How to Create a Curated Blog Post [+5 Free Blog Post Templates]

I’ll allow you to in on just a little secret: Not all of the content material you create needs to be 100% authentic.

Thoughts-blowing, proper? And for you inbound entrepreneurs tormented by the incessant calls for of content material creation, possibly additionally just a little comforting? Now earlier than a few of you say “However content material curation is lazy.” and “Content material curation is why there’s a lot stuff on the web,” hear me out.

Positive, curated content material is a set of different individuals’s content material and sources from across the net. However that does not imply it could’t be beneficial. Simply take into consideration a set of mint-condition classic toys. Every toy that includes the gathering is efficacious in and of itself — however a set of many is much more beneficial.

We will stroll you thru tips on how to compile a beneficial curated weblog publish on this publish. So, hold studying or leap to the part you’re in search of.

Curating is a course of that is greatest recognized within the artwork world. Curators select, set up, and exhibit the work of various artists in galleries and museums. These displays often come collectively below a typical theme or concept.

Curated content material follows the same course of. Content material curators acquire content material that aligns with a particular subject, space of curiosity, or theme. They will use these teams of content material to:

• Add context to new concepts
• Make feedback on tendencies
• Spotlight one of the best new content material of their area of interest or trade

Why is content material curation helpful?

Managing a content material calendar is hard. In accordance with HubSpot research, maintaining with the newest tendencies is a significant wrestle. For instance, 22% of entrepreneurs fear about creating participating content material for social media.

Curating content material is a confirmed tactic for producing new and related content material. It’s an excellent time and finances saver, however that is not all. Content material curation may also help manufacturers develop thought management and add numerous views. It could introduce your viewers and staff to new concepts and enable you fill your editorial calendar with helpful and thrilling content material.

However content material curation is greater than resharing or copying no matter there’s to seek out on-line. If all you are doing is rapidly throwing collectively a couple of items of subpar content material, then sure, content material curation may be lazy. However take the time to curate a number of beneficial items of content material, and you may find yourself with a set that is beneficial to each the content material shopper and your self.

As a result of not solely does curation prevent the step of making content material from scratch, but it surely additionally provides the viewer all that superior content material in a single place. Nice content material curation ought to complement the unique content material that comes out of your model. It is a approach to spotlight your model’s position in wider trade conversations. And here is one other factor: Curated content material additionally has a number of potential to rank nicely in search. Speak about a win-win-win.

Curating content material can add highly effective worth on your viewers. However how are you going to curate content material on your weblog? Let’s evaluate the method step-by-step.

Learn how to Create a Curated Weblog

Earlier than you begin studying, download the free blog post templates so you may comply with alongside and simply create curated posts on your personal weblog. And remember to take a look at our extra suggestions for creating curated weblog content material on the backside of this publish.

For this publish, we’re going to make use of the “Newsjacking” weblog publish template. Got your template? Nice! Let’s get began.

Plan Your Curated Weblog Put up

First, take a number of minutes to plan what you need to write about so that you could keep on subject and hold your readers engaged.

1. Establish Your Viewers

Which buyer persona are you penning this weblog publish for? Full this subject in your template.

2. Establish Your Key Takeaway

What would you like your viewers to study after studying your curated weblog publish? How do you need to supply distinctive worth together with your curated content material? You’ll be able to write fast notes for this part.

3. Establish Which Forms of Content material You Need to Curate

What content material issues to your viewers that you simply don’t have the time or sources to create? Check out these concepts for high-performing blog posts. Then jot down the content material varieties or sources you may curate to assist your publish concepts. Are they movies? Slideshows? Charts and graphs? Hyperlinks to articles or ebooks?

4. Brainstorm a Few Attainable Titles

You don’t have to select the right title earlier than you end your weblog publish, but it surely helps to jot down a couple of concepts to assist hold you targeted throughout the writing course of.

At HubSpot, we name this a working title — a title that you would be able to “work” off of that guides your publish. This system may enable you resist the urge to ramble off in 1,000,000 completely different instructions. As soon as the publish is full, we often fine-tune it to make sure the title precisely displays the publish content material, grabs potential readers’ consideration, and is optimized for search.

Use the house in your template to craft a couple of attainable weblog publish titles, after which select one as your working title. Don’t fear about finalizing your title till you’re completed writing and curating.

Featured sources:

5. Create an Define

The everyday curated content material publish consists of:

• An introduction: units the stage for what you intend to deal with by way of your assortment of curated content material
• A physique: expands on each bullet, checklist merchandise, step, and instance in a logical order
• A conclusion: wraps up your publish with a short assertion that is reflective of what your readers simply realized

What are all of the bullet factors you want to cowl to introduce your compilation, clarify every level, and remind the reader what they only realized? Use these questions that can assist you create an outline in your template.

Create Your Curated Weblog Put up

6. Write Your Weblog Put up

Write the Introduction

When writing your introduction, you need to hold one query prime of thoughts: How can I set up credibility and get my viewers to care concerning the sources I plan to share with them?

Be at liberty to depart the introduction for final, too. Generally it’s simpler to introduce your publish after you’ve written the true meat of it. If you do write your intro, right here’s how we suggest going about it, utilizing this publish about motivational Ted talks for example:

Notice: The template content material we’ve offered right here will not be meant to be copied and pasted into each weblog publish you write. That ends in duplicate content material for which you will be significantly punished within the SERPs.

These templates merely enable you begin placing pen to paper — or cursor to display — and enable you assume by way of the construction and means of a curated weblog publish to make the entire writing expertise far much less painful. We encourage you to include your individual authentic copy.

Write the Physique

Bear in mind: The physique ought to comply with by way of with what you promised within the introduction. Your physique may be written in paragraphs, with bullets, numbered lists, a number of headings, or a mixture of any of those. Be at liberty to utilize whichever format is best for you given the sorts of content material you are curating.

Simply be cognizant of those questions: What number of examples do I would like to incorporate to make this publish beneficial to readers? How in-depth do I would like to enter every instance to make them simpler to grasp? Can I add any visuals that may make my publish simpler for my readers to grasp and eat?

Write the Conclusion

Your conclusion is the place you’ll paraphrase the important thing takeaway you outlined earlier within the planning phases and/or immediate your reader with a query. Take a look at this instance from a weblog publish about LinkedIn bio examples:

7. Hyperlink to Extra Assets Inside Your Put up

Generally it’s onerous to say all the pieces you need to say a couple of single subject in a single publish. That is why it’s useful to your readers to seek out additional sources you may hyperlink to for extra element or credibility.

Linking to other blog posts or pages on your site may end up in elevated visibility in engines like google, web page views, and time on web site. Apart from the hyperlinks to the third-party content material you are curating, take into consideration what different sources you may reference to strengthen the factors made in your publish, after which place these hyperlinks in your publish.

If you insert your weblog publish copy into your blogging platform, create hyperlinks for these sources the place they match greatest.

8. Finalize Your Title

Revisit your working title and see if you may make it extra correct, particular, horny, concise, and Search engine optimization-optimized.

Need assistance? Check out this post on writing perfect page titles. Then, put your finalized title within the subject in your template.

9. Select a Name-to-Motion (CTA)

On the finish of your publish, what motion would you like your readers to take? Would you like them to join your publication? Request extra data? Tweet one thing? Obtain one thing? Purchase one thing? Ideally, the motion is related to the content material they only learn. For assist selecting the right CTA for each weblog publish, take a look at this list of CTA examples. As soon as you’ve got discovered what you need individuals to do after they learn your publish, it’s best to add that to your template.

10. Enhancing is Essential

Everybody can use a second set of eyes to look over their publish earlier than placing it out into the world, so have a good friend or colleague look it over. One other factor that may assist? This ultimate editing checklist.

Prep Your Weblog Put up for Publishing

11. Add Your Weblog Put up to Your Running a blog Platform

Now that you simply’ve gone by way of the train of outlining and writing your weblog publish, you will need to put together it for publishing.

A easy approach to do that is to pick and replica your finalized title and all of your weblog publish physique copy and paste it right into a textual content editor like Microsoft Notepad or TextEdit on a Mac. Pasting into one in every of these applications strips your copy of all formatting.

This fashion, once you copy and paste it from the textual content editor into your blogging platform of selection, the formatting you apply inside your running a blog platform ought to render appropriately. That being mentioned, after pasting this into your platform, it’s best to triple-check that your formatting carried over.

Now’s the time to make your weblog publish extra scannable by utilizing:

• Headers
• Daring textual content for key factors
• Hyperlinks
• Pictures
• Embedded content material like movies and slideshows

Additionally, in case your CTA is a button, remember so as to add that to your publish, too.

12. Add an Picture

Each weblog publish ought to have a picture. At HubSpot, we embrace a minimum of one photograph or picture in each publish we publish in order that A) The content material is extra visible, and B) When the weblog publish is shared by way of social media channels, it’s accompanied by a thumbnail picture to entice a clickthrough.

Check out our free bundles of downloadable inventory images (general and holiday) to see if any of those royalty-free pictures will do the trick for you. If you would like assist deciding which photograph to make use of, take a look at this fast publish about choosing the perfect image for your next blog post. You might also need to take a look at this text on image SEO.

13. Optimize Your Put up for Search

If you happen to’ve spent all this time gathering and annotating your curated content material, you’ll need to be sure your publish is definitely discoverable in engines like google. Take a look at our publish about blog SEO for recommendations on tips on how to do exactly that.

14. Publish Your Curated Weblog

Publish your publish, and start tracking its performance.

Content material curation goals ought to deal with holding your viewers engaged with value-added content material. It could assist drive elevated, pass-along consciousness for different manufacturers. The following tips will enable you profit from your curated content material.

With that in thoughts, right here’s what we suggest for simpler content material curation.

1. Maintain it high-quality and related.

It doesn’t matter what kind of content material you are curating, high quality and relevance ought to all the time apply. Nobody needs to entry a listing of 10 mediocre trade blogs. They need one of the best. So, the person content material parts you curate ought to characterize the utmost degree of high quality. You also needs to clarify what standards you are utilizing to evaluate that high quality.

Bear in mind: High quality is what separates beneficial content material curation from mediocre content material curation.

Keep moderately targeted on a small handful of themes, however be sure your curated content material additionally displays the human factor.

For instance, most curated content material on HubSpot focuses on gross sales, advertising and marketing, providers, and web site growth. However you will additionally see content material about conversation starters, boredom cures, emojis, and extra.

It is also vital to verify the content material you are curating is related to your viewers. That aggregated checklist of humorous viral movies could also be humorous, however if you happen to’re not within the enterprise of humor or advertising and marketing, it may not belong in your weblog.

2. Pull from a constant set of sources.

Yow will discover good content material nearly anyplace. However it could streamline your course of if you happen to hold a core set of sources you may rely on for constantly good content material. You might also need to curate your sources of similarly-themed content material.

Earlier than you start curating, you should definitely bookmark a handful of great marketing examples. Topical aggregation websites and newsletters are additionally nice for this. These sources usually pull from a greater diversity of sources than it’s possible you’ll discover by yourself.

3. Use an automatic queuing and distribution system.

This know-how helps supply a one-click, easy-to-curate course of so you may queue content material out of your browser.

Many of those instruments are customizable. So, you may resolve what you need to automate and tips on how to profit from your content material workflow. Any instrument that makes it straightforward to select content material to curate, rapidly select which channels to publish it by way of, after which routinely house it out over days and weeks is preferable. It is also useful to have instruments that may enable you observe how your content material is performing.

Featured sources:

4. All the time give credit score again to the unique creator.

Since curation includes borrowing content material from one other creator, you completely should attribute and hyperlink to the unique supply. This is a guide to proper attribution in weblog content material.

This act {of professional} respect might additionally drive extra reciprocation and curation of your individual content material consequently.

5. Put up on a number of channels.

Put up throughout channels to extend attain and consciousness progress. Multi-channel marketing and cross-posting are important to content material success. This strategy may also help you save time and profit from your sources.

That mentioned, don’t go overboard on this (as in, don’t publish to 50 LinkedIn teams thrice a day). However don’t be afraid to curate good content material throughout social media, blogs, and newsletters on the similar time.

6. Work out a schedule on your curated content material.

Content material advertising and marketing typically looks like driving by a home at 35 miles an hour and attempting to throw a newspaper into the mailbox. Generally it’ll get in, however more often than not it received’t.

It’s possible you’ll have to play the numbers sport a bit so {that a} small share of your curated content material reaches and impacts your meant viewers. That mentioned, you may as well goal the fitting message to the fitting viewers with a content material calendar. This written schedule may also help you determine when to publish your favourite content material.

For instance, if you happen to’re utilizing an computerized distribution system, like a social media calendar tool, you don’t want to seek out and publish new content material every single day.

To maintain your course of environment friendly, plan to schedule posts two or thrice every week. This offers you time to undergo your studying materials and queue up new and fascinating stuff.

7. Make instantaneous curation one-click straightforward out of your browser.

There’s a lot content material to eat on-line that it may be straightforward to get overwhelmed. However there are methods that you would be able to make your assortment course of simpler and extra gratifying.

Use content curation tools that allow you to publish one-click curated content material from anyplace you occur to be studying. You’ll be able to enhance your curating by 2-3 items a day this manner.

8. Use staff instruments to extend contributions.

Content material curation is usually a solo act, however you may create a extra numerous and thrilling voice on your model if you happen to herald different members of your staff.

Team collaboration tools make it straightforward for teammates to recommend their favourite content material. It is also an effective way to chop down the time you’d spend curating all the pieces your self. To just be sure you have a continuing stream of recent concepts out of your staff, it’s possible you’ll need to create assignments or prompts.

For instance, if you wish to broaden developer content material in your curation, ask an engineer in your staff to ship their favorites as soon as every week. Including an invitation to their calendar may be a straightforward reminder that simplifies the method for each of you.

9. Unfold out posts from the identical consistently-good sources.

There are in all probability a handful of blogs and sources you learn regularly. If they’ve constantly nice stuff, they could present up in your content material creation greater than you propose.

So, keep conscious of these habits and attempt to house them out a bit. Make a degree of including new inspiration to your sources a minimum of as soon as a month. Curating quite a lot of sources provides to the comprehensiveness and worth of your curated weblog.

10. Prioritize content material from companions and prospects.

As you curate, make an impression on the individuals you care about most. Content material curation is an opportunity to indicate your companions and collaborators that you simply’re paying consideration. It is also a easy approach to present that you simply admire their content material.

If you happen to’re nonetheless constructing your co-marketing, begin by contacting complementary manufacturers. Curating content material from manufacturers you admire is an effective way to start new partnerships. It’s also possible to use your analytics to seek out your prime referrals, discuss to prospects, or contact members of your staff to seek out new content material companions.

11. Add worth.

Content material curation is greater than a fast repost. It is utilizing different creators’ content material as a jumping-off level to construct additional worth on your viewers.

For instance, this collection of famous quotes is greater than a compilation of inspirational quotations. It breaks the quotes into helpful sections for faster and simpler software in advertising and marketing. The supply additionally contains 20+ picture templates to effortlessly make these quotes interesting to the eyes. The templates are in sq., horizontal, and vertical codecs to be used in quite a lot of channels.

It often is not sufficient simply to mixture. A weblog publish that lists these quotes in all probability would not be as helpful. By including worth, you create one thing model new that builds on nice content material that already exists.

Curated Content material Examples

HubSpot

HubSpot has greater than a useful blog for advertising and marketing, gross sales, service, and web site information. It provides how-to guides, product critiques, and authentic analysis. The weblog can be a fantastic useful resource for trends and thought leadership.

If you happen to’re nonetheless in search of extra curated content material inspiration, these HubSpot sources are a fantastic place to begin:

The Marginalian

Previously Mind Pickings, this weblog is likely one of the best-known visions of curated content material on-line. This web site combines inspiration from artwork, science, and literature by way of the lens of its creator, Maria Popova.

A few of its prime posts embrace:

Sparktoro Trending

Sparktoro’s instruments deal with viewers intelligence, however this facet venture additionally provides a number of worth for content material curators. It tracks scorching matters in advertising and marketing primarily based on the variety of shares from individuals within the trade.

HuffPost

This information aggregator has had a pulse on superstar concepts since 2005. The political sections of this web site are inclined to get essentially the most discover, however the scale of this curated weblog makes it a fantastic supply of concepts for any curious creator.

but does it float

This curated weblog of visible content material is a wealthy useful resource. Filled with pictures, illustration, design, and different inventive inspiration, this web site is a continuing supply for visible trend-seekers. That is additionally an excellent instance of content material curation from a number of factors of view because the weblog has two curators.

Buzzfeed

Buzzfeed has been a supply of inspiration for curated life-style blogs since 2006. With its fashionable listicles, quizzes, and popular culture tales, it is also a fantastic supply of user-generated content material.

If you happen to’re in search of extra weblog curation examples, take a look at these lists of one of the best sales and customer service blogs.

Content material Curation Isn’t Only for Blogs and Social Media

Curated content material is a straightforward and enjoyable approach to develop participating and helpful content material on your viewers. It is a technique for selling concepts out of your community, an choice to sustain with tendencies, and an answer for the clean areas in your editorial calendar. So begin gathering and including your individual worth and insights. You by no means know what the subsequent secret to progress is perhaps.

Editor’s be aware: This publish was initially printed in August 2014 and has been up to date for comprehensiveness.