Content 2.0
Contents
Content 2.0
You've created a solid base of content for your site. Now it's time to take it to the next level...
Have your visitors create content for you! Even better, have them want to create content for you.
Content 2.0 helps you ignite that desire, and helps you make it easy for visitors to contribute their topic-related content. With it, you can...
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invite your visitors to submit their thoughts and opinions, or to add comments about existing submissions.
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manage their contributions quickly and easily.
Use your knowledge of your visitors and the Content 2.0 tools to compose compelling invitations that "get the content."
Whether it's for...
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a favorite Anguilla hotel review
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an opinion on the best mountains to hike in, or
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a chocolate chip cookie recipe submission
...once you set up your invitation, and, if desired, add up to three AdSense ad units to every submission page automatically, the only thing left for you to do is manage the content.
Three Critical Content 2.0 Resources
Remember "BAM" (Brain Attitude Motivation)? Well, you can now benefit from the Brains of others, those visitors who share knowledge and passion for your niche! All you need to do is Motivate those visitors to want to participate.
No matter how interesting your niche may be, folks are not lining up to "create content" for your site. So three important resources help you get the knowledge out of your visitors' heads and onto your site.
The C2 Guide shows you how to get the most out of Content 2.0. A big picture overview, along with indispensable tips and strategies, ensures that your visitors are eager to contribute to your site.
If you want to succeed with Content 2.0 while reducing your learning curve and minimizing trial-and-error, do not go beyond this point until you've read The C2 Guide.
The second resource is the Content 2.0 video. It will further reduce your learning curve, and ensure you get the most out of C2.
The third resource is the Content 2.0 Forum. This is the place to share ideas. Just finding one tip on how to word a button on your Invitation can make a big difference! As always, "help and be helped."
The basic Content 2.0 process is as follows (what you need to do is in bold)...
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Build/edit the invitation here in the Content 2.0 Library. This process includes...
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customizing the Thank You page (recommended)
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customizing the AutoConfirm E-mail (recommended)
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setting your Notification preferences, and
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setting your Comments preferences.
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Place the invitation on one of your web pages (using the C2 Invitation Block in BlockBuilder or using your HTML editor and the Upload Your Own HTML module).
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The contributor submits her content (text and up to 4 optional photos).
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The contributor sees the Thank You Page and has the chance to edit her submission. She also decides if she wants you (Solo Build It!) to notify her automatically when you publish her submission, and/or when others comment on it.
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You receive an email telling you that someone has submitted content. Click on the link in that message to go directly to the management tool for that submission, if you're already logged in to SBI!.
Or log in and go to the Content 2.0 Library, click on the Quick Approve Submissions button, scroll down to that submission, click on its link, and then choose one of two options...
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accept it (editing it if necessary).
(Once accepted, you can also merge it with other similar submissions onto one web page.)
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delete it (with the option to ban the contributor from submitting more content).
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If you accept the submission, C2 builds a new page (the photos may not appear for up to 30 minutes), and the contributor receives an AutoConfirm email from SBI! (only if she asked to be notified), telling her that you accepted and published her submission, with a link to the live page.
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Other visitors read the contributor's submission and can rate it and/or comment on it (optional). They have the opportunity to contribute original content as well.
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You receive a notification email that a comment has been added (if you selected that option) or that you have one waiting for your approval (if you selected that option).
You click on the link in that message and go directly to the comment management tool, or go to the C2 Library and click on the Quick Approve Comments button, then...
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edit and save the comment
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delete it, or
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delete it with the option to ban the commenter.
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Tips
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Write "Invitingly"
Once you know why your visitors want to contribute to your site, you'll know how to write an invitation that "speaks" to them and "gets the content." More details follow in the InvitationBuilder help.
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The 80/20 "Rule"
You don't want to spend all of your time managing contributors' content at the expense of neglecting your own content and other aspects of your site.
This may not sound like a problem now, but the viral marketing that Content 2.0 provides could make your site very popular very quickly (some SBIers have over 15,000 submissions).
You don't want to spend a lot of your time on content management duties.
So keep it simple by adding invitations to select pages only.
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Managing Contributor Content
The key thing to remember when managing your contributors' submissions is that this content is theirs, not yours. Don't edit it to match the "voice" you use throughout your site.
Proofread it for typos and spelling mistakes, and edit out "commercials," spam and similar content (since this is about sharing, not selling).
The title also becomes the keyword in the Meta Keywords tag. If the title your contributor submitted is long and rambling, shorten it (if possible) to about 5 words.
You're not trying to pass Analyze It!. You'll be gaining traffic from the long tail of keywords, so don't worry about getting the title exactly right. But you also don't want a 15 word phrase as the keyword in the Meta tag.
If the submission starts with "Hi, I love your site" or similar "off-topic" text, edit that out, as it will become part of the link description found at the bottom of the invitation page and part of the Meta Description tag. The limit is 150 characters.
Is a submission shorter than 150 characters (e.g., a question asked as part of an FAQ system)?
Consider answering the question inside the submission (instead of as a comment), to pad it to at least 500 characters -- about 50 words or so. This will give the search engines something to analyze to determine the content of the page.
For more information on improving submissions, see Step 9 of The C2 Guide.
Other than those changes, try to leave the content as it was written by your contributors. They'll be very disappointed if they send friends and family to read their submission, then learn that you changed it so much that it's no longer their content, but yours.
Besides, you have better things to do than spend hours editing other people's writing to make it match your writing style or suit your tastes. Remember the 80/20 rule.