Is Your Content Evergreen?

Every blog needs content to survive, especially in the business world. People must be assured that your site is continually working and being upgraded in order for readers to believe and trust the company. Continual visits will aid growth of the site, the reputation of the company and potentially increase sales and trust.

Last week an article from 2009 was in the top ten most popular articles on Moz. It was six years old, yet it was still one of the most read articles of the day. Despite Moz publishing articles daily, why was an article that was written when ER was still on TV and JLS were the hottest boyband around, being read six years later?

Was it the optimal length for an article? Did it mention Taylor Swift and everyone was therefore fawning over it? No.

The simple answer was that the article was evergreen.

What Is Evergreen Content?

Every blog needs to be nurtured and grown, with content creation one of the most important aspects of adding to the blog. Unfortunately, it's a cruel fact of writing content that thinking of a topic can be difficult Paying attention to news and trends in your industry can provide a wealth of topical, relevant ideas. If you can't be proactive, be reactive. The more relevant and up to date your blog is, the better.

Evergreen content is slightly different however. Evergreen stays up to date no matter what. It can be referenced back to long after it has been published, and requires very little amendments. The beauty of evergreen is that five years later, the topic you wrote about will still be getting argued about, and more importantly, searched for online. By creating evergreen content you are effectively investing a little time in writing an article, but by choosing a relevant and lasting topic you are ensuring hits and views for years to come.

Last weeks Curated Blog post on the death of journalism could arguably be a piece of evergreen content, with the battle no doubt raging on for years to come.

In order to be evergreen content must be timeless and the arguments or advice must remain relatively consistent. For example, a guide to SEO or "How to Tweet" would remain relevant and timeless for numerous years. Evergreen content must be to a high quality, with readers feeling that there is some value from the content. Furthermore evergreen articles should be the pinnacle of content. They should consist of as much relevant information as possible to aid the reader, and to show the in-depth knowledge of your company.

Although trends are ever changing, articles such as "How to Write Legal Content" may stay relevant for years, and grant readers valuable insights for years to come.

Why Choose To Write Evergreen? What Are The Benefits?

There are numerous benefits to writing content that is evergreen. Evergreen content can:

• Grow in Search Rankings - Over time your content will become trusted as more and more people read it. The quality and timelessness of the article will make it prominent if the content is well optimised for search engines.
• Generate Leads - Due to the subject matter being a highly debated or contested subject, many sites may link back to it when writing on the topic. The quality of your content and the topic matter can in turn create leads and improve your search engine ranking.
• Create Traffic and Hits - Even if it is a few years old, evergreen content often gets higher rankings in search engines than newly published content, especially if it is well trusted and found often. This can be even greater if the site it is on is also already established. In turn this can result in more hits for your site over time.
• Improve other posts - Due to your evergreen content being timeless, by linking your other content to the post, it can result in a lower bounce rate and more people viewing a vast array of your content.

Evergreen content can be created through numerous different mediums such as "How to" guides or even debate articles. It is important to note that evergreen should be re-used on social channels and pushed out often in order to keep as much traffic on the page. Furthermore, if there is a development on the topic of your evergreen content, it is worthwhile jumping on the trend to reuse your content.

Content Marketing for Law Firms

If you would like some help to nurture your own content, Curated Media can help. We work with lawyers and law firms to help fulfill their online content needs. Our team of experienced writers, lawyers, online marketers and web developers have the practical knowledge to curate, as well as create.

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0141 811 0286