How can you write content that remains valuable and relevant over time?

Content strategy 101: your job isn’t to create as much content as possible. Your goal is to *change how people think and act.* Know where your audience is and where you need to move them. Then think about -message -format -channel -success metrics Don’t fall into the “be everywhere all at once” lie. Earn a seat at the table by understanding how your content transforms your audience and your business.

In a word, evergreen. You don't have to change or update evergreen content much, if at all. It has innate lasting value. Start at the beginning. Write timeless prose.

Think about common truths that your customers believe. Focus your content around those themes. The methods may change over time but if the underlying truth is there your content has a higher chance to resonate over time.

Creating content that stays valuable and relevant over time is key to maintaining a robust online presence. The trick is to focus on producing evergreen content. This type of content remains important no matter how much time passes. It's like planting a tree that keeps giving fruit year after year. Think of topics that people will always search for, like how-to guides, tips for solving common problems, or advice that stands the test of time. But hey, not everything can be evergreen, right? That's where being ready to update your content comes into play. Markets change, new info comes out, and what was relevant yesterday might need a tweak today. Setting up a schedule to review and refresh your content keeps it from getting stale.

The cornerstone of valuable evergreen content is a profound understanding of your target audience. Conduct thorough research using tools like Google Analytics, social media insights, and customer surveys. By understanding what your audience values, you can create content that addresses their enduring questions and needs.

Choose evergreen topics that address fundamental needs or challenges. Look for subjects with enduring relevance, applicable across time. Research keyword trends and consider the consistent popularity of certain themes. Understand your audience's ongoing interests and create content that provides long-term value, focusing on educational, informative, or problem-solving aspects. Regularly updating content also helps it stay relevant amid evolving trends.

The way people consume content is influenced by their most pressing problems. That's why, content marketers need to dive deeper than surface-level trends. They need to explore the core issues and all the "whys". As an example, instead of discussing a software's latest upgrade, dissect its foundational features—those that solve users' problems. Use keyword analysis, not just for popularity but for consistency over time. Examine competitors, but with an eye for gaps they've overlooked. Cultivate brainstorming sessions with diverse teams; varied perspectives often spotlight evergreen angles missed in echo chambers. Aim to be the resource readers bookmark, returning to your content as a trusted guide, no matter when.

Topics wear off easily. But you know what? Creativity doesn't. Yes, a new topic will drive a lot of attention. Same with old ones, but only old topics with different perspectives will thrive for a long time. Therefore when selecting a topic, define the purpose and your UA — Unfair Advantage. Use this to pluck people's eyes and keep them coming for more read.

This is an challenge for us because all the work we do is for technology clients. There content ages as the technology it's based on ages. One way we have found to address that is to create updates for older blogs that specifically highlight what has changed. For instance, we had created a few blogs for a Microsoft partner. The initial blogs were along the lines of: "Benefits and challenges of adopting low-code for application development" "Top XX reasons why CIOs love Microsoft Power Platform" When a major update came out last year folding in many of the capabilities of OpenAI, we created a bunch of updates to those blogs along the lines of: "Has AI changed low-code application development" "Why CIOs love MS Power Platform even more"

Choosing a topic that is related to your audience's KPIs or personal growth goals is a sure way to ensure the topic will be interesting and relevant for years to come, as role-specific KPIs and the pursuit of personal development rarely change over time.

Writing content that is valuable and relevant over time often boils down to having a clear understanding of audience needs and tailoring the content to those needs in each stage of the customer journey. For example, when writing about a new product, it might be helpful to answer the likely questions a person who has just discovered your product will have.

The key to writing content that remains valuable over time is to focus on evergreen topics and steer clear of fleeting trends or time-sensitive mentions. For instance, instead of referencing a current holiday or a recent news event, delve into foundational principles or timeless insights related to your field. While mentioning a trending topic might give your content a temporary boost, it can quickly date it, limiting its long-term value. Prioritize depth over novelty, and you'll create content that can be repurposed and remain relevant for years to come.

If I can hear your voice in my head as I read, you've done something right. Just keep it simple, and make sure you axe the jargon unless you're writing for a very specific audience. Don't make your grandmother have to get out the dictionary.

I find that it helps to keep it simple and relatable. Unless it is an academic paper, the language should be clear and easily understood. The first sentence at the head of each paragraph should have keywords that introduce new thoughts. This ensures that readers can quickly scan through your content

A wall of text is daunting. Break it up to keep readers reading. Headings, subheadings, bullet points, and images are the bare minimum. Bringing content to life is even better. If your copy features quotes, add in-line audio clips of those you cite. Reporting on compelling data? Include mini infographic-like graphics to emphasize key findings. Describing products, software, or services? Included annotated examples. Get creative, and your readers will reward you.

Evergreen content is powerful because it answers evergreen questions. In order for your content to reach its greatest potential, you simply must optimize it for discovery. Where will people look for this information? How will they search for it? And, does your current draft increase your odds of showing up in their search results? The discipline of SEO offers tons of guidance for optimizing your content for engines like Google. But, you may decide that users will discover it a different way, such as searching on your site, or skimming TikTok.

This is such an important step. Given you did your research properly in step 1 - this part will be a breeze. Tools like Semrush (content templates) and Yoast (on page SEO) are great for ensuring your content is fully optimised. Get that blog article on Google’s page one without advertising it! That’s the goal.

Optimizing content is important because, it helps your audience to: - Find your content - Share your content - Follow your content - Get in touch As mentioned here, content can be optimized by using the target and LSI keywords with adequate density in your content, meta, titles and URLs. Internal and external links, CTA and social share buttons are equally important. Along with that, people want to see more visual stuff, so adding relevant and insightful images can pique their interest. With such interactive elements, people will want to read your content more, share more, and eventually, lead more users to your content.

The biggest fail I see is skipping the step of content optimization. If you are a writer, you need to understand the basics of SEO writing. If you are hiring a writer - this is an important qualification to look for, and ask writers where they received SEO training.

Content optimization should occur during the writing stage, not post. Additionally, linking to external sources is one of the sure ways to create more maintenance challenges, as you have no control over external content. Broken links/redirects/404s, fallen influencers you may have quoted, or other issues could arise. While external linking is extremely valuable in building trust, this is not good advice to give to someone who is looking to create longevity.

First I'd suggest you start with enrollment. You need training in observation. This will help you stay focused on Industry trends. Keep your words so relatable that people want to come over time.

A key point here is research. You want to continuously know what is happening in the market. You want to keep up with the trends and behaviors among your audience. You should continuously do research to know the kind of content that us relevant to your target audience and update accordingly. Once you are able to do that, your content will remain useful and stand the test of time.

Updating and refreshing your content has several benefits: - Improves SEO performance as Google favours fresh and up-to-date content. - Increases traffic with enhanced performance on search results - New and latest articles tend to get shared more, so it means higher engagement - People will want to know the latest in the industry, so they will click on fresh articles more and ignore the old ones - Gives more depth to your existing content by turning it into a pillar article.

Creating content that stands the test of time involves a strategic approach to ensure its relevance. So conduct thorough research and provide comprehensive coverage of the topic and as mentioned, update it to keep it relevant. What I find helpful and has worked for me is to integrate case studies and examples in the content.

One time, working with a client, we examined the top-performing content. We took the top 10 best perming articles updated them with new stats and visuals and added more details. We also added a CTA in the middle of the article and at the end to sign up for a related Cheat Sheet - and the updates resulted in an increase of more than 100% in qualified traffic and email leads from the Cheat Sheet downloads.

When my clients are overloaded with content, I advise them to stop creating new content and instead focus on recycling, syndicating, and repurposing existing content with the help of strategic AI prompts. This approach results in the creation of quality content that can multiply quickly, as opposed to reinventing the wheel by constantly creating new content.

Ideally, you plan new content with repurposing in mind, (like writing a video script knowing that it will be chopped up into social bites), but you can start right now with existing content. Whether it's turning a blog post into an infographic or a social post, or oppositely, turning a popular post into a whole webinar. An easy way to do this for social is to look back into your posting history and see what posts did well 3 months ago, last year, 2 years ago, etc. It often only takes a few tweaks to make it fresh and relevant to your audience today (and yes, there's AI for that).

Refurbish content with the platform's tools you are uploading it onto. It WILL help with the algorithm's push. For example, add subtitles inside Reels when repurposing a TikTok video.

I use a tool called Castmagic to do a lot of the heavy lifting of repurposing. I upload a podcast episode (or you could use any video you've created). In addition to the transcript, it pulls out the key hooks from the content, gives me a newsletter/blog post, LinkedIn post, Twitter thread, Reels script, and lets me prompt for more content ideas. This is one of my favorite tools for pulling out the essentials, easily and quickly.

Having long form evergreen content that can be repurposed into video content, static content, single tiles, carousels is essential as a content creator / social media manager. It allows you to capture different parts of your audience, adapt to different channels and create the type of content your audience engages with - and with the dynamic nature of social algorithms, repurposing is an invaluable tool to utilise.

Think long-term. Think outside the box. Go for the fundamental base to provide solutions. For example, no matter what the algorithm says, no matter the angle, the content that has the user in mind will always stand the test of time

Evergreen content doesn't mean it will last forever. It will still need to be checked and refreshed. This means keeping a spreadsheet of your evergreen content, and where it's syndicated. Once or twice a year check the content and refresh it. If it's been syndicated, this content may need refreshing too. When you do this, make a note in the content of the date it was updated. This is reassuring to the person reading / watching and it shows the content is up to date. When you do this you show your audience you care about how they perceive your content. This does a lot to build trust with them.

Transforming perspectives and influencing behaviors are powerful catalysts for societal progress. The ability to reshape thoughts and actions holds the key to fostering positive change and driving innovation. By challenging existing paradigms and instilling new insights, we have the potential to revolutionize not only individual mindsets but entire communities. This transformative process empowers individuals to embrace fresh ideas, adopt progressive behaviors, and contribute to a collective evolution.

Dig DEEP into THE most common searches, and pain points your audience have, AND infuse your business's unique sauce/perspective to it. One of our most powerful evergreen blogs (we're a copywriting house) are non-boring email templates for the holiday season. 5 years on and it's still one of our most visited pieces of content.

Writing content that remains valuable and relevant over time is not easy, but it is possible. Here are some tips to create evergreen content: ? Choose a topic that is not affected by changing trends, seasons, or news. For example, how to write a resume, how to cook pasta, or how to meditate. ? Do keyword research to find out what people are searching for and what keywords have low competition and high search Volume. ? Update your content regularly to keep it fresh and accurate. Check for broken links, outdated information, or new developments in your topic. By following these tips, you can write content that will attract and retain readers for a long time