{"id":54948,"date":"2015-08-06T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-08-06T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/?p=54948"},"modified":"2015-08-06T15:38:31","modified_gmt":"2015-08-06T14:38:31","slug":"how-to-use-evergreen-content-to-drive-traffic-for-years-to-come","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/content-management\/content-marketing-strategy\/how-to-use-evergreen-content-to-drive-traffic-for-years-to-come\/","title":{"rendered":"How to use evergreen content to drive traffic for years to come"},"content":{"rendered":"

Evergreen content is key to boosting your organic SEO<\/h2>\n

What is evergreen content?<\/h3>\n

Content creation is essential in any marketing strategy. It takes time and effort to create good content. If you invest in creating content you want to maximise the return on your investment. You want to see a boost in: traffic to your website, shares on social media, subscriptions to your mailing list and enquires to your sales team. Great content can do all of these and ultimately drive more sales.\"evergreen<\/p>\n

Some content will only attract traffic for a brief spurt. For example: an article about a new development in your industry. Such an article can drive a spike in traffic that might diminish in a matter of days.<\/p>\n

\"Blog<\/a><\/p>\n

source: moz.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

However some content can continue to attract traffic over time. For example: an article about fundamental concepts in your industry. Such an article can draw in new traffic for years to come.<\/p>\n

\"Evergreen<\/a><\/p>\n

source: moz.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This type of content is called evergreen content.<\/b><\/p>\n

Why you need evergreen content<\/h3>\n

In your content marketing strategy you need both types of content: news type stories to keep abreast of current developments, and evergreen content to grow your brand over the long term.<\/p>\n

Evergreen content can help you in the following ways:<\/p>\n

Generating leads<\/h4>\n

Evergreen content which is relevant and informative will enhance the credibility of your brand. It will demonstrate to your audience that you understand their needs, you have expertise and you can offer them a solution. Through reading your content, your audience will grow to trust you and will feel comfortable with doing business with you.<\/p>\n

Building authority<\/h4>\n

If you can create authoritative evergreen content which addresses key issues in your industry, you can position your brand as a thought leader. Over time, this will raise awareness of your brand\u2019s expertise. This will attract links from bloggers and writers, driving online traffic. In the offline world this can lead to invitations to speak at industry conferences and seminars.<\/p>\n

Improving SEO<\/h4>\n

Evergreen content will give you love not just from humans, but search engines too. Google is committed to rewarding exceptional content while penalising thin, low-value pages. \u00a0As reported by Search Engine Watch<\/a>, Google\u2019s algorithms have been carefully designed to reward in-depth evergreen content that is really useful to visitors. To maximise the SEO potential of your evergreen content, make sure you do proper keyword research<\/a> and optimise your content for your target keywords.<\/p>\n

Driving shares<\/h4>\n

Unlike a time-sensitive news article, evergreen content can continue to drive shares on social media for years after it was first published. Evergreen content will never lose its relevance so it can be promoted as part of your long-term social media strategy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What makes content evergreen<\/h3>\n

Evergreen content has the following characteristics:<\/p>\n