Last updated on January 23rd, 2024 at 02:31 am
If you love watching YouTube videos and have created playlists based on your best selection, you can take it a step further by learning how to curate YouTube videos. Do it the proper way and you can make money from them.
But before that, you’ve to understand what video curation is.
What is Video Curation?
Video curation is putting together the best and relevant videos from a selection based on a topic or theme for the benefit of an interested audience.
The person who does this is called a video curator. Just like a curator who puts together the best selection of paintings on a theme or subject in an art gallery.
Why is Video Curation Needed?
There are hundreds of thousands of videos out there on any particular subject or topic. People don’t have the time to watch them all and decide which is best for them.
Also, some people don’t want to visit sites like YouTube where they can get distracted by dozens of other videos while looking for a certain type of video.
If you’re a beginner trying to learn a certain subject, you’ll get lost in a jungle of videos and may end up not finding the right ones. Or time is wasted time on videos that don’t serve your needs.
What if someone tells you that you only need to watch a set of the best three videos to learn a particular skill?
Wouldn’t that be saving you time and energy, looking for the right videos?
What are the Benefits of Video Curation
Save Time and Effort on Video Creation
The main benefit of video curation is you don’t have to create the content yourself. Creating video on a topic isn’t child’s play. You got to write a script, shoot the video, spend hours editing before uploading it.
Also, why create videos when there are so many good ones already out there? Maybe in your effort to research videos on a particular topic to create a video, you discovered good ones. Which you could not match in terms of content quality, authority, and production values.
You feel these videos add value to your intended audience. So, why not just highlight and share them?
Position Yourself as an Authority
Not only will you be saving time and effort via video curation, but you’ll also be positioning yourself as an authority in your niche.
For example, you can put together a top ten video list on how to beat stress. You can compile videos where doctors and psychologists talk about how we can beat stress, wouldn’t you be considered a trusted source for such relevant knowledge or information?
The great thing about video curation is you get to discover videos your audience may not have discovered if they had searched YouTube.
Solution to YouTube’s Random Videos
Over YouTube, even when you search for a video on a particular topic, the search results often return random videos. You would surely have experienced frustration over this.
Many wish there’s a website where all the best and relevant videos related to their interests can be viewed.
You, as a video curator can fulfill this need.
If you get it right, you’ll leave your customers satisfied. The result? You can attract a following and make money from your video curation efforts.
Finally, video curation will make visitors stick to your site. Unlike text content curation, where they’ve to click away and read the full article elsewhere, video curation will allow visitors to hang around and watch full videos on your website.
This will reduce bounce rate on your website.
A video curation site, in short, is just like a mini-YouTube channel. But you can’t run it in the random manner of the YouTube platform. You need a proper system if you’re to succeed with video curation, as explained below.
The Qualities You Should Have As a Video Curator
Passion and Knowledge
First of all, you must have the passion to share useful video content on a particular subject in a niche. You must already be doing this in some way.
Say you’ve been watching videos on productivity. Someone asks to share with me the top videos on time management. You should be able to fulfill that request. You have knowledge in the area and know the top YouTube Channels and channels in the niche.
Knowledge aside, you should be interested in watching videos. Watching videos isn’t really always fun. Sometimes it’s faster to read an article on a subject than watching a video on it.
Patience
Some videos have quality content but with poor presentation. The presenter may be talking in circles without getting straight to the point.
You have to watch the videos patiently to highlight important points to your viewers. You can’t just scan through a video like you would with an article.
Since you’ll be saving your visitors’ time and effort, you’ll have to take pains to point them to the right videos.
You must be prepared for this kind of ‘extra mile work’.
Everyone is a Video Curator
Almost everyone is a video curator, albeit in an unsystematic way. If you often create a playlist of your favorite videos on your YouTube channel, you’re a video curator.
Also, if you share videos with your followers on social media, you’re also a video curator of sorts.
The same applies if you share videos through messaging services like Whatsapp or WeChat?
Well, it’s not a big deal to share videos over social media especially with friends and family. We know who they’re and what they like and what they don’t.
We can take any random video and share it. It could be about health, politics, or just a funny video.
But it’s a different game if you’re going to make money with video curation. You need a solid strategy.
YouTube Video Curation Strategy
If you want to curate video for making money on YouTube you have to be more systematic and you’ve to treat it like a high-level game.
You may have created playlists on YouTube or curated videos on Facebook. You can’t make money on them.
To make money, you have to run a video curation website. Well, if you already have a website, you may add a video curation section to it. This would be an ideal way to start since you already have content and visitors.
This is the best way to get started. Maybe you have not taken videos seriously before this. It’s time to sit up and take notice.
If you have ample text content on your website, you can add relevant YouTube videos to enhance its value. Google likes videos accompanying text content. Your website will certainly enjoy better search engine rankings with the addition of relevant videos.
Yes, Google especially will look at your site favorably because you’re paying attention to one of its babies – YouTube.
Starting a New Video Curation Website
If you don’t already have a website, you can start a dedicated video curation website.
With a new website, you’re not really going to make it instantly, as some Internet marketers and video curation software would have you believe.
As you may already know, to earn money from a website you would need a good amount of traffic.
And you not going to get that easily unless you resort to paid traffic.
If you don’t have the budget for paid traffic, you would have to rely on organic traffic
If you’re to rely on organic traffic, then it’s a long-term affair, because of the stiff competition for keywords. Unless you’re in a niche with very little competition.
But then if you’re really passionate about building a video curation site and you’re willing to grow it patiently, then success won’t escape you.
You have to regard it as a passion project to keep you going.
How to Create Video Curation Content
The Wrong Way to Curate YouTube Videos
If you think video curation is all about slapping a video on your website, add a new title it with a few sentences of description, you’re mistaken.
To succeed with video curation, you’ll have to do much more than that. Some of the so-called video curation experts (aka Internet marketers) would have you believe that’s all you have to do. Traffic will start flowing in and you’ll be laughing all the way to the bank.
I’ve never seen an Internet marketer who has a video curation site, much less a successful one. Being the modern-day snake oil salesmen, all they’re interested in is selling their ‘push-button’ video curation software program.
Of course, many gullible wannabe Internet millionaires will fall for it.
How to Curate YouTube Videos
By now you would have decided on your video curation niche or subject.
Many would think all they have to do is go to YouTube and pluck all those popular, viral, or trending videos with millions of views and slap them on their websites and they’ll get all the traffic they want.
This is not true.
That is a poor video curation strategy doomed to fail. The real strategy is to work in reverse.
Reverse Strategy
Decide on a topic first. Since you’ll want to make money with your curation site, you’ll want to do keyword research. If you don’t know, go read some articles or watch some videos.
Look for a low-competition keyword. Once you’ve found your target keyword, figure out what you’re going to cover.
Work with an Outline
You want to put out a quick outline. After that, you can take any of the two approaches discussed below.
Let say, your keyword is how to write a book and make money. Your outline may look like this. This is what you believe those searching the keyword would want to know.
- Can you make money writing a book?
- Who should write a book? Do you need to be an expert to write a book?
- Should you be writing in the profitable niches or write what you’re passionate about?
- How do your get started writing your book – the steps
- Should you self-publish or go with a traditional publisher?
- How do you market your book?
Search YouTube
The next step is to watch videos on each of the above topics and select the best.
How do you select the best when there are hundreds of thousands out there? Here’s a secret. Don’t watch the videos first. Read the comments first. From the comments, you’ll know the value of the video. How have viewers responded?
Let’s say on the first topic – Can you make money writing a book? – you found this video.
You read the description and decide to watch the video. After all, the speaker is going to give a surprise as mentioned in the video title.
Take Notes
As you watch the video, take down at least three points that would interest your audience and answer the question.
When you’re done, create a heading for the video. Then write some teaser content to give the viewers an idea of what they’re up for.
Create Your Content
Here’s a draft example of a video curation piece I created in another blog.
Repeat the same steps for the second topic. Write a heading and teaser text and select a video that gets the point across.
So, if you have 10 topics in your video curation have a storyline that will accommodate a video for each. Include an inviting header, an intro commentary, and a recap for each video to offer value to your visitors.
This is just a general idea but you should get the drift. You would have noticed that the approach to video curation is different from just embedding a random video and writing a few lines of description.
Context Case Study : America’s Funniest Home Videos
You need context for your video curation. During the pre-Internet days, America’s Funniest Home Videos show was a good example of video curation.
The host offered commentary to keep the audience interested. He picked a theme and constructed a kind of narrative around it.
Do you think the videos would have been that funny without the commentary?
You have to opt for a similar approach when you’re curating your videos.
How to Succeed with Video Curation
You have now a working idea on how to curate YouTube videos. What next?
If you want to succeed in video curation you’ll have to keep at it consistently.
YouTube is a video content ocean. There’s a limitless number of videos waiting to be curated.
The trick is how to engage your viewers with your curation storyline.
If you want to know how to do it, please leave a comment below.
