreen, you will have to look for more updated statistics each year. For example, if you published a post on advertising last year, you might have included the most viewed ads of 2016. However, before this year is up, you should look for the most viewed ads of 2017 and replace the outdated content.
How it gets you traffic: You’re not the only one who wants statistics to back up their facts. If people are looking for the same stats featured in your blog post, they may be more likely to supplement their content with yours. That’s yet another way to introduce your blog to a brand new audience.
8. Training Courses
As an expert in your field, why not share your knowledge? You can benefit from training courses in two ways: first, you can charge for these. Second, you can later transcribe the courses into blog content so everyone who missed the course can read up.
If you’ve taught several courses over the years, take some time to go back and transcribe them. This is rich, meaty content that people will gravitate towards. To keep it evergreen though, make sure to go back and update if tools, resources, or methods in your lessons have changed.
How it gets you traffic: People never stop learning. There are always new tactics and methods worth considering to get more leads, conversions, and traffic. By sharing what you know on your blog, your readers won’t be able to resist checking out your content.
9. Best Practices
This tactic is like the training course and resources list ideas, but not quite. Which best practices do you employ at your job? Which of these have worked? Just as importantly, which of these haven’t worked?
Everyone wants to save time, especially when working. If there’s a shortcut they can use to get their work done faster and you provide it, your views are going to significantly increase. Just like with everything though, revisit the post each year to make sure all your best practices are still up-to-date.
How it gets you traffic: The concept of best practices never goes out of style. As long as you have clear, current, actionable content with helpful links, a best practices post will be one of the most popular on your blog.
10. Personal Stories/Success Stories
How did you get to where you are today? Your audience certainly wants to know. Now’s the time to take a step back from being formal and encyclopedic and write in a relaxed, conversational tone. Include vivid details, quotes as applicable, and fun anecdotes.
You can even spin this idea and write a story about your biggest failure in your business. Although it might seem risky to expose a negative side of yourself like that, it’s all about how you frame the post. If you write it as a learning experience, you’d be surprised how many of your readers might relate to your plight.
How it gets you traffic: A personal post will stand out from the rest of your content, which automatically piques curiosity. Generally, people can’t resist human interest stories, especially if they have a happy ending.
11. Update Posts
For many of these posts, we’ve talked about the importance of keeping them current. Update posts are different. With these, you take a post from several years ago and revisit it. You have plenty of options for how to do that, so let your creativity shine.
You can, for example, write an additional list of resources, tips, or tools. You can write about the evolution of the topic in the years since your original post. You can blog about what you’ve learned since you first published the post. You can even craft an opposing viewpoint, presenting both sides of an argument.
How it gets you traffic: You readers will want to check out your original post to see what you’re comparing to, so be sure to link to that. They will also want to read the new content. That’s twice the amount of posts being shared just by adding some fresh content.
12. Product Reviews
These days, shopping is easier than ever. However, with so many options online and in stores, people shop carefully. They compare deals and always read reviews before clicking the checkout button.
If you can review products on your blog, you could become part of someone’s sales funnel. You do have to approach this with caution, though. It’s a good idea to hire an outside writer or even a guest poster to do the review. If you, as part of your company, review your own product, no one is going to take it seriously. Of course you would review your product positively.
Encourage the reviewer to be unbiased. Keep up your end of the deal and post the review. You can even start a series of review posts for each new product or service you release.
How it gets you traffic: Before your customers buy your product, they’re undoubtedly going to look for reviews. If they see unbiased reviews on your blog, that saves them time since they don’t have to look for reviews from a third party. They’ll be more likely to share your reviews with others who are also thinking of buying your product.
13. Tips Posts
Using the bakery example from before, how does someone bake red velvet cupcakes? How do they make buttercream icing? How long should they let their cupcakes cool before they put the icing on?
You can fill people in on the basics in a convenient and helpful tips post. Make a list of 10 or 20 tips for baking cupcakes, then another list for icing cupcakes, and so on. Then sit back and watch as people view and share your posts.
How it gets you traffic: You probably won’t have to make updates to your tips post, so you can essentially set it and forget it. Tips posts, especially helpful ones with actionable content, are always useful, so people will share your content whenever they need advice on your topic.
14. Interviews
Schedule an interview with another influencer in your industry. This doesn’t have to be a sit-down interview if neither of you can swing it; you can always do a phone interview, a video chat, or even a podcast interview. If there’s audio or video, that’s ideal, but even if you just have a transcription on your blog, that works, too.
Interviews are evergreen by nature. While yes, some of the information discussed in the interview may not always be the most up-to-date, the supplemental material included in the rest of the interview makes up for that.
How it gets you traffic: If you can interview a big enough influencer, their audience is already invested. They will want to see what their favorite influencer has to say. Your audience will also tune in. Others in your industry will also be interested and share the interview among their peers.
Takeaways
If you get traffic on your blog, it might only be in short bursts. People read your post for a week and then the traffic tapers off. With evergreen content, you can enjoy consistent traffic throughout the year (except for holiday posts).
Evergreen content is relevant and reliable. You can always count on these posts to bring in new traffic. The 14 ideas above are useful if you want to delve into writing evergreen content. You can tweak these to work for your brand. Once you start getting more traffic from your evergreen content, it’s then up to you to convert those readers into faithful customers.
