At Tourism Tiger we love blogs, I mean, we really love blogs. Reading them, talking about them, writing them. In addition to our own extensive library of blogs which covers a range of topics for tour and activity operators(opens in a new tab), we also have our blog writing service(opens in a new tab) for those who want all the benefits that come with having a blog on your website, without having to write them themselves. There are all kinds of blogs that can be written: informative, inspirational, entertaining. Anything that will interest readers and entice them into clicking through!
But not all blogs are created equally. Evergreen content, like the trees, stay “green” or “fresh”—in other words relevant—all year round. Unlike other blog pieces which have their moment of glory in the short term and then “shed” their leaves of relevancy, evergreen content is timeless.
Why Go Green?
Why do you have a blog in the first place? Blogs are a great tool to help with your website’s SEO(opens in a new tab). Blogs should feature optimized content(opens in a new tab) with the right keywords for your brand, proper implementation of backlinks, metadata, alt-text, and attractive images. If you currently have all of this, excellent. You’ve built yourself a strong base. Evergreen content is about diversifying the type of content you have to allow a mixed approach (with pieces that have short and long term appeal) in order to help boost overall ranking. It’s about taking your blog to the next level.
By successfully writing an evergreen piece, you’ll help boost your overall ranking because it will have all the elements that generally make for a strong ranking blog, but it will also be consistently relevant, so you won’t see spikes and dips in reads like you would with other pieces.
Evergreen content is also practical in that (in theory) it never becomes obsolete, in other words, you never have to update it, or only minimally. What you write comes down to two parts: first, a topic that will always be relevant, and second, content that will always be relevant. We’ll get to more specific topics a bit later.
What to Avoid
In order to know how to write evergreen content, let’s look at what to avoid. In terms of topics, this one is the most obvious, anything related to a specific moment, something related to the news, pieces related to a particular year. While seasonal content (such as a piece about a particular holiday or season) may not lose its relevance year-to-year, it will only rank around that key time of the year, and then sit around in the dark the rest of the time.
You have the topic ready, but keep in mind certain word choices throughout the piece. Avoid phrasings such as “last year”, “this month”, “the current year” (or similarly a “by 20XX year”) as these will all date your piece. Statistics are another element that it’s best to avoid, as they will almost certainly change with time. While the inclusion of links is part of building up strong SEO, be sure to link to reputable sources, as this means that they likely won’t change their posts’ URLs in the short term. Because if a link changes this will mean having to go back and update them.
Get Planting (Writing) and Planning
It’s important to remember that just because you have blogs in this format does not automatically make them evergreen pieces of content. You’ve taken the first step of planting the sapling, but it has to be nurtured in order to grow into a strong mature tree that stands the test of time. Like with any blogs, be sure to promote your evergreen content and highlight it so it does not end up buried under your other content and your efforts don’t go to waste. Whether that means pinning it to the top of your blog page, featuring it in a sidebar, or regularly sending it out as part of your welcome package to new email subscribers. Proper promoting across channels is the fertilizer to help your piece grow.
Something else to consider is that even if you think you’ve written an evergreen piece of content, and something changes, you aren’t stuck with it. Updating a piece does not work against you. In contrast to writing a whole new piece and starting from zero, you’re starting off at your current ranking, and then possibly elevating it a bit more with this new relevance. Keep in mind that it’s possible your evergreen blog may at some point need a bit of additional pruning (updating) to keep it green. While your topic may still be timeless, perhaps an example you’ve included is no longer relevant. So in order to keep it in at optimum growth, clear out the weeds and give it a necessary refresh.
Ideas that Won’t Fade With the Times
- Guides: How-to guides are a staple of evergreen content because instructions or tips generally don’t change.
- What Not to Do: This is simply a fun play on the tradition “what to do”. People are constantly being told what they should do, so why not mix things up and help them avoid any mistakes.
- Books, Movies, Music: This is a fun and creative way to get your guests inspired. Share your favorite movies or books set in your city/region/country, or make a list of your favorite albums that will have your customers dreaming of their next trip.
- History of: This could be anything: history of your city, regions, of how your tour company got started. History pieces are great examples of evergreen content, because history is not going to change. And it’s not a one-off news event that will lose its relevance.
- Cultural Information: Similar to guides, these offer information that is not necessarily essential, but entertaining and informative nonetheless.
- FAQs: While you may have an FAQ page on your website insofar as your tours or your companies, there are still other types of questions you may be able to answer. Transportation information and top questions people from your city are asked are a good place to start.
In terms of choosing the right topic for you, that’s where additional work such as keyword research come into play. You need a topic that is relevant for your brand, has strategically targeted keywords, and that people are interested in reading!
Think of Your Blog (and your Website) Like a Forest
Evergreen trees exist in diverse ecosystems, with other types of trees, plants, rocks, animals, etc. And so the key here is balance. While not evergreen, other types of blogs, such as news, announcements, or ones based on current trends bring their own value to the overall quality of your blog. Because of their timeliness, such a piece may help provide a surge in traffic to your website. And while temporary, that’s still valuable traffic. So don’t be afraid to share business updates, a year-in-review, information about a new hire, a new tour, or anything else. Just don’t have the same expectations and with evergreen content.
Although pieces like this may not be the funnel to your website in the same way, you can still rank in the short-term, and for those on your site, this type of content still serves the purpose of providing a human take, and showing off your brand’s personality. In order to maximize your overall website ranking, it’s not just about having one standalone evergreen piece. Diversity in content will help widen your reach across different types of readers with varying interests.
A General Green Thumb Approach
At the end of the day, in order for your evergreen content to achieve that status, people have to want to read it. And for that to be the case you need to offer interesting, well-written, informative, entertaining content. If you include any type of links in your content, you will need to check to make sure that they are still functional. Broken links on your website not only make you look bad to your readers, it also negatively affects your ranking on Google. Even on pieces which are not evergreen, if the information you include, whether that be a location which has since closed, or a new and more relevant spot which has reopened, don’t be afraid of content refreshing. If it merits a new piece, that’s fantastic, but if you have a piece that was ranking well and has since started to dip, you have the option to update it.
All the Right Tools in Your Toolshed
In sum, creating successful evergreen blogs that rank well depends on a few factors:
- Are your topic and content timeless and/or up-to-date?
- Have you factored in SEO elements such as keywords, backlinks, meta-content?
- Have you promoted your content?
Like gardening, it takes a while for your plants to blossom, so in addition to the work that goes into writing and setting it up, be patient. The internet is a vast and competitive landscape. With these tips in mind, you’re well on your way to bountiful blog results. And if you want to know more about the blogs that we can write for you, get in touch!(opens in a new tab)
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