CONTENT CURATION: A Step-By-Step Proven Blueprint For Success

Today, I want to give you some solid advice about how to get started in content curation. Although you won’t hear a lot of people giving this advice away for free, if you want to curate content as a way of creating one - or more - successful Niche-Websites that are turning a profit month in and month out, year after year, you need to have a solid foundation in place first. Think of your Website as if it you were building a brick and mortar storefront. You wouldn’t start any building project without a solid set of blueprints. To be successful and profitable, you need to have a set of blueprints - for your website too.

I’m even going to share a proven strategy for setting up a new site in a new niche - in a way that will help your SEO (Search Engine Optimization), plus keep you focused and on track. This means you won’t get overwhelmed when you’re starting out, and it will make things easier for your visitors to find what they’re looking for too…

So lets get started…

What are your goals?

Before you can be successful in business, you have to know what you want and where you want to end up. At the very least, you need to think about how much money you want to make, how much time you want to spend working on your business, and what is important to you as far as your life and lifestyle.

Maybe you’re going into business to earn a little extra income - to make a car payment, or put enough money in your savings account to pay for a family vacation… Or maybe you’re ready to quit your dead end job and you need to replace your family’s income.

Maybe your goal is to build up passive streams of income to put your kids through college, or be able to give yourself a good retirement.

Knowing what you want - and making a realistic plan to get their - have to be part of your business’ foundational planning.

Choose A Profitable Niche

You need to know you’re facing a kind of double-edged sword: choosing the right things to focus on in your niche and creating content that your target audience is going to find interesting and relevant.

We’ve all heard the advice about 'following your passion' when it comes to niche marketing, and choosing a niche that you’re passionate about and that you’ll want to invest the time, resources and energy into getting off the ground and building a following.

To a certain extent, I agree with that. But since we’re also talking about this as a business, and a way for you to make money, it's also important that you choose a niche that has people in it who are willing and able to spend money - whether it's on products, services or because advertisers want to pay you to let them advertise on your site… Go deeper than 'coffee', 'dogs' or 'UFOs' etc.

You need to know exactly what you’re going to be selling. When doing your research, start with your main product or service, book, etc. But don't forget to plan ahead - think about the possible side products or services, advertising, affiliate products, etc.

What's hot? What's trending? What will people want in 3-6 months from now? Don’t be a one-hit wonder. To build a successful niche marketing or internet business, you need to understand what's on the horizon.

Ask yourself these questions:

1. What’s hot right now?

What are people talking about? What are they buying? You need to be able to find a market that's large enough that you can enter without becoming lost in the crowd, and also it can't be so small that the number of people who are buyers is just too small to sustain your business.

2. What are the trends for the next 6-12 months?

Be prepared, and be there - if not first, at least be able to predict and show proof from other experts, trends and markets.

3. What’s the shelf-life of the products or services?

You also need to make sure that there will be new buyers coming into the market as the old ones move on. In internet marketing and money-making opportunities, for example, one market are the 'newbies', which are basically entry-level people who don’t have a lot of information or experience in building an online business. Because of the rate the internet is growing, the economy and the number of people who are interested in starting their own business, this has been - and looks like it will continue to be a viable market now and into the future. Plus, it has the advantage of being able to drill down and "niche it". For example, you’ve got moms who want to be able to stay at home with their children, and still make money. 

Now, don't forget that you’ve also got the baby boomers, many of whom have figured out that they’re not going to be able to maintain their current lifestyle once they retire, and they’re looking for a way to supplement their retirement income.

Then you’ve got people who have lost their jobs, and are looking for business opportunities.

There are the "millennial's", people who want to 'get rich' from working online, and have the technical skills and know-how to be able to easily work from home or start their own businesses.

4. Who are the experts in your niche right now?

Be prepared to go at least three levels deep in your research:

• Level 1: Recognized niche authorities - probably online.
• Level 2: Offline authorities - look at universities, published authors, business owners, etc.
• Level 3: Related niches, topics and or products/services.

Do your research - both online and offline. Look at trade journals, the daily newspaper, popular magazines and newspapers, check out companies who also serve your niche, press releases, etc.

Don’t forget sites like Ebay, Amazon and wholesale sites. If your niche is internet marketing, check out Clickbank and JVZoo. The Warrior Forum is often filled with 'me too' products, but you can still get a lot of good information about what's hot and trending.

I strongly recommend signing up with JV News Watch, to keep updated automatically with all the latest popular digital products worth promoting.

Then there are associations and groups.. Speakers' organizations, the Better Business Bureau, local and regional Chambers' of Commerce are all great places to find experts in your niche or industry. Sign up for their newsletters, follow their tweets, become a fan.

Here are two excellent online places to do research for experts - LinkedIn and Facebook groups.

5. Who is your target audience?

Go deeper than 'internet marketers' or 'dog lovers' or 'paranormal believers'. Put yourself in their shoes; find out what they’re really looking for. You need to know what their needs and wants are. Where are the gaps in the market? What do they care about when it comes to your niche, topic or industry? How much time do they spend online? What sites are they currently using? Where do they go to look for solutions, help or get answers to their questions as it relates to your niche? How do they communicate? (You need to know what their level of understanding, literacy, knowledge, skill level, and technical ability is.)
Here’s an example: Is your target audience your grandmother or an experienced marketer? - The info you provide must match their abilities and needs.

Do they use a professional network or social one? (How big is it? How easy will it be for you to gain access to it?)

What types of mediums - i.e. videos, articles, podcasts, blogs, social networking or professional sites, and associations etc.

- When it comes to giving them information, you also need to give it to them using the method that they prefer to receive it.

Understand what devices they use to access the net. If your audience is in the 18-24 year old age group, chances are, they're using their mobiles or handheld devices to access the internet; which means you need to take that into account when putting your site together, as well as when distributing information.

Understanding your target audience is only one aspect – your own goals play a big role too. Creating content for an entry-level or novice audience is faster and easier to create than creating one for industry leaders. Also, novices or people who ware learning about a new topic tend to buy more, more often, than industry leaders who will buy less frequently but are willing to pay more – often significantly more – for timely, original products or services that are relevant to them, and their status.