Is It Ok To Copy Other Peoples Articles?
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Now don’t tell me you haven’t thought of this before. The beauty of the Internet is it’s a sea of information and there are topics on just about everything imaginable which includes articles on what we as blogger’s are already writing about and marketing.
I mean, take my blog for example… Making Money Online. Millions of money making articles already written and just waiting to be plucked from the online money tree. Heck, with all the articles around on making money online I don’t even have to try! I could set up my blog with code implemented that just pulls money making articles automatically from other sources. There’s a word for these sites, “splogs” (spam + blog = splog).
So before the accusations start to fly I don’t do it, I wouldn’t and here’s why:
1: Duplicate Content - The major search engines, especially google will penalize a site for having duplicate content and this will damage a sites search engine rankings dramatically.
2: Copyright Law - Many articles have been copyrighted and if you get caught using other peoples written material you can land up in hot water and possibly even have law suits filed against you.
3: Your Precious Readers - One of the main reasons you get RSS subscribers and other readers visiting your site on a regular basis is because they like the way you write. If you’re pulling articles from here there and everywhere, the style of writing will not be consistent and sooner or later your regulars will smell a rat and bugger off!
4: Original Content - Search engines love unique and original articles so writing in your own style and from your own perspective will give you a thumbs up from the major engines and you’ll get better rankings.
That’s just a few good reasons I can think of for now, please feel free to comment if you know of some more.
Apart from these reasons it’s simply unethical to copy other peoples articles and if you have any kind of business head on your shoulders you’ll agree with me when I say that good business ethics go a long way.
Having said the above it is very hard to write on topics these days that haven’t already been covered by someone somewhere. A good idea, especially when you’re suffering from “bloggers block” is to check out articles on your niche topic and make them your own. By this I mean write articles on the same subjects but using your own words and giving your own thoughts and opinions on the topic.
Picasso once said, “Good Artists Copy, Great Artists Steal”, but he wasn’t concerned about his search engine rankings!!
8 Comments on this post
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kexbrown said:
I say read other articles and then answer some questions. How did the article make you feel? What did the author leave out of the article? What would make the author’s ideas even better?
Answering some of these questions and then writing your own article from the answers you generate makes your article even better than the original. There is no need to copy. Unless you are lazy and have a lot of money to pay lawyers and bloggers who prosecute.
Great article that needs to be repeated again and again. Thanks.
January 4th, 2008 at 2:50 am -
David Chew said:
I don’t think copy people article is good and not many would like, think about all the hard work that had done to accomplish such a nice content and people just took it without permission. I have wrote a post on my blog about do it your own way.
January 4th, 2008 at 8:46 am -
Toni said:
Lol I’ve never heard that Picasso quote before. I remember when someone ripped off a design I’d done for a large UK based ISP someone said to me that I should be flatered and its when people don’t steal my designs I should worry
January 5th, 2008 at 1:26 pm -
Bill said:
Hey there…curious why you say on your About page that this is a Do Follow blog…however you have the No Follow active on the comment section.
Did you change your mind?
January 6th, 2008 at 11:20 pm -
Justin Sawyer said:
Hi Bill
Thanks for the comment.
It’s a wordpress plugin that overides the default “No Follow” for a commentators link. So the links are all “Do Follow” unless I feel a particular link shouldn’t be followed then I just add a “/nofollow” on to the URL.
Have double checked and unless I’m overlooking something it seems fine. Would appreciate it if you let me know why you’re thinking the comments are “No Follow”?
Justin.
January 6th, 2008 at 11:50 pm -
lankapo said:
ok I admit i done that before.
But my reader only read the headline because the content is too dull
people will always love to read what you have to say, no matter how bad is ur english hehe
for that I learn my lesson
January 7th, 2008 at 4:37 pm -
Erica said:
Do you have any opinions on Creative Commons licenses?
I admit I don’t know a lot about them.January 11th, 2008 at 11:04 pm -
Justin Sawyer said:
@Erica
Thanks for your comment. Unfortunately I know nothing about Creative Commons Licenses either.
Sorry
January 12th, 2008 at 11:12 am
