If there is one word that best describes how to frame online content in order to take advantage of search engine optimization, it is ‘relevance’. Search engines like Google put a high premium on content that is relevant and fresh. So do website visitors. Relevant content gives website visitors a reason to come back; it establishes the company or organization operating the site as an authority; it tells website visitors that the company cares about them as much as they do make the sale.
Hand-in-hand with relevance is producing content that is evergreen. If you are unfamiliar with the term, evergreen content is content that is not dated. Where a news article has a limited shelf life directly related to the news cycle, an evergreen post remains relevant for an extended amount of time – months or even years, in some cases.
Long-term relevance is that which makes evergreen content so valuable to website owners. In light of that, below are 5 Online Marketing Strategies that Are Never Dying. They are all strategies based on the concept of producing evergreen content.
1. Top 10 Lists
A very popular marketing trend we have seen online for the last several years is that of developing top 10 lists targeting a unique audience. For example, consider a website that specializes in booking travel arrangements. A top 10 list detailing the best places to go for an adventure sports holiday would make a great post that readers would be looking at for years.
Top 10 lists are popular because they address specific topics in a way that offers easily digestible information. They are also a targeted form of online marketing that tends to do very well for search engine optimization when lists are constructed properly with underlying keywords and phrases.
2. Relevant Case Studies
Good case studies are hard to find online these days. As a website owner or online marketer, here’s what you need to know: case studies are the epitome of evergreen content. They target a very specific subject with relevant information that readers need and want to know. Very few content types are as good as the case study for providing targeted technical or business information.
3. Instructional Guides
How many times have you gone to your favourite search engine and searched the phrase “how to…”? Probably more times than you would care to admit. The fact is that the internet is an excellent source of information for learning to do things you don’t know how to do. What could be more advantageous to evergreen content than producing a series of instructional guides relating to the products or services offered on your website?
4. Product Reviews
Websites operating in the retail space can take full advantage of the evergreen dynamic by producing content based on product reviews. This kind of content is valuable to readers week-after-week, month-after-month and, in some cases, year-after-year. There is only one caveat here: product reviews need to be genuine and legitimate.
Internet users are not as gullible as so many retailers think. They know how to spot a disingenuous product review written by someone who has never used the product in question. Do not negate the power of the product review as evergreen content by posting reviews that are not legitimate. Otherwise, you will risk your online reputation.
5. Offering Tips to Readers
Offering tips to readers is yet another example of an online marketing trend that takes advantage of the evergreen principle. The most valuable aspect of this kind of content is that it is virtually unlimited. How many products or services do you sell? If your site is more informational or charitable in nature, how many topics and subtopics are covered in your content? All your existing information has the potential of being enhanced by content offering tips to readers.
Creating a decent volume of evergreen content could mean the difference in the success of your website. Well-developed content keeps readers coming back time and again while also establishing your website as a place of authority. Every website owner should be developing, at least, some evergreen content on a regular basis. Those that do not find that their websites eventually become completely irrelevant.
This article is written by Anurag Gupta. He works for www.placementindia.com, one of the leading placement portals of India. Anurag keeps a keen interest in ongoing placements trends in the country and has delivered many article and blogs exclusively for the segment of online marketing jobs. For more details, follow him on: Twitter | Facebook | Google+.
Web developer and SEO specialist with 20+ years of experience in open-source web development, digital marketing, and search engine optimization. He is also the moderator of this blog "RS Web Solutions (RSWEBSOLS)".
