Stefan - 1:25 am on Jun 12, 2010 (gmt 0)

Sad thing is if that if you are the "content writer" all those scrapers will take it. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Go from there.

Not necessarily. If your site is strong enough in its niche, the scrapers will never come close to you in the serps.

Lots of great advice in this thread. Nice to see it happening.

My sites are primarily my writing. I've been at it for several years and it's paid off in inbound links including some from some universities and government sites.

Yes, perfect - that's what true orginal content is, and it really pays off. In my case, it's mostly reports for the ENGO website group, but also advisories, guidelines, etc, all with much pertinent, unique text. We get unsolicited inbound links all the time from blogs, educational sites, wiki, tourists, you name it.

With regard to style: Just make it original, interesting, and don't worry about perfect grammar. Even if your first lanquage is not English, it doesn't matter if there's good info, or a good story associated. People will find it, like it, and link to it.

Wrt to format: I really think plain html is best, with no code bloat or flash. Everything finds it, and no one is annoyed it when it loads.

Again, great thread, and thanks for starting it old_expat.