The ultimate guide on creating Evergreen content during the holidays. Make your holiday blog content work for you all year long!
What is Evergreen Content?
One of the biggest and most important tips to remember when creating a website or blog is creating evergreen content. It’s great for SEO and even better for you! What does evergreen content even mean? It means you are creating content that can be viewed all year, every year and does not become “dated” or “out of style” over time. Instead it’s always fresh and beautiful- just like the evergreen tree. All year round it’s beautiful, healthy and green.
Now that we are in the holiday season, is it possible to create evergreen content? Absolutely!
Two Ways to Create Evergreen Content
1. Create content where people come to your site for Christmas and New Year’s content (or whatever the current holiday is right now.)
2. When creating recipes, make the recipe and post one that can work for the holiday, but also be on someone’s dinner table in the summer. For instance, green beans are a food that is not eaten only at Thanksgiving, but all year round. Let me share some tips that have helped us, Oh So Delicioso, in creating evergreen content.
What to Avoid and What to Keep
Christmas, Thanksgiving, Valentines, Halloween etc. They all come every single year. It’s totally evergreen-acceptable to create posts that are styled with these holiday themes. Nonetheless, sometimes holiday posts, despite the fact that they come every year, can be “so last year.” Outdated posts will not be a post that attracts readers to your blog. To create photos and posts that will last through ages think about the classics about a holiday.
Making Things Classic
What are their colors, their staples in décor? Try not to go with fads of the day, but take your style and what is classic and make it your brand. When you do this your post will never go out of style. Here is an example of what is “classic.”
For Christmas, you can always count on the colors red and green. Berries, pine cones, natural leaves or branches, ribbons, and simple ornaments are perfect! If you use these simple props to style within your own aesthetic, it will be beautiful.
Watch Out for Trendy Content
Things to stay away from are trendy props, décor, and patterns. Remember when chevron print was so in? And right now it’s all about the buffalo plaid? Take into consideration all your styling, props (and even editing styles), and ask yourself if you would still like it in two years. Ask yourself, “Is this evergreen content?”
Staying Evergreen Throughout the Holidays
A cookie is a cookie. Even though you choose to post it during the middle of December doesn’t mean it’s a “Christmas cookie.” It’s just a good cookie to make for Christmas, and also any other month of the year. You want your readers to know this cookie is THAT good and they CAN make it all year long. So, how do you take this cookie and make it festive for the time of year it’s posted, and also when readers look at your cookies in April? (You don’t want them clicking away because it’s decorated with Christmas lights and berries.)
Keep your Audience from Clicking Away
1. Leave Holiday Props out of the Process Shots
You don’t need Christmas berries when mixing flour, or pouring in chocolate chips. Instead, use your natural baking ingredients as the props. Measuring cups, eggshells, etc. are props that never go out of style. AND this will give you the ability to post these photos on social media all year round.
2. Do Two Sets of Hero Shots
The first set will be for the rest of the month that do not revolve around the holiday. The second set (or it can even just be a single photo) will be holiday styled. Keep both sets in the post! After the holiday has passed you can return to your post and relocate the holiday pictures to the bottom of the post. Give your readers a call to action — “Come back during the Holiday make these! See how beautiful!” Even tell them to pin it so they don’t forget.
3. Return After the Holiday
If you choose to have your featured image a holiday photo, return after the holiday has passed and change it out to a non-holiday photo. This will ensure that as readers browse your website they are not misled into thinking this recipe is only a holiday recipe.
Try it Out!
Creating evergreen content will not only improve your readership and SEO, but it will also save you so much time and work on updating your old posts in the long run. Try it out starting this holiday season!
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