Now more than ever, an unprecedented amount of content can be found online that covers every topic known to humanity. This immense availability of information can make it easy to find out what you need to know in some respects – but it can also be daunting and exhausting in others. Namely, finding all relevant information within a sea of information can discourage the average reader or user from looking too deeply into a particular topic or subject.
This is where the concept of content curation comes in handy. As more brands and bloggers are seeking to take advantage of the practice, some are finding it to be a very lucrative endeavor. As such, let’s take a look at what content curation entails and how you can make money doing it.
What Is Content Curation?
The term may not be immediately intuitive, but content curation serves an important purpose. In short, content curation revolves around scouring the internet for specific, existing pieces of content that provide value to an audience and then aggregating them in one place. There are blogs and websites alike that provide content curation services – and even websites where users do the curating by voting on its value (like Reddit and Digg).
Other common examples of content curation include RSS feeds and mash-ups in the form of blog posts. As the practice can take many forms, there are a variety of opportunities through which everyday people can begin curating content and earning money from it.
1. Showcase Reviews
The internet is filled with opinions on just about everything. When shopping for new products and services, many will seek the input of others. This input can be invaluable in many ways – and those who do a good job at curating product and service reviews can generate a substantial amount of income.
Some people focus on providing curated reviews for one or more particular niches, in the form of landing pages, blogs and other useful platforms. Others may build entire review platforms that cover a plethora of topics and niches; UpgradedReviews.com curates an assortment of user reviews that cover many unique topics and shopping sectors.
2. Provide Relevant News
As the internet is primarily a place for information, many successful content curators have found profit by providing audiences with the latest news and stories. As already mentioned, user-driven platforms such as Reddit sort curated content based on an audience’s belief in its value. Likewise, similar platforms driven by the bloggers and webmasters themselves can provide multiple sources of income.
One such example is ad revenue, which can generate passive income without requiring direct sales or hard asks from an audience. However, providing a variety of premium benefits and perks to your readers in exchange for a paid subscription can be yet another method for generating revenue through such news platforms. Additionally, arrangements with specific websites and brands that promote their content in your feeds in exchange for a one-time or recurring payment can help further generate revenue through the endeavor.
3. Other Specific Methods
Regardless of the type of content curation you decide to do, there are specific actions you can take and functions you can implement to generate money in the process. As mentioned above, ad placements, premium subscriptions and sponsored posts all can be great ways to generate revenue.
In addition to those methods, promoting affiliate products, direct solicitations in the form of contribution asks and email marketing can also deliver impressive financial results. Some brands – once big enough – even sell merchandise and build community forums to further increase profitability.
As more and more people look into content curation, the playing field will continue to become more competitive. As such, those interested in earning money via the practice should act now; through the above-mentioned methods, everyday people can quickly begin building platforms that showcase and highlight relevant content to audiences – and get paid for doing so!
