It seems that right now the hottest thing in the world of content is curation.

Curation is a useful way for anyone to pull together great content for a variety of sources, add their comments to that content and publish new content.

Curated content can supplement the content you already have; it can be used to start a blog or website from scratch and it has infinite uses as an internal corporate tool for education, manuals and communication.

I’m excited about curation. As a content creator and former journalist, I know that no one person can be the expert or authority on a single subject. This is where content curation comes in. it gives you the power to pull in other articles, video, blogs, chart, whatever is out there and offer your take on it. Thus, providing your audience well-rounded coverage of any subject matter.

It can also help establish your website as a destination for information on  specific topic, further establish you as an authority on that subject, offer a wider range of and deeper range of topics to your readers and help you get ranked higher in the search engines.

Currently, platforms are beginning to show up that make the process of curation easier. Shareist, from MechMedia, is among this those platforms gathering some steam. Shareist is now in its final beta stage, but is being tested extensively by online marketers. It is the result of an internal platform built my MechMedia to power their own affiliate sites and has evolved into a product that can help others do the same.

But make no mistake content curation is not simply an automated aggregation process. It’s not a set and forget it process. It’s a way to bring in content pick and choose from sources and add that content to enhance what you already have, the platforms simply make that process much easier to do so.  It is based on human filtering and organizing.

In a recent discussion with MechMedia co-founder and President, Scott Jangro, I told him that I found curation to be magical, but it is not magic. He agreed. Curation requires oversight and management. This is a place to expand what others see with the point of view of the curator infused.

Let’s look at curation if you have an affiliate website. Perhaps, you have a coupon site and attempt to offer deals and discounts to a large audience. You have a loyal base of users that look to you as a trusted place to get these deals. However, perhaps, you find that often people might want to know about product recalls before they purchase.

That is content you can create by hiring someone to follow all the recalls, rewrite them and consistently update the page. Or you can make a page for recalls; set up keywords to bring that information to your attention and then added manually what is appropriate to your customers. Yes, someone will have to oversee the process but the painstaking efforts are significantly reduced and you’ve just added some additional value to your site for your users.

Another example: You have a blog that focuses on a subject like baseball books and interviews with authors. Joe Maginess has the website Baseballisms.com, where he interviews authors of books about baseball. . But he found that many people came to his site searching for information on the history of the Negro baseball leagues. He could have done a lot research and put together articles. That is not the focus of his site and his not an expert on that topic. Instead he used Shareist to pull together content from many experts on that subject. Now he has added value and serviced his readers with what they were look for.  This is a great use of the curation model.

I can also see application in business and education.  Hospitals could set up curated pages for all their departments. That means that the radiology department would have a page that is seen only internally and has the latest new, articles, papers and blogs about that subject, thus keeping doctors in that department up to date on the latest information in their field.

I have also seen applications where agencies use curated pages to help inform their clients of what they are doing for them. The page could be pulling in tweets, Facebook posts, blog post and other things that relate to the clients. Again, it can only be accessed by the client and agencies, but it gives agencies a way to let clients know about the extra services and support they are providing to clients.

In Content Curation is Hot Part 2 we will discuss some ethical issue about the use of content, duplicate content and how that is handled by search.

Everyone knows you can schedule your blog posts in advance in WordPress – that’s not a problem.

But, the real problem when it comes to keeping your blog fresh with new posts is that most bloggers don’t use an editorial calendar.  (NOTE:  Lisa teaches all about this, in the Content Buffet – get your access.)

I subscribe to Angie Meeker’s email list, and today I received an email from her, notifying me that she made a great, simple video explaining how a free wordpress plugin called “Editorial Calendar” will help you schedule your content like a pro.

Great video, Angie!

Take a look for yourself:

Here’s her blog post:
http://angiemeekerdesigns.com/2011/11/managing-your-content-with-an-editorial-calendar/

Every day we hear from online marketers that love the idea of creating great content and understand the value but have just hit a road block when it comes to fresh ideas.  They’ve simply run out of steam.  It might be a temporary dry spell or perhaps, they believe they’ve already exhausted topics that relate to their audience.

Others want to begin adding compelling content to their website, but feel overwhelmed just thinking about it.

Well, we have a wealth of content ideas and we are always eager to provide others will a little brainstorming help.

So, we are launching MyContentPro Quick Fix, a monthly list with more than 100 ideas for content and posts. The range of ideas can be used by a wide spectrum blog types from content for review sites, mom sites, travel websites and much, much more.

Click on over to the Quick Fix Guide page and sign up. You’ll start getting tons of useful and relevant content ideas that will invigorate your blog.

“What the hell is quora?”

That’s what most people say when asked about this brand.  But, many smart marketers are recognizing the value of this social “Answers” site.

It’s really similar to Yahoo Answers (an answer-type site that most of us have seen).  However, Quora focuses on true identities and genuine answers — and the results are excellent for marketers.

I first heard of Quora by seeing some tweets from my friend, Rachel Honoway, of Honoway Interactive – a marketing firm for startups. (Follow her @rachelhonoway)

In these tweets, I’d see “My answer about XYZ on Quora“, and a link to her expert answer.

I thought that the answers she gave were great.   But after reading them, I’d ask myself, “why would she spend so much time writing such a detailed, quality response to some business question on an ‘answer site‘”.

Now, I understand.   And, although I’ve known this for years, this is yet more proof that Rachel is simply one of those “smart marketers” who recognized Quora’s value before most of us (including me) did.

Read this new article from Marketing Profs to understand more.  “Five Reasons Why Quora Matters to Marketers“

In short – since Quora focuses on quality answers, from real people:  1)  Links from Quora to your site are valuable and 2) The branding and exposure Quora provides is great.

The rise of social networks has made including comments, tweets, feedback, user reviews and other user generated content a great way to beef up your website’s content.

We love this trend because it means that you don’t have to create all the content yourself.  However, there are some management tasks and potential pitfalls associated with relying on user generated content.

Beyond pulling this type of content together or moderating to make sure it is appropriate and meets your standards; you need to take into account the fickle nature of humans and depending on them.

It’s great to plan one day a week to post an interview or a user’s review or a guest blog post, but my experience is that people do what they want when they want.  Your deadlines are not always their top priority. Often people will swear they will get back to you and then miss the deadline. Ifyou don’t have a backup plan, and then you are likely to be scrambling to get other piece of replacement content.

• Build a bank of content and have replacements at the ready in case of emergency.  Have 2 or 3 items in the queue.
• Give people plenty of time to response to requests to participate or contribute (2 weeks or more)
• Think about rewarding people for contributing (highlighting them in a special place on the site or giving them a chance to win a small prize)
• Don’t plan on relying on user generated content until you achieve some momentum in terms of visitors or followers.  People want to contribute when others already have.
• Make it reciprocal. If you write a guest post for a related blog, that author of that site will be more likely to contribute to your website – especially if you are on time with your contribution and do a great job.

Well, this podcast has been a long time coming…

Not only since we last produced a podcast almost FIVE months ago, but because we actually recorded this THREE months ago.

So, yeah — I’m a massive procrastinator.

But I have a decent explanation justification for the delay..

Our site wasn’t ready. Plus, we’ve been really busy helping our new clients make great content. (It’s been a blast, for sure — but it also has distracted me from launching this new product, The Content Buffet.)

So, here it is — you get it first.

We’ll be promoting it to the rest of the world soon, but as a MyContentPro.com member, you get to hear about this first!

We hope you enjoy this podcast, and also — hope you buy The Content Buffet! Looking forward to your feedback and thoughts on our first product.

Time and cash-strapped marketers are gravitating toward simple, low-cost online marketing methods such as Facebook that are gaining traction.

Facebook now ranks as the most popular marketing tool among local businesses and more than 70 percent of small businesses are now using Facebook to reach consumers, according to new research from MerchantCircle, a social network for small businesses.

That’s up from 50 percent a year ago and tops the 66 percent of small businesses that currently use Google search advertising.

However, while Facebook is gaining ground as a marketing tool, its effectiveness still ranks at 37 percent, with the survey respondents, while 40 percent of those surveyed by MerchantCircle cited Google search as their most effective marketing tool.

That might be because, it’s not that difficult to get consumers to “Like” your Facebook Fan Page, but that’s only the first step to truly engaging consumers.

Once a consumer “likes” your Fan Page anything you post will appear in their news feed.  Still, when most people log into Facebook they are automatically directed to “Top News,” and studies say that 95 percent of readers read only the “Top News,” rather than “Most Recent.” So, in order to stay on consumers’ radar you must show up in “Top News.” It’s not easy but there are several ways to do that.

“Top News” is determined by the Edge Rank, an algorithm based on three factors:[Content protected for Free members only]

I’m always staying on top of what happening in the online marketing space and especially how content dovetails with that thriving business model.

I love it when people really understand what quality content can bring to the table. So, recently when I came across a couple of posts on the benefits of content for affiliate marketers, it warmed my heart.

Both offer clear indications that affiliates are now changing their perception of the value of content.

Affiliate Vinny O’Hare writes, “Seriously, how many times have you heard the phrase “content is king.” One too many times, perhaps, that you’re practically sick of it? Don’t be, my friend. Such is more than just a catchphrase to win your interest. It is a fact, the one fact that could spell boom or doom for your online endeavor.”

His post, titled Quality Content:  How To Come Up With Website Content That Your Visitors Would Love, is worth checking out.

Durk Price, founder and CEO of eAccountableOPM, which runs affiliate programs for merchants, writes about an uptick in affiliates hiring content creators, saying that, “I heard on four separate occasions from publishers that were adding between 10 and 40 writers to their ongoing marketing efforts.  This news came from a range of publishers including datafeed specialists, coupon/deal sites and reward/loyalty sites.  The publishers I spoke with said they were hiring internally for quality control, and not outsourcing the jobs.”

Check out Durk’s post called It’s a Content Revival.

If you have something to say about how quality content is helping your online marketing business, let me know. I’d love to hear about it.

Online marketers spend so much time creating new sites and working on new ideas, that oftentimes content becomes a major pain point for long term success.

We all want content on our sites (for many obvious reasons), but many of us are concerned about investing a lot of money on this content.

So, we need a way to populate our sites with quality, unique content that is compelling and benefits our business — but we need low-cost solutions.

I run into this all the time with my projects.

So, I wrote an eBook to help – and I’m giving it away for free.

Introducing, “The Cheap-Ass Guide to Online Content“. The ultimate guide to free, inexpensive and cost-efficient content for online marketers.

It’s free, and available to our free members of MyContentPro.com.

Briefly, I’d like to apologize for the title, “The Cheap-Ass Guide to Online Content“.

I didn’t want to offend anyone, but I loved the idea of using the term “Cheap Ass” to connect the cost-efficient and financially prudent opportunities we have with regard to online content for our sites.

And frankly, with a name like “The Cheap Ass Guide to Online Content“, I think you know who the book is for and what you get within it.

I am really excited about this book, and look forward to the feedback. (I intend to update it regularly with new, updated cost-efficient content opportunities, strategies and tips.)

I spent quite a bit of time creating this eBook, and have gotten really great initial feedback from very well-respected online marketing friends.

Is this enough to convince you that registering for a free membership here at MyContentPro is worth your 5 minutes?

I sure hope so — because I really want to impress you with this eBook. (But, only free members get it!)

So please, register to become a free member of MyContentPro.com now and get instant, free access to this very helpful eBook, “The Cheap-Ass Guide to Online Content”.

This is Part 1 of a multi-part series on implementing some basic ideas from The Content Buffet to create great Facebook content.

Facebook has become the most popular way to connect with people. But it’s not only for re-establishing relationships with old high schools pals, keeping up with family and letting friends know your status.

Facebook also offers tremendous marketing value by setting up official pages that can be used as another outlet to host your content, get potential leads to sign up and engage with existing customers.

But Facebook itself is not a marketing strategy. It’s just a part of your business’ overall marketing plan.

So, let’s talk about how you can use some of the principals of the Content Buffet to enrich the content you put on a Facebook page.

[Content protected for Free members only]