Content Creation

[surveydan77]

Ok, so we all know that the key to a high ranking website is pages and pages of keyword enriched content. Not having the time and knowledge needed to write such pages, I am wondering what the laws are on borrowing other people's articles. Is it doable as long as I give them credit? Is it never doable? Do I have to get specific permission from that person? Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[PatrickDeese]

You cannot "borrow" someone else's content without their express permission.

Doing so is likely to get a C&D from the site owner or a DMCA complaint. If you are planning to monetize stolen content with AdSense, a motivated victim could actually manage to get your AdSense account closed.

If you don't have the ability to write the content, I would suggest that you hire content writers that do have expertise in the area(s) that you are targeting.

If you don't have the money to pay for decent content, I would suggest taking some writing classes.

[surveydan77]

As for lessons, I am a very experienced and talented writer. It is time and money that I wish to save. As for your underlying negative implications that I am "stealing content," know that they are less than appreciated. A simple, "You need the express permission of the owner" would have sufficed. That being said, is there some kind of official form that must contain the owner's permission and signature? Will an e-mail from them suffice? How does this guarantee that they don't later send a complaint which shuts me down even though I have the permission? I would think that they would be more than eager to lend me their material in exchange for links to them with appropriate credit given. Any friendly advice, information is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[abbeyvet]

I would think that they would be more than eager to lend me their material in exchange for links to them with appropriate credit given.

What makes you think that?

I don't believe there is any official form, but getting permission in writing should suffice.

If it is already on someone elses site though it will by definition be duplicate content and they will be the original source - so it may not be a whole lot of use to you from an SEO viewpoint.

[alika]

I would think that they would be more than eager to lend me their material in exchange for links to them with appropriate credit given.

LOL this is the most common excuse I've heard from those who have been ripping off our content. We learned some folks compiled our articles into ebooks, and when confronted, they said that they're actually helping us by marketing our name out there (but they pocket the cash). And of course, from misguided publishers who think that you need to be grateful that they deemed your content worthy enough to be included in their article collection

[surveydan77]

Ha that's funny. No, I'm not making the assumption that they will be grateful. I'm saying, I would think when I approach them, they will be grateful to make the exchange. But... I will of course not know till I do. Thanks for the insights. I've quickly learned that taking content from other sites is a very big deal (from other posts I've read) even if you quote them. I just recall that in school, it wasn't considered plagiarism as long as you quoted the author, etc... I figured there would be a similar function on the internet... but am learning that there is not. Thanks.

[cellularnews]

I would think that they would be more than eager to lend me their material in exchange for links to them with appropriate credit given.

Hmmm, I pay a writer $300 to write a news article and you want to borrow it in exchange for just a link?

Can you guarantee that link will generate $300 worth of traffic to my site?

[1milehgh80210]

"borrowing other people's articles."

There are at least a dozen article websites that will let you publish other peoples content (as long as you give proper credit/a link/or both).

...However I would'nt base a website on articles that are already on many other websites as SE's tend to discount them.

[Marketing Guy]

Quoting someone in a research project is not the same as lifting an entire article with an aim to gaining high rankings for terms related to it.

There is *fair* use of content - where you don't need to ask permission; you can use a limited amount of content (no more than a paragraph?) as long as you cite the source.

As has been mentioned there are sites out there that you can get free articles from, but generally lots of other people will be using the same ones, so they aren't nearly as effective (for SEO purposes) as original articles are.

MG

[surveydan77]

"Hmmm, I pay a writer $300 to write a news article and you want to borrow it in exchange for just a link?

Can you guarantee that link will generate $300 worth of traffic to my site?"

No, it was obviously worth $300 to you at the time, so any money you make from my link is now discounting the price that you paid minus deflation from the time you've had it up on your site. Inbound links are as important to me as keyword rich articles. I would typically agree to this arrangement no matter which side I was on, but that's my opinion and you are, of course, entitled to yours.

[ken_b]

A good article can pay the publisher several hundred dollars a month in ad revenue.

Why should they let you republish it and let you get that kind of money in exchange for just giving them a link back to their site?

You might have better luck if you just publish a short original promo blurb about the article with a "read the whole article at" link to the original authors or publishers website.

If you can write a well crafted promo blurb you should still be able to get decent ad revenue from your page.