7 Best Evergreen Content Examples to Help You Stack Traffic in 2020
I remember when I first read about Fraser Cain.
I was researching how to grow traffic to huge heights without using ads. That’s when I came across an article on Nick Eubanks and the concept of “pumpkin hacking SEO.”
That article linked over to another one by Fraser Cain, who founded a site called Universe Today. The site has millions of visitors each month because of a simple content marketing strategy: “evergreen content,” as he called it.
It made me think of a wall with a bunch of green vines growing on it.
I dug deeper.
Here’s the definition of evergreen content:
Evergreen content is content (i.e. blog posts) published on your blog that is “evergreen” because its value and relevance to readers stays high over time.
In other words, it’s valuable information for today, tomorrow, and weeks, potentially even years from now.
Ok, so here’s what Cain did in a nutshell:
- He would build a list of keywords that people were likely searching for—many of them long-tail keywords (meaning they were very specific).
- He would write an article featuring that keyword concept.
- Then he’d publish.
That was it! He published multiple articles a day.
And his website’s traffic spiked as a result.
So now that you have the basics down, let’s go through seven stand-out examples of evergreen content.
Evergreen Content Example #1—Neil Patel’s “How to Get More YouTube Views”
Marketer and influencer Neil Patel manages Kissmetrics and Crazy Egg. He often posts how-tos and tutorials on his own blog. This article in particular notes the importance of YouTube as a marketing tool.
Patel includes many good examples for using the video site. For instance, he describes how a visually appealing thumbnail can really get people clicking. This increases view counts rapidly.
What Makes It “Evergreen” and Why It Works:
Founded in 2005, YouTube has been a major social media channel for 12 years. Patel’s tactics for viral video popularity are tactics to remember, because they don't annoy the viewer. He suggests avoiding clickbait when titling a video, using the right tags to appeal to more viewers, and sharing on other channels. These tips could even be used outside of YouTube for email marketing and posting on Facebook.
Evergreen Content Example #2—Growbo’s “10 Best Examples of Lead Magnets to Help You Get More Leads”
Our post on lead magnets is a useful introduction to this topic.
As a refresher, lead magnets entice customers to swap their email address for an offer of immediate value. Our article includes 10 examples of companies—and not just marketing companies—actively using lead magnets to capture more leads.
What Makes It “Evergreen” and Why It Works:
Email marketing isn’t going away anytime soon. Lead magnets keep customers coming back and remind them why they signed up with your company in the first place. Some of our included examples, like free shipping and discounts, are perks that have always attracted return customers. This tactic worked even before the Internet.
Evergreen Content Example #3—Backlinko’s “The Definitive Guide to Link Building”
Spanning nine chapters, Backlinko’s link-building guide touches on a lot of good points. These include Google algorithm updates and how these affect you, reasons to consider guest posting, and the importance of email outreach. Each chapter breaks down topics into bullet points and hyperlinks for quick reading.
What Makes It “Evergreen” and Why It Works:
Link building continues to evolve as SEO becomes more sophisticated. Many of the fundamentals in this guide are the basic building blocks of marketing. Through email outreach and guest posting, you can strengthen your link-building and get new eyes on your company’s content.
Evergreen Content Example #4—HubSpot’s “Data Visualization 101: How to Choose the Right Chart or Graph for Your Data”
Whether making infographics or year-end reports, no one wants to scroll through pages of unfiltered data. That could bore and turn off customers. Jami Oetting’s how-to on data visualization explains different types of charts and graphs and when to use each one. She even provides examples of lesser-used visual data like scatter plots, waterfall graphs, and stacked columns.
What Makes It “Evergreen” and Why It Works:
Charts and graphs will always be a part of analytics. It’s that simple. This handy guide is ideal if you haven’t made a chart or a graph yet but want to try. It’s also good if you want to get a better understanding of your marketing analytics programs.
Evergreen Content Example #5—Quick Sprout’s “How to Use Humor to Power up Your Content Marketing”
Another post by Neil Patel, this lighthearted yet informative post explains why humor is so beneficial in content marketing. He outlines ways for you to use humor in your next posts without sacrificing your brand and company identity. You won’t have to worry about alienating customers. He even tosses in a few memes to drive home his points.
What Makes It “Evergreen” and Why It Works:
People love to laugh. It’s why comedians have jobs. Although it’s not always easy, finding a way to add some life to what could be an otherwise dry topic will automatically attract more interest. Patel’s tactics are useful anytime you feel you’re stuck in a writing rut.
Evergreen Content Example #6—Marketing Land’s “A Field Guide to Amazon Advertising”
Millions of people visit Amazon every day for their shopping needs. As you can imagine, if used correctly, Amazon can be a great way to get more people interested in your company. In this post by David Rekuc at Marketing Land, you learn how to navigate through the vast site that is Amazon. Rekuc writes about how and where to place ads that will resonate with customers. These may even generate new leads.
What Makes It “Evergreen” and Why It Works:
Amazon has been around since 1994. This shopping giant continues to grow in popularity and usefulness. Rekuc explains all the ad types for marketing on Amazon, like product display ads, headline search ads, and sponsored products. His guide should be handy to marketers for years to come.
Evergreen Content Example #7—Hootsuite’s “How to Write Effective CTAs on Social Media: A Guide for Marketers”
You probably already know how to write Call To Actions (CTAs) for blog posts. You likely do this all the time. But what about writing CTAs that appeal to the Twitter and Facebook crowds? Kaylynn Chong at Hootsuite explains how to do just that. She mentions how occasional bold text, clear links, and sales-free language can win over social media users.
What Makes It “Evergreen” and Why It Works:
CTAs will always be necessary in marketing. Social media channels will rise and fall in popularity, but Twitter, Facebook, and the like are mainstays. It pays to know how to appeal to their respective audiences with a strong CTA.
Conclusion
Evergreen content continually attracts new readers because the information almost never goes out-of-date—hence why it’s “evergreen.” This benefit can last for weeks and sometimes even years, depending on the topic.
If you want to write evergreen content yourself, try how-tos and tutorials. These are great formats, because they are instructional in nature and useful for potential customers who want to learn more.
Make sure you don’t focus so much on trends that you use right now though, as these may be out-of-date soon. Instead, write about trends and tactics that have been used for years and show no signs of fading.
What evergreen content do you want to write based on these examples? Have you already written an evergreen post that’s done well and attracted new leads?
Tell me in a comment below.
Keep Hustlin’, Stay Focused,
—Matt
