{"id":437248,"date":"2018-08-15T00:48:44","date_gmt":"2018-08-15T00:48:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/essaypaper.org\/do-you-want-to-start-a-content-or-news-aggregator-blog\/"},"modified":"2018-10-24T08:51:28","modified_gmt":"2018-10-24T08:51:28","slug":"do-you-want-to-start-a-content-or-news-aggregator-blog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/do-you-want-to-start-a-content-or-news-aggregator-blog\/","title":{"rendered":"Do You Want To Start A Content Or News Aggregator Blog?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/span> 4.67<\/span>\/5<\/span><\/span> (3<\/span>) <\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"How<\/p>\n

No time to write articles? A content or news aggregator blog might work for you<\/h3>\n

You don\u2019t necessarily have to write a lot of original content\u00a0<\/span>to be a blogger.<\/p>\n

There are many popular blogs and news sites that work\u00a0as a\u00a0content curator and gain readers by\u00a0sharing content. The key to success is to share great content that is niche targeted to a specific subject or service.<\/p>\n

Before I explain how you can set up your own aggregated site, here are a few examples to show you how it can work.<\/p>\n

The most well-known\u00a0aggregation websites are\u00a0news aggregator services.<\/p>\n

You probably\u00a0read Google News from time to time to check the latest news. It is a perfect example of aggregation of\u00a0trusted sources\u00a0at work.<\/p>\n

\"Google<\/p>\n

Google scoops up articles from\u00a0news organizations such as The New York Times, The Guardian and The Washington\u00a0Post among hundreds of other\u00a0news sources.<\/p>\n

Then it categorises popular news items into top stories or breaking news, and then into different news topics or sub-topics.<\/p>\n

As an aside, it is a pity that Google Reader has been discontinued because I enjoyed using it to read the news.<\/p>\n

The facility to use RSS as a feed reader has disappeared on all browsers, so you need to use a news app now for anything similar to the old RSS news reader.<\/p>\n

The Drudge Report is another example of aggregated content. It is not the best looking site, but it has been around for a long time and gets a lot of traffic.<\/p>\n

\"Drudge<\/p>\n

But it is not just news. PopURLs is a site that pulls content from a\u00a0variety of sources including YouTube, Flickr and social media. It even aggregates (again) Google News.<\/p>\n

There are hundreds of sources on its site, and for an aggregator, it has a very slick user interface.<\/p>\n

\"Popurls\"<\/p>\n

Lastly, there is Blog Engage. It is a text-based\u00a0blog that gathers\u00a0web content from thousands of blogs.<\/p>\n

It is a site that is a win-win. Bloggers get more traffic, and Blog\u00a0Engage makes money from advertising.<\/p>\n

\"Blog<\/p>\n

How can you start a\u00a0content aggregator site?<\/h3>\n

You can start by building site content manually. When you do this, it is called curated content.<\/p>\n

An excellent example of a curated site is The Passive Voice. The Passive Guy post articles about all things publishing.<\/p>\n

All you need to do is grab a small\u00a0piece of an article and perhaps its image as well, and post it (always) with a link through to the original article.<\/p>\n

Here is an example of creating a curated post using an article from Publishers Weekly.<\/p>\n

Books for Emerging Readers<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n

Publishers discuss the unsung value of early chapter books in fostering literacy<\/span><\/p>\n

\"publishers<\/span><\/p>\n

Ask educators or editors, or even some parents, what constitutes the trickiest writing assignment in children\u2019s literature, and a lot of them will say the same thing: the humble chapter book.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think it is perhaps the hardest category to write for, because you are writing for kids who are just learning to read on their own, but it\u2019s incredibly important to create a book that will encourage them,\u201d says Erica Finkel, who edits Ellen Potter and Felicita Sala\u2019s Big Foot and Little Foot series at Abrams. Continue reading here.<\/span><\/p>\n

You can do this on any blogging platform, even on free sites such as Blogger, Tumblr or free WordPress.<\/p>\n

To build a\u00a0multiple source blog, you will need a WordPress self-hosted\u00a0site<\/h3>\n

The advantage of a self-hosted site is that you can automate the process of creating article snippets and links and even posts by using a site\u2019s\u00a0RSS feed and a plugin.<\/p>\n

If you are using a premium site on wordpress.com, there might be plugins available for you, but you will need to check.<\/p>\n

When I first started Just Publishing Advice, it was part of my personal site, and I used this technique to set it up as a news feed for publishing news.<\/p>\n

By luck, I was able to find a screenshot of the early days of my site by using the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.<\/p>\n

\"JPA<\/p>\n

It ran very happily for a couple of years, automatically posting fresh news every day from a handful of sources. But in the end, I decided to change tack and build Just Publishing by writing original content.<\/p>\n

But at least you can be reassured that I know how content aggregation works.<\/p>\n

To create an automated, or semi-automated site you will need to use a premium plugin. I used the WP RSS Aggregator plugin.<\/p>\n

I can vouch for how well it worked. I also have to add that I have no affiliation, so I am offering my opinion as a user only.<\/p>\n

There is a free version that only publishes text snippets.<\/p>\n

If you want to add images, set up individual posts and style your site\u2019s aggregation, you will need to buy premium add-ons.<\/p>\n

I used the Excerpts & Thumbnails add-on, and it worked perfectly for me for more than two years.<\/p>\n

To give you a better idea of what you can do, here is a short video using the Feed to Post add-on.<\/p>\n