24 Inbound Marketing Strategies Your Startup Needs to Start Using Today

Are you ready to skyrocket your success?

If so, you need to focus your efforts on inbound marketing strategies for your startup.

Why?

It’s one of the best ways to take market share from bigger companies, and you don’t need a hefty Facebook Ads budget to compete.

Instead of broadcasting to the customer, as traditional outbound marketing does, inbound marketing focuses on creating reasons for the customer to come to you.

According to HubSpot, which coined the term “inbound marketing” back in 2006, the strategy consists of four stages.

 inbound marketing method infographic

It’s a proven system that works for the best companies in the world, and it has launched dozens of startups to stellar success.

Inbound Marketing Strategies for Start-Ups

Now that you know what is inbound marketing and how it works, let’s dive into the best strategies for inbound marketing for startups.

1.Use Facebook to Create a Target Persona

The first and most critical part of creating compelling content is understanding what your target customers want to learn.

You need to have an in-depth knowledge of your market so you can react quickly.

Here’s how you learn more about who your audience is by reviewing your Facebook Page Insights.

First, go to your Facebook page. At the top, you’ll see a button labeled Insights. Click on it.

In the sidebar that opens, click on People.

use facebook to create a target persona for your inbound marketing strategy

From there, you’re going to want to look at the Your Fans column. Check to see where the percentages lie to understand what demographics apply to your business.

use facebook demographics to create a target persona for your inbound marketing strategy

This can give you a general feel for who is interested in your startup and start forming the basis of your target persona. But that’s not all we need.

Next, we will find out what interests these people and how you can write content that appeals to what they care about.

2. Survey Your Current Customers and Leads

The easiest way to get to know your target market is through a survey.

This doesn’t have to be complicated. If you already have an email list, you can send them a simple form through SurveyMonkey.

To make this work, you only need to ask one question: “What is your biggest struggle?”

Your goal is to understand the problems they’re facing so you can create compelling content that targets their deepest interests.

3. Conduct In-Depth Interviews to Inform Your Inbound Marketing Efforts

Once you have the general feelings of your target market, it’s a good idea to start seeking out individuals you can contact for more in-depth information.

I recommend looking for a few clients or customers you’ve already acquired.

Ask them if they’d be OK with a 10-minute phone call or a video chat about their current struggles. Mention you’ll offer them advice if you can.

(Usually, customers are excited about this. It’s like a free consultation for them.)

Once you’re on the call, try to find out exactly what their biggest struggles are. Ask them to describe those struggles in the clearest language possible.

Get to exactly what frustrates them and what solutions they tried before but didn’t work.

You’ll use this data to create content.

4. Create and Share Compelling Content

The quality of the content you create is the most important feature of your inbound marketing strategy.

If you create generic, self-serving articles and videos, you’ll never see success.

No matter how hard you promote this content or how you designed it to rank well in search engines, you’re going to struggle to find new clients and customers.

The best-in-class content marketers work tirelessly to adapt their content to the target audiences they want to attract — and where they are in the customer journey.

use inbound marketing strategies to create viral content

5. Writing Enticing Headline

Understanding the customer journey and their needs is critical to making great content, but it’s not the only strategy you’ll need to draw in new customers and leads.

The most important piece of the work you create is the headline. This is what will drive the most clicks and draw in new traffic.

You should spend lots of time crafting a headline that appeals to your most targeted customers.

One of the best ways to do this is to include a bit of negativity, according to data by WordStream.

positive vs negative headlines can help with your inbound marketing strategy

Of course, you shouldn’t always have negative headlines.

But if you have a list of mistakes or talk about the worst strategies that could hurt your customer, this can be an effective way to drive traffic.

According to Demand Metric, companies with blogs generate 67 percent more leads per month than those who don’t.

If you’re going to produce this content, you need to make sure it works to its best ability.

7. Make Your Content More Visual

Humans love visual content. For your content to appeal to your ideal readers, make sure there’s more to it than just large blocks of text.

Including lots of images, charts, and graphs is a technique I use to make my content more appealing, and I’m not alone.

90 percent of bloggers include images in their posts, and those who add multiple images report stronger results.

The more visual your content, the more likely it’s likely to improve your inbound marketing efforts.

using elements in your inbound marketing strategy
using visual media in your inbound marketing strategy

6. Write In-Depth Data-Driven Articles

Instead of writing short posts, you should be doing extensive research and producing in-depth content.

According to research by Curata, long-form content generates eight times more page views, nine times more leads, and three times more social media shares than short-form content.

long form content produces more inbound marketing leads

You should be writing articles that are a few thousand words long and supported by lots of data and analysis.

This is not only better for your SEO rankings, but it’s also more helpful for your customers.

The better your content, the more likely your readers are to share it with friends, recommend your site to others, and implement what you say.

8. Use Storytelling in Your Content

Just because you base your content around data and analysis doesn’t mean it needs to be dry and academic.

You should work to produce the opposite type of content. You want to create articles that tell a story.

Why?

Using storytelling in your content (from sales pages to social media posts) is a way to create an emotional connection with your audience.

Storytelling has another powerful function. It creates brand recall. Research by Stanford University shows people are 63 percent more likely to remember a story than a statistic.

Not convinced?

Chris Haddad (a relationship coach) went from a 2 percent conversion rate to 8 percent by changing his sales page to include a relatable personal story.

How can you use this tactic in your startup? Look for opportunities to weave in stories when talking about your product or business.

Sure, your benefits and features are great, but the emotional connection you create with storytelling will close the sale and help grow your startup through inbound marketing.

bootstrappers guide inbound marketing example neil patel

9. Make a Habit Out of Guest Posting Consistently

When you look at the data, you’ll find that guest blogging is the best inbound marketing strategy.

This is because it provides you with backlinks, authority in the space, and relationships with key influencers.

But most people go about it the wrong way. If you aren’t using smart strategies to spread your startup’s message through guest posting, you might as well not do it.

If you want to reap the benefits of guest posting, you need to write consistently.

This is how the most successful startup owners have made guest blogging work well for them. Instead of a few posts, they wrote prolifically and gained ground quickly.

If you do a Google search for guest posts by Danny Iny, you’ll find dozens of pieces of content across the web.

guest post by danny iny Google Search showing the power of inbound marketing

This massive, consistent guest-posting strategy allowed him to grow his business Mirasee into the powerhouse it is today.

On his homepage, he displays an in-depth list of all the sites where he has been featured.

the power of inbound marketing and guest blogging

Dedicate some of your time to creating compelling content for other blogs to reach as many customers as possible.

10. Pitch to Blogs with Engaged Readers

Another problem I see with entrepreneurs who want to use guest posting as an inbound marketing strategy is that they don’t look for sites that will give them much ROI.

The truth is that every guest post requires work, and that’s work that needs to give you a distinct benefit in visitors or leads.

If you post on a blog that has a dead audience, you won’t get any benefit, and you’ll have wasted your time.

I like to look at the comments on different sites. For example, if I wanted to write a guest blog for WordStream, I can see their posts get lots of relevant comments.

find blogs with engaged readers for inbound marketing guest posts

This tells me the readers are engaged, and a blog post here might result in readers clicking through to my startup’s website and purchasing from me.

11. Maximize Your Results from SEO with Keyword Optimization

You need to understand SEO to achieve any success with your startup in today’s search-driven marketplace.

The most important things to focus on are basic on-page SEO and backlinks for your site and your content.

How do you do that? Keyword optimization.

You want to find specific long-tail keywords which you’d like to use for targeting your content.

Why?

Long-tail keywords have a three to five percent higher click-through rate than generic searches. 

The more specific someone is in their search, the more likely they know what they want and are close to converting into a customer.

12. Promote Your Content to Build Backlinks

Backlinks are perhaps the most important factor in your search engine results.

At the simplest level, backlinks are other sites that link to your site. There are lots of ways to increase the number of backlinks you get to your content.

backlinks for inbound marketing content

By promoting your content to other relevant influencers, you can increase the number of people that link back to you.

The exact number of backlinks you need to be successful on the search engines varies depending on the keyword, topic, and the competing sites that are ranking well now.

With careful prompting, though, you can easily outrank pages on massive sites with more authority.

Not sure where to start with backlinks? I’ve created a free backlink checker tool you can use to find out who is linking to your startup’s competition.

13. Acquire Inbound Marketing Leads with Free Content

When it’s time to convert your visitors into leads, you need bulletproof strategies to get people to give you their email addresses.

The best method I’ve seen is to offer free content in exchange for this contact information.

If your startup is in the B2B sector, or if you appeal to customers who want or need in-depth analysis before purchasing, you can make an effective lead magnet from a report.

This is a great way to get leads because the comprehensiveness of your work seems like a great deal for an email address.

HubSpot’s list of marketing statistics includes a pitch for their “State of Inbound Marketing” report. This is a detailed guide with massive amounts of high-quality data.

hubspot state of inbound marketing report

But they aren’t giving this away for free. To receive the report, you need to provide a detailed amount of information that HubSpot will use to follow up with you on their products.

use reports to collect leads for your inbound marketing

This is an effective way to drive your visitors into your sales funnel and reach them even more effectively.

14. Host a Free Webinar

One of my favorite inbound marketing techniques for startups is free webinars that encourage customers to learn in real-time.

This is great because it lets them see your face and understand your personality. Besides, lots of people will download a guide and never read it.

But if someone signs up for a webinar, you can see if they watch the whole thing.

I have used this kind of training on my homepage in the past. I didn’t call it a webinar, though. I just used the term “training.”

host a free webinar or training to collect inbound marketing leads

This is a great way to increase your leads as visitors must enter their first name and email address to access the training.

host a free webinar or training to get inbound marketing leads

Since this is such a valuable teaching piece, people who come to my website are happy to provide their email address to learn SEO better.

15. Launch an Email Course

There’s another form of content you can create that will drive new customers.

Even better, it won’t require the extensive research that a report demands or the complicated backend software necessary for a webinar.

That strategy is to create an email course. This is a simple way to provide extra value without spending tons of time creating something with design elements or video.

A great example is a free masterclass Mariah Coz offers. Because it’s a course, it makes the content feel more valuable.

create a free masterclass for your inbound marketing strategy

If you’re currently giving away an e-book for your startup and you’ve found that it isn’t converting well, consider breaking down the content into sections.

Then use each section as a separate email. You may find that an email course or a masterclass converts even better than an ebook.

16. Start an Influencer Marketing Campaign

According to a survey by Influencer Marketing Hub, 75 percent of brands have a dedicated budget for influencer marketing, and 90 percent of respondents believe it’s an effective form of advertising.

If you do this the right way, it can be a free or paid method to get people excited about your brand.

If you’re going to launch an influencer marketing campaign, you need to understand what will make it work best.

First and most importantly, you need to make sure you’re appealing to the right influencers.

This is easy to get wrong, as the people you think you’re appealing to may not be persuasive to your target audience.

The earlier research you did on your audience should be a great starting place to understand who they pay attention to, but you might need to do even more work than that.

How do you find the right influencers for your startup? You can:

  • Google phrases like “top [niche] influencers.
  • Browse hashtags on Instagram related to your niche.
  • Use Influencer platforms to connect with creators.
  • Search key phrases on Ubersuggest to find blogs that appeal to your target audience.
use Ubersuggest for inbound marketing

17. Build Relationships with Influencers

Once you know which influencers are best for your brand, you need to start targeting them specifically.

While you can just run into promotion and start spamming them with requests to share the content you created, this won’t be very effective.

You’ll irritate them and ruin the relationship.

Instead, you need to start slow and gradually build a relationship with the influencers you’d like to promote your content.

One of the best ways to reach influencers is through targeted communication on social media. You can let them know when they inspired you to write.

You should also do everything you can to help those influencers by providing communication that’s always focused on their needs.

While it may seem frustrating to always focus on them, you’ll eventually start to build a relationship that allows you to make a small request.

If you’ve built great relationships from the start, they’ll be happy to oblige.

18. Build Effective Email Campaigns

You already know that email marketing is critical to a successful inbound marketing campaign for your startup.

But are you using it effectively?

Email marketing has a massive ROI. 

According to Litmus, the average ROI was $42 for every $1 spent on emails.

ROI on email marketing as an inbound marketing strategy

But to make it work, you need to be strategic with how you promote your brand through email.

19. Send Helpful Content to Subscribers

First and foremost, you need to be useful to your subscribers. When someone signs up, you need to provide them with a reason to stay on your email list.

If you’re constantly spamming them or sending worthless content, they’ll unsubscribe and probably never return.

Instead, send emails with valuable information they can’t get anywhere else.

Buzzsumo does a great job with this in their articles and emails. Their weekly update includes a report on engagement on Facebook, based on 880-million posts.

create valuable emails to improve your inbound marketing strategy

That’s a hugely valuable piece of content I want to read.

More importantly, I want to stay subscribed to the newsletter, and I’ll keep looking forward to their emails.

This is the kind of reaction you need to build with your subscribers. If they’re looking forward to your marketing, you’re doing it correctly.

20. Stick with Email Marketing for The Long Term

You need to be in the email game for the long term.

If you’re not consistently providing great content with your inbound marketing, you’re going to be frustrated.

Instead of pitching your product immediately after someone signs up on your email list, send them a welcome sequence that gradually introduces them to what you have to offer.

According to Invesp, the average cost of a lead drops 80 percent after five months of consistent inbound marketing.

average cost of inbound marketing

If you want to save massive dollars on your marketing strategies, you need to get ready to work for a while on each prospect.

Be patient, and you’ll be thankful for the results.

21. Make Your Website Convert Like Crazy by Making it Mobile Friendly

Ultimately, the goal of much of your inbound marketing strategy is to drive people to your startup’s website.

If you’re not converting people once they arrive, however, what’s the point?

Conversion is the key to successful inbound marketing since it’s the transition from visitor to prospect.

inbound marketing helps boost your conversions infographic

You need to make sure your website is ready to convert your traffic into leads and customers.

It’s the only way to make your startup grow with the traffic you’ve worked so hard to acquire.

The first and most important way to ensure you’re getting the conversions you deserve is by making your website mobile accessible.

If your startup’s site isn’t responsive, you’re going to struggle to convert the traffic you’ve worked so hard to drive there.

According to WVO, out of 100 leading websites, only 11 were responsive. Perhaps even more telling, only seven of 148 companies felt the need for mobile optimization.

Infographic Why a Website Redesign won't fix your inbound marketing

In short, the vast majority of websites aren’t appealing to mobile users, and they aren’t putting in the work they need to make these changes.

Instead of actually converting their mobile customers, they’re losing out on valuable traffic.

Don’t let that happen to you. Make sure your site is responsive and that it works well on mobile.

22. Install Hello Bar

If you want to get more conversions from the traffic you’re sending to your site, you should consider installing Hello Bar.

use hello bar to increase inbound marketing leads

This is a simple tool that allows you to add a signup form at the top of your website. Since it’s unobtrusive, it won’t distract from the user experience.

But since it’s always at the top of your pages, it will drive massive conversions.

It’s a great way to get a few new leads each day.

23. Drive Conversions with Content Upgrades

If you want to skyrocket the conversions you’re getting from the content you publish on your website, look no further than a content upgrade.

Unlike a traditional lead magnet, a content upgrade will optimize your highest-converting pieces of content.

A great example is the “700+ Power Word Cheat Sheet” used in the article on the topic over at OptinMonster.

700 Power Words That Will Boost Your inbound marketing Conversions

Because the people reading this article are interested in finding out more about the words that can make their writing more effective, this is a great way to encourage them to sign up.

You can do the same thing. To make this work, find a popular article and create a custom bonus that adds to the piece of content you’ve already written.

Link this in the article, and watch the new leads for your startup skyrocket.

24. Test and Refine Your Inbound Marketing Strategies

It’s no secret that I think testing is the only way to improve all kinds of marketing.

This applies to the inbound marketing strategies you’re using for your startup as well.

You need to monitor your results and make gradual improvements to different components of your campaign.

If they don’t work as expected, you should refine those strategies and try something new. But even if they do work for you, I recommend going back and making improvements.

Keeping an A/B split-test running at all times is a great way to make small but consistent changes to your marketing strategy and to make sure everything is working at its best.

Inbound Marketing Strategy FAQs

What is an inbound marketing strategy?

An inbound marketing strategy attracts prospects to your brand by creating valuable content that is relevant and helpful.

What are the five inbound principles?

The five principles of inbound marketing are standardize, contextualize, optimize, personalize, and empathize.

What are the types of inbound marketing?

Videos, blogs, pillar pages, eBooks, social media, press releases, infographics, newsletters, research papers, podcasts, webinars, and expert interviews.

How do you develop an inbound strategy?

You need to know the purpose of your content, your target audience, and how your content fits in with the buyer’s journey.

Inbound Marketing Strategies Summary

If you’re launching a startup, you want to make sure you’re implementing the best practices for extremely fast growth.

By now, you know that inbound marketing is the most effective way to increase your visitors, leads, and buyers.

You’ll need to attract customers by understanding their deepest needs, aspirations, and struggles. Using that data, create epic content that draws them in like a magnet.

Extend your reach to other sites, present your content around the web, acquire new customers, and build your influence and authority.

You’ll need to include SEO best practices so that customers can find you through search engines as well.

Once you have the traffic, convert those visitors with free content and influencer marketing that drives leads.

With a compelling email campaign and a high-converting website, you can grow your business like never before.

Which inbound marketing strategies will you use to grow your startup?

How to Create Evergreen Content Right From the Start

Evergreen content engages and educates readers for longer without a huge amount of effort. Once you master the art of writing “timeless” content, you can ensure your articles, e-books, and tutorials stay relevant for years to come.  Below, I’m going to show you exactly why evergreen content should be part of every marketer’s content strategy, …

The post How to Create Evergreen Content Right From the Start first appeared on Online Web Store Site.

The post How to Create Evergreen Content Right From the Start appeared first on Buy It At A Bargain – Deals And Reviews.

How to Create Evergreen Content Right From the Start

Evergreen content engages and educates readers for longer without a huge amount of effort. Once you master the art of writing “timeless” content, you can ensure your articles, e-books, and tutorials stay relevant for years to come.  Below, I’m going to show you exactly why evergreen content should be part of every marketer’s content strategy, …

The post How to Create Evergreen Content Right From the Start first appeared on Online Web Store Site.

The post How to Create Evergreen Content Right From the Start appeared first on Get Funding For Your Business And Ventures.

The post How to Create Evergreen Content Right From the Start appeared first on Buy It At A Bargain – Deals And Reviews.

How to Create Evergreen Content Right From the Start

Evergreen content engages and educates readers for longer without a huge amount of effort. Once you master the art of writing “timeless” content, you can ensure your articles, e-books, and tutorials stay relevant for years to come.  Below, I’m going to show you exactly why evergreen content should be part of every marketer’s content strategy, …

The post How to Create Evergreen Content Right From the Start first appeared on Online Web Store Site.

Best Ways to Borrow Money to Start Business Growth and Expansion

When it comes to borrowing money for business growth and expansion, or even to start a business from the beginning, there are many options. So many in fact, that it can become overwhelming. All the ways to borrow money to start business growth, expansion, or from scratch vary.  Factors like terms, rates, and amount available all make a difference. What’s the best option for your business? 

Which Way to Borrow Money to Start a Business is Best for You

If you are considering borrowing money for business expansion, you need to to think about the following: 

  • Where to apply for a small business loan
  • Terms of business loans
  • Business loan rates

What type of business loan is best for you?  It depends on a number of factors. First, you have to know what’s available. 

Borrow Money to Start Business Growth: SBA Loans

SBA loans are loans with a government guarantee through the Small Business Administration.  Participating lenders handle the application process and distribution of the funds. They guarantee up to 85% of loans of $150,000 or less. Loans that are more than $150,000 they will guarantee up to 75%. The maximum loan amount they offer is $5 million. 

Due to the government guarantee, financial institutions are able to offer them at lower interest rates. 

Find out why so many companies use our proven methods to get business loans

SBA 504 Loan Program

These loans are also available up to $5 million.  You can buy machinery, facilities, or land, making them perfect for borrowing money to start business expansion. They work especially well for commercial real estate purchases . 

Terms for 504 Loans range from 10 to 20 years. Funding can take from 30 to 90 days. You need a minimum credit score of 680.  Also, collateral is the asset it is financing.  There is also a down payment requirement of 10%, which can increase to 15% for a new business. 

There is also a requirement you be in business at least 2 years, or that management has equivalent experience if the business is a startup. 

7a SBA loan

This program also offers federally funded term loans up to $5 million. You can use the funds for expansion, purchasing equipment, working capital and more. 

The minimum credit score to qualify is 620.  There is also a downpayment requirement of at least 10% for the purchase of a business, commercial real estate, or equipment. The minimum time in business is 2 years. In the case of startups, business experience equivalent to two years will suffice. 

This option is also great for borrowing money to start a business from scratch. 

Borrow Money to Start Business Growth: AR Financing

Borrowing against receivables is a way to borrow money to start business growth or expansion as well. Many businesses wait weeks, or even months, to get paid on outstanding invoices.  These open invoices are accounts receivable. 

It can create major cash flow issues,  because they provide their goods and services and absorb those costs until they eventually get paid. Sometimes it can take 90 days or longer to collect. 

Of course, there is something to be said for offering better terms to your clients.  Allowing them to pay invoices later helps establish with clients.  It’s an incentive for them to choose one business over the other. 

If you have a lot of these open account receivable, AR financing can be a way to borrow money to start business expansion! You can get the funds in as little as 24 hours.

Monthly rates are between 8% and 12%, and you can get financing as high as $10,000,000. All of this is possible, even with severely challenged personal credit.  

Find out why so many companies use our proven methods to get business loans

Borrow Money to Start Business Growth: SME Loan

An SME loan (Small and Medium Enterprise Loan) is a good option as well.  They are generally designed to help those small and medium businesses in underserved areas or with owners from underserved populations.  

While interest rates and business loan terms vary, many business owners find luck in obtaining an SME loan to fund expansion or growth. 

Borrow Money to Start Business Growth: Credit Line Hybrid

The Credit Line Hybrid allows you to fund your business without putting up collateral.  It’s revolving credit, like a credit card or line of credit, so you only pay back what you use.  

To qualify, your personal credit score has to be at least 680.  In addition, you can’t have any liens, judgments, bankruptcies or late payments.  Furthermore, in the past 6 months you should have 4 or less credit inquiries, and you should have less than a 45% balance on all business and personal credit cards.  It’s also preferred that you have established business credit as well as personal credit. 

If you don’t qualify on your own, you can take on a credit partner that meets each of these requirements.  Many business owners work with a friend or relative to fund their business.  If a relative or a friend meets all of these requirements, they can partner with you to allow you to tap into their credit to access funding. 

What are the Benefits of a Credit Line Hybrid? 

Not only is this unsecured business funding, meaning you do not have to have any collateral, but it is also no-doc.  That means you do not have to provide any bank statements or financials.  

Also, typical approval is up to 5x that of the highest credit limit on the personal credit report. Furthermore, often you can get interest rates as low as 0% for the first few months, allowing you to put that savings back into your business. 

Find out why so many companies use our proven methods to get business loans

The approval for multiple credit cards creates competition.  This makes it easier, and likely even if you handle the credit responsibly, that you can get interest rates lowered and limits raised every few months. 

The icing on the proverbial cake is, the Credit Line Hybrid reports to the business credit reporting agencies. That means it can boost your business credit score. The process is pretty fast, especially with a qualified expert to walk you through it.

Use a Business Credit Expert to Help You Borrow Money for Your Business

Did you even know there was such a thing as a business credit expert? There is, and the Credit Suite business credit experts are the best. A business credit expert can help you: 

  • Find the best loans for your business
  • Analyze your overall business fundability
  • Walk you through the process of improving findability if needed
  • Help you find funding you qualify for now!
  • Help you build your business credit profile

Business credit experts are versed in who to call and who to talk to with lenders to find out what they are looking for. They can guide you through the tangled web that is fundability, make sure your business is set up in a way to make you as fundable as possible, and ensure you have every opportunity to get the business funding you need now and in the future. 

The post Best Ways to Borrow Money to Start Business Growth and Expansion appeared first on Credit Suite.

How to Create Evergreen Content Right From the Start

Evergreen content engages and educates readers for longer without a huge amount of effort. Once you master the art of writing “timeless” content, you can ensure your articles, e-books, and tutorials stay relevant for years to come.  Below, I’m going to show you exactly why evergreen content should be part of every marketer’s content strategy, …

The post How to Create Evergreen Content Right From the Start first appeared on Online Web Store Site.

The post How to Create Evergreen Content Right From the Start appeared first on ROI Credit Builders.

How to Create Evergreen Content Right From the Start

Evergreen content engages and educates readers for longer without a huge amount of effort. Once you master the art of writing “timeless” content, you can ensure your articles, e-books, and tutorials stay relevant for years to come. 

Below, I’m going to show you exactly why evergreen content should be part of every marketer’s content strategy, and I’ll explain how to craft your own timeless pieces. 

What is Evergreen Content?

Evergreen content is content that is optimized to stay relevant and drive traffic for months or even years at a time. 

It doesn’t have an expiration date. It’s centered around a topic that people will be interested in for years to come. 

Examples of topics that might be considered evergreen include:

  • how to write a will
  • how to lose weight 
  • ways to cook chicken
  • ways to generate passive income 
  • how to optimize your site for SEO 
  • how to build a blog 

It doesn’t matter what season we’re in, or what year it is: There’s always a healthy number of people searching for content on these topics. 

Marketers tend to write about evergreen topics because it’s a relatively easy way to bring organic traffic to their website. There’s always going to be some interest in the topic, so you won’t struggle to find an audience base.  

For example, if you Google “choosing the right SEO,” you’ll find one of my articles on the first page:

evergreen content - SEO agency post example

It’s evergreen because SEO isn’t fading out of style anytime soon. Businesses will be searching for SEO advice for years to come. 

A little later, I’ll show you ways to improve your chances of holding a first-page ranking for a long time, but for now, just remember one thing: If it’s evergreen content, it persistently matters to people, and you should be writing about it.  

Here are some examples of time-sensitive content that aren’t evergreen:

  • seasonal articles e.g., Christmas gift ideas
  • announcements and news posts 
  • posts about current but temporary issues e.g., Covid-19 or a sports season

If it’s a niche topic you expect people to lose interest in overtime then it’s not evergreen, because people naturally stop thinking about it (and searching for it online). 

Here’s an easy way to remember it: 

Evergreen content is ever-relevant.

Why Is Evergreen Content Important?

OK, so that’s what evergreen content is, but why does it matter? Well, a few reasons, but here are the three most important. 

1. Evergreen Content Boosts Search Rankings

Did you know that 75 percent of people never scroll beyond the first page of search results? If you’re not on the first page, it’s unlikely people will ever find your content. 

Evergreen content helps boost your Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (“E-A-T”) score on Google. The higher your E-A-T score, the more likely it is you’ll secure a first-page ranking on Google. 

How can long-lasting boost your E-A-T score? By helping position you as an authority in your industry. 

To be clear, the level of “expertise” you’ll need to secure a good score varies depending on the subject matter. 

For example, you’re more likely to rank on the first page if you’re a highly qualified doctor writing an evergreen post about weight loss than if you’re a general member of the public talking about weight loss tips. 

Why? Because Google recognizes how important it is for someone to be qualified before they offer medical advice. 

If you have expertise in your industry, you can increase your chances of a first-page ranking by producing quality evergreen content in your field.

2. Evergreen Content Draws in Organic Traffic 

Organic traffic is simply how many people visit your website after finding you on a search results page, rather than clicking through a paid ad. 

How does evergreen content help you draw traffic? Here are a few ways: 

  • It answers a question, which there’s always a healthy level of interest in, so you can assume people are regularly searching for an article just like yours. 
  • Readers are more likely to find your content, since (you guessed it) there’s a sustained level of interest. 

The result is more organic traffic landing on your website. 

3. Evergreen Content Keeps Your Business Relevant 

It’s not just about generating traffic. It’s about ensuring you create valuable, relevant content for readers—and evergreen content helps you do just that.

Here’s why: Valuable content means lower bounce rates, since people stay on your page for longer.

Since evergreen content stays relevant, you can use it to show search engine’s that readers find your articles useful, which in turn helps boost your overall search rankings.  

The best part? The more valuable content you create, the more you impress readers—and keep your brand relevant in an increasingly competitive digital space. 

7 Tips for Creating Evergreen Content Right From the Start

To be clear, not all your content needs to be evergreen. Your audience wants to know you’ve got your finger on the pulse of your industry and understands current trends that impact them. Also, sometimes, people just want their fill of short, relevant, and entertaining news articles.  

However, it’s definitely worth crafting a solid hub of timeless, enduring content to impress your audience and set yourself apart from the competition. 

With all this in mind, here are seven relatively simple ways to write your own evergreen pieces.  

1. Choose the Right Topics

First, choose topics with persistent traffic potential. 

An analytics tool like Google Analytics can help here. Briefly, here’s how to distinguish between trending and evergreen topics. 

  • Trending posts: Typically have a high initial search volume which drops fairly quickly
  • Evergreen topic posts: Attract a high volume of traffic initially, but there’s still a sustained level of traffic over time

To get started, take a look at your own site and see what topics retain a high level of traffic over time. Are there related topics you can cover? 

Then, check out leading blogs in your niche. Identify potentially evergreen topics, run them through a competitive analysis tool to see which ones get long-term traffic, and decide how you can put your own spin on the topic to add value for your own readers. 

2. Use Appropriate Keywords

Now you’ve chosen a few topics you’d like to write about, you need to use the right keywords to ensure your posts appear in the search results. 

  • Use a keyword discovery tool like Ubersuggest
  • Type a search query into Google. Take some ideas for related keywords from the “people also ask” section. 

Let’s check out an example. 

Say you want to write about weight loss. When you Google “how to lose weight,” one of the top search results is a post from Diet Doctor

Here are the two main things we can take from this sample. 

  • The first paragraph contains multiple related key phrases including “trouble losing weight” and “weight loss without hunger.” 
  • Subheadings are also optimized around popular related keywords like “weight-loss pills.” 

Return to the search results and you’ll find people also ask:

  • How do I lose weight naturally?
  • How can I lose weight fast?

This is a quick and easy process, so give it a go! 

3. Avoid Specific Events and Dates

One of the quickest ways to “date” your content, and shorten its lifespan, is by using current dates and events. Here’s why: 

  • If the date’s relevant to the context or the wider understanding of an article i.e., anything about working from home during Covid-19, it’s not evergreen.
  • People stop searching for trending or date-related topics after a certain amount of time, so they won’t find your content. 
  • If someone finds your article even just one year later, they might assume it’s outdated and they won’t click on it. 

If you must use dates, be smart about it. For example, you could turn a “2021 Guide to Digital Marketing” into the “2022 Guide to Digital Marketing”, and so on. Or, make a plan to update content with a date annually. 

In general, you’ll want to avoid using dates or referring to current news events, where possible. 

4. Create Case Studies

Case studies won’t work for everyone. It all depends on your audience and the type of business you’re running. 

However, if your audience values in-depth, analytical content, consider writing evergreen case studies. Here are a few benefits of case studies: 

  • Case studies help boost your credibility within your sector. 
  • Readers can derive true value from in-depth case studies. 
  • You can make case studies evergreen by focusing on the core issues rather than dates or anything time-specific. 

Finally, by sharing real case studies with your audience, you can boost your company’s authenticity. Since 90 percent of customers value authenticity when choosing which companies to support, I’m thinking this is a win!

5. Write In-Depth Guides and Tutorials 

When people want advice, they very often turn to guides and tutorials. Why? Because they’re comprehensive enough to answer all the questions they have about a specific topic. (Or, at least they should be!) 

In other words, guides and tutorials make for excellent evergreen content ideas.

For example, if you type “keyword research” into Google, one of the top results is my own guide to keyword research:

Evergreen content - how to optimize content

It’s a guide, and it’s part of a comprehensive, three-part series on effective keyword research. I cover a huge amount of ground, and the goal is to ensure the guide is a “one-stop-shop” for your keyword research needs.  

What’s more, tutorials and guides are a chance for you to showcase your authoritativeness and build trust in your brand. (Which, as we know, can improve your search rankings.)

6. Update Your Content Regularly 

No matter how hard you work to create evergreen content, you’ll still have to update it occasionally. Strategies change, new research and tools come out, and content becomes less fresh over time. If you want to keep your content ranking well, you’ll need to update it.  

How does this work? By updating content, you’re creating a new publication date, which gives your post an instant boost: most first-page results are published within the last few years.

Here’s a few tips for updating content:  

  • Add a little more information, or change a few stats. 
  • Freshen up the images.
  • Change any outdated details. 
  • Double-check spelling and phrasing. Could you phrase something better?   

For a more detailed guide, check out this complete guide to giving your content a facelift. 

7. Repurpose Your Content

Finally, once you’ve got a great piece of content it’s time to make it work for you. One of the best ways to make the most out of great content—and reach as wide of an audience as possible—is to repurpose content into different formats. 

Here’s a few ideas: 

  • Build an infographic to share elsewhere.
  • Repost the content and remarket it across social media. 
  • Around 85 percent of web users enjoy video content, so repurpose an evergreen article into a shareable video. 
  • Got a positive review or customer testimonial? Use it to link back to your content.

These are just a few suggestions, don’t limit yourself!

How to Maintain Your Evergreen Content Ranking

You’ve compiled your evergreen content and you’re ranking well. Great! 

Now comes the tricky part: how do you keep your first-page ranking for the months (and years) to come? Here are two suggestions. 

  1. Promote your content to ensure people can always find it on your website. Share it on social media, and consider adding fresh hashtags to increase exposure. 
  2. Link to evergreen posts on other pages across your site. Not only will this help you draw more traffic, but internal links are another simple yet highly effective way to boost SEO.

I recommend using these techniques alongside other strategies like content repurposing and refreshing to maximize your chances of maintaining a first-page ranking. 

Conclusion

Evergreen content is timeless. It never goes out of fashion. If you want to draw organic traffic, educate your audience, and position yourself as an industry authority, it needs to be part of your content marketing plan. 

Don’t just dive in, though. Identify the topics that matter to your audience, do your own research, and put a fresh spin on them. Use the right keywords to improve your chances of ranking on Google, and don’t forget to update your content whenever you feel it’s a little stale. 

What does evergreen content mean to you? 

How to Create Evergreen Content Right From the Start

Evergreen content engages and educates readers for longer without a huge amount of effort. Once you master the art of writing “timeless” content, you can ensure your articles, e-books, and tutorials stay relevant for years to come.  Below, I’m going to show you exactly why evergreen content should be part of every marketer’s content strategy, …

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