Write Evergreen Content to Build Your Article Library Time-sensitive articles are like deciduous trees: the trees may appear full and healthy, but with the approach of winter, the leaves begin to fall. Time-sensitive articles may attract traffic in their prime, but they will inevitably lose their "leaves" as their relevance becomes obsolete. Evergreen trees remain robust and require less maintenance throughout the year. They endure, attract, and thrive! Similarly, evergreen articles are full of relevant information, withstand the tests of time, and continue working for you by driving traffic to your site. Benefits to Evergreen Articles: - Low-Maintenance: Evergreen articles do not require constant updating or submitting new relevant content to replace time-sensitive articles. Rather than replacing out-dated content, if you add evergreen articles to your article library, you will build the volume of articles working for you.
- Syndication: Ezine publishers want your high-quality, evergreen content. Publishers are not able to update or change your content, so if it is out-of-date or irrelevant, they will not pick up your articles.
- Future Use: If you have a light social media day, you can refer back to evergreen articles in a tweet, etc.
Tips to Keep in Mind When Writing Evergreen Articles Add longevity to the relevance of the article. Keep your articles working for years to come by not including dates or time-sensitive material. After you write your next article, read it again and imagine it's one year later. Rewrite anything that would be outdated. For example: - Not Evergreen: Clever Homemade Halloween Costumes For 2011
- Evergreen: Clever Homemade Halloween Costumes
Exceptions may include: Many products, movie remakes, etc. utilize a date to differentiate itself from another product. For example, mentions of the movie The Karate Kid will leave readers wondering if the article will discuss the 1984 or the 2010 version. Articles discussing products that are continually being updated may use a year as well, (e.g. Microsoft Office 2007 vs. Microsoft Office 2010). Consider your angle. You can still use examples of current trends or news, as long as your ultimate goal or subject is evergreen. For instance, if a topic discusses a major event or change, instead of using language like "recently," "last week" or "today," in the article, try using language that would be effective months or years from now. - Not Evergreen: A little over two weeks ago, Dan Shechtman was awarded the 2011 Noble Prize in Chemistry for his remarkable mosaic of atoms.
- Evergreen: Dan Shechtman was awarded the 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his remarkable mosaic of atoms.
Tuning Up Your Article Library Take inventory of your under performing articles. Consider the content: Is it still relevant? If it's not, rather than modifying the existing article, write a new article with your new information or perspective to have a long-lasting impact. That way, the old one is still available in case it was syndicated and the new article will rise to the top with its relevant content. Warning: Be careful! Steer clear of writing rehashed or derivative content. To stay evergreen, your content must be fresh and 100% unique. Evergreen Extends to Your Links Too. If you decided to change your website strategies for any self-serving links (i.e. links you have a vested interest in), ensure the articles that may include those links are still active, relevant and provide a good user experience. If you kill a link, you may risk losing credibility. Increase Your Article's VALUE No matter the niche, there is highly relevant, evergreen content that withstands the tests of time. While it may be true that all articles someday will lose their relevance (not many people are looking up articles on whether we should reinvent the wheel from stone to wood anymore), don't kill an article long before the topic loses its relevance with readers. Writing evergreen content increases your return on investment because it continues to work for you, your readers, your publishers, and the world at large. So what are you waiting for? Start building your article library with evergreen articles today! What's your angle when writing evergreen content? Share it with the EzineArticles community in the comments section here! |