Authority.
It’s something every business needs. When you have it, people listen. They listen to your thoughts, recommendations, and critiques.
They trust you and take the action you recommend. That could be something as simple as bookmarking your site, signing up to your email list or even purchasing your product.
The problem is, authority building is tough. The web is full of knowledgeable businesses and entrepreneurs all vying for your target audience’s ear. Being the one to stand out and gain their trust is no easy feat.
You’ve got to establish yourself as a thought leader. Someone with their finger on the pulse of developments in your industry and who knows how to solve your consumer’s key problem. And the best way to do that is though effective content marketing.
How the World’s #1 RV News Site Grew Through Content Curation.
Greg Gerber, a full-time RV lifestyle and editor, used content curation to build his RV industry site RVDailyReport.com.
Thanks to Curation Suite Greg has managed to achieve some amazing things with these blogs, including:
- How Greg found a continuous stream of thought leadership content for the RV niche
- The creation of the #1 RV news site in the world
- Generated a steady source of income from his sites
Greg’s grown his site incredibly through content curation. We sat down with Greg to discuss how he’s applied curation to his business and what tactics he’d recommend for others.
In this quick case study you’ll learn how Greg and his team started two popular RV websites, how he was introduced to Curation Suite, and what he learned along the way.
The Background
Greg started RVDailyReport.com in 2009 to report on the business side of the RV industry. The site rapidly became a leading authority in the market by publishing primarily curated content, press release reporting, and occasionally their own in-depth commentary and market assessments. Today, RVDailyReport is one of the top sites that RV pros visit to find the latest news, products, and trends.
As Greg shares:
“When we started this project, I was absolutely amazed at the sheer amount of quality information available to RV owners, whether it is a video, blog, podcast, dealer website, campground social media page or feature story,” said Gerber. “When looking at this information, it was sad to see that it only had a few dozen or few hundred views.”
At first, content curation was difficult. Greg and his team were spending up to eight hours every day scouring the web for the best content, tips, videos, and podcasts for content to publish on the site and in the newsletter. Greg knew that he needed to find a solution to provide the content that their travel-savvy readers had come to expect, but without the same time investment.
“When I met the Curation Suite team, they seemed very confident what they could save me a lot of time and improve the quality of my newsletters for both of my sites. I was excited but of course a little hesitant because I knew not just any content would suffice, I only created and shared high quality content and I knew I needed a very custom solution.”
How Curation Suite Helped
Greg picked up Curation Suite and Listening Engine for RVDailyReport.com and tested it on existing readership for three weeks.
Week one was spent outlining the RV industry and calibrating the Listening Engine to source high quality, relevant content.
In week two, the RV Daily team fine-tuned their searches to narrow their reports to only the most relevant content for Greg’s audience.
By the end of week three, Curation Suite wasn’t just supplying the team with a huge amount of relevant content without the junk content other solutions often source. Greg was convinced.
“We tried many others (curation discovery and management tools), but Curation Suite & the Listening Engine is the one that is able to find the quality stories we are looking for. Others seemed to bring in more junk than we knew what to do with. Curation Suite has it buttoned down so that it brings in the quality we need in a fraction of the time,” shared Greg.
However, Greg took his content sourcing to the next level. Using Curation Suite’s search and filter features Greg and his team further narrowed their focus to find the best content.
After filtering the spam and junk content, Greg used Curation Suite’s social listening features to organize content based on online impact. Filtering content by social shares and tending status gives Greg’s team the ability to quickly identify content that’s already being well received.
“Curation Suite brings in the quality we need, combined the ability to sort that content based on total shares, most popular, and trending content, with the additional options to zero in on popular content based on social media platforms as well. Because of the filters we can use to hone the content that comes in, we’re able to focus on content that we know our readers care about, and want to hear. The added options to select specific content based social media platform shares like FB and Pinterest, sets it apart.”
Ensuring Value by Curating Existing, High Performing Content
Greg’s success with RVDailyReport.com is wholly due to sourcing high value content.
The one-two punch of Curation Suite and the Listening Engine not only allow Greg to source relevant content, but then filter it by its current online impact.
This ensures that Greg is only sourcing and feeding the best content to his audience which has built his authority as the go-to source of information in the niche.
The tactics Greg applied are applicable in every niche. If you want to get started with Curation Suite and the Listening Engine then click the below link to get started today.
Grow Your Authority with Curation Suite and the Listening Engine Today!
Better Information, Better Efficiency, and Better Results
He can leave his team with the knowledge they have everything they need to keep the content wheels turning and maintain their position as an authority in their niche. All while Greg can focus on scaling business processes and enjoy all the reasons he chose the RV lifestyle to begin with.
Curation Suite allows Greg’s team to find the very best 12 to 14 RV-related articles on the web every single day in no more than 90 minutes.
90 minutes to source, organize, filter information and create the daily newsletter content that goes out to email subscribers.
When asked what advice he would give to someone considering a content curation tool, he replied,
“Get Curation Suite. You’ll find great quality content that you might not find on your own, and the ability to bring in photographs along with the curation means the articles and website look professional and relevant. I highly recommend Curation Suite!”
How Does Greg Generate Revenue with His Content?
RVDailyReport.com is monetized using banner ads and newsletters.
Each site has strategically-placed banners located in the standard sidebar but also notice how they have above the fold banners above the headline and right below the post. These in-line banner ads typically get more clicks than the ones in the sidebar.
Greg and team also send out daily and weekly curated newsletters. By sharing well-curated content, they are able to gather emails for permission marketing. The RV Daily Report daily newsletter is distributed to around 12,000 subscribers.
Content You Can Learn from
In our customer highlights, we like to provide some examples of the content and curations that our customers publish.
Here is a good example of a quick single source curation. Notice how RVDailyReport has a more journalistic style when they do their curation: Ten Hipster VW Campervans Available to Buy Today
Both websites make effective use of video curation. Video curations are a great way to provide high value content that will keep visitors on your site. RVDailyReport provides short but information-rich summaries for the videos that they publish, helping visitors to find the content that interests them most. Here’s a good example of that in action: See How Ford Tests Trucks for Slide in Campers -
We also wanted to highlight an example of the kind of commentary piece that RVDailyReport publishes. For instance, this opinion story: HUD Action Could Eliminate RVing
Building authority isn’t a quick and easy goal. You’ve got to constantly stay on top of your content production and ensure that you’re only serving your audience the highest quality content day in and day out.
Curation Suite is built for the conscious business owner who knows they need high value content to build authority, but perhaps doesn’t have the time to create it themselves.
If you want to build the authority of your site in a fraction of the time, click below and sign up for Curation Suite and the Listening Engine. We offer a 7-day, no questions asked money back guarantee so you can try it out with no risk.
Click Here to Grow Your Authority with Curation Suite Today!
