Why Your Next Blog Post Should Be Evergreen
The best content is the kind that doesn't have an expiration date.
Photo: Ekaterina Bolovtsova from Pexels
Evergreen content. You’ve probably heard that it’s super important for your blog, but often people forget to mention why that is and how you can make it work for your blog specifically.
So first, let’s cover the basics. Evergreen, or pillar, content is content that lasts all year round, for many years—just like the leaves on an evergreen tree. For blogging, this means that your post continues to attract readers to your site continuously after it is first posted.
Your evergreen content is often your most popular because new readers keep finding your site through these “pillar” posts.
As these types of post support your site with visitors in the long term, they need to really reflect your blogging brand and niche. They are the pillars or building blocks of your blog. When your posts do reflect your overall focus, the visitor to your site is highly likely to find other content on your site interesting and stay a little longer to look around.
Let’s break it down.
Why evergreen content?
For us busy bloggers and biz owners, every moment is important. We wear so many different hats, being writers, social media whizzes, educators, salespersons, and more – you don’t need me to tell you our time is pretty stretched.
That is why evergreen content is the must-have type of content for your blog. Why? Because it has the biggest return on investment for your time (ROI).
Rather than constantly producing new content that will be forgotten the next week, your time is much better re-paid by producing content that people will continue to visit weeks, months, and years later. A few hours of work for continuous return in visitors. Sounds good, right?
Even more importantly, by creating your evergreen content intentionally, the visitors it continues to attract will be the right kind of visitors. They will be interested in your blogging niche. This makes them more likely to click through to other posts on your site, sign up for your mailing list, share your content, and buy your products and services.
Pretty valuable visitors, huh? And the content that keeps them coming – even more so.
Spoiler! You have already posted evergreen content!
Some of your existing blog posts will already be pillar content.
You can usually find these types of posts by looking at your analytics. Which posts attract the most page views? Which attracts the most engagement through comments, likes, shares, and pins? These are the current cornerstones of your blog.
If these posts accurately represent your blog’s niche, then use them to guide the next blog posts you create. Look for a trend and create posts from different angles on the same theme.
Let me give you an example. I discovered that recipes including chocolate bars were really popular on Knead to Dough, so I produced more of those. As expected, these have all moved up to my most viewed posts and continue to bring visitors to my site. My target readers are foodie bloggers which many of these visitors are, but not all of them.
I also discovered that my how-to-style blog posts continued to attract traffic. As these directly appeal to my target reader, and the recipe posts offer valuable case studies to them, this is the most valuable of my two types of evergreen content.
It brings the right people to my site to then look at other recipes and my blogging posts. They are also likely to sign up for my free resource library, which includes some guides specifically for foodies as well as general content resources.
How to use evergreen content on your blog
So you know how I use evergreen content to boost traffic continuously for Knead to Dough, but how can you apply it to your own blog?
You’re already starting to assess your popular posts for their suitability as pillar content for your blog and using them as inspiration for more.
You can also create pillar content by creating content that is already known to be successful, shareable, and regularly searched. How-to and list posts are typically very popular as they usually provide in-depth, valuable, actionable advice.
The key to writing successful evergreen content is to provide as much value as possible. Pick your frequently searched niche topic and cover it in depth. Don’t leave your readers with unanswered questions at the end. If your content is valuable and informative, people will continue to find it useful.
“The key to writing successful evergreen content is to provide as much value as possible.”
Set yourself the challenge to make every blog post evergreen for the next month. If you can, challenge yourself to do this forever.
Tip: Don’t forget to update pillar content as and when changes occur that apply to that topic.
The takeaways?
Evergreen content gives you the best ROI for your time
It attracts the right kind of visitors who are likely to subscribe and buy
Create content intentionally to attract these visitors and provide them lots of value
How-to and list posts are great options for creating evergreen content
Love this story? Pin the below graphic to your Pinterest board.
This post originally appeared on Blog Society. Lauren Fraser helps other blogs and businesses (especially foodies!) transform their social media and blogging strategies to get the traffic, engagement, and leads they want. You can find blogging resources and guides on her site, Knead to Dough, with a pinch of delicious recipes thrown in for good measure!
This story was originally published on September 24, 2016, and has since been updated.
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What You Need To Know To Fight Blog Envy
Jealousy and envy are never pretty and never get you anywhere.
Blog envy feels really shitty, and it happened to me too!
I was merrily browsing the blogosphere… getting inspired and happily devouring all sorts of fantastic-ness that people in the world are creating. I happened to stumble onto a lifestyle website… and was instantly drawn into all the shiny pretty-ness she had on offer. I started dreaming of all the fun I could have if I created a blog just like that! I imagined having an incredible studio where I created all sorts of cool creative things that I shared with the world, and then I saw myself in a floaty kaftan in some exotic location, sharing snippets of me with a cocktail in hand on some sandy beach...
Sigh… it was a fun moment.
But I was snapped back to reality pretty quick when I realized that I don’t have a lifestyle blog. I was just wanting what someone else had… and that it isn’t ME!
Ugh… Blog envy was a little sneaky right there!
It's super easy to get caught in a whirlwind of comparison and jealousy… whether you see someone doing something way more incredible than you, their business is so much bigger than what you have created, or whether they create prettier stuff, they have cleverly managed to infuse who they are into what they do, or maybe they are just soooo much cooler than you see yourself!
Whatever the motive for comparison, whilst it’s more natural than we’d care to admit, the only thing it’s offering you… is distraction. You're being called away from what you are created to do.
Let's imagine what happens if you chase that shiny object.
You start blogging about cocktails, then you share your kaftan holiday at home, you remember that your blog was actually about ____[insert chosen topic here] - so you quickly write a ____ [insert chosen topic here] type tutorial, then you spotted someone's blog about their shoe love… oh yes, must share that new pair of shoes I bought! Then you found a cool quote - so you share that, plus your supper recipe, that webinar you wanted to do, then there was that piece of art you created, oh- and your favorite color this month, then that pen you bought, oh shit… another _____[insert chosen topic here] post needs to be written.
Very soon, you’ve found yourself floating in all sorts of directions… and quickly feel a sense of restlessness… knowing that something just doesn’t FEEL right…. experiencing confusion and overwhelmed and just feeling all over the place.
Shiny objects can be dangerous! So how do we get around it? It’s important to remember that we are all on our own blogging journey.
1. It all starts with knowing why you blog in the first place!
By being powerfully intentional, knowing what your dream is, and why you do what you do… everything else starts falling into place. It makes it so much easier when you have clarity and know what your purpose is!
2. Once you have your core pegged… you need to work out your Awesome Sauce [that special something you offer the world].
Know what makes YOU special… that you were born to do in this world!
3. Then it comes down to continually sharing that AwesomeSauce, people will naturally become attracted to you…
4. Rinse and repeat… Keep at it, keep persisting and sharing your awesomeness with the world… so that you create a business and live you love!
Et Voila!
So the next time a little bout of jealousy hits… remember that you have something incredible to offer this world… that ONLY you can give… and there is no need to focus on what others are doing, but if that twinge of blog envy hits again...
Here are some ideas to help you when blog envy hits:
When someone’s business appears incredible, bigger, and uber successful:
First remember… it has come with a lot of effort, and as you implement your plan, your business will also grow…
Then spread some love and good vibes their way
So if someone has built a really great business:
Let’s celebrate that they have found their AwesomeSauce, and have been able to make a go at it!
Then go back to your big dream… and do what you’re called to do!
When someone is doing something that is shiny and exciting:
There are many incredible ways to position yourself, but if their method is not right for your business, don’t feel pressure to “have to” follow their path!
Repeat after me: "That has been wonderful for them, but it isn’t where I’m taking my special offering right now…"
Then get back to working on that special something you are creating.
When someone has become really successful in a similar blogging space to the one you’re in:
Let’s remember that there is enough space in this world for all of us!
Spread a little love instead!
When they are just so much cooler than you think you are:
We are all cool in our own special way… to our tribe… and anyway - you don’t want to be a copycat.
Find your AwesomeSauce… that “thing” that makes you “cool”
...and rock your AwesomeSauce baby!
This piece originally appeared on Blog Society. Emma Weise wants to live in a world where entrepreneurs feel confident in the brand they are putting out in the world. She gets to help coffee drinking, lipgloss rocking, sneaker wearing entrepreneurs create a brand experience their clients will adore, helping them serve their AwesomeSauce to the world - and she has some delicious treats for you here.
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