You’ve probably heard the term “evergreen content” get mentioned and you probably have an idea about what it is, but as an affiliate, evergreen content can seem like a waste of time and effort. The whole point of being an affiliate is to capitalize on the here and now and make sure that you are the first person talking about a product.

But timeless and reliably relevant evergreen content can be invaluable to an affiliate. In this blog, we’ll talk about what evergreen content is, why you should be using it and how to integrate it into your content.

What is Evergreen Content?

Evergreen content is exactly what it sounds like. Content that stays fresh month after month. It can be referenced and posted long after it was published and is still valuable to the reader months and sometimes even years later.

There are three key components that all evergreen content has in common:

• It’s timeless – aside from the occasional update, most of the piece is applicable over time after time.
• It’s Valuable and High-Quality – Evergreen content is well-executed and very useful to the consumer or end-user.
• Canonical – It has detailed, in-depth and useful content that covers a specific topic.

Evergreen content usually consists of how-tos, explainers, FAQs, and more. They are really in-depth and informative and are resources that people will refer to over and over. In short, they are phenomenal traffic drivers and help bring people back to your content over and over.

Why You Need Evergreen Content

Most affiliate marketers find that evergreen content is the main driver of traffic to their channels. Some people even refer to it as commerce content because it is so good at generating clicks, sales, new leads, shares, and lots of SEO value.

Evergreen articles and content are “set it and forget it” content. You can focus on building your brand and promoting new content and your evergreen articles will just run in the background growing your site and your bank account.

How to Create Evergreen Content

1. Find Your Topic – Do some research and find out what topics your industry needs but doesn’t have and figure out which of those topics you feel like you can credibly cover and go for it.
2. Dive Deep – You want your evergreen content to be as well researched and formatted as possible. Decide if it’s going to be a video, blog post, or an FAQ, and then approach the topic with straightforward language and full explanations. Think of it as an “everything you should know” piece.
3. Optimize It – You want your evergreen content to be an earnings driver so make sure that it has all the proper links and SEO. Add product ads and banners, add some native product shopping links and keep them as evergreen as possible.

Promote Evergreen Content

Because it is so good at generating traffic, evergreen content deserves a little extra promotional love. Highlight it on your site with a “Resources” or a “Start Here” page. Republish it whenever you make updates to them and build a social campaign around them.

When it comes to SEO for evergreen content, make sure that you are doing your due diligence for your evergreen content so they can continue to drive good engagement and traffic for months to come.

How to Audit and Update

You need to make sure you are periodically auditing and updating your evergreen content; twice a year is a good rule of thumb. Take a look at your site traffic and prioritize those pieces of content that are working the best for you.

Make sure that you are looking at the content itself to make sure it’s up to date. Review the links to make sure they are all still going to the right places, as well as the affiliate links in case they need to be updated or changed.

While it might feel like the updates are slow going, your evergreen content pays for itself and is well worth the investment.