I’ve been seeing a lot online about plagiarism lately & either it is on the rise or people are becoming wary of being prosecuted for theft; but it hadn’t really affected me personally until…
A couple of weeks ago I got an email from a prominent video marketer & about an hour later I got the exact same email from a different guy! I was quite shocked at the blatant copying & deleted the second guy from my list & Facebook. Actually I wrote & told them about it… what would you have done?
All of us who work online legitimately, need to be super aware of the consequences of being a copycat.
Google scans our web pages & blogs & just won’t rank us highly or at all. Website owners, when they find out they have been copied, will send a Cease & Desist letter or ask Google to take the site down. There is just no need to cause offence in this way.
I always tell my clients “people buy you before they buy a product” & in this cut-throat marketplace the words ‘know’ ‘like’ & ‘trust’ are of the utmost importance. You will have a successful business if you stick to what you know best & share it with others in your own unique way. Much as I am doing writing this… this information is available but I am telling you about it in my own words.
Attribution is another minefield. My advice is to get to grips with your integrity & behave ethically.
We all draw inspiration from published works but there is no point in being unscrupulous & trying to pass off someone else’s work as your own… you could get sued for $500,000 or more.
Here are some ways to keep safe:
If you quote someone do it like this:
“The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.” – Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)
Give credit to the source of your information:
“It is possible to build Apps without knowing any code” as is described in Entrepreneur Magazine’s September 2106 article about Tara Reed
Tell people where you got your facts:
“This year, more than two-thirds of college graduates graduated with debt, and their average debt at graduation was about $35,000” said Mark Kantrowitz [writing for time.com/money]
If you are giving someone else’s opinion or you are not sure of the facts, find a source:
“No matter how much doctors push the treatment, chemotherapy might not be the best option in the fight against cancer, as a new study [1] shows up to 50 percent of patients are killed by the drugs — not the disease, itself. [2]”
Insert a hyperlink to your source or insert [1] [2] etc, hyperlink & create a list of sources the end of your article or post. Remember that hyperlinks can get lost when people share articles so writing “…as a new study by the Lancet [1]” would be belt & braces in this case!
[1] http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanonc/article/PIIS1470-2045%2816%2930383-7/abstract
[2] http://trendingnewsguide.com/2016/09/06/chemotherapy-kills-more-people-than-cancer-2/
If you know something is common knowledge or in the public domain you don’t need to attribute it. If you watch an incident & photograph it no-one can complain either.
More About Images …
Image copyright is yet another area where you can make a costly mistake [a]. The best way is to take your own photos or use an image from one of the many royalty free sites – I wrote a blog post about where & how to find free images here & another here. If you want to use a photo belonging to someone else ask them for permission.
Now for the Good stuff:
If you say something like “my opinion is… & so&so agrees with me” – see here … [& provide a link] you are increasing your own personal credibility as a writer/blogger
If you know it is okay to share do so by mentioning the author/copyright owner by name & link to their original image
& with thanks to Sue Fleckenstein http://suefleckenstein.com who has been advising me on PLR copy, here is a plagiarism checker site she showed me where you can check your own words!
Did you know any of this? What do you think? I would love to hear
4 Comments
Lack of attribution is one of the things that prevents bloggers from “making it”. In the blogging challenge I cover it, yet of all the things I share in those 30 days no one asks about this. More people worry about words, images and word count over correctly attributing content, ideas, quotes and inspiration. I think it’s an ego thing; the writer believes they will look “less than an authority” for sharing thoughts by someone else.
Yes it possibly is an ego thing Sarah… or just lack of experience. Maybe you could set another mini challenge [where I do link to sarkemedia] on attribution. “Write a post containing 5 attributions without upsetting anyone?”
Good article. As a photographer, image copyright is close to my heart and I’m always amazed by how many people think it’s ok to copy any image they find on the Internet.
Thank you Linda… I just think most people don’t know 🙂