The Ultimate Guide to Content Curation (With Examples!)

Saving time, making connections with influencers, building authority — these are just some of the benefits of content curation.

But you might also have lots of questions like…

• How much time should you spend curating content versus creating great posts of your own?
• How can you make curated posts stand out amidst all the noise out there?
• What tools can you use to speed up or even automate the process?

Well, here’s the good news:

In this post, I’ll answer all those questions about content curation and more.

If you’re new to the topic, I’ll explain exactly what content curation is and why you should do it. We’ll also explore some tools and tactics for streamlining your content curation process, saving you loads of time, even if you’ve been doing it a while.

And the best part…

Lots of real-world examples! You’ll see what’s working in the trenches right now, so you can model it for yourself.

Table of Contents

1. Why Should I Consider Content Curation?
2. What is Content Curation?
3. The Benefits of Content Curation
4. The Myths of Content Curation
5. Content Curation Strategy: How to Get Results
6. 10 Examples of Killer Content Curation
7. Content Curation Tools
8. Can You Hire a Content Curator to do This?
9. The Bottom Line on Content Curation

Why Should I Consider Content Curation?

There’s an overabundance of information out there.

As I write, in the early evening, around 3 million blog posts have been published today, all vying for your attention.

Every second there are:

• 8,320 Tweets sent
• 888 Instagram photos uploaded
• 3,550 Skype calls made
• 66,233 GB of internet traffic logged
• 71,596 Google searches performed
• 76,892 YouTube videos watched
• 2,758,518 emails sent

By 2020, an estimated 1.7 GB of data will be created for every person on earth — every second!

No-one can possibly keep up.

But with content curation, they don’t have to. Think of it like this:  

Imagine there was only one radio station that played every genre of music and broadcast all the news and talk-back shows ever made.  Your passion is country music, but it’s too hard to find amidst the noise of the other content.

Along comes a small, independent radio station dedicated to bringing you the best country music it can source. Everything about country music that entertains and informs you. All curated in one place for people like yourself to enjoy.

Which radio station will you tune into the most?

That’s why content curators are becoming increasingly important in a world of time-strapped, overwhelmed content-consumers. And that’s why every blogger, brand and business should consider curation as part of their content marketing strategy.

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What is Content Curation?

Content curation is the art of sourcing, filtering and repackaging all forms of existing content to share with a specific audience to add value to their lives and save them time.

Phew. That’s quite a mouthful.

Let’s break it down into more bite-sized chunks before we delve into the detail of how to do it.

• Sourcing:  First, you’ve got to find content that’s relevant to your niche and worthy of curating. Luckily, this post is jam-packed with tools to do just that.
• Filtering:  This is where you sort the wheat from the chaff. Anyone can find a bucket load of content, but top curators add a filter of human analysis to make sure they’re sharing something valuable.  
• Repackaging: Your curated content needs to look good. It needs to be well branded, consistently presented, easy to navigate and enticing enough for your audience to click through to the original content.
• Existing content:  This can be blog posts, articles, videos, books, reviews, podcasts, music, infographics, lists, news, images — anything that is currently on the Internet, including your own content.
• Specific audience: If you are doing any form of online marketing, you are serving a specific audience. Curated content is no different.  Their goals and intentions should be at the epicenter of your curation strategy.
• Share:  You can share curated content in several ways. On social media, in a blog, a website, YouTube or an email newsletter. Or go for a combination — whatever works for your audience.
• Add value:  This is at the heart of content curation. You need to make sense of it for your audience by putting it in context with their interests and lives. In its most basic form, this can be a summary of the content to allow readers to get the gist of the subject matter, but it should be an original summary created by you.
• Save them time:  You are preparing and presenting content they need in an easy to digest format, which means they don’t have to go schlepping through the web to find it for themselves.

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The Benefits of Content Curation

It Makes You a Trusted Authority

When you consistently curate relevant content for your audience — and add value with your insights — you become a go-to person for your topic.  

Before long, your audience will turn to you as one of their trusted sources because you know how to filter out the noise and deliver what’s important. You’re making it easier and faster to find what they’re looking for.

Example: Social Media Today is a website and daily newsletter with 104k subscribers. In addition to curating the top news stories and publishing their own articles, they also provide information on industry events and jobs and run regular Twitter chats on all things related to social media marketing.

It Builds Your Credibility

Most businesses publish original content as part of their online marketing strategy. And that’s still a great approach. But sometimes it’s good to combine your advice with those of others. Curating work by other experts proves you care enough about your audience to bring them the best content — not just your own voice — which gives you greater credibility.

Example:  If anyone has the right to voice his own opinions it’s Brian Clark of CopyBlogger fame, one of the world’s most influential blogs. But Brian also chooses to share curated content through his weekly email Unemployable for freelancers. It is this generosity of time and knowledge that boosts his credibility and pays back big time when it comes to selling his fee-generating services.

It Establishes Connections with Influencers

Every time you curate content produced by an influencer or include their expert opinion in a curated list post of your own, you are endorsing their views and opening them up to a new audience.

It also helps put you on their radar.

You can draw their attention by tagging them on social media when you share their work, or emailing them a link to your curated blog post. Content curation is a great way to build solid relationships with top influencers in your niche, but only if you get it right.  Like this:

Example: Mashable.com is a digital media site, which published a guest post by Aaron Orendorff about growth hacking strategies.  In it he curates advice from 25 influencers and includes their headshots and links back to their sites.  The post received a total of 4.4k shares across social media, and I bet I know where 25 of those came from.

It Makes You a Trend Spotter

When you spend a couple of hours a day sourcing relevant and interesting content, you can’t help but increase your knowledge. You’ll start recognizing patterns and trends as they’re happening, and gaps in existing content you might be able to fill.

Not only does this add value for your audience, but it also makes you a credible expert in your niche and one to watch.

Example: CB Insights mines massive amounts (I’m talking terabytes) of data to identify and make sense of emerging technology and business trends for its customers. And it puts this to good use by sharing its often-irreverent insights and curated findings in its free daily newsletter to over 537,000 subscribers.

 

It Can Boost Your Google Ranking (When You Get It Right)

Many people think curated content could harm your Google ranking because it’s seen as duplicate content. And that’s true, if you do nothing but reproduce the original.  

But content curation is all aboutadding value.

Here’s proof.  The folks at Bruce Clay Inc. ran a test to see what ranking Google would give to curated content on their blog versus the original. You can read the full details here.

Bottom line: When they reproduced the original post without adding value, the ranking went down from 4th place to 10th. But when they published an excerpt of the original with theirown summary and links, the ranking shot up to 1st place — even higher than the original post.

Example: SmartBrief.com  (“We read everything. You get what matters.”) is a curator of industry news. It’s easy to navigate with every piece of content summarized in their own words, which adds value for their readers and brownie points with Google.

It Can Help Build Your Social Media Following, Faster

As a curator, your output of content will increase, giving you a lot more to Tweet about on a regular basis. But remember, always aim to add value, not simply retweet or share.

Example: TheSkimm is a curated subscription service for female millennials — over 7 million subscribers. It delivers its content via audio, video, an app, and of course, social media:  They have 608k followers on Instagram, 246k on Twitter, over 1.1m likes and followers on Facebook, and 465k views on YouTube.  That’s an impressive social media presence.

It Can Grow Communities and Conversations

Great content curation encourages debate and feedback.  When you add your own insights and respond to audience comments by providing them with more of what they want, it can attract other like-minded people to your knowledge “hug.”

They come not just to seek information from you but also to share content and support each other.

Example: TED.com is one of the best-known global communities. At its core, it’s a curator of ideas, or as they put it in their mission statement: “We’re building a clearinghouse of free knowledge from the world’s most inspired thinkers — and a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other.” With an online community of tens of thousands, over 11 million Twitter followers, and 35 people watching a TED Talk every second, I reckon they’ve accomplished their mission.

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The Myths of Content Curation

It Saves You a Truckload of Time

When done properly, the full process of content curation can take just as much time as creating original content. Sometimes more.

You have to source, repackage and share a ton of information. Sure, this can be done more efficiently with automated tools. But you must also spend time filtering the content, adding insight and perspective, and building relationships with influencers and other publishers.

This is where the real value of content curation kicks in. And it takes time.

With curation, the volume of your published and shared content will increase, but your ability to spend more time with your feet up enjoying a beer won’t.

So, don’t become a content curator if your sole purpose is to save time.

All You Have to Do Is Find Relevant Content and Pump It out to Your Subscribers

If you just share every blog post and article you find on your topic without any filtering, you can do more harm than good to your brand and reputation.

The content you curate will reflect directly on your credibility and reputation, so choose wisely.

You Never Have to Worry About Creating Your Own Content Again

Undoubtedly, content curation is a great way to build authority in your niche, but it’s rare to find a site that relies 100% on curated content. Research has shown that creating your own content is more valuable regarding conversions.

And let’s face it. That’s one of the main reasons we do content marketing of any kind.

The research is explained by Tristan Handy in this post, who says the ratio for publishing curated v. original content on social media is around 60:40.

This isn’t a hard and fast rule, and everyone needs to find their own sweet spot, but it’s not a bad guideline if you’re just starting out.

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Content Curation Strategy: How to Get Results

Give Your Audience What It Wants

What are they looking for when they seek information? What are they sharing on social media? Are they looking for comparisons and reviews, or the latest industry trends? Do they want to be entertained, inspired or informed?

If you don’t have an existing audience, read this post.  If you do have an audience, but you’re still not sure what they’re looking for, read this post.

Example: Further.com is a curated weekly email targeted directly at Generation X, by Brian Clark, one of the most influential Generation X-ers on the net. He knows what they’re thinking, feeling and aspiring to, and he delivers in spades.

Source Valuable Content

Overwhelming as it seems when you start out, sourcing great content is not hard, especially with so many automated tools at your fingertips.    

RSS feed readers are the first go-to source of content for curators. Using tools such as Flipboard allows you to search by URL or topic and collate your content into categories.

Social media is the next main source, and again you have a myriad of tools at your disposal. For example, Social Searcher is a free platform that allows you to search by hashtags or topics and brings up every post published on the major social media sites.

Or you can create a Twitter list to collate the accounts you follow.

Find the right tools from the list below for your content sourcing and collating purposes, and remember to stay focused when you go searching. You can easily disappear down a rabbit warren of irrelevant information.

And finally, don’t forget your own blog or social media pages as a source of content.

Select posts that have done well in the past and may resonate with a new audience. Or think about repurposing or updating an old post.  Here’s a great example of curating your content from Copyblogger.

Filter Your Content

Content curation without filtering is a no-no. This is part of the process that’s going to demand time and attention, but it’s worth it.

Once you have a good collection of content, filter each piece through these questions:

• Is it well written or produced?
• Is it relevant to my audience? Does it satisfy a need or curiosity of theirs?
• Is it timely, or has it been recently updated?
• Is it in context with everything else I have published or curated?
• Will it reflect well on my brand?

If the answer is yes, keep that piece of content and move on to the next step. If it’s no, dump it.

Always Add Value

There’s one more important consideration before you hit that share button.  You need to add value.

You know the content is worthy of sharing because you’ve filtered it. Now you need to tell your audience why.  The following are some of the ways you can add value:

• Add a brief introduction in your own words.
• Put it in context for your audience. Make them understand why you think it’s important for them to see.
• Highlight something specific in the article.
• Change the headline using the language and voice your audience would relate to.
• Likewise, think about using a different image to add your own personality or perspective to the original.
• Add a call to action or a link to a relevant post or free download of your own to give them further information relevant to the curated piece. Doing so also helps to keep your original content on their radar.

Make It Look Good

Think about a museum curator. Their job is to present an exhibition of works in a manner that makes sense.

They encourage visitors in by making the collection look enticing. They often separate subcategories by rooms or open spaces. They add information and insights to each piece and present them in a logical flow.

They don’t take random artworks, dump them in the middle of a room and expect visitors to work it out for themselves. Neither should you.  

Think about how you’ll best present your curated content on your website or in a newsletter.

And above all, make sure you consistently represent and reflect your brand, whether that’s through the use of your logo and colors, your voice, the language you use or the content you curate.

Example: brainpickings.com by Maria Popova is a fine example of a well-presented and branded website with some of the most thoughtful and insightful curations on the web today.

Dedicate Time

Aim to make the practice of curation a daily habit.

When you’re starting out, set aside at least an hour a day to source, filter and add value to existing content. Build up a collection of quality content, enhanced with your own insights, that you know your audience will love.

Be Ethical

The curating and sharing of content created by others is growing in popularity with proven success rates when it’s done right. And successful curators always follow these golden rules:

• Credit the creator of the work prominently, and link back to the source.
• Never knowingly infringe copyright.
• Don’t rely too heavily on one or two curation sources. At best it makes you appear lazy. At worst it could be interpreted as riding off the back of the original creator’s work.
• Avoid reproducing too much of the original work. Add value by offering your own headline, or insight, but give your readers the motivation to click to the source to read more.

Find the Right Distribution Channels and Publishing Schedule

Hands up anyone who’s shared anything on social media.

That’s how easy content curation can be when you’re starting off.  However, you should aim to use a variety of distribution channels as your curation efforts take wings.  The four main ones are as follows:

Social Media

Make sure you add your own introduction or insights to shared links, giving your audience a reason to click through to the original. Like this:

Your Blog

This is where you can produce original posts featuring curated content (think “best of” posts, or list posts of tools and resources). Here’s a great example from CXL, which has curated 10 of its own articles in this post.

Email Newsletters

Send them out daily, weekly — whatever works best for you. Just make sure it’s at the same time each day or week so you can condition your audience to look forward to them.  Convince & Convert’s email turns up in my inbox as regular as clockwork once a week with a mixture of curated and original content.

Websites

Dedicating a website to content curation is best left until you’ve built your skills as a curator through some of the less demanding channels like social media and your blog.  

While you can build a successful content curation site on your own (take brainpickings.org, for example), mainstream information streams like Redef offer up a daily mix of hand-picked content that takes a sizeable team to curate and maintain.

So, depending on the time sensitivity of your curated content and the method you’ll use to distribute it, you might aim to share on social media every second day, and publish a newsletter or blog post weekly, or monthly if that feels more doable.

If you dive right in with a daily email or a dedicated website, you may create a monster you wish you’d never started.  

You can always increase the regularity of your content distribution once you become more confident.

Now, set up a social media publishing schedule in whatever program or content curation tool you feel comfortable with.  But a word of warning: Don’t schedule social media posts too far in advance. You want them to be as fresh and timely as possible.

The following are some additional things to think about regarding distribution and timing:

• Always make sure your curated content adds value, is well presented, and properly reflects your brand before you hit that share button or start to design an email newsletter.
• Think about the environment your content will appear in, and decide if you need to adjust the headline, or the size of the image to suit the different platforms.
• Likewise, you may need to produce variations of your introduction and insights to suit a Twitter feed versus a Facebook post, for example.
• Do your research around the best times to schedule social media posts and email newsletters, and try to consistently stick to the same schedule for your emails so that your audience begins to anticipate their arrival.

Reach Out to Influencers

If you want your curated content to fly, you should reach out to influencers. Here’s how you do it:

First, read this post and start practicing some of the techniques to get on your favorite influencer’s radar.

Next, when you’ve created your first blog post of curated links (a list of the best, or a round-up post for example), reach out to the influencers you’ve mentioned in the post. Here’s how you find their email addresses.

You want to send your email before you publish.  Something along these lines:

Hey [name of influencer],

I wanted to give you the heads up that we’re just about to publish a curated list of the top 20 tools and resources for freelancers, and you made the list because [tailor your reason why they made the cut].

We’re hoping to publish within the next few days, and I’ll send you the link as soon as it goes live.

Thanks for being a continued inspiration.

Cheers, [your name]

Now you’ve got their attention, and they’ll likely be curious about your post. As soon as it goes live, send them a follow-up email:

Hey [name of influencer],

Here’s the link to the curated post I mentioned in my last email: The Top 20 Tools and Resources for Freelancers

[Name of influencer’s site] is included as #5.

If you think it deserves a share, we’d be grateful for the exposure.

Either way, we were delighted to include you in our round-up.

Cheers, [your name]

Finally, when you’re sharing other curated content in social media, tag the original creator to let them know you’re sharing their work.

But make sure you add value by highlighting something important. You need to demonstrate you’ve read their work and why it’s of value to your audience.

A simple retweet or share won’t impress them.

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10 Examples of Killer Content Curation

The following examples are great picks because they all demonstrate at least one outstanding quality of content curation, and together they showcase a cross-section of distribution channels and topics.

#1. Kottke.org: Blog

Founded by Jason Kottke in 1998, Kottke.org is one of the oldest blogs on the net.  Jason (almost) single-handedly curates and creates content across several different topics.

In January 2018, Jason launchedNoticing, an email newsletter with a curated roundup of the week’s posts on Kottke.org.  He has even curated a collection of more than 2,000 books and products he’s linked to over the years, entitled The Accidental Shop, all of which you can purchase at Amazon.

Why is it killer curation?  Because the blog and website are nurtured and maintained by an individual with a strong personable voice. Jason curates and writes about what interests him, but in doing so, he reveals what’s interesting about himself, which is an attractive quality. This organic, hands-on approach to his work has built a loyal following of subscribers and members whom he talks to like old friends.

#2. Deadspin.com: Website

This one is for all you sports lovers, as long as you don’t mind a healthy dose of humor and sarcasm served up with your daily news and commentary.  Edited by Megan Greenwell, Deadspin has broken several major stories making it a credible and widely-followed source of sports information for its mainly male community. It also distributes a weekly newsletter to subscribers.

Why is it killer curation?  It knows exactly what its audience is looking for and serves them well.  It’s brash but unpretentious. It’s a visually appealing site, relying heavily on videos and images. Above all, its conversational tone makes it feel more like chatting to your buddies about the latest game than a staid news site. Bang on brand.

#3. The Moz Top 10: Email Newsletter

The Moz Top 10 newsletter is emailed to subscribers every two weeks. In addition to the newsletter and its prolific social media sites, Moz publishes a blog (with daily updates emailed to subscribers) and its famous Whiteboard Friday videos.

Why is it killer curation?  Moz.com (founded by former CEO, Rand Fishkin) is one of the leading authorities on anything SEO and digital marketing. But you knew that, right?  So, when they say they’ll share the“10 most valuable articles about SEO and online marketing that we could find,” you know they’ll dish up the goods.  This email is killer curation because it’s current in a rapidly changing arena. It’s on point and unfussy, it’s easy to navigate, it adds considerable value and saves time.

#4. Smashing Magazine: Website

Smashing Magazine is a curated information resource for web designers and developers.  The website is fun and quirky (what’s with the cats?) while being chock full of articles, books, and even a job postings board. You can also subscribe to a newsletter, emailed out every two weeks.

Why is it killer curation?  As you would expect from web developers, the site is beautifully designed and easy to navigate with just the right number of tricks to be impressive, without being distracting. But it’s the community focus that’s most impressive. The passion for their subject matter really shines through, as does their desire to serve and support their audience with the best content and resources.

#5. Rohit Bhargava: Twitter Account

Rohit Bhargava is a marketing expert who describes himself as a “trend curator.” When he’s not teaching, blogging, writing books, or giving keynote presentations, he Tweets. At least daily.

Rohit is the founder of the Non-Obvious company, which monitors and reports on trends and provides weekly insights through its email newsletter. It also runs the Non-Obvious book awards, which is a by-product of all the reading Rohit and his team do to curate ideas for their annual trends list.

Why is it killer curation?  Rohit’s Twitter feed is full of links to funny, informative, thought-provoking, trend-setting insights.  He has an innate sense of balance between light-hearted and serious, and he injects just enough of his content and promotion to remain credible. Which is why he has amassed an impressive 34.3k followers.

#6. Next Draft: Email Newsletter

Every day, Dave Pell sends out his news round-up — Next Draft. He curates ten items a day that he considers to be the essential, fascinating bits of information you need, without you having to go search for them.  Or, as he puts it on his website,“I am the algorithm.”

Why is it killer curation?  Because he does thisevery day. He takes content curation to the next level with his analysis and insightful commentary. But he’s also funny, wacky, and devilish enough to make you lust after his next email.

  

#7. Rocumentaries.com: Website

And now for something completely different — documentaries that rock your world. This is a collection of documentaries from BBC, Channel 4, Netflix, VICE, YouTube and more. You can browse the website or subscribe to the email for the latest picks.

Why is it killer curation?  Because the site is wonderfully minimalist and focused. This is for and by lovers of documentaries. Nothing more and nothing less. You can sort by genre, sources, or recommendations and read the original curation notes before deciding which ones to download.

#8. Growth.email: Email Newsletter

This is another simple but highly targeted email. Compiled by Miles Burke, Growth.email delivers ten articles a week that have been carefully sourced, analyzed and curated. The theme, as the name suggests, is about growing revenue and business.

Why is it killer curation?  There is no fluff. This is a thoughtfully curated collection of ten articles a week that has the audience’s interests firmly in mind. Miles does this on his own, for free. It’s content curation at its purest.

#9. Really Good Emails: Website, Email Newsletter and YouTube Channel

This site is a curated collection for email marketing geeks. It has curated and showcased almost 4,000 email designs to date, and it provides practical and insightful critiques through its YouTube Channel, Feedback Friday.  Every week it sends an email round-up of curated links to its subscribers entitled “News and articles we thought you’d like.”

Why is it killer curation?  This is one of those emails I really enjoy seeing in my inbox. It’s inspirational, educational, fun and I think I’ve clicked through to a link from every email I’ve received. Which is what you’d expect from email marketing experts.

#10. Wirecutter.com: Website

Wirecutter provides news and recommendations for its readers about the best gear and gadgets it can find. With detailed reviews, interviews and data, this is a curated gallery of diverse and insanely useful items with links back to the sellers.

The website also has a Deals page with the latest retail discounts updated daily and sent to your inbox via an email newsletter.

Why is it killer curation?  This is curation with a difference. The team at Wirecutter spend hours, weeks and sometimes months researching and testing products to make shopping easy for their audience. From TVs to toilet brushes, everything is scrutinized with precision and care to establish the best product to buy in each category. The site is easy to navigate, insanely useful and hugely addictive.

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Content Curation Tools

I haven’t set out to give you an exhaustive list. No-one ever could. Tools come and go on the Internet all the time.

Instead, I’ve researched as many as possible to bring you a good cross section of 20 automated content curation tools. Most of them are free, some have a free trial period before you need to start paying, and a couple are for the more dedicated and experienced curators with paid plans to match.

Explore the features and decide which are the best fit for your business.

Best Tools for Sourcing and Collating Content

Feedly

Feedly lets you source content from almost anywhere on the web and organize it in your feeds. You can sort by topic, save to read later, and even share directly to your social media accounts.  Its free for up to 100 sources and three feeds, and $5.41/month for the pro version.

NewsBlur

Similar to Feedly, Newsblur is a free personal news reader that allows you to read content from 64 sites in their original format and save by categories. If you upgrade to the premium account ($36/year), you get access to unlimited sources, custom tags and more.

InoReader

InoReader is another free reader that gives you access to an unlimited number of feeds and archived content. You can use folders and tags to sort and collate your content, and it’s quick and easy to get up and running. The starter plan is just $14.99/year to get rid of the ads and enjoy a customizable dashboard.

InstaPaper

Instapaper has a beautifully simple interface and lets you source and collate content from anywhere on the web. The best feature is adding highlights and comments to any article, but you’ll need to upgrade to the premium account for $2.00/month to unlock the unlimited version of notes and other features.

Vidinterest

No list of curation tools would be complete without one dedicated to videos. Vidinterest supports videos from YouTube, Daily Motion and Vimeo, and while other tools support a wider range of sources, Vidinterest is free. Plus you can earn affiliate dollars by writing and sharing reviews.

Social Searcher

A gazillion tools can help you source content from social media platforms, but I like Social Searcher because you can start using it without registering an account. This gives you access to real-time searches across 12 social media platforms, data analytics and the ability to sort by date or popularity. Upgrade to the basic plan for around $4/month and you can start saving your searches and monitoring data results.

Blog Lovin’

You’ve gotta love Blog Lovin’! It keeps all of the blogs you follow in one place and updates your feed as they publish new posts. It operates like a cross between a news reader and a social media platform, with love and comment buttons and a card layout like Pinterest. And it’s free.

Flow Reader

Flow Reader is the best free content sourcing and collating tool in this list because you can combine your RSS and social network feeds in one platform.

Best Tools for Sharing Curated Content on Social Media and Your Blog

CrowdFire

With over 19 million users, Crowdfire is a crowd pleaser regarding content curation. Source from social media and other websites and blogs with its new RSS feature. Customize and schedule posts for each social media profile. It’s free for unlimited curation and up to 10 posts/month on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. It’s $9.90/month for the plus account.

DrumUp

DrumUp lets you source, collate and share content across multiple social media accounts. You can get hashtag and content recommendations to suit your audience, share directly from the Chrome extension and track and measure engagement. DrumUp has a limited free plan, and the paid plans start at $15/month.

Triberr

Triberr is a content marketing tool wrapped up in a community of like-minded bloggers. Firstly, it helps you source and share content across your social media accounts. But you can also follow and share posts from tribes of bloggers and influencers and get invited to become a member. You can get started on Triberr for free, or unlock additional features for $20/year.

Tailwind

If your content marketing is focused on Pinterest and Instagram, this one’s for you. With Tailwind, you can source, schedule and publish across both platforms and monitor and track the success of your efforts. There’s a free trial period, but the paid plan for bloggers and small businesses starts at an affordable $9.99/month.

Tweeted Times

The Tweeted Times helps you create a curated online newspaper from the most relevant content on Twitter to share with your followers. You can get basic branding and promotion for your newspaper for free, or pay $15/month to unlock more features in the pro plan.

Curation Soft

This is the only software included in the list. It’s compatible with several major platforms including WordPress, Blogger and Facebook. CurationSoft is easy to use. You can search for content by keyword across blogs and social media, drag and drop, add your own commentary and post. It comes with a 14-day free trial and costs $49/year for the annual plan or $5/month for a pay-as-you-go plan.

Best Tools for Publishing Curated Email Newsletters

Elink

Elink is a visual collection of curated links that are shareable in an email newsletter and other online formats. From Elink you can source content, design and personalize your email, add curated links and send it to your subscribers via Mailchimp. Elink has a free 14-day trial, and then it costs $12/month.

Nuzzel

Nuzzel is a free Twitter and Facebook news monitoring and research tool that also sends out automatically generated or self-curated social newsletters. Subscribers to your newsletter receive a daily email containing the top five stories from your Nuzzel feed or any stories you want to include.

Revue

Revue is an email newsletter tool that connects to a range of social media and other content curation tools to build the content for your newsletter. It’s free for up to 50 subscribers and $5/month (or more as your subscriber numbers increase).

Best Tools for the Full Package

Content Studio

With Content Studio, you can source and filter trending content and share it across your social media accounts, blog and email marketing platforms. The free subscription allows you to publish up to 500 posts/month to two social media accounts, but you’ll need to upgrade to the $49/month pro plan for unlimited social media and blog publishing.

Publish This

Publish This is another full package content curation tool that lets you curate and publish content in newsletters and social media accounts. It’s free to start, but paid plans start at a slightly higher $99/month.

Scoop.it!

With Scoop.it, you can source content and publish it across your social media accounts, in your blog, your website or your newsletters. But you can only publish to one social media account with the free subscription and publish to five with the pro subscription ($14.99/month).  If you want to embed on your website or publish newsletters, you will need to upgrade again to plus for $67/month, so this is a tool you will need to grow into.

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Can You Hire Content Curators to Do This?

Sure, you can hire a freelancer or VA to do several content marketing tasks for you. But consider a few things before you search Google.

Whenever you outsource work, you’ll have a trade-off. No-one will know your brand and voice as well as you unless they work with you consistently over a length of time.

So, you need to decide what functions of your content curation you are comfortable outsourcing and what needs to be done by you to retain an authentic relationship with your audience. My suggestion is that with a good brief, you can hire a VA to:

• Source content in your niche
• Filter the content to validate its quality and relevancy
• Research topics/content for curated blog posts
• Schedule your social media posts
• Track audience metrics

You still need to add your own voice and insights to your curated content before sharing it, but a VA can do a lot of the time-consuming implementation tasks, freeing up your time to focus on strategy and relationship building.

And secondly, it might not be a smart move to outsource your content curation until you have mastered the discipline yourself with the aid of the tools available.  You’ll be in a much better position to work effectively with a VA down the road once you have tested curation firsthand and understand the needs and interests of your audience.

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The Bottom Line on Content Curation

A final word of advice: In your rush to embrace your new curation skills, don’t ever stop writing your own blog or producing your own videos and podcasts. Just ease back a little (remember that 60:40 rule of thumb).

Curation can certainly lighten the load and open new doors, but it will never replace the authority-building power that comes with creating original content.

What it does give you is a stack of new opportunities to build relationships with influencers and turbo-charge your social media following.   

Just remember — always filter the content you source, always add value with your own insights and find a publishing schedule that works for you.

The grind of having to come up with something fresh and original on a daily basis is relegated to the past.  You’re now armed with the strategy and tools to become a killer content curator!

So, go get ‘em!

About the Author

Mel Wicks is a seasoned copywriter who helps bloggers and business owners bring the ‘wow-where-do-I- sign-up’ oomph to their writing.  Give your original content a shot in the arm with her free ‘No-Fluff Guide to Writing Epic Blog Posts Every Time’.

The post The Ultimate Guide to Content Curation (With Examples!) appeared first on Smart Blogger.

source https://smartblogger.com/content-curation/

10 Things You’ll Only Understand If You’re a Domain Name Junkie

It’s an addiction like any other.

Ten or twenty bucks will scratch that itch, but the high never lasts, and before long you’re craving the next hit.

And the worst part? Nobody understands.

Except just maybe a fellow addict…

“Hello. My name is Glen, and I’m a domain name junkie. My last domain purchase was three weeks, four days and seven hours ago.”

That’s how I’d introduce myself to the support group. (You know, the one that doesn’t exist yet.) I’d stand up and tell my story to a circle of fellow addicts, who’d nod their silent support.

My own addiction started with an act of vanity — I acquired the .COM version of my own name. That was 17 years ago, and owning a piece of Internet real estate was novel and exciting.

But that first domain registration, like the first high from an illicit drug, set me on the path to dependency.

The Telltale Signs of a Destructive Domain Habit

Like many addicts, I failed to acknowledge my problem until it was too late.

For years I told myself buying domains was just a harmless hobby. Something to do on evenings and weekends to help unwind after work. But over time my hobby became a powerful obsession.

I’d wake up each morning with a head full of new domain ideas and a burning desire to check their availability. At social occasions, I’d sneak out of the room to browse domain resale sites on my smartphone.

And despite plans to become a savvy domain “flipper,” I was selling almost none of the domains I bought, instead keeping them for personal use.

Eventually, my behavior became more erratic. I would buy any domains I could get my hands on — .ORGs, .COs, even .INFOs.

One Monday morning I hit rock bottom when I found a dozen GoDaddy receipts in my inbox for domains that had no practical purpose. Worse still, I couldn’t even remember buying them.

These days I’m on the road to recovery, and my mission is to help other addicts.

So take a careful look at the list below, and see if you recognize any of these destructive behaviors.

If so, you might just be a domain name junkie.

#1. You Just Can’t Quit GoDaddy

When you’re a domain name junkie, you struggle to think about anything else. You spend every idle moment brainstorming cool domains for your “someday, one day” online projects.

And once an idea has surfaced, you simply must know — is the name already taken? It doesn’t matter where you are, at work, at home, even in bed. You have to know.

When you discover the domain has already been taken (the good ones usually are), you start the search for viable alternatives.

And once you’ve dived down the rabbit hole, you can hardly crawl back out.

#2. You Lie About How Many Domains You Own

When you start collecting domains, it’s fun to log in to your account and delight in the breadth of your online kingdom.

But one day you reach the point where that list of domains is a painful reminder of a habit that’s out of control.

When your partner catches you buying yet another domain and casually asks, “How many is that now?” you pretend you don’t know, or deliberately lowball the true number.

But of course, lying is a telltale sign your casual hobby has turned into a serious problem.

#3. You’ve Started Dabbling in the Newer TLDs

In the beginning (well, 1985), just six top-level domains (TLDs): .COM, .ORG, .NET, .EDU, .GOV and .MIL existed, but that list has since snowballed.

Today we have more than 1,500 TLDs including .COFFEE, .LAWYER and .PORN.

On the one hand, domains are more plentiful than ever, and even if your dream .COM is long gone, you have hundreds of other options for snagging a snappy name.

On the other hand,  who knows how much prestige these newer domains will hold over the longer term? Nobody wants to build their blog around the domain equivalent of a pet rock.

Some domain junkies won’t look beyond .COM, but if you’re exploring the murkier end of the market (.CM anyone?), it might be a sign that your hobby’s taking a worrying turn.

#4. You Tell Yourself You’re a “Domain Investor”

When your domain account lists tens (or even hundreds) of seemingly random domain purchases, there are two ways to explain it.

Either it’s the result of years of clueless impulse buying from a click-happy domain junkie with no more strategy than a half-blind pigeon pecking in the dirt.

Or it’s the culmination of a strategic acquisition campaign to build a valuable portfolio of undervalued digital assets for future sale.

Not surprisingly, most domain name “enthusiasts” favor the second version.

But deep down, if you suspect there’s very little method to your madness, it might be time to go cold turkey on domains.

#5. You Read the Thesaurus… for Fun

Not every domain you dream up will be available for registration. The truth is, most won’t.

That’s why a thesaurus is a domain collector’s best friend. In fact, uncovering snappy synonyms for your latest near-miss idea can be a lot of fun.

But if a thesaurus has become your favorite bedtime read (you know, just in case a cool domain idea jumps out) it may be time to seek professional help.

Because — wake up call! — it’s a reference book, not the latest Jack Reacher.

#6. You Secretly Stalk the Person Who Owns YourName.com

I was lucky. I grabbed my personal domain before anyone else could.

But if you have a popular birth name, or you were just too slow to the punch, your best options may already have gone. And that really stings.

Because when your name’s John Brown, telling people your treasured home on the Internet is TheRealJohnWBrown.info is plain embarrassing.

And that’s why you secretly stalk the person who nabbed your name online. You stake out their website, mentally mocking their pathetic efforts while waiting patiently for the right moment to pounce.

Because one day, they’ll forget to renew that domain and then, my friend, victory will be yours.

#7. You’ve Felt the Pain of “Lapsers Remorse”

Sometimes you see a domain for what it is — a dumb impulse purchase you’ll never be able to use or resell.

Maybe you tried to make money by listing it for sale at a couple of domain marketplaces but didn’t get the faintest sniff of interest.

So when it comes up for renewal, you do the sensible thing and let it lapse. You even feel good about your level-headed decision.

Weeks later, you casually check to see if anyone’s re-registered it and find it’s now listed on a “premium domains” site for $3,000!

Of course, just because it’s listed for thousands doesn’t mean it’s worth thousands.

But you can’t escape the feeling you let a valuable domain slip through your fingers.

#8. You’re Considering a Domain-Inspired Career Move

Sometimes you’ll stumble across a domain name that’s so good you simply have to own it… even though it’s totally unrelated to your work or hobbies.

The smart move would be to snag it and sell it for a profit to someone who can make good use of it. But like Gollum and that damned ring, you can’t quite bring yourself to part with it.

So your brain starts to explore a future possible world where you become the person for whom this is the perfect domain.

Sure it means throwing away years of hard-won experience and starting a blog in a new field.

But finding a domain this good must be a signal from the universe, right?

#9. You Lose Interest in Domains Moments After Buying Them

Once the buzz of snagging the name you’ve been lusting after subsides, a faint sense of regret can quickly follow.

“I can’t believe nobody bought this yet,” quickly turns to, “I can’t believe I just bought that.”

And the longer you hold onto a domain, the more money you rack up in wasted renewal fees.

The best way to take your mind off this painful predicament? Start scouting for your next domain name.

#10. You Have a Conspiracy Theory about Domain Registrars

Maybe this happened to you…

One day you check a new domain and find it available for the regular price. The next day it’s suddenly a “premium” domain, commanding several thousand dollars.

And you can’t help but wonder:

Did my search alert the registrar to the juicy potential of this previously unrecognized name?

You wouldn’t be alone in your suspicions. Type “do domain registrars” into Google and “steal domains?” is the top auto-complete suggestion.

Are registrars capable of dirty tricks like this? Maybe. It’s difficult to be sure.

But paranoid thoughts like these might be the first sign your harmless hobby is turning into a dangerous addiction.

Learn to Spot the Signs of Addiction Before It’s Too Late

Domain name addiction is real. And it can wreck your life if you don’t catch it in time.

If you suspect you might be addicted, ask yourself the following questions:

• Do you visit domain registration sites several times a day?
• Do you lie to friends and family about how many domains you own?
• Do you often “binge” and buy multiple domains at once?

If so, you’re likely a domain name junkie.

The good news? With the right support, a full recovery is possible.

But you must take that crucial first step. Acknowledge your addiction.

So repeat after me:

“I’m a domain name junkie. And today’s the day I get help.”

About the Author: Glen Long is Smart Blogger’s operations guy and a recovering domain name junkie. He’s holding a “yard sale” of the best blogging, copywriting and content marketing domains that he’s collected over the years — go check it out.

The post 10 Things You’ll Only Understand If You’re a Domain Name Junkie appeared first on Smart Blogger.

source https://smartblogger.com/domain-name-junkie/

Goal-setting for Bloggers: How to Get More Done That Matters

Are you accomplishing your blogging goals?

Are you failing on your New Year's resolutions?

In this episode, you will discover how to get more done that actually matters.

Listen to the episode

“A goal without a plan is just a wish” – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

I have a confession to make. Over the last 7 or 8 years, I've been a part of an amazing mastermind group.

And at the beginning of the year, we get together to talk about our goals. Every year, I write down my goals for that year and share it with the other members of the group.

We all do it. Yet, if I'm to be perfectly honest, I can't remember accomplishing any of the goals I shared with my mastermind groups.

They are usually large goals, and I find myself putting most of those goals back on my list the next year.

However, over the last month or so, I've made more progress towards my goals than I'd made in entire years previously. Why? Because of the process I've gone through.

A process that I believe can change your life like it has changed mine. One that will make you way more productive. But there's good news and bad news.

The bad news: It's going to take AT LEAST 10 to 20 hours to get set up.

The good news: It'll save you a ton of time and help you get WAY more done.

And I want to challenge you to take this seriously. You in? Then keep reading.

Goal-setting for Bloggers

In order to accomplish your blogging goals, it's important for you to spend the time to work out your blogging goals.

In order to accomplish the blogging goals that really matter, they need to be understood and evaluated in the proper context.

Here are the steps I recommend you take.

Step 1 – Write down (and break down) your life goals

Wait a minute Leslie? Why are we going so deep so fast?

Here's the fact – it will take a whole lot of work to accomplish your blogging goals, especially if they are big goals.

Starting with your life goals helps to give your blogging goals context. It helps you to get clear on your “why”.

In the episode, I walk you through a more detailed process for coming up with your life goals.

Step 2 – Write down (and break down) your business goals

Once you understand your life goals, it's important to then think about your business goals in the context of those life goals.

If you're reading this, you are most likely trying to start a blog as a business. You're not just in it to have an outlet. You want to actually make money from it.

Well if that's the case, you want to set some goals for where you want your business to go. And from there, you can move on to the next step.

Step 3 – Write down (and break down) your blogging goals

Now that you have your business goals, it's time to focus on your blogging goals in that context. By doing it this way, you know that your blogging goals will help you meet your business goals.

And since your business goals are in the context of your life goals, what you do with your blog will help you to accomplish your life goals.

I highly recommend for you to listen to the episode above to see how this all plays out.

How to Break Down Your Goals

In order to break down your goals, there are a few important questions that you want to answer. I also recommend that you write down your answers to these questions.

What is the goal?

This is where you want to get specific. It's not good enough to say I want to make money with my blog. It's better to say I want to make money by selling my first product by a specific date.

Or I want to grow my email list to 10,000 subscribers by the end of the year. Write down your goal and be specific.

Why do I want to accomplish that goal?

If you understand why you want to accomplish your goal, you'll be more likely to accomplish it. Write down your “why” for each goal in one sentence.

If you can't come up with a reason why then it shouldn't be on your goal list.

What are the benefits of reaching that goal?

If you're setting a goal, there will be benefits associated with that goal. What are they? Write them down for each of your goals. If you can't think of any benefits, I can't think of a reason why you'd want to accomplish that particular goal.

What are the pains associated with not reaching that goal?

One of the things I've learned on my journey as a blogger is that people are more likely to take action to solve a specific pain point in their lives.

Getting clear on the pains that are associated with not accomplishing your goal will make you want to fight more to accomplish your goal.

What do I need to know to accomplish my goal?

This is where education comes in. To get to where you want to get, you will have to learn certain things. You can take courses, listen to podcasts, and even read books to help you learn what you need to learn.

However, you need to be clear on what you need to learn so that you can pursue those resources.

Who do I need to engage to help me accomplish that goal?

No man is an island. In order to get to where you want to be, there are people out there that can help you. Knowing who those people are will help you plan out your strategy from connecting with them and engaging them in the right way.

What steps do I need to take?

This is where the rubber meets the road. It's important to come up with a plan of attack. You may not know everything that needs to be done right now. But you can at least come up with a plan of things to do to figure out what needs to be done.

Come up with a plan so that you can know what to act on.

When will I accomplish each goal by?

It's important to set a date. Then your goal becomes real. If your anything like me, setting that specific date will help you to push harder as that date slowly creeps up on you.

Tracking your progress

Now that you've broken down your goals, it's important to have a way to track your progress. It's what you do on a daily and weekly basis that will contribute to the goals that you reach on a monthly and yearly basis.

And tracking your progress will help you to continually be aware of where you are in the process and what's left to be done.

Here are my recommendations:

Choose 3 – 5 goals to start working on

Now that you have your huge list of goals, it can be overwhelming to try to attack them all. In fact, it's virtually impossible and you will be easily discouraged.

That's why I recommend choosing 3 – 5 goals to start with. These are the goals you'll be focused on right now.

Set Weekly goals

At the beginning of each week, determine what you need to accomplish that week to get you closer to accomplishing those 3 – 5 goals by the dates you specified.

Write those down at the top of your weekly planner, which can be a simple notebook or something like The Performance Planner by Zig Ziglar.

Plan your daily schedule and task for tomorrow

Every day, it's important to plan out the next day's schedule and tasks. The last thing you want is to wake up uncertain about what needs to be done.

Your goal is to jump to action as soon as you start your day. Knowing what to do beforehand is essential.

Of course, make sure the tasks your write down will help you accomplish the goals you are focused on accomplishing that week.

Reflect daily on what you accomplished

At the end of each day, take note of what tasks you complete.

More importantly, which goals didn't you work on. Make a note of that. You won't work on every goal every day. However, if you keep seeing a goal show up as not being worked on, that will prompt you to add tasks related to that goal on future days.

Reflect weekly on what you accomplished

It's also important to evaluate how your week went. Where are you in terms of your goals? What did you accomplish? Where could you use some improvement?

What didn't you work on as much as you would like?

Bringing it together

I know – the plan that I'm proposing here will take a lot of work. You're welcome!

Accomplishing your goals takes work. The problem is that most people are already doing the work, but are not doing the right things to help them accomplish their goals.

By having the clarity I outlined in this episode, you'll gain the confidence to know that you're not wasting time. And when it's all said and done, you'll be checking those goals off quicker than ever before.

So what do you say? Will you take me up on this challenge? If so, let me know in the comments area below.

The post Goal-setting for Bloggers: How to Get More Done That Matters appeared first on Become A Blogger by Leslie Samuel.

source https://www.becomeablogger.com/26414/goal-setting-bloggers-get-more-done/

The 9 Best Affiliate Networks for Earning Passive Income in 2019

How to Start a Blog (and Make Money) in 2019: 20X Faster Method

7 Membership Sites that Make $100K+ Per Year (Real Examples)

Chances are, you’ve heard about people starting membership sites and making buckets of money.

Maybe you’re a little skeptical, and rightfully so. We all know better than to believe everything we read on the Internet.

But here’s the real question:

Should YOU start a membership site? Could YOU realistically expect to make any money?

And that’s a tough one to answer.

If you Google it, you’ll find lots of how to’s for getting a membership site up and running, but nothing about how to figure out if a membership site will work for you.

What if your niche is the exception, and you pour days and dollars into setting one up and it bellyflops. And what’s more — and this is kinda embarrassing —  you’re not even sure exactly what a membership site is.

I get it. In fact, I felt like a fool a while back when I was curious about the same thing. I’ll bet we’re not the only ones too. So, I’m going to clear it all up for you.

Let’s start at the beginning…

What is a Membership Site?

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For the sake of this post, we’ll define a membership site as any part of your online business that contains gated content (information behind a log in). A gate is simply a barrier to limit access to your content to those who pay or you decide to let in. And once inside, they get access to exclusive content and membership privileges.

Think of it like a gym membership.

Before you’re allowed to pass the turnstiles, you’ve got to sign up as a paid member or for a free-trial. Once you’re inside, you have access to everything, usually on an unlimited basis.

Sometimes you can also have different membership levels. One level might have access to all the fitness machines, while another level up gives you access to a sauna and heated pool.

Simple enough, right?

Well, membership sites work the same way. Before you can get access to their content, you have to become a member, and you can also offer different levels of membership with varying benefits.

It’s the same idea as a gym membership, except on the Internet. That’s pretty much the only difference.

Now that we’ve cleared that up, let’s look at why a membership site is a smart idea.

3 Reasons You Should Build a Membership Site

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Put simply, membership sites are a blazing-great way to monetize your blog.

How exactly? Well, the money flows because of three key reasons:

Reason #1. Leverage

Membership sites allow you to leverage your time and content in two ways:

1. Your content is a reusable asset. You can create it once and sell it to hundreds or even thousands of students for years to come.
2. Membership sites can be totally automated. How dreamy is the idea of having a hands-off campaign that invites people to buy into your membership program while you’re sipping margaritas on the beach somewhere?

Reason #2. Value

Weirdly, people value things they pay for more than they value a freebie.

So in their eyes, your paid membership site content is more valuable than free information.

What’s more, once cash is exchanged, they’re more likely to take action and achieve results that get you rave reviews (which equals more sales).

There’s also an interesting money-credibility thing going on in cyberspace.

I’m sure you’ve noticed how easy it is for any old Joe to jump on Facebook live and create online content nowadays. It’s led to a rather strange online phenomenon, I call the ‘credibility gap’. Meaning, even though content volume is going up, trust in most free online content is going down.

So, why not play this to your advantage?

How?

I’ll explain. People attribute a higher level of credibility and trust to paid content, right?

Which means they’ll attribute higher value to any content locked behind the gates of your membership site. What’s more, existing members are more likely to upsell from within your membership site. Once they trust you, they’ll trust all your content.

And finally, let’s flip to your prospect’s perspective.

By packaging everything they need and presenting it with a bow and a roadmap, you’re making it easy for them. You’re also saving them tons of time.

No longer do they need to cartwheel about the internet piecing things together. You’ve given them one simple place to access everything they need and they’ll pay you for that simplicity.

Reason #3. Tribe

People love being surrounded by a tribe of people just like them, united by common interest, with similar problems and worries to chat about.

And membership sites build tribes. They provide people with a place to hang out, belong to and feel part of something bigger than themselves. It’s the vibe of your tribe that will make people stay, pay and play.

Let’s not forget that every tribe has a leader too. One with unique character.  

On the surface it may seem as if people are just buying your content, but it’s really your character and personality they’re buying.

They want to be like you on some level. They’ll  connect with your character through the tone of your writing or the personality you show in videos. And it’s this that they’ll return for over and over again with credit card in hand.

You’re convinced now, right?

Hmmm, I have an inkling you’re still wondering.

You know it’s a good idea. But… what if your niche is the exception? What if you are the exception?

Let’s take look at a few successful membership sites that all make over 100K so you’ve got some proof.

Successful Membership Site Examples

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Site #1. Orchids Made Easy

Growing orchids is a popular and ongoing hobby with hungry orchid enthusiasts worldwide. Ryan ‘the orchid guy’ has created a fantastic character story and feeds his members with continuous drip fed content via a monthly membership subscription to his Green Thumb Club. Members can join at a low starting price for a month so they can test the waters.

Site #2. The Game Changers

A specialist in the business coaching niche, Barry Magliarditi guides his members on an ongoing development journey that dives into the structures, systems and mindset that fuel business growth. He offers a fixed fee membership to his Opulence Program which has three tiers of access. In other words, the more you pay, the more access you get to one-to-one advice.

Site #3. Smart Blogger

Of course you know this one, but it’s totally worthy of a mention. As a leader in the blogging niche, Smart Blogger offers high-quality online courses to paying members. Programs such as Serious Bloggers Only and Freedom Machine are a phenomenal guide for members to navigate how to start a blog and monetize it.

Site # 4. Lady Boss Weightloss

Losing weight is a never ending plight for millions of people. Kaelin Tuell Poulin has created a paid 28-day challenge membership site filled with stacks of advice that gets real results. People start by joining for a 7-day free trial. Her style is authoritative and her character has a popular zero to hero story. She offers lifetime access to her content, plus a strong community for support and accountability.

Site #5. Magnetic Memory Method

Anthony Metivier’s membership offers free content, products and a fantastic blog on the surface.

Yet, the success of his behind the scenes membership program demonstrates the power of a narrow and focussed niche with a strong sales funnel.

He leads people gently, builds trust and engages them as he moves them into his fixed-term online program. He also offers a continuity program for those who want to stay — and many do!

Site #6. Succulents and Sunshine

Cassidy Tuttle’s online business is a thriving success that uses a hybrid of affiliate commissions, display ads, ebook sales and a gated online course as income. She offers  “easy access to all the resources and information you need to successfully grow succulents… all in one convenient place”, and has rave reviews as social proof on her site.

Her site boasts lots of free content. But the premium content and one-to-one access to her advice is behind the paid gates of her online course. Smart!

Site #7. Jan Spiller Astrology

In full disclosure, I couldn’t get confirmation that this site made over $100K, but it’s pretty safe to say it’s doing well given the length of time it’s been around.

Long-term survival in the online world is dependent upon income and a hungry market.

The unique traits of this membership site are the ongoing and endless drip feed of readings and charts offered through a tiered membership model. Natal charts and astrological weather seem to be high value in this magical niche.

There’s no denying success can be had in a huge variety of niches. Let’s wrap it all the learnings in in a few lesson’s to give you crystal ball clarity.

Lessons Learned from $100K Membership Sites

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It’s apparent that success is possible for membership sites in a wide variety of niches. And you’ve no doubt noticed that there are different models for membership sites.

The trouble is, they all overlap in a blur of confused boundaries that leave you wondering exactly what would work for you.

To help, there are two distinct levels of difference you need to be aware of… the membership models and the variables.

Let’s dive in…

The Three Core Membership Models

The Fix Model

Fix model membership sites are focussed on one thing — they solve a distinct problem. The problem can be a specific fix, such as how to grow a healthy succulent or how to write a novel. Or, they can fix a longer term problem such as how to scale a business — often solved through three, six or twelve month program.

The Motivate Model

When people are faced with a goal that they’re likely to struggle with alone, such as weight loss, fitness goals or a new diet, having an external source of motivation is often the difference that makes the difference.

Paid access to challenges that have motivational communities to share struggles in are perfect for this membership model.

The Hangout Model

Otherwise known as the community model, this type of membership site offers people a place to connect and belong. Members are often united towards a common cause or passion such as gardening, cooking or writing.

On the surface they’ll appear to join because they want to solve a problem, yet they’re more hobbyists at heart and their love for their ‘thing’ drives them to be around others who speak their secret language.

Once you know which model suits you best you can customise your membership site by deciding from the following variables.

The Five Core Membership Site Variables

Fixed Fee or Monthly Payments

If you choose the Fix model then a fixed fee works well. Prices can vary from a $27 online course to a $3,000 plus online program. It’s all about how much value you offer. The hangout model is perfect for a monthly payment structure as people will pay to stay as long as you continue to provide regular high-value new content.

Content Type

When it comes to content, you’ve got an enormous range of choice.

Depending on your model, you can use video (live or you talking to slides), worksheets, workbooks, photos and mock-up illustrations, photography, quizzes, charts, graphs, interactive spreadsheets, Facebook live videos, webinars and so on.

As long as it’s online and accessible within a gated forum or platform, you’re good to go.

See, even mind-maps work as membership site content.

Drip or Immersion Access

Deciding when your members will get access to all of their content immediately or not is personal preference. You can choose to drip feed content to members daily, weekly or monthly to protect your content.

Drip fed content is perfect if you offer a free trial or want to build excitement and suspension.

Or, you can throw members into the deep end with full immersion access on day one and let them work as fast, or as slow as they choose.

Lifetime or Fixed-Term

There are no hard and fast rules here. Lifetime access provides paying members to ongoing ‘forever’ access to the course or content they’ve paid for. This works well for bigger, more detailed courses that take a long time to complete.

Fixed-term access is perfect to create a sense of urgency to encourage members to complete the course. It also opens the door to offer a continuity program for those who haven’t finished within the fixed term and want to retain access.

Tiered or Single-Level

Single-level access means a fixed program structure. You may have one or more programs that solve a specific problem, which is best suited to a dedicated, single-level or set structure.

Or, you may offer a program, in which three tiers works best. You can offer online access as a base level and leverage one-to-one access to you at your top level.

 
It’s pretty clear that membership sites can work in a huge range of niches. And they’re a great way to leverage your time to create the income you know could change your life and give you the freedom you crave.

But that’s not the real issue here is it? Could it be that a sneaky fear of not being up to the task is lurking behind the clumsy charade of ‘will it work for me’?

You’d be inhuman if it wasn’t.

Regardless, now is the time to step up and decide. Because you’re only ever one decision away from changing your life. Could this be one of those decisions?

I’m guessing though, because you’re a passionate blogger with your heart set on spreading your message, that you’re keen to discover a bit more about how to build a membership site.

How to Build Your Membership Site

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If you’re up for playing a bigger game, rather than giving in to those progress-halting worries of yesterday, you’re ready to create a membership site to leverage your time and make money faster. Fantastic!

But, just as you’re enjoying your moment of excited inspiration, you wonder what is the best platform to build your membership site with?

Well, your options fit into two broad categories — a WordPress Plugin or a non-Wordpress All-in-One platform.

Let’s take a look.

WordPress Plugins

If you’ve already got an existing WordPress website oozing with content and attracting traffic, then a plugin may be the best option.

Using a plugin gives your readers a sense of familiarity as you can maintain brand consistency and probably reuse your existing website theme.

Plugins makes marketing simple as you can install a ‘log in’ button on your existing home page and avoid having to create a new domain name as well. Plugins these days are remarkably easy to get up and running too — even for non-techies.

Here are a few options for you:

• Memberpress — MemberPress will help you build astounding WordPress membership sites, accept credit cards securely, control who sees your content and sell digital downloads … all without the difficult setup.
• Learndash — a powerful WordPress plug in with course builder, quizzes, cart, group management and is compatible with any theme.
• Restrict Content Pro — a seriously top-level and increasingly popular membership plugin that offers all the features you could want.
• Memberium — Built exclusively for WordPress and Infusionsoft™, Memberium is the perfect tool for creating scalable membership sites.

Non-Wordpress All-in-Ones

Perfect for bloggers or online newbies who don’t yet have a fully fledged website or tech stack in place, an all-in-one platform makes things ridiculously easy. Just pay a subscription and have fun with the drag and drop builders to customise and upload your content.

You’ll also benefit from a host of extras such as payment systems and course builders plus marketing and email automation options as well. Job done.

Here are a few of the players worth considering in this space:

• Kajabi — the all-in-one tool for those who want it all and want it simple. Websites, membership sites, landing pages, quizzes, online courses, webinars and payments.
• Teachable — With just a few clicks, you’ll get a fully functioning school with learning management, payment gateways, and sales and marketing tools.
• Thinkific — drag and drop design, customised pricing and cart for those who want to educate with confidence.
• Kartra — this relative newbie packs a punch as it does every-single-online-thing you’ll ever need. Pre-written funnels, email marketing, membership sites, analytics and everything else.  
• Simplero — Action packed ALL in one for your website, membership site, email and business management, CRM, hosting, payments, marketing — everything you’ll need to be online in one place.
• AccessAlly — if you’re ready for upselling and sophisticated marketing as well as a solid course builder with gamification and more, AccessAlly is a great option.

Is a Membership Site for You?

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Starting a membership site isn’t for everyone. It takes a certain kind of person to jump into content and community management like this.

Yet, for a blogger who is serious about monetizing, it’s a road worth considering. Seriously.  

Because it’s a way to build a following and an income — fast.

A membership site means you’ll build your name with credibility, trust and value. It’ll make you stand out from the crowd as an online entrepreneur with a character people love.

Because you’ll be someone who offers a solution to fix problems, motivates people beyond that which they can achieve alone and you’ll give them a place they want to hang out.

But only you know if you’re up to the task.

Only you know if you’re disciplined enough to map out a vision, a structure and create the content you need.

Only you know if you’re up to taking the leap and taking charge of your future.

So what do you say?

Are you up for it? Or not?

About the Author: Miranda Hill is a qualified coach, behavioral profiler and writer who helps people to master their  performance in business and life. As a published blogger and ghostwriter, she helps entrepreneurs to trade confusion for clarity. Trained in many coaching models, she’s developed her guide 10 Mindset Secrets That Set Truly Successful Writers Apart so you can boost your writing results.

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