By Sharon Smith, Editor of the Australian Hospital and Healthcare Bulletin.
Regardless of the season, economic temperature or news cycle, publishers all over the world rely on evergreen content to keep readers engaged and satisfy the hungry search robots who demand regular web activity.
What is evergreen content?
Simply put, an evergreen article is one that never needs to be updated yet is always relevant. Examples of evergreen content include stories such as ‘Health Checks Every Doctor Needs’; and ‘Australia’s Best Caravan Parks’. Evergreen content can even be seasonally-themed, provided it is worked into an editorial calendar. Whether it’s ‘BBQ tips’ for Summer or ‘Long Distance Romance Tips’ for Valentine’s Day, you can reschedule that content to appear on your site year after year and it will still appeal to readers.
What are the benefits of evergreen content?
Evergreen content can stay on your site and will never need updating. It will always be appropriate for readers and even has the power to get a second life when that particular topic hits the news. It can be used to complement your time-sensitive promotional schedule. It can be used to regularly remind readers of a consistent brand message.
How can it work for you?
Evergreen content is used widely across websites publishing feature articles and in-depth content, and is used to fill places in the content calendar where topical news stories cannot be pre-planned. But did you know advertisers can use evergreen content as part of their promotional strategy too?
For years the marketing and advertising industry has conducted branding activity; focused solely on getting the brand in front of the consumer. If you start out with the concept of evergreen content in mind while developing your branding activity, you will be able to re-use it again and again.
Most importantly, evergreen content needs to be developed alongside any other content you are generating. The purpose of this content is to support your timely, topical and on-target messaging.
What are some easy ways to generate evergreen content?
Evergreen doesn’t mean locked in place – tweak it with new research, mash it up and create new evergreen content out of your classic hits. Try repurposing content into different formats. If you have an article, turn it into a video, infographic or audio file.
Educational content never goes out of style. Find topics commonly discussed in your industry – either by you, your competitors or your audience – and break them down into instructional content.