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What Evergreen Content Is and Isn’t
If you’re new to affiliate marketing, you may have heard the term “evergreen content” and been told that your site needs to have them. So, what is evergreen content anyway, and why do people recommend it?
Evergreen content is content that remains relevant and never weathers with age. If anything, it grows stronger and fuller as time goes by.
According to CopyBlogger contributor, Aaron Orendorff:
“While there is no magic bullet for content marketers, there is one type of content that can cut through the noise and deliver long-term results.
It’s called evergreen content.”
That’s a beautiful way to look at it, if I do say so myself.
Before we dive into how you can write effective evergreen affiliate content that sells, let’s first talk about what it isn’t.
Evergreen content is not:
- News updates
- Weekly, monthly, etc. “state of the nation” content
- Lists of statistics that constantly change
- Event-based articles
- Product launch updates
- Award announcements
- Trending articles
- Recaps of what happened in the past month, year, etc.
The Relationship Between Evergreen Content and Your Readers
Everyone knows that creating quality content, whatever type of content that is, requires a deep understanding of the reader. This means their influencers, communication channels, goals, barriers, and most importantly, their pain points.
The same is true for creating evergreen content. You’ll want to know what the needs and challenges your readers face. In other words, what content topics will they want to read about that will help establish your credibility with them?
Once you figure out what topics to write about, you can then proceed to the fun part: planning and writing.
7 Pointers for Writing Evergreen Affiliate Content That Sells
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Create an editorial calendar.
Editorial calendars help you build a schedule of when to publish your evergreen content. If you know your readers browsing behavior, it’s best to put out new evergreen content when they’re most active. If the content is very useful, there’s a chance they’ll share it. Editorial calendars also help you keep track of what topics you’ve already covered.
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Address fundamental issues.
Evergreen topics tend to answer the important questions. For example, if your site is about business growth, build your evergreen content on topics that suggest tips on becoming more efficient, creating marketing strategies, minimizing risks, etc. Make sure the post addresses core concerns that your readers care about, rather than writing based on your own problems and concerns.
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Make it comprehensive.
To continually drive traffic to your content, make it as comprehensive as you can. You need to make the content a useful go-to reference so people won’t be tempted to search elsewhere for answers. Avoid using jargon and provide basic details as well so less-informed readers can still understand what you’re trying to convey.
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Optimize for search engines.
The biggest missed opportunity that’s common with websites is a lack of search engine optimization (SEO). If you want your content to remain in front of people, you’ll need to serve your site’s organic needs. One way to achieve this is to search for high-traffic keywords with minimal competition. The more your content ages, the more traffic it will attract and the higher your site will rank.
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Make the format easy to follow.
You may already be familiar with the ever-decreasing attention span of netizens. To make your evergreen content more ‘eye-friendly’, break down the subtopics into smaller paragraphs that are 3-5 sentences long. Also, use subheadings when you’re about to transition to another idea so readers have a clear idea of what it is you’re talking about.
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Set refresh dates.
Occasionally, your evergreen content will need to be freshened up. This is because you may mention things that no longer apply to current times. Set a specific day of the year where you go through old content to see what needs updating (and maybe deleting). This may include descriptions, definitions, and reference sources.
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Let your content flourish.
No matter how keyword-optimized or comprehensive your evergreen content is, it can still get buried under the surge of new blog posts. Make them shine again by placing them somewhere that catches the attention of new visitors. This can be done by creating a “Top Posts” or “Recommended Reads” section in your blog page.
Writing evergreen material is a great way to rank your site and provide readers with information that never becomes outdated. It also has the potential to bring traffic months, or even years into the future. If you want to create an effective content marketing strategy, however, you’ll need to create a mix of both topic articles and evergreen content.
Other great types of content are product reviews and deal roundups. For more information on writing awesome product reviews, check out this guide.
Do you have other ideas for creating evergreen affiliate content that sells? Share them with us below in the comments section. We’d love to hear from you!