20 Evergreen Content Examples That Produce Lasting Results

20 Evergreen Content Examples That Produce Lasting Results

Reader Comments (49)

    • You’re totally welcome, Nick. And thanks for the kind words. This was a great one to put together (I loved tracking down the non-internet-marketing stuff … shows just how powerful evergreen can be in ANY niche).

  1. Aaron, this article is amazing. Even given my different “industry”, I am confident I will keep coming back to this list as I get my blog off the ground. Thanks!

    • THX, Bill!

      You should totally rip-off my best books example … your “industry” eats that kinda stuff up. Plus it’s amazing for building relationships with “influencers” (although that might be a kinda weird was to refer to leaders in your case).

      😉

  2. I would heartily recommend that anyone trying to build a genuinely authoritative site pick one of these to implement in January. And another one to implement in February. And so on …

    Great collection of prompts, Aaron!

    • Great point Sonia.

      It’s tempting for me to see a listicle and want to try all the tactics. But it may work better to focus on what makes the most sense for your skill and what the market needs.

      For the SumoMe guide Aaron mentioned, I focused on a how-to manual for advanced users as there was (and is) a lot of bad information on influencer marketing. That happens for a lot of trendy marketing (*cough* social media, SEO, growth hacking).

      For a post I did for Yotpo (https://www.yotpo.com/blog/instagram-marketing-tips/), I used point 13 where I connected with influencers within a specific niche. I felt this approach would work better as Instagram is a newer marketing channel. Additionally, I am less experience in Instagram marketing, so it would have been harder to create a credible advanced how-to guide.

      • From one “random” dude to another (on some lady’s comment), I feel the temptation too. What you’ve done for influencer marketing are great examples, precisely because they’re BIG in scope but focused on niches with the examples.

        😉

        And what I’ve found (as per the Instagram note) … is that there’s never a better time to put together a beginner’s guide than RIGHT after I’ve learned something new myself (it’s still so fresh and the “ah ha!” moments are contagious).

        • Hmmm, there’s definitely some truth to teaching soon after learning! That’s how LuxyHair got big.

          I just like to make sure I position myself as a fellow learner, not an expert.

  3. Awesome post Aaron – really loved your point that “true beginner guides are few and far between.” This is so true, and when I am a beginner at something, I definitely appreciate a true beginners guide and am likely to share it and bookmark it.

    • Yes! I had the same experience a few years ago when I was starting out as a freelance writer. So many of the articles (and EVEN the books) were beyond me. Ironically, Copyblogger was one of the few places I found genuinely helpful. 🙂

  4. This is such a great list! I personally love case studies, especially deep dives and “what went wrong.” And I know some of my own most popular evergreen posts have been glossaries and worst practices roundups.

    • Absolutely, Brittany!

      I read this recently in Duhigg’s Smarter Faster Better:

      “We become trained … to notice success and then, as a result, we predict successful outcomes too often because we’re relying on experiences and assumptions that are biased toward all the successes we’ve seen — rather than the failures we’ve overlooked. Many successful people, by contrast, spend an enormous amount of time seeking out information on failure.”

      Just more reason to favor reading up on and studies both our own failures … as well as others! (And thx.)

  5. Thanks for the post Aaron. I’ve been working on my own original research – it’s taking some time, but I’m looking to start off 2017 strong!

  6. I’ve always been hesitant to creating an ultimate/definitive guide (though the SumoMe team later re-titled my post you mentioned as an ultimate guide to influencer marketing ;P). I feel we should always be learning and there is more to learn and those two words imply a finality I personally feel should not be made.

    But hey, I’m just one random guy.

    Great post on creating an evergreen guide on an evergreen guide Aaron!

  7. Writing evergreen content requires a lot of factors and different aspects ie vision, skills, time etc.

    Well, this post make my easy 🙂

    I just have to pick one topic and focus 🙂

  8. Hey Aaron,

    Every time I think about creating something evergreen, I go with the beginners’ guide.

    People need to the guide which can help them during their starting phase. And the list you have made consists some great ideas.

    “How to” guides always work at their best.

    I have done a few case studies and it’s the real-time investment which never expires.

    Thanks for sharing such a wonderful article.
    ~Ravi

    • Hey Ravi, loved what you said about case studies … done right they are quite an investment (I’ve written up a few for clients and they always take more time than I budget for).

      BUT … they’re gold. I think it’s the combination of story meets data meets lessons meets application.

      And yes, a genuinely helpful beginner’s guide is so powerful!

  9. Hi Aaron,
    Thanks for sharing an informative and useful article with us, It was very interesting and impressive,

    I think that ‘how to’ type of lessons are great way to create evergreen content because everybody want to know more about the topic before take a step ahead and ‘how to’ types articles never dies.

  10. Really great stuff. Inspiring to a beginning/aspiring growth hacker like myself, bookmarked it right away. Also pretty cool that you’re writing an evergreen blogpost about evergreen blog posts. Very meta of you, Aaron ;). Keep it up!

  11. Hi Aaron,

    Super list.

    The top mistakes evergreen posts do well for me because I spot the errors – most of which I made 😉 – and do my best to save people a bunch of time by laying out both the common mistakes and the solutions too. We all flub up so why not share your errors, along with tried and true solutions to help out your readers? And blogging-wise, the mistakes I cover are evergreen, timeless, pretty much.

    Thanks for sharing 😉

    Ryan

    • Oh man … I couldn’t agree more, Ryan: “We all flub up so why not share your errors, along with tried and true solutions to help out your readers?”

      Not only does that approach lend itself to transparency and humanity … it ends up being FAR more helpful than some kinda, “Here’s how I did everything right (aren’t I great)!” post.

      I’m about to put together a landing page post about a couple of optimization attempts that went HORRIBLY wrong. 😉

  12. Great post . . . This is really one of my big projects for 2017 and beyond, which I have been focusing a lot of time and resources on lately. Only creating super high quality, evergreen content that is as definitive as possible. Thanks for some great headline ideas in the post, too.

  13. Hi, Aaron? I must say, this post was ‘awe-directing’. I savored every line with a long smile…
    Keep it going.
    What do you think about creating a niche around scholars and their needs?

  14. Producing evergreen content is a good way to get repeat visitors to your site. I love evergreen blog posts. I usually bookmark these so I can go back to them from time to time. I’m definitely going to bookmark this one. Thank you!

  15. Hi Aaron,

    I’m planning new content for 2017 and your article here is timely indeed. Sonia said on her Dec. 29th post a good way to get some new ideas would be to pick 12 of your 20 to use, and that’s what I’m doing. 🙂

    Aaron, which approach do you think works best for evergreen content? The focus on mistakes, like “18 Tips to Destroy Your Webinar” or the confident promise like “How to Write the Perfect Case Study”?

    Matthew

    • It was such a great surprise to see Sonia reference this piece. And what phenomenal advice!

      My two cents …

      Do BOTH!

      Post the best-practices article to your own site and then turn around and create a worst practice list to guest post on someone else’s (and be sure to link to your original post in the guest post). It’s two posts (and a great link) for the price of one. 😉

      Andy Crestodina (the brilliant gentleman from point one up above) taught me that super ingenious hack.

  16. Aaron,

    This is one of the best posts on evergreen content. Probably, Darren Rowse once talked about the evergreen content in his podcast and shared that evergreen content is an integral part of his both blogs’ content strategies.

    What I’ve learned so far is that it has to do a lot with the creativity. If you’re not open to the possibilities, you won’t think out-of-the-box. But, thanks to you, Aaron, you made it incredibly easy for the readers to jump in and pick something up.

    Pure gold.

    THANK YOU!

    • YES!!!!

      Creativity is a must (otherwise, you get crowded out). I like using Google Trends to tie in the core concept to popular culture.

      And thanks so much for the amazing encouragement, Hassaan.

  17. Great post, Aaron.

    I’m a big fan of how-to’s and deep dives. When you keep writing how-to’s on ultra-specific topics, then over time a blog turns into an evergreen encyclopedia 😉

    Thank you for mentioning my articles. I’m honored to be included here.

    • Thanks so much! (Always happy to include your awesome work.)

      Good point about building an encyclopedia “over time.” Plus — with a bit of editing — it’s much easier to put together genuinely ULTIMATE resources with that kind of personal repository to draw from.

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