J. R. Swab

How To Keep Them Pining

Categories: [Content Creation]
Tags: [ideas], [writing], [blogging]

The posts we create are the nucleus of the blog. Every other aspect is second to the quality of the content we create. This includes commenting, getting logos, engaging in group chats, and promotion. We can still do many of those things without creating posts but our growth will only go so far.

Good and well thought out articles are one key to growing your blog but there is another door that needs unlocked. The key to this door is "evergreen content". This post type is the best to write since it will be relevant today, tomorrow, and a year from now.

Creative writers such as poets and short fiction authors have it easier. This is due to a story or poem being timeless. How many stories from Shakespeare still hold true today? How many poems by T. S. Eliot still resonate with those who read?

This is why we love stories. No matter how old the story is we can learn form it as if written today. Creative writing is by default evergreen but not everyone writes fiction or poetry. Most of the content I create would not fit this model even though poetry is my favorite to write.

For the non-fiction writers it is important to spend time thinking about the longevity of our topic. If the topic is evergreen and will ring true for years to come, then write it as long as it fits in your niche. The reason behind creating evergreen content is to allow the reader to find valuable information regardless of when they read.

Our hard work can show up on Google or another search engine when a person is searching for what we talked about. Also if our work is not bound in time, we can share the post with someone in need of the information at any time. This can only work with evergreen content because as soon as our topic is out of date it might as well not exist.

Writing Evergreen

Our goal as creators is to grow our blog traffic. This is the best way to do that. There is no reason our hard work should not generate results for us day after day. Let's take this post for example. I am writing it to help people understand the concept of evergreen content. The goal is that this post be useful for as long as possible.

There is no use in me using the latest fad or some pop culture reference because I have no idea if those will be relevant in a years time. Don't alienate future readers by cementing your blog post in the past. Bring them value no matter what day, week, or month they find your work.

If our goal is to grow a well-established blog over the course of many years, it is important to pick a niche we love. It is also important to add that we need to see our niche in an evergreen light. Let's take technology for example.

There are many topics to fill this niche that allow us to create evergreen content. However, there are just as many that will die after a short while. The overarching concept of cryptocurrency is a good topic that people can learn from for years. The daily price movements are not by any stretch.

This is why I chose to not write about the price of Bitcoin or even what the newest altcoin aims to achieve. These topics may bring in a lot of views that day but will have little to no worth a year later. Topics that teach technology or a concept of it are a better approach.

Examples are helping people understand PGP, explaining peer-to-peer networking, and that there is an alternative to the QWERTY keyboard. These topics will age but not become irrelevant. This is the goal of evergreen content. When we write our next blog post let's ask if what we write about today will still be useful in a year.

Top Evergreen Tips

First, when writing our posts can't write them for the "experts" in our niche. They already know what we have to say and they may even write the topic better. There are also a lot less of them than average people looking to learn. Keep the post aimed at the people getting their feet wet on the topic or are looking to move from beginner to intermediate.

Second, make sure to not create posts that are to technical by using words uncommon to most people. Sometimes we can't avoid a word and in that case we must define it well. This ties in with the first tip and these often go hand in hand when writing for the longevity of the post. When there are to many undefined words the reader could get lost and give up. We want them to enjoy our work not get frustrated by the technical terminology.

Third, we should keep our topics more broad than narrow. This is because when we keep the post topic broad we force ourselves to write to the average person. It also makes the post less likely to lose its evergreen quality.

When writing a super specific post we risk the fine points changing causing our post to be out of date. Once something is out of date, the post is no longer as useful as it once was. There is a time and place for focused and narrow writing. When the goal is to create a post that will last always go a tad broad..

Just because we are talking about evergreen content does not mean there is no place for time sensitive content. If you love writing daily about the price of Bitcoin than by all means do. Do take time to create something evergreen once in a while. That way you can benefit from landing in search engines and sharing around content later in the year.

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