We’ve talked about what Content Curation is in the past, so we know that it’s a powerful tool to engage readers and improve your brand’s blog. Whether you’re just getting started or have been curating for years take a look at these 27 tips to improve your content building skills!
1. Don’t Try To Satisfy Everyone
Start by defining what the theme of your site is, and stick to it.
2. Stay Focussed
Don’t get distracted when you’re looking for content. Noel Coward once gave his opinion about television;
It’s for being on, not for looking at.Noel Coward
Take the same attitude toward your search for content. Seek, assess, collate, add your spin, and publish. Don’t get distracted. Let visitors to your site get distracted.
3. Add Your Own Spin
Never post anything without adding your own spin to it.
4. Be Generous With Links
Don’t be stingy with links to the places you find content.
5. Do Guest Posts
Write guest posts on other sites to drive traffic to yours and build authority.
6. Spice Up Your Content
Spice up your content with extra media. Never post text without at least one picture for illustration.
7. Use Google Alerts
Set up Google Alerts around keywords related to your sites theme and wake up in the morning to an inbox of possible material instead of finding it all yourself. You’ll find more and better aggregators as you poke around. Eventually almost everything will be sent to you.
8. Create Infographics
Information rules, especially in graphic form.
9. Subscribe to Feeds
They’re falling out of favor now, especially since Google closed Reader, but if there are important sources of regular content you want, subscribe to their feed.
10. Assemble A Blogroll
Assemble a blogroll with an eye towards aggregation. This is very underrated. Don’t put any website in a blogroll if you can’t find useful things there. In a pinch you should be able to make a blogpost simply by running down your blogroll and linking to their daily ouput with a comment or two after each. It’s the peanut butter and jelly of the “Content Curator world”.
11. Think Of The Little Guys
Don’t just link to larger fish in your blogroll and outgoing links, this is poorly understood. Think of how much you’d like to be linked by a giant website. Now picture someone that thinks you’re a giant website. Pay attention to smaller websites and they’ll feed you readers, link to you, and they’ll send you more content to curate and post.
12. Use Social Media
Make sure you have a presence on every useful social site. You can find material there and then turn around and post links to your curated content there as well.
13. Get Content From Your Audience
Tell your audience you want material, and make sure your contact info is easy to find. Give them credit and praise when you post it. It keeps readers engaged.
14. Make Use Of Reddit
Reddit is a useful monster. Tame it with Subreddit strategies. Reddit’s too big to just poke around aimlessly (see tip 2) Search through Reddit for appropriate Subreddits, and subscribe to them. It’ll save you tons of time and aggravation.
15. Don’t Forget Video
Watch for featured items on Vimeo, in addition to YouTube hot items. If a YouTube channel disables embedding, immediately pass it by. Never send traffic away to anyone that won’t send some back if you can help it.
16. Describe What You See
Never embed a video without at least a dab of text to make it your own.
17. Do Roundups Of Blogposts
Curated roundups of blogposts are quick and effective way to build links and attract traffic.
18. Be Original
Don’t use curated content that’s already been chewed up by big aggregators.
19. Remix Your Own Content
If you have content of your own, consider remixing it into a new, curated form for re-use instead of just reposting it.
20. Write Reviews
Never just read a book or watch a movie. Everything is a review and curation opportunity.
21. Lists, Lists, Lists
The Internet loves lists. You can even make lists of lists.
22. Keep Visitors Engaged
Find ways to keep visitors on your site once they arrive. Put feeds on your site if you need additional content to bolster the amount of interesting things on your site. Visitors need new material constantly.
23. Use Slideshows To Curate Photos
Don’t overlook the value of slideshows for curating photos.
24. Write How To Guides
“How To” content will bring a steady stream of persons indefinitely. Useful information doesn’t go stale like daily news.
25. Read Your Comments
Don’t overlook opportunities in your comment sections. Commenters love being featured on the front page.
26. Create Humorous Content
Humor can be a great way to bring in traffic with curated content, but tread lightly. Stay away from material that’s as likely to send viewers away as attract them.
27. Create Your Own Videos
You can easily mash up a slideshow with music and make a YouTube video yourself. You can find open source music online that only requires a credit.
Did you find these tips helpful? Let us know some of your biggest content curation tips and I’ll update this post with the best additions!
