When it comes to making money online there is one method that outperforms all others.
This method remains #1 year in and year out, and has for as long as people have tried to make a living on the Internet.
The principles that make this method successful are as old as time and as new as today’s most recent trend.
This method is what every top marketer uses to stay at the top and what beginning marketers must use to get to the top.
I’m talking about content marketing.
The simple (but highly effective) idea that you publish high quality helpful content first and then make sales after people get to know you, like you and trust you.
It’s how I have built my businesses and how countless online businesses have been build for over 20 years.
Now here’s an important question for you.
What if you could create your own content marketing business — easily and ethically — and did not have to create the content yourself?
If that sounds good keep reading.
Today there is very good news for you.
It’s easier than ever to use content marketing to your advantage!
That’s because of a little thing called curation.
I’m going to share with you what curation is and how you can use it to build your own online empire.
This is the first of an multi-part series on how to use curation to build a real online business.
When I announced this series yesterday one fellow wrote in to ask what I was selling.
No disrespect to him but that’s not what’s happening here.
I have nothing to sell – I just want you to have this common sense information.
What is curation?
Curation is not a new concept. In fact, it’s quite old.
People have been “curating” (or gathering) things together for literally thousands of years.
A library is a curation of sorts. So is a museum. So is the Drudge Report.
More about him later.
The funny thing about curation is that you see it used every day but you might not be using it … yet.
I believe you will want to start using it right away and believe too that curation might be the missing link in your online success.
Let’s look at the formal definition.
The word “curation” means “to curate”. So let’s look at what that word means.
My handy Oxford dictionary defines curate this way (emphasis mine) …
Curate v. select, organize, and look after the items in a collection or exhibition: “both exhibitions are curated by the Centre’s director”. curation n. late 19th century: back-formation from CURATOR.
Oxford Dictionaries (2010-10-19). Oxford Dictionary of English, 2nd Edition (Kindle Locations 168775-168778). Oxford University Press – A. Kindle Edition.
So curation is the process of gathering together content that other people created.
That’s important so please remember that one – they create, you curate.
Why use curation?
The great thing about curation is that it’s a clean and ethical business.
To be clear, you will be giving full credit to the person who created the content.
No content stealing here.
No trolling EzineAticles.com and taking article content without linking back to EA or giving the author credit.
NOTE: I’m not saying YOU would do that but I am saying that many people do that. I know all too well. They do it to me all the time.
In fact, you will find that the more you pay respect to the content creator the more your audience will love you!
And the faster your business will grow.
More on the “how to” a little later. Today we are looking at the big picture.
One great thing about content marketing is that it takes the pressure off.
With content marketing you create or curate great content and your work is done. Your readers will do the rest.
- They will get to know you
- They will get to like you
- They will begin to trust you
- They will join your list
- And they will buy what you recommend
Please notice that progression because it’s the basis of doing business online.
Know leads to like which leads to trust which leads to join (action) which leads to buy (another action).
Another reason to use curation is that it’s easy.
With curation you can follow your passions and make money from what you love!
Much more about that in another article. I’ve got an entire article coming about choosing what to curate and how to know if that will be profitable before you spend too much time.
What does curation look like?
Funny enough, the best way to think about curation is the one that might have sprung to mind … a museum.
The curator of the museum does not create the art or artifacts.
He or she does not own the art or artifacts in most cases.
But what the curator does is vital — they assemble art or artifacts into meaningful collections and offer those collections to the public for a fee.
What a wonderful way to make money. And one you can begin using immediately.
To be clear, you will not be charging a fee like a museum does.
You will be earning money from the strong relationship you will build with those who visit your site; and especially those who join your mailing list.
Just look at what Matt Drudge has done.
He does not report the news as much as curate the news.
While he does “go on location” from time to time, most of his work is done from a laptop wherever he chooses to work.
A master at writing provocative headlines, he assembles stories his audience wants and provides links galore.
And according to Wikipedia he makes millions doing it.
Don’t worry – I will show you all the steps as we go along.
And I will share many more examples of websites that are curation success stories.
Let’s recap.
You now know what curation is.
Curation is the process of gathering together high quality information on a particular topic
And you know that people are making their fortunes with this concept.
You should know too that this is something that is easy to do once you know how.
And you know that I’m going to show you exactly how I do it … right here in this free series.
That’s enough to know for today.
Next I’m going to give you an assignment. It’s going to take about an hour, and you can do it anywhere and anytime you want.
If you do the assignment you will have taken the first step toward your own online information business.
And I can tell you firsthand that sharing information, and helping people, is a beautiful thing indeed!
