Does all your content have to be original?

Most people make blogging take too long.

Me? I’ve been blogging for 20 years now. Been making my living at it for most of that time. And I’ll be the first to tell ya…

I’m a lazy blogger. 🙂

Not lazy as a person (altho I have my moments like we all do), but just lazy blogger. As much as I like crafting great content, it isn’t something I’m willing to spend a crapload of time at. Honestly, I have better things to do. Like serving my Lab members, working on business growth. Or… just going camping. 🙂

But, that doesn’t mean my blogging is weak or ineffective. My blog works quite well and the business is going just fine, despite me only having published 41 blog posts all last year. And over half of those were revisions, not new posts.

Now, if you’ve been with me for awhile, you know that a major way that I do this is something I call The Redwood Strategy. It is efficient.

But, what if you can use another efficient strategy. For instance… not always having to even create 100% original content? Can you do it? Let’s discuss…

No, we’re not talking about stealing people’s content. Or even just “rewording it” and publishing it as your own.

That’s called being an idiot.

What I am talking about is content curation. Curation is when, instead of being the creator of all-new material, you are instead a resource and massive time-saver for your reader because you’re bringing the best material to their attention.

Think about it. When a person is trying to find information on how to do something, half the work is surfing around and finding that information. Especially on more involved things where there is a lot of information. So, if you take the time to do all their legwork FOR them, you’re presenting massive value to them.

Now, I’m not talking about making a big list of links. Where most people who do curation fall short is that they don’t insert any new value into the value chain. If all you do is link and quote people, you’re being nothing but a middleman. Since you want people to find YOU valuable and want to do business with YOU, then you can’t just be a middleman.

So, if you’re going to do curation, you have to insert your own take on things, too. Often, though, it is much easier to write your own take on something another is discussing than to re-invent the wheel on your own.

Ever been to LifeHacker? Sometimes, they have their own original content. Many times, tho, they just link to some other site. The blog post will have some text and a quote the link off. There’s a lot of curation that goes into LifeHacker.

So, here’s some ways you can apply curation to your own content:

• Instead of making your own video to go with your post, embed somebody else’s. Remember, videos increase time on page and can help with SEO. It doesn’t HAVE to be YOUR video. 🙂
• Showing how to do something? Perhaps there are other techniques or approaches that other’s have discussed. Quote them and link to them and make YOUR post more valuable because it covers multiple ways of doing the same thing.
• Do your classic listicle (aka “list post”). Could be something as simple as a list of resources or a list of strategies, but each one sourced from another site.
• Go multi-modal with your content. Think audio podcasts, videos, Slideshare presentations, etc. But, again… not everything has to be crafted by you.
• Do a “top 10” list, or even just a weekly synopsis where you show your readers or subscribers the top happening in your market for the week.

In the end, if you’re running a business, then your blog’s main job is to attract your ideal customer and move them to action (which often means to opt-in). That CAN be done using other people’s content.

To do it right does take some time. This isn’t a simple copy/paste job. Good curation means a lot of internet surfing, searching, watching, reading. All to find the best stuff worthy of your reader’s attention. And THEN, you have to bring your own commentary do it so that you’re adding value and not just regurgitating.

Even though it takes work, it can perform quite well. It can help with SEO. It can have a nice viral coefficient and go viral because it is so useful. And, these kinds of posts can really have a great impact on your traffic and, thus, your business.

Done right, it can elevate you as a leader in your market, even if you’re not the originator in every case.

Think about how some podcasters make a name for themselves through interviews. All they did was ask questions. Yet, they can become top leaders in their market.

Curation can work the same way.

– David