We talk a lot about how to write good ad copy on here, because it really is a fundamental, but what about writing other types of content?

There’s a big difference between writing a good AdSense headline and writing a good informational article to post on your blog, even though they both require the basic nuts and bolts like good spelling and grammar. If an affiliate’s goal in blogging and article marketing is to create solid, informative content that’s also entertaining enough to keep people reading, then you need some extra writing chops to make that happen. But not everyone actually has those chops – or the time to put them to good use, or the cash to hire someone else to write it for them. So what do you do if you are in that particular boat?

Fortunately, there’s a way around it that even those among us with decent writing skills may want to consider implementing. It’s called “content curation,” and if implemented correctly, it can possibly make you more Internet famous than banging out your own junk the old fashioned way.

Content curation is a pretty hot topic right now, and for good reason. Internet use is pretty much ubiquitous, and that means that everyone’s got a blog. In addition to that, we’ve got these amazingly huge social networks like Facebook and Twitter, where everyone can easily “publish” their thoughts and musings for everyone else to read, regardless of the actual quality of said thoughts and musings. This is creating something of a content overload – there’s just so much STUFF to look at, your average user doesn’t know where to look first to find what’s actually worth looking at sometimes. And so we see many, many people turn to their “friends” to find out where to look first instead. Automated aggregation has been around for a while (see also: Google News), of course, but this is different. This is aggregation with a human touch, giving it a more discerning quality that even the most sophisticated algorithms can’t replicate.

So, if you can’t write well (or don’t have the time, or the money to pay someone else to do it, etc, etc), you’re not out of the game. All you have to do is become the friend those people turn to when they want to know what’s new and interesting.

Content curation is simple – you find something you think is interesting for whatever reason, so you tweet about it or post it on your Facebook wall, or do a little write-up on your blog. And boom: you have instant content – content you didn’t have to actually write yourself. It’s quicker than sitting down to try to write up your own version of the story, leaving you more time to do other things, like find more good stuff to share. The more you find awesome things to share with people, the more people will think of you as someone who is an authority on the good stuff, and they’ll keep coming back to find out what interesting thing you’ve found next. And now I get to again say something I seem to say a lot lately: everyone wins.

The concept behind content curation itself is simple, but there are still a few things to look out for when you decide this is a good model to try to follow in your own marketing endeavors:

• Proper credit is absolutely necessary. If you do a little write-up about an article someone else wrote on your blog, CREDIT THE SOURCE. If you use an image, credit the source of that image.




• Be discerning. Is the content you want to curate quality? Will it add value to your followers’ lives somehow?




• If you feel like you want to republish all or the majority of a certain piece, ASK PERMISSION. Otherwise, even if you give credit, it still smacks way too much of plagiarism, and that’s not what you want to have happen here. If you can’t get permission, then you can still post about it. Just keep it to a small write-up, directing folks to the original source, per usual.




• Be respectful to the creators of the content you’re curating. If a creator asks, for whatever reason (unless it’s outlandish, I suppose), that you not link to their stuff, take it down.




• Since you’ll ostensibly be using this to help with your affiliate endeavors, keep things on topic as much as possible. Curate content that relates to your niche somehow. Even if it’s only remotely related, find an angle for it to make it relevant.




• That said, if you find something so awesome you just have to share it, do it, even if it’s not directly related to your niche. Awesome is awesome, and your followers will appreciate it.




• Even talented creators can take advantage of this, so if you can write (or make videos, or make podcasts, or whatever), don’t stop creating…just consider mixing in some curation while you do it. It’ll beef up your output considerably without skimping on quality, which is a fantastic place to be in.

It’s tempting for some to call this an easy way out. Some might say you’re getting a way to a popular Internet presence without actually having to do any of the “hard work,” but the truth is that in this day and age, content curators are just as necessary as content creators. People need a reliable way to sift through the dross, content creators need avenues to get their work out into the public consciousness, and you need a way to give your readerbase quality, robust content on a regular basis to keep them interested, entertained, and occupied. So I guess I have to say it again, don’t I? Everyone wins!