You are likely bombarded with advice to post daily on social media or to jump on every breaking news trend to get attention for your startup. That approach is exhausting.
It is also often a waste of resources for a small team.
There is a different approach that treats writing and media production as long-term asset building. This is called evergreen content.
Evergreen content is material that is optimized for search and remains relevant to readers for a long period of time. It does not rely on current events, seasonal cycles, or fleeting viral trends to provide value.
Just like the trees it is named after, this content retains its life and utility regardless of the season.
The Core Characteristics
#For a piece of content to be truly evergreen, it must address a fundamental need or curiosity that does not change quickly.
It usually takes the form of:
- Educational how-to guides
- Glossaries of industry terms
- Historical case studies
- Foundational principles of a specific trade
The goal is to answer questions that your potential customers will still be asking two or three years from now.
This requires a scientific approach to topic selection. You have to analyze the search volume and intent behind specific keywords to ensure there is a steady stream of people looking for that information.
It is not about what is loud right now. It is about what is consistently true.
Evergreen vs. Trending Content
#It is helpful to contrast this with topical or trending content. Trending content is like a firework. It explodes, gets a lot of attention, and then fades to black almost immediately.
This is often called newsjacking.
While trending content can provide a quick spike in traffic, it rarely sustains a business. Once the news cycle moves on, the traffic drops to zero.
Evergreen content works like compound interest. You might publish a post today that gets ten views. Next month it gets twenty. Over a year, as it climbs search rankings, it might bring in thousands of visitors a month without you having to touch it again.
We do have to ask ourselves a difficult question here. Is it possible for any content to be truly permanent in a digital age where platforms shift so rapidly?
Perhaps nothing lasts forever, but the shelf life of evergreen content is measured in years rather than hours.
Why Startups Should Care
#Resources are your scarcest commodity as a founder. You do not have the time to be on a content hamster wheel.
Creating evergreen content allows you to build a library of assets. Each article or video you create becomes a permanent employee that works 24/7 to bring in leads and educate customers.
It lowers your customer acquisition costs over time.
When you solve a specific, painful problem for a user through a search result, you build immediate trust. You are not shouting for attention. You are providing a solution at the exact moment they asked for it.
That is the foundation of a solid relationship.
Practical Application for Founders
#Start by identifying the questions you answer repeatedly in sales calls or support emails. These are your seeds for evergreen content.
If you find yourself explaining a concept three times to different people, write it down. Record it.
Do not worry about being a thought leader. Focus on being a helpful utility. If you build a repository of helpful, timeless answers, you create a moat of authority that is very hard for competitors to replicate quickly.