The About.com Content Model

Ryan    Uncategorized     About.com, Content, Examiner.com, Gawker.com

As more and more websites fill our browser histories and/or fan pages on Facebook, a looming question for some becomes apparently obvious. How do I create the mass amount of content needed to stay ahead of my competitors? I suppose this kind of questions isn’t really suitable for some people who only ‘microblog’ or have some sort of physical or service oriented product. (Although I could be wrong)

When social media gurus talk, a lot of times, they speak to content. It’s like a runway for an airplane… without it, you can’t take off.. or land back on earth, but then again, without the airplane, you wouldn’t get anywhere in the first place. If only we could apparate or use floo powder.

So while content is important, how are some websites like Examiner.com, or Gawker.com coming up with up to the minute stories and articles? 6 words… It’s like open source magazine publishing. In all actuality, it’s basically what many people today think of as ‘Community Blogs’.  With a few exceptions. Remember About.com?

The content on About.com is surprisingly decent for how diverse the articles and information is. From fixing a grand piano to cooking Thai food, to learning PHP… you can basically learn or read about anything from About.com. The reason you remember it so well (or are still finding it pop up in your search results today) is because that content is intertwined with all the other content on the site. In other words… it was like the Wikipedia of it’s day.. but without the ability to freely write whatever you want. Instead of opening the editor to just anyone and their dog, they decided to ‘hire’ what are called Guides. As Wikipedia explains:

Guides are compensated with a base stipend plus bonuses for increased traffic; according to About.com, several guides are averaging over $100,000 per year, although the exact number is not disclosed.

To learn more about how Guides are paid or even how to become one.. check out About.com’s Be A Guide section.

So why is this important? – As social media becomes even more and more important to people, businesses, and organizations, the whole ‘Content is King’ deal… really becomes a forefront issue.

So should I or Jim at Jim’s Tri-Coutny Electrical Repair build our own content platforms and hire hundreds of high schoolers to write about different things? Of course not! That’s not my point. What is my point is.. these platforms exist FOR you, not BY you. If you think you’re an expert at plumbing in Phoenix, check out Examiner.com and see if you can add your own input or even publish your own works to the community. You never know exactly what you’ll find.

For those of you who ARE in the content business…

Well I think we all know it really isn’t a one person job. Try the model out sometime if you’re interested… I bet you’ll be surprised by how much more ‘stuff’ you are able to put out there then when it was just you in your cubicle at work -_-.

Peace.