Evergreen Roundups Convert Readers to Leads

I’ll never forget the day I stumbled upon one of my old newsletter emails from years ago. It was like reading something written by a completely different person – the tone, the style, even the ideas all felt unfamiliar. But you know what? That was a good thing.

As writers, it’s easy for our work to become invisible to us over time. We get so used to churning out content, pressing send, and moving on to the next project that we lose that outsider’s perspective. But when I went back and re-read that old email with fresh eyes, I was able to spot all sorts of opportunities for improvement – things I’d never noticed before.

That’s the power of revisiting your past work. And it’s a technique I’ve come to rely on, not just for improving individual pieces, but for transforming the way I approach my entire content strategy. You see, I’ve discovered that the key to converting readers into leads lies not in the latest marketing tactic or productivity hack, but in the tried-and-true art of curating and repurposing your best evergreen content.

Let me explain.

The Virtuous Cycle of Evergreen Content

When you create and share valuable, informative content, a few magical things start to happen:

1. People discover your brand and become interested in what you have to offer.
2. Some of those people sign up for your email list, eager to receive more of your helpful content.
3. The next time you publish something relevant, your subscribers are more likely to engage, share, and even convert.

It’s a self-perpetuating cycle that grows stronger with each new piece of content you put out. And the secret ingredient? Evergreen content.

Evergreen content is the kind that stays fresh and relevant no matter when it’s consumed. It’s not tied to a specific event, trend, or product launch. Instead, it addresses the core needs and pain points of your target audience in a timeless way.

Think about it – when was the last time you revisited an old newsletter email or blog post and thought, “Wow, this is so outdated”? Chances are, if the content was truly evergreen, it still felt just as useful and insightful as the day you first encountered it.

The Mixtape Mindset

So how do you harness the power of evergreen content to drive leads and conversions? It all comes down to shifting your mindset from individual pieces to a holistic, curated experience.

Imagine you’re making a mixtape for a friend. You’re not just throwing random songs together – you’re carefully selecting and sequencing tracks to create a cohesive, immersive listening experience. You’re thinking about the flow, the pacing, the highs and lows, all to ensure your friend comes away feeling informed, entertained, and genuinely connected to the music.

That’s the approach I’ve taken with our email newsletters at MCR SEO. Instead of churning out a new broadcast email every week, I’ve built a library of evergreen content – our best articles, guides, and interviews – and assembled them into a carefully curated “mixtape” that new subscribers experience from start to finish.

The results have been nothing short of transformative. Our open rates have skyrocketed, our lead generation has soared, and we’ve been able to scale our content efforts without sacrificing quality or consistency.

Evergreen Editing: The Secret Sauce

Of course, simply repurposing your existing content isn’t enough. To create a truly seamless, engaging experience, you need to put in the work to make sure each piece is optimized for evergreen success.

I call this process “evergreen editing,” and it involves a few key steps:

1. Time Travel Editing: Identifying and removing any references to specific dates, events, or time periods that could make the content feel outdated. We want our readers to feel like each email was written just for them, no matter when they encounter it.

2. Intro Trimming: Cutting out any unnecessary “throat-clearing” at the beginning of a piece. Get to the good stuff – the meat of the content – as quickly as possible.

3. Takeaway Tuning: Ensuring that every article, guide, or interview clearly outlines the key lesson or actionable takeaway for the reader. We want to make it as easy as possible for them to apply what they’ve learned.

4. Audience Alignment: Using the language and terminology that resonates with our target audience, right from the very first sentence. We want them to feel like we’re speaking directly to their needs and concerns.

5. Structural Enhancements: Adding clear section headings, pull quotes, and other visual elements to make the content more scannable and easy to digest. We want to keep our readers engaged and eager to keep scrolling.

Assembling Your Evergreen Mixtape

With your evergreen-optimized content in hand, it’s time to start curating your mixtape. Here’s how I approach it:

1. Inventory Your Assets: Take stock of all the high-performing, evergreen pieces you have in your content library. Organize them by topic, theme, or customer persona to get a sense of what you’re working with.

2. Map the Experience: Plan out the sequence of emails your new subscribers will receive, carefully considering the flow and pacing. What foundational concepts should you introduce first? Where can you sprinkle in relevant case studies or success stories? How can you build momentum towards a specific call-to-action?

3. Automate the Delivery: Use a tool like ConvertKit to set up a fully automated email sequence that will deliver your evergreen mixtape to new subscribers on a consistent schedule (we send ours out every Wednesday).

4. Monitor and Iterate: Regularly review the performance of your evergreen emails – open rates, click-throughs, conversions, etc. – and make adjustments as needed. Remember, the beauty of this approach is that you can continually refine and improve without starting from scratch.

The Evergreen Advantage

By embracing the power of evergreen content and the mixtape mindset, you’ll not only create a more engaging experience for your readers, but you’ll also unlock a whole host of other benefits:

• Reduced Content Creation Burden: When your core newsletter content is already assembled and optimized, you can focus your efforts on producing new, supplementary pieces that drive even more value.

• Steadier Lead Flow: Unlike campaign-based content that generates spikes in traffic and signups, evergreen roundups provide a reliable, consistent stream of new leads week after week.

• Compounding SEO Benefits: As your library of high-quality, authoritative content grows, you’ll start to see exponential improvements in your search engine rankings and organic visibility.

• Stronger Brand Positioning: By consistently delivering valuable, trustworthy information to your audience, you’ll solidify your reputation as an industry thought leader and go-to resource.

So what are you waiting for? It’s time to start curating your own evergreen content mixtape and watch as those readers convert into loyal, engaged leads. Trust me, your future self (and your business) will thank you.

P.S. If you’re ready to experience the power of evergreen content firsthand, be sure to sign up for our newsletter at MCR SEO. We deliver a fresh dose of insights, strategies, and inspiration every Wednesday – no matter what year it is.