BLOGGING

w w w. r o y d i g i t a l . i n
 Blogging
What is a Blog?

Definition of blog

A blog (shortening of “weblog”) is an online journal or informational website displaying

information in the reverse chronological order, with latest posts appearing first. It is a
platform where a writer or even a group of writers share their views on an individual subject.

Blog structure

The appearance of blogs changed over time, and nowadays blogs include different items.
But, most blogs include some standard features and structure. Here are common features
that a typical blog will include:

Ÿ Header with the menu or navigation bar

Ÿ Main content area with highlighted or latest blog posts
Ÿ Sidebar with social profiles, favorite content, or call-to-action
Ÿ Footer with relevant links like a disclaimer, privacy policy, contact page, etc.
Feel free to use this template on your site

Above example is the basic structure of the blog. Each item has its own importance and
helps visitors to navigate through your blog.

Blogs and websites

A majority of people still wonder whether there is any difference between a blog and a
website. What is a blog and what is a website? It’s even more challenging to differentiate
between the two today. Many companies are integrating blogs into their sites to perform
the same function.

What differentiates blogs from websites?

Blogs need frequent updates. Good examples include a food blog sharing meal recipes or
a company writing about their industry news.

Blogs promote perfect reader engagement. Readers get a chance to comment and voice
their different concerns to the viewer. Static websites, on the other hand, consists of
content presented on static pages. Static websites owners rarely update their pages. Blog
owners update their site with new blog posts on a regular basis.

Key elements that identify a blog post from a static page include a publishing date, author
reference, categories, and tags within a byline. While not all blog posts have all those by
line elements, static website pages do not have any of these items.

From a visitor perspective, the content on a static site will not change from one visit to the
next. The content on a blog, yet, has the potential to offer something new each day, week,
or month. Depending on the blog owner’s publishing schedule.

What is blogging?

In the early 2000s, blogging emerged in all different phases when several political blogs
were born. Also, blogs with how-to manuals began to appear. Established institutions
began to note the difference between journalism and blogging.

Definition of blogging

Blogging is the many skills that one needs to run and control a blog. Equipping web page
with tools to make the process of writing, posting, linking, and sharing content easier on the
internet.

Why is blogging so popular?

It’s important to mention that blogging grows with each passing day! Hence, to answer the
question ‘what is blogging’ we need to look at the factors behind its rise.
In the early stages, blogs became mainstream, as news services began using them as
tools for outreach and opinion forming. It became a new source of information.
Businesses saw a good way to improve customer’s level of satisfaction. Through blogging,
companies keep clients and customers up to date. The more people visit your blog, the
more exposure and trust your brand gets.

Personal and niche bloggers, saw the potential to reach to more people interested in
specific topics. Through a blog, visitors can comment and interact with you or your brand
which helps you create a network of loyal followers.

Did you know you could earn money through blogging? Once your blog gets enough
attention and fans, you can look into ways of monetizing your blog. Through the blog, you
can offer your services and sell products.

Who is a blogger?

In recent times, bloggers have become famous for various reasons. An alternative career
or job to many, more people are choosing to join the ranks. So who are bloggers? These
are individuals who love sharing parts of their lives with you. They post various topics from
arts, home designs, carpentry, and finance articles. Bloggers are mobile and don’t need to
be in one place. They live on the internet!

Definition of blogger
A blogger is someone who runs and controls a blog. He or she shares his or her opinion on
different topics for a target audience.
Why are many people blogging today?

Would you want to have a blog of your own? Yes! Most people today are creating a blog for
various reasons. Every human being has its story to tell. Hence, through the internet,
bloggers can communicate to a larger group of people.

Why is blogging so popular? Blogs allow you to talk about any topics and express your
opinion. You’ll find some bloggers writing on every activity that took place during the day.
These may range from small issues such as waking up, to major issues like human rights
and climate changes! Remember that as a blogger running your own blog, you need to rely
on the topics that you love and strive to become one of the best blogs on the web.

Want to start a blog on your own?

Creating your own personal blog takes a few steps. First, you need to decide on a name for
your blog also called a domain name, and choose the best blogging platform. We
recommend going with the self-hosted platform. There are few choices when it comes to
self-hosted platforms but the most popular is WordPress.org.

Then you need to choose a web hosting provider and for new bloggers, we recommend
Bluehost, a company that powers over 2 million websites worldwide. You will get a Free
domain name when you sign up with them and if you don’t like their services, they offer a
30-day money-back guarantee.

If you decide to set up a WordPress blog using Bluehost, we included the screenshots of
the pages that you need to go through.

If for some reason you want to signup for a different web hosting account, the steps
might be different but the whole procedure is very straightforward.

The best (used by 99.9% of top bloggers) way to set up a blog

Use this link to get the special deal from Bluehost. Then click the “Get Started Now” button.
You should start by selecting your plan. If this is your very first one, you should go with the
basic one – at least until you explore your options. The one called plus should be able to
cover all your needs once you get your blog going, and you should consider the pro version
once your popularity skyrockets.

Your domain name has an important say when it comes to the future success of your blog,
so you should take your time to come up with something new. Just type in a desired domain
in this “new domain” box and BlueHost will show you whether it’s available or not. If not, it
will provide you with a list of similar names for you to choose from.
If you can’t get the domain name you like, Bluehost will help you by letting you choose one
later.That will give you time to do some research and thinking.

After you pick out your domain name, BlueHost will take you to the registration page where
it will be required from you to fill in your personal info including the billing data. A couple of
minutes is all you need and soon you will receive the further instructions (username,
password, etc.) from Bluehost to get your blog live.
The key to successful content research is to put a clear and repeatable process in place. In
this post, we’ll cover thirty different ways you out-research and outsmart your competitor’s
content marketing with better information.
First Things First: Download Your Content Research Checklist
This post packs in tons of tips to improve your content research skills. To make your entire
research process more consistent and more effective, we’ve prepared this comprehensive
content research checklist. Put this and the rest of this post together, and you’ve got
everything you need to elevate your research game.
Building Your Content Research Tool Box: The Essentials Every Marketer Needs
If you’re doing to do content research right, you’ll need to the right apps, services, and
resources at your disposal. Here are some that we recommend (and that will make
applying the advice in this post easier).
BuzzSumo
A leader in the content research tool game, BuzzSumo makes competitive research easy.
Enter in a keyword, and it’ll immediately find all the top-shared content for that topic on
social media. That saves tons of time doing manual searches, and surfaces stuff you might
not have found otherwise.
Mozbar

This free Chrome extension makes it easy to analyze the authoritativeness of your (or
another’s) website). It also makes analyzing technical website elements simple, too.

Ubersuggest

A classic keyword research tool, Ubersuggest gathers Google autocomplete queries for a
given seed term. That makes finding tons of related ideas easy.
Screaming Frog

This freemium website crawling tool is immensely helpful for finding content on your
own site. You can also use it to crawl URLs on competitor’s sites, too. We’ll go over this
more in a little bit later in this post.

Google Adwords Keyword Planner

It’s less useful for non-paid strategies than it used to be, but no content research tool
collection is complete without the Google Keyword Planner.

LSI Graph

Finding related topics and keywords is fast and easy with LSI Graph. Enter a term, and it’ll
quickly generate tons of related ideas. This is useful for tapping into the power of latent
semantic indexing while doing research.
And Now, Your 30 Research Tips for Rockstar Content

We’re finally ready for what you came here for. No less than thirty actionable pieces of
advice to help you do better research now.

1 ) Start With a Google Search

The first tip is also the simplest one. Google is probably the first place you’ll go when doing
research for a new piece of content, right? Probably, but let’s look at some ways to make
search engines work harder for you.

Ÿ Skim all top ten results for your content’s topic. This will give you an idea of what
you need to do to outrank them. It’s what Brian Dean calls “the Skyscraper technique,”
which you may have heard about before.
Ÿ Look for the existence of paid search ads. If a search query generates ads, you know
there’s some commercial intent behind the keyword or topic you’re searching.
Ÿ Check autocomplete suggestions. This can be a great way to find long tail keywords
and related topics around your target subject.

2 ) Use Buzzsumo

What are people sharing on social media the most? That’s the question Buzzsumo was
built to answer. This freemium tool lets you type in a keyword and surface top-shared
content in moments.
Start by entering a topic or term:
Then, browse through the most-shared results on social media:

3 ) Try Wolfram Alpha

Wolfram Alpha is like an educational search engine on steroids. The computational search
engine has a “long-term goal to make all systematic knowledge immediately computable
and searchable to everyone.” In plain English, that means it has a lot of cool functionality to
help you crunch data and facts to gather the knowledge you need to support deeply-
research content.

4 ) Search Hashtags on Twitter With Hashtagify.me

If you’re looking to surface timely content ideas, search for relevant hashtags on Twitter.
The things people are sharing right now in real time can give you insight into what people
might want to read from you. Fortunately, this is also easy to do with Hashtagify.me.
Enter a search term, and you’ll immediately find:
Ÿ Related hashtags. What other topics are related to your core term?
Ÿ Top influencers. Who is using those hashtags?
Ÿ Usage Patterns. How are hashtags trending over time?
All useful stuff to know when you’re researching your next content piece.

5 ) Subscribe to Industry Print Publications

Contrary to what some may say, print isn’t dead. In fact, odds are there are some
successful print publications out there in your industry or niche, too. Look them up,
subscribe, and absorb all that valuable industry knowledge.

6 ) Run a Quick Twitter Poll

Twitter polls are an easy way to get fast feedback on an idea.
Start by creating a new tweet. Then, find the Create Poll button:
Then, add your tweet copy and poll questions:

By default, you’ll see two question blanks. However, you can add up to two more:
Lastly, adjust the length of your poll (from one day to a full week):
Click “Tweet” and then watch the responses come in. That’s all there is to it. In a matter of
minutes, you can gather at least a small amount of data from your followers to help inform
your content.

7 ) Or Run a Deeper Survey

If Twitter polls are like bite-sized surveys, then full surveys are like a full meal of data and
audience insights. With tools like SurveyMonkey and Polldaddy, setting them up is easy,
too.
Here are some important things to note when running a survey:
Ÿ Think about what you want to find out from your recipients.
Ÿ Ask enough questions to get the information you need (but not so many people don’t
finish it).

8 ) Look at Related Searches to See What People Are Searching For

Ever notice those “Related Searches” suggestions at the bottom of Google SERPs? You
can use those to figure out valuable details about what your audience is looking for.
Here’s an example:

From this search, I can figure out what else someone interested in content marketing might
be looking for (assuming my content I’ll be creating is going to be about content
marketing). That includes:
Ÿ Additional downloadable resources they might want in that post. See the “content
marketing PDF” result? I’m not exactly sure what that might look like yet, but I can
certainly click through, find out, and create that PDF for my audience.
Ÿ What is the intent behind the search? It looks as though people could be researching
the industry because they’re looking for a job. Or, maybe they need help with their
marketing, and need an agency (or tips on doing the strategy pieces themselves).
Ÿ Sometimes, related searches can help you determine which subtopics your
content could cover. If your primary keyword is your main topic, which secondary
keywords should you be working in? Consider using related searches as a starting
point.

These are all data points I can use to determine which type of content I should really be
creating, depending on my audience’s needs and my overall marketing goals.
9 ) Gather Autocomplete Suggestions Quickly With Ubersuggest

Autocomplete suggestions are great because they’re based on things people have
actually searched for. Ubersuggest is an awesome free keyword tool that surfaces
autocomplete suggestions based on a seed keyword.
Enter your search term:

Then, get potentially hundreds of related topics:

This can help you:

Ÿ Find even better topics than the one you were originally targeting.
Ÿ Figure out more subtopics and points to include in your content.
Ÿ Give you even more ideas for more content you might not have thought of otherwise.

10 ) Steal Competitor Keywords With Screaming Frog

Screaming Frog is a freemium website crawler that’s awesome for doing SEO audits and
other technical work. It’s also useful for finding your competition’s targeted keywords.
Then, enter a competitor’s website URL and click Start:

Next, you’ll see a report listing tons of URLs from the website you’ve crawled. Look through
these and pay attention to the URL slugs:
Typically, scanning a website’s URLs can you the topics and keywords that site is targeting.
That can give you tons of ideas for:

Ÿ Topics related to your own content.

Ÿ Keywords to incorporate into that content.
Ÿ Other topics you can create content around in the future.
To quickly find possible relevant competitor keywords, do a CTRL-F search for your
planned content’s topic or keyword. That can help surface tons of related content to help
with your competitive research.

11 ) Read Your Competition’s Content

This is a much more straightforward tip, but one that’s easy to overlook. Keep tabs on what
other organizations are publishing in your industry. You’ll absorb a lot of knowledge this
way, possibly without even realizing it.

There are a couple ways you can make this easier, too.
Ÿ Set up a Twitter list or Feedly collection with competitor’s blogs. You can find more
about setting up Twitter lists here, and Feedly here.
Ÿ Sign up for their email newsletters. Getting their content straight in your inbox is an
easy way to keep up with what they’re doing.

12 ) Interview Internal Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)

Sure, you’re smart, but you can’t be an expert at everything. If you’re surrounded by other
smart people though, lean on their knowledge to power your content. This is especially
important (and likely essential) when you’re writing about something you’re not
knowledgeable on (which is often the case if you’re in a new industry or working with new
clients at an agency).

Here’s how to make sure your interview is time well spent:

Ÿ Reach out to someone in your organization who has the knowledge you need. If
you don’t know who that might be, ask one of your superiors to point you in the right
direction.
Ÿ Set up a time with your SME to make sure they won’t easily blow off your meeting.
Use your shared Google or Outlook calendar to hold them accountable for showing up.
Ÿ Draft your questions before you meet. Aim for five to 10 good questions that’ll help
you plug the gaps in what you already know.

13 ) Set Up Google Alerts for Relevant Industry Keywords

This is a smart and passive way to be doing content research all the time with little effort.
Set up Google Alerts for terms and topics related to your industry. Then, you’ll get updates
when those keywords pop up on the web.
First, visit Google Alerts:

Then, enter keywords relevant to your industry, business, and competition:

You’ll now get email notifications when your selected terms appear on the web. Easy stuff.

14 ) Browse Industry Forums

While less popular than they used to be, message boards and forums can still be a great
place to do content research. If there are any you’re aware of in your industry, browse
through them to see what people are talking about. To find forums and message boards,
try searching [your industry] + “forum” or “message board.”
15 ) Use the Infographiqs Search Engine to Find Infographics

Did you know there’s an entire search engine dedicated to finding infographics? It’s called
Infographics, and it’s useful for finding infographics on just about any topic you can think of.
Enter a keyword and find tons of info-packed images you can review, cite, or embed in your
content.

16 ) Dig Through Links In Your Competition’s Content

Don’t stop at reading your competition’s content. Read the content they cite, too. Click
through the links on their pages and see where they go. You might find some insights or
data they missed, adding more weight and credibility to your own stuff.

17 ) Read (A Lot) of Books (Related to Your Content's Topic)

You can find everything you need to know on the Internet, right? Well, maybe. Books are
often better for diving deep into a topic. Plus, reading on paper yields certain advantages
that desktop and mobile screens can’t quite replicate.

Looking for research inspiration on the printed page? Here are a few places to start:
Ÿ Hit the library. It’s free and the one in your area could probably use your support. Want
to know if they have what you need before you go? Use WorldCat, the world’s largest
library catalog search engine.
Ÿ Browse your local bookstore. If you know a bookstore in your area has stuff on topics
related to your industry, check them out. The cost of a few books could be well worth it,
and your company might even comp the expense.
Ÿ Visit Amazon. Feeling lazy (or just value convenience)? Get on Amazon and see what
they’ve got for books relevant to your business or client.
Serious about keeping track of what you read? Get some color page markers.

18 ) Get Your Hands on Research Reports

.Why rely solely on your own research when you can leverage someone else’s? Obtaining
research reports can give you powerful insights into things you wouldn’t have otherwise
thought about while keeping you informed about what’s coming next in your industry.
Here are a couple ways to find relevant research reports you can use:
Ÿ Do a Google search for [your industry] + [research report]. This can yield some low-
hanging fruit quickly.
Ÿ Use Forrester Research reports. As one of the world’s foremost research firms,
Forrester offers tons of research reports on a variety of different topics and industries.
The drawback? They aren’t cheap. If your organization can afford them, though, they
can be well worth the investment.

You can also look around for white papers, case studies, and other smaller research
resources too.

19 ) Follow Industry News Sources

No matter what industry you’re in, there are probably various news sources covering it. We
don’t just mean blogs (although they’re important, too). We mean news sources, with
journalists reporting news that’s relevant to you (and the audience you’re marketing
toward).
Follow them on Twitter, subscribe to their email newsletters, and make them a part of your
daily news diet. This will keep you in-the-know and make doing research much easier.
Think your industry is too boring for anyone to want to write about it? You might be
surprised. For a starting point, turn to Google to find relevant blogs and publications.
In our own space at CoSchedule, we follow a lot of marketing news sources. Some of these
include:
Ÿ Marketing Land
Ÿ Adweek
Ÿ Ad Age
Do some digging and find where the real news is at in your niche.

20 ) Get on Quora
What better place to find which questions people have, than a website dedicated to
answering other people’s questions? Browse around Quora (signup required) and find out
if there are questions related to your business or content project.
21 ) Analyze Your Past Content (And Do More of What Works)

You don’t always have to reinvent the content wheel. Sometimes, doing more of what you
know works is the best way to go.
How do you find your past top-performing content? There are a few different ways.
Let’s start with Google Analytics. Then, drill into Behavior > Site Content > All Pages in the
left-hand navigation:

Then, scroll down to find your top-performing URLs:

22 ) Do a Reddit Search
Reddit is an awesome research resource for marketers. Like message boards and Quora,
it’s useful for finding out what kinds of questions your audience really has.
Marketer and CoSchedule guest writer Dale Cudmore wrote a great guide on mining
Reddit for ideas here. He also built an awesome tool called Keyworddit, a research tool
that mines Reddit for keyword ideas.
To use it, type in the name of a subreddit:

Next, you’ll get a list of keywords pulled from that subreddit, combined with their monthly
search volume:
Clicking the Context link for each term will bring you to a Google search result, displaying
pages on Reddit where that keyword is being discussed:

Cool stuff, right?

23 ) Use Google Scholar

Google Scholar is designed specifically to look up academic literature and research

papers. That means the kind of stuff that can lend weight to your content with deeply
researched data and insights. Just enter a keyword related to your content topic and see
what you can find:

24 ) Ask Your Sales and Support Teams for Customer Feedback

If you’re creating content to address your audience’s needs, who better to work with than
your sales and customer support teams? They’re on the front lines, talking directly to
customers and prospects about their wants and challenges.

That information can easily translate into great content that directly tackles those topics.
Reach out to them and ask if you can set up a time to talk. When you do, go into the
conversation prepared by following a couple simple steps:

Ÿ Prep questions ahead of time. They don’t need to reinvent the wheel. You just need to
ask questions that will get you the insights you need. Come up with at least three to five,
even if they’re as simple as, “What are our customers top problems?” Or, “What are the
toughest challenges prospects discuss with your team?”
Ÿ Follow up. Reach out every so often (maybe on a monthly or quarterly basis) to see if
anything has changed. Shifting trends could potentially impact your audience’s needs
from your content, and getting that feedback from customers and potential customers
(through your sales and support teams) can be invaluable.
All it takes is a simple conversation. That’s it.
25 ) Carry a Notepad With You Everywhere

You never know when inspiration might strike, or when you might learn an interesting piece
of information that’s useful for something you’re working on. So, consider carrying a pen
and notebook with you wherever you go to jot things down.

So, what’s the point of writing things by hand, anyway? Didn’t we invent computers and
smart phones so we could leave hand cramps and dead tree media behind?

It turns out that writing things down by hand affects the way you remember it differently
than using a digital device. According to Psychology Today,

Much of the benefit of handwriting in general comes simply from the self-generated
mechanics of drawing letters. In one Indiana University study, researchers conducted
brain scans on pre-literate 5-year olds before and after receiving different letter-learning
instruction. In children who had practiced self-generated printing by hand, the neural
activity was far more enhanced and "adult-like" than in those who had simply looked at
letters. The brain’s “reading circuit” of linked regions that are activated during reading was
activated during handwriting, but not during typing.

In short, when you write by hand, your brain draws different mental connections than it
does while typing because it requires more physical effort.

For those paying attention, this tip applies the exact advice this post is trying to drive home.
I could have just told you that hand-writing notes has advantages over typing them. You
could also easily ignore that advice and disregard it as baseless.

But, when that statement is backed up by actual academic research? Now, that’s a little bit
different, right?

Consider this tip 25.5: your own opinions are easily cast aside. Hard facts and real
research, however, are not.

26 ) Or Use Evernote or Google Keep to Jot Down Notes

If old-school pen and paper isn’t your thing, Evernote and Google Keep also work well.
Both give you access to your notes on all your devices, so you’ve always got access to your
notes. Write something down on your phone, and it’ll be there when you can get to your
computer.Here’s something else cool about Evernote: it integrates directly into
CoSchedule. If you’re a CoSchedule customer, that means you can quickly access your
notes directly in your marketing calendar.
This step-by-step guide shows exactly how to sync your Evernote account with your
CoSchedule calendar. You’ll be ready to go in just a few clicks.

Google Keep has a cool feature of its own, too: you can pull notes from Keep directly into
Google Docs. That makes it easy to see your research in the same place where you’re
writing:

While Evernote has free and paid options, Google Keep is completely free. Once you start
using one (or both), you’ll likely find them indispensable for storing and accessing your
research findings.

Bonus Tip: Did you know that CoSchedule integrates with Evernote so you can access
your research directly within your marketing calendar?

27 ) Browse Through Twitter Accounts Your Competition Follows

Twitter is a gold mine for finding timely information and insights (if you’re looking in the right
places, at least). One way to find new sources of information is to scroll through the
accounts your competitors follow.

Visit one of your competitors on Twitter and click Following:

Then, scroll away. You might find some awesome research sources you hadn’t heard of
before.

28 ) Use Open Site Explorer to See Who’s Linking to a Given Web Page

Let’s say you’ve found an interesting web page or blog post that you want to cite in your
own content.
Awesome, right?
Sure, but you can dig deeper by reading through content that links to that content, too. One
way to do this is by using Open Site Explorer. This freemium tool (part of the Moz platform)
makes it easy to see which sites are linking to a given URL.

Start by visiting the OSE page or logging into your Moz account (if you have one) and
finding it there. Then, enter a URL:
If you’re not using a paid Moz account, you’ll be able to see the top five linking domains
(with a paid account, you’ll have access to a much larger link index):

Now, start clicking into the sites linking to your source content. This can help provide:
Ÿ More context around your source.
Ÿ More insights you might have missed out on otherwise.
Ÿ An additional perspective that can be valuable for informing your own content.

29 ) Working For a Client? Read EVERYTHING You Can About Them.

If you're working at an agency or as a solo consultant, odds are you've already researched
your clients and have gotten to know them. However, it's worth asking whether you've
really dug as dig into your background research as you possibly can. Here are some
places to start:
Ÿ Their website. Read through as much of their content as possible. For large sites or
historic brands, this could take awhile. The more intimately familiar you are with their
business, though, the better the content you produce will be.
Ÿ Their press coverage. Even if your job doesn't touch PR, it's still worth keeping tabs on
their media coverage. What do journalists find most important about your client? Setting
up Google Alerts like we discussed earlier will help with this.
Ÿ Their linking domains. Using our previous tip, take the time to read through web content
that links back to your client. This can help yield interesting insights into their business
and products.

30 ) Use Data.gov to Browse the U.S. Government's Open Data

Did you know the U.S. federal governmenmakes tons of research data available to the
public? Using the resources on data.gov, you can find a wealth of information on all kinds
of different topics. It also includes links to apps built by private citizens to put that data to
use.

To use the site, enter a keyword or topic to find a data set:

If any data sets are available, you'll see a results page like this:
You can filter these down by topics and topic categories as well. This is useful for narrowing
down information that might be most useful for your particular industry:
You can also narrow results down by:
Ÿ Dataset type. This breaks down datasets by geographic relevance and more.
Ÿ Tags. These provide more granular detail for topical filtering.
Ÿ Formats. This includes PDFs and other content formats.
Ÿ Organization types. This is a high-level filter of the types of organizations or
departments providing data.
Ÿ Publishers. This allows you to narrow down research based on where it was published.
Ÿ Bureaus. Same as above, but breaking down information by government agency.

b). Content Curation

The Complete Guide to Content Curation: Tools, Tips, Ideas

What is content curation?

It’s adding your voice (and value) to a handpicked collection of content. Gathered from a
variety of sources, around a specific topic, that you publish and share with your fans.
Wherever they may be.
Simple, right?
Yet, many do this without a strategy.
But not you.
After reading this article you’ll be more equipped (and excited) when scrolling through your
content feed.
Sharing is caring, right?

6 key benefits of curating content

Because living in the information age demands people manage, organize, and share
information with others. Efficiently.
What we know, how we manage what we know, sharing it with others—these are all keys to
the info-game.

1. Be recognized as an expert

Perhaps numero uno for curating and sharing content. Others build an impression of your
business by what shows before their eyes. So then…
Be deliberate about what you want fans and followers to think of your brand.
Be it on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest and all the usual suspects.
Curation content is one aspect of your stay-on-top-of-mind campaign for being seen as an
expert in your field.

2. It’s easier than creating your own

That’s right.
Creating (vs curating) content is a required piece of your content marketing strategy.
However, writing blog posts, making YouTube videos, or Snapchatting takes time and
energy.
You got the time and budget for that? Yes? Great, do that, too. And…
Share something excellent already created for you.
It keeps the conversation going.
What a relief, too, knowing you can share what you’re already reading on your desktop,
tablet, or phone. Maybe even your watch?

3. Show you’re in the game

By showing and sharing what’s important for your business. Every time people see you
their feeds and screens, it’s another notch in their yup-she’s-in-the-game.
Also, it gets old when companies post only their own stuff. Comes off as “me, me,
me.”
As a social curator, you’re better than that, right? Right?

4. Grow your network

When helping others, others help you.

Sharing and curating content can help you make connections with leaders and influencers
in your industry. And, spark conversation with your social media audience in general.

5. Grow your business

If you got something worth saying, created or curated, you’ve got people’s attention.
The more you share, the more eyeballs you attract. Use this as your e-carrot to hook them
in to say, your email list.

6. Stay informed
For all the above… it’s about them. But what about you?
Curating and sharing content keeps you on your business-toes.
Spending time finding, sifting, and reading pieces across the web, for your industry, helps
you learn more about your business.
Those are some of the whys of content curation. On to the hows…

How to do content curation right

Obviously, you’ll need to determine the topics to share with your fans. Then locate the
articles for those topics. There’s tools for this. You’ll see some shortly.
To decide on which posts to share, consider…
Ÿ Who should I share this with?
Ÿ Why would this help them?
Ÿ Is this a trustworthy source?
Ÿ Is it unique and worthy of sharing?
Ÿ Will it make the reader grin, snicker or blush?
Once you’re good on these, time to schedule them.
When doing this, also consider the “social media rule of thirds”:
Ÿ Share a third on personal brand promotion
Ÿ A third of curated content
Ÿ A third about the conversations happening on social media
Know your audience

Say you like a post about awesome tips for designing a web page rendered on a mobile
device.
Glad you’re so excited about it.
But before hitting the schedule-this button, ask those questions above.
Because this is about them, not you. You’re sharing because you’re caring—caring about
how this post will help readers do their job better (as on example).

Share only what matters

Relevant. Timely. Interesting. Useful.

Otherwise, forget about it.
That’s all I’ve got to say about this.

Make it personal

And consistent, too.

Every Monday, I find, share, and schedule 10 articles for the week on LinkedIn.
As I’m scheduling each piece, I write a blurb summarizing a key point or takeaway.
To help the reader identify with my share.
And, to associate this post with my brand.
Whether people read this or not, they still get to see an interesting or quirky or useful
snippet in their feed. Twice a day.
Promote yourself
…but just a little.
As mentioned, sharing curated (vs created) content is your opportunity to show some
breadth. Others will see how you use the web-o-sphere to be a beast inyour space and
industry.
Absolutely, share your own content, too. Say at a 1:10 ratio. You’ll look more real, less
promotional. A killer for building trust.

Mix it up

Guilty as charged.
Recently, I caught myself sharing too much of the same thing. Topics on writing and
designing. I’ve opened up the share-pipes to productivity, self-help, simple apps, and other
human topics to improve how we work each day.
Ultimately, I care about helping people get clear and unwhelmed, organized and efficient,
informed and excited. Why? For humans to perform their job better, everyday, and feel
great doing it.
Both, the topics I share and the blurbs I write contribute to this.
Same goes for you.

Give credit

Because it’s a nice thing to do.

And it feels good, for you and them.
Add an @mention in a tweet, or tag the content creator in a Facebook post (as two
examples) for any content you’re sharing.

Schedule it

so your curations will be seen over a balanced period, like a week.

Use a social media calendar to map out what you’re going to post. Then use a program like
(ahem) Hootsuite to schedule your posts. A set-it-and-forget-it approach, one time, versus
posting multiple times a day.

Got a better idea of why and how to curate and share content? Are you onboard with
this all? Is it annoying, me asking so many questions?
Fine. Perfect time then to check out some tools…

10 content curation tools and software

Check out these tools that can help you become a content curation pro.
FOR BEGINNERS

1. Buzzsumo

Want to see what key influencers are sharing? And when?

BuzzSumo helps you find the most shared content on the web, for specific topics, in the last
few hours or months. See top 10 influencers for a topic, too, and what they’re sharing.
From $79 to $559 a month. Even cheaper if you pay by the year.

2. Twitter Lists

Twittering can get messy—quickly.

Especially if you don’t organize the accounts you follow.
Use Twitter Lists to share and respond to followers, no matter how many of them you have.
Lists will help you categorize and organize your followers, so you can engage with them in
segments.
Want some help using Twitter lists?

3. Pocket

Save articles, videos and stories from any publication, page or app. From any device.
Better than using a laundry list bookmarks or countless emails sent to yourself with links.
Pocket keeps all your interesting images, articles, and videos in one place. Capturing and
collecting information is the first step in sharing your curation.
From free to $4.99 a month.

4. Newsletters

You subscribe to newsletters and blog posts, don’t ya?

I set up Gmail to automatically label my incoming subscriptions.
I now have a repository for sharing loads of useful content. I click on the label and can see
all my articles, sorted by date.
Come Monday morning, I browse and pick the items I want to share for the week.
You can do the same. No matter what email program you use.
And it’s free, free, free.

5. Instapaper

See something you like on the web, that you might want to share later on?
Instapaper is waiting for you.
Sign up for a free account, create a folder (e.g. ‘posts to share’), and a bookmarklet, too.
For any article in view from your browser, click the bookmarklet in your browser bar.
Instapaper will save the page in that folder. In seconds.

Do this all week long. Again, come Monday, yet another source of articles for you to share.
Curation made easy.
Bonus, I do the same for blog sites. Where I scan and pick posts from each website. Using
two folders, ‘posts to share’ and ‘sites to share.’
FOR INTERMEDIATES

6. Hootsuite

Manage all your social media channels from a single platform.

Or, you could keep: a) logging in to each app, b) move them around just so on your screen
and, c) share and reply from each and every window.

7. Feedly

More for keeping up with your favorite feeds and articles. All in one spot.
Use Feedly also, to keep track of internal information, and when your business is
mentioned online. Add sources to Feedly. Browse them later to share with others.
8. Scoop it

Collect and curate content—with a Pinterest-like approach.

Use Scoop.it to find things organize topics in a hub page. Then, publish your stuff
elsewhere, such as your blog.
From free to $67 a month.

FOR ADVANCED USERS

9. Curata

Be known by sharing only the most relevant and helpful content.

Curata listens to what you’re interested in. Then, discovers and recommends content for
our audiences. Mostly automatically.
Of course, you can (and should) add your touch by fine tuning content sources. Then,
review and distribute them, from a single tool. Repurpose curated content, too, across
your blog, social, newsletter, and automated marketing platforms.
Cost? Mysterious. Call 617-229-5529 to get a quote.
10. PublishThis

Like Curata, PublishThis, gathers content relevant for your audience. It’s a big time-saver
for daily curation.
PublishThis can collect content from you, your freelancers, your employees and partners.
Then, mix it up and share it out across other platforms, like email, web and social sites.

Hootsuite can help with your content curation for social media. Find content to share,
schedule it to publish on your social channels, and track your success—all from one
dashboard.