Trending VS Evergreen Content (Why You Should Create BOTH)

Last Update: Mar 20, 2020

byTimMcKinlay

55.4K followers

3 years ago

I've written close to a 1,000 blog posts since I first started out online. And during that time I've published all types of content. How to articles, reviews, guides, comparisons, top 10’s, answers to questions, content to build brand loyalty, affiliate presell content... you name it.

But when you boil it down, there’s really only TWO types of content:

• Trending and;
• Evergreen

Trending content is content that can bring you a significant amount of traffic in a very short period of time, and can be super low competition if you create the content at the right time, before the masses.

These are essentially topics that are getting, or will get, lots of attention for a period of time. For example, reviews of recent or upcoming product launches, news and events, or just articles about topics you know will likely explode with interest for a time, but that will eventually fade away.

In stark contrast, evergreen content is content that is likely to be just as relevant 5-10 years from now as it is today. Stuff like “how to train a German Shepherd” for example or “ways to lose weight without dieting”. People are always going to be searching for this stuff.

And there are pros and cons with both types of content.

When I first started out, I focussed a lot on trending content (product reviews) because this is what leads to short bursts of virtually instant, targeted, free traffic. Some reviews I’ve done over the years have probably been worth $10,000’s to me given the volume of traffic they brought and how well that traffic converted. And they were very easy to create.

But then I started to understand that this alone is not a good strategy. Because it makes your business too susceptible to the ups and downs of “here today, gone tomorrow” topics. It might be quick to build traffic this way, but it can drop off just as quickly. Easy come, easy go.

So I started to include a lot more evergreen content in my content lineup across my sites. Because I am in this for the long term, to create long term success.

The good thing about evergreen traffic is… well, it’s evergreen. You can post something now and get traffic from it for years to come. The downside is you don’t get the immediate bursts of traffic, it’s more of a slow burner. But creating evergreen content is well worth it and in the long run can actually save you a lot of time, since you’re not needing to constantly create new content. You create content once, and it can serve you for many years to come.

With that being said, I like to create both.

And I especially think beginner’s (or anyone with a new site) can benefit from creating both types of content, because if all you do is create content based on evergreen topics, it’s (generally) going to take you longer to build up your traffic. Whereas if you combine this with trending topics, and get yourself ahead of the curve by creating this super low competition/high traffic potential content before the masses, then you can start getting traffic to your site a lot sooner.

The end result is you have high quality, targeted, free and (virtually) immediate traffic coming to your site, in order to start making sales. While also creating content that sets you up for long term success, and that doesn’t require you to be writing new content all the time.

Of course, being able to leverage the “trending topic” strategy does depend on your niche. Some niches don’t really have trending topics, whereas others are full of them. So it comes down to knowing your niche and getting deep into your niche to find these opportunities.

Either way, the training here at Wealthy Affiliate shows you how to create both types of content, along with the entire process of making money online, so I highly recommend you get stuck into that to learn more.

Also, check out this webinar on creating content that ranks.

Hope you found this helpful!