Log in 
How to Curate Content for Your Blog
We’ve all experienced ‘bloggers block’ and there’s nothing worse than when you’re all blogged out and you just can’t think of anything to write. But if you leave your followers empty handed, they could look elsewhere for their content fix.
This is where curated content (which essentially means gathering content from around the web, on a specific theme, and presenting it to your audience) becomes your best friend. Not only does it make it easy to create an engaging and useful post for your readers, but it also allows you to build a relationship with other bloggers or experts in your niche (after all, being featured in a post is always flattering!)
Here’s how to curate content for your blog.
How to find content to create
Great content curation is, of course, all about finding the right content to share with your readers. But in today’s crowded online world it can be difficult to find the ‘gems in the rough’.
Luckily, there are lot of tools out there to help.
Bookmarks
Chances are that you spend a lot of time wandering the web, reading the type of content that your audience is interested in. Make a habit of bookmarking any great articles you come across – it’ll make it easier to find them later!
An incredibly useful tool, Buzzsumo shows you the most popular (shared) content for any given topic, for example ‘gardening’. This makes it easy to find high-quality posts that already have your niche’s stamp of approval. You can also filter by date to see the most recent content.
Another handy tool, Feedly curates content from your favourite sites and presents them in easy-to-read collections – helping you to keep track of all of the latest articles on-the-go. You can also save posts you’d like to read later.
Video content is perfect for curation posts. From tutorials to expert tips, it’s easy to find content your audience will love on YouTube.
If you’re writing an image based post, Pinterest is a great place to find relevant images. Simply scroll down to the bottom of the Pin to find a link to where the picture originally came from.
What makes a good curated post?
It’s important to remember that curated content isn’t just about regurgitating other people’s hard work. You need to offer some kind of fresh perspective or commentary to make your post worth reading. After all, if you can’t think of anything to say about a piece of content, it’s probably not that interesting!
You also need to make sure that the content you feature is relevant to your blog and will interest your readers. Always remember to ask ‘what’s in it for them?’ Will it inspire them? Make them laugh? Help them to do something? Address an issue they’re interested in? If you can’t answer this question, you shouldn’t include the content.
Some other good tips include:
- Choose a specific type of content to curate – for example, videos, infographics, quotes, images, eBooks or webinars
- Pick a specific theme – for example, ’40 pretty 50s outfits’ rather than just ’40 pretty outfits’
- Include as many pieces of content as possible – to make the post as valuable as possible to readers and a one-stop-shop for all of the best content on your chosen theme
- Make sure to ask for permission from the content creators– to avoid any copyright violations and to build relationships (most people will be delighted to be featured!)
Ultimately though, quality is the key. No one’s going to be interested in a post featuring average content – they want to see the best.
How to promote your post
Once you’ve created your amazing curated post, you need to make sure that people see it. One of the best ways to achieve this is to reach out to the content creators you’ve featured and let them know that the article has been published. If they’ve got large social followings, just a couple of retweets can get your post in front a huge and relevant audience.
Tagging them on Twitter when you share the post is a good tactic, as it makes it more likely that they’ll share it. However, it also doesn’t hurt to send them an email with a link to the post, thanking them for letting you feature their great content.
If you’re suffering from ‘bloggers block’ and struggling to come up with ideas, a curated post is a simple way to ensure that you’re still offering your readers great content – as well as helping you to build relationships with bloggers or experts in your niche.
Have you got any more tips for curating content? Let us know in the comments!
Leave a Reply