How to Create Evergreen Blog Content

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How to create evergreen blog content

There are two types of content that I usually post on my blog:

Daily Experiences – things I see and do, journal-type notes, general thoughts etc. These posts are generally just for fun – I write them for enjoyment and they keep within the original purpose that the blog was intended for: therapy. I don’t pay much attention to SEO, keywords or images as I know that these sorts of posts will be seen over a period of about a month and then will be considered to be out of date. Essentially, non-evergreen content that has an expiration date.

Evergreen Content – posts that will be generally relevant over long periods of time and aren’t necessarily specific to my own life. Within these I am much more focused on keywords and SEO techniques, I spend a much longer period of time crafting beautiful and pinnable images and I make sure that I link to other relevant posts. I also focus heavily on these sorts of posts across my social media sharing, often resharing them at intervals to give them a boost in promotion at a later date.

Sometimes, I will do both types of posts on the same subject. For example, when I visited NYC on my honeymoon I wrote a generic post on what we experienced and then wrote a guide to spending 4 1/2 days in the city for others who may also be planning a similar trip, which was more focused on Pinterest sharing and was far less personal. The How To guide has currently had double the amount of views in comparison to the honeymoon post, despite the fact that it was published several months later.

Of my Top 10 all-time most popular posts in my blogging history, every single one were written over a year ago and are evergreen posts. None of them are within the same theme and they cover completely different topics – for example, my three most popular are 50 Things to Remove From Your Home and Life, followed by How to Know When You’re a Teacher, with 25 Mix and Match Date Ideas in third, and I can pretty much guarantee that most of my top 10 posts will appear in my daily stats with no extra promotion.

The key to creating evergreen content is to show that you have an authority within a subject that will be as relevant to a potential reader months and years after the post was originally published. This doesn’t mean you have to be an expert, but if you can demonstrate that you have been able to do something successfully it is more likely that 1. You and your post will be taken seriously and 2. Your post is more likely to be shared by others who have followed your advice and achieved their own success with it. An evergreen post needs to be easy to read and follow and the end result appear achievable.

Topics to Consider When Creating Evergreen Content

Remember that some of these will feed into each other and not all will be relevant to your style, but I’ve had success with lots of these ideas.

1. How To’s. These can cover almost anything: creating or making something, decluttering and cleaning, developing health and fitness routines, recipes, planning and/or hosting a party or event, travel and packing tips, self-care, happiness. Remember to be specific in your topic and aim it at a particular target audience.

2. Listicles. A positive list of reasons why your reader should do something beneficial, with proof of your own experiences and results will always be popular.

3. Checklists. A step-by-step plan, which could be linked with a How To are useful. Often these are created in the form of infographics that are hugely popular on places like Pinterest.

4. Lessons Learned or Mistakes Made. Give your advice based on your own experiences. When I got married I created a post about what I did that saved lots of money during the process, along with further ideas as to what I could have done in hindsight to save even more. ‘Things I Wish I’d Have Known When…’

5. A Glossary on a topic that readers can constantly refer back to.

6. The History or Origin of something. The beauty of this is that the past history of something will not change.

7. Beginners Guides. This goes back to my original point about being an authority in a topic.

8. A Series of Tutorials. Having a ‘Part 1, Part 2’ style of posts that are all linked into each other will encourage more than one of your posts to be seen.

9. Interviews. If you don’t feel confident enough to offer advice about something but really want to write about it, interview a leading authority within a topic about their past experiences.

10. The Pros and Cons of something.

11. Time Specific Posts that can be shared at specific points within the year. ‘How to Survive the January Blues’ and ‘How to Save Money on Christmas Presents’ start seeing lots more views from November to the end of January every year on my blog.

Things to Remember when Creating Evergreen Content

Your evergreen content needs to be of high quality, and therefore will take a much longer amount of time to create. It’s totally worth it.

Evergreen posts need to have a timeless quality with something that the reader can take away from it.

Evergreen posts need to be easy to read and follow.

Your posts may need to be updated and refreshed occasionally and as you create more content you can link to more of your posts.

Share your evergreen posts regularly on social media.

Link your evergreen content in other posts – this post alone contains numerous examples of my previous evergreen posts.

What about you guys? Have you got any tips and ideas for creating evergreen content?

Want to follow me on social media? You can also find me on Twitter and Tumblr @suzie81blog, and don’t forget to check out my Facebook pagehttp://www.facebook.com/suzie81speaks, my Pinterest page http://www.pinterest.com/suzie81speaks and my Instagram page http://www.instagram.com/suzie81speaks.

59 thoughts on “How to Create Evergreen Blog Content”

  2. Noted and taken onboard. I need some more evergreens 🌲 in my life. Shall refer to these notes when I’m able to sit and write properly with minimal distractions 😊

  3. Love this list, Suzie! Thank you so much for sharing these excellent ideas! I am definitely going to change up my posts to include these types of writing! Huge help! Cher xo

  4. Once again I learn something new. I recently realized I write fluffy dross for my own pleasure but my techy help posts are better worded and get a lot more hits. Clever stuff and an interesting read. Thank you your post has helped clarify my thoughts

  6. After reading this post, I can safely say I have never written an evergreen post. Never even thought of what that might mean 🙂
    Thanks.

  7. Reblogged this on The thoughts and life of me and commented:
    Enjoyed this post by Suzie a lot. I only blog because I enjoy it and always appreciate good advice, but I am not a fan of the “How to get a million viewes in 10 seconds” posts. This post is not one of those, I recommend going over to Suzies blog to read this and other great posts. Leave your comments and likes at original post.

  8. I always like perusing your blog advice, but I never take much of it! Too much work for us here. We take a lot of cat naps. I prefer to remain a small fish in a quiet lake. There is a lot to be said for anonymity.

  9. Interesting post. It’s great to learn how other bloggers structure their posts and sites and how they decide on content etc. Love the phrase ‘Evergreen content’ as that perfectly describes what it is. We need to do more evergreen as all of our posts currently are just diary-like about our lives.

    • Thanks lovely! I’ve never seen the point of optimising the general daily journal type posts as I know they won’t go anywhere, it’s purely for fun… More time spent on the evergreen ones is definitely better

  12. You’ve given me food for thought, Suzie. I need to promote my evergreen material. I recently had a bump in my stats and it was from a post about how I coped after I lost my sister. It surprised me, but after reading your post, it shouldn’t have. It is timeless information that can be appreciated by anyone going through the same thing.

    • Absolutely – that sort of topic not only is something that is extremely helpful for people going through such an awful thing, but the advice and thoughts isn’t something that will ever change…

  13. I hadn’t coined the evergreen name for this but I’m starting to create more Evergreen content and maybe a bit less random shite lol

  14. This makes complete sense to me Suzie! I like your style and the easy way you pass on your knowledge. Thanks again for always helping out with sharing your ideas and experiences.

  16. Evergreen even sounds pleasant! It must be great for your blog stats!

    I think you have a good balance between posts for your regular readers (that are sort of time sensitive) and posts that we can re-read and find useful much later. I do like a bit of both!! 🙂

    • I think it would be a bit boring otherwise – I read blogs regularly that tell me about the author’s daily lives… Must be the nosey side of me. However, I do like a post or two that I can use to improve my daily life too…

      • I think the first posts I read from you were all evergreen…and then once I got to know you I became more interested in the personal posts. I love that the whole of BUYB was so chuffed when you and the bloke got hitched. 🙂

  19. I use my blog to post my fiction, which I hope will be read for years to come. My technique is to write stories (and plays) that are well written, engaging, and timely as well as timeless. When a short story or short play I posted a year or two ago gets a view or a like, I feel a sense of accomplishment.
    I imagine writing non-fiction evergreen content is more challenging because its purpose is informational as opposed to artistic expression, and new information is a constant.

  20. Pingback: How to Gain More Readers With Evergreen Blog Content - Wandernity

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