Do you utilise E-Zine Articles to sell a product or increase your SEO and make more money? You can also use it to fill your site with content as well. Many people either reprint these articles on their sites or use them to inspire content of their own.
Here is some practical advice about using this service. A lot of people already know what constitutes scraping and plagiarism but for many who are new to using this service, these practical tips can be helpful.
Don’t Scrape!
The articles are free to use as long as you adhere to the terms and conditions indicated by the website. This includes leaving everything in the resource box in tact. Do make sure you are crediting the original author by linking as well otherwise it is considered site scraping and plagiarism and could cost you with your site hosting and your affiliate status with companies like Google.
Don’t Copy!
If you use an article to come up with ideas for your own content articles, be sure you’re not just rewriting a single article as this is plagiarism. Rewriting PLR articles is ok because you have bought the rights to alter that content. If you are simply taking ideas from article directories and promoting them as yours this is wrong. This doesn’t mean you can’t use the site to inspire ideas and take several articles and use them for research to come up with your own original article. Just be careful and consider using a tool like Copyscape to be sure you’re not inadvertently plagiarising.
Writing Articles of Your Own
Feel free to post your articles on this service. You can use it for your own marketing efforts and it helps build search engine rankings when you benefit from the resource box to target your desired key words and phrases.
About Sean Rasmussen
I totally agree with you on that! Being a scraper is not the right strategy when it comes to SEO. Original ideas are always better!
Thanks web pixy for stopping by and commenting. I agree. Originality is what helps people actually succeed online.
Cheers,
Dana
Hi Sean,
I think it’s pretty bad form to copy someone else’s article. I think to be a successful blogger, you really need to be able to write your own stuff. If you don’t think you can write well enough, you can hire people to write for you. There are lots of writers who work really cheaply that you can get from places like Elance. Copying someone else’s work is really not necessary.
I love to read other articles to see what is happening, what other people think and what topics are out there. But just copying stuff is not fair. If you really like the article – let people know the source and help the writer to receive the credit he or she deserves.
Its amazing how some people just go for the short cuts.
If you are having trouble writing articles yourself some of the freelancers are pretty good value
If I’m researching a topic I’ll likely read at least 6 articles about the topic without making notes. I may reread them a couple times if I need to clarify some concept. I usually do this without making notes.
After a couple days, I sit down at vym on the computer and construct a mind map about the topic incorporating my own ideas as well as some of those that have stuck with me from the material I’ve read. By using a mind mapper like vym I can easily rearrange the connections between related thoughts.
The next step is to analyse the mind map and pick the points I want to use in the article. These points become the section headings in my article.
Finally, I’m ready to start writing the content. If I actually quote from a reference then I’ll link back to it, otherwise I may include a short bibliography at the end of the article.
This is how I approach researching a topic. Otherwise, I just sit down at the keyboard and ramble on, in case you hadn’t noticed.
Hi Don
Thankyou for taking the time to share this information. I really like this method you use and I can see how it would be of great value to anyone wanting to come up with some fresher ideas and avoid the traps of plagiarism and “scraping”
I am going to give this a go when I start refurbishing my blog (after the competition!) It is like a method my business coach uses on a mind mapping software program but yours is more tactile.
Ezine.Articles is a great source for ideas and tips – but as you say don’t copy or merely re-write. It doesn’t take much to be able to write your won unique slant on an ideas gleaned from another article.
It helps readers as you will be providing another perspective and that builds your reputation too.
Nowadays, a lot of directories can detect even re-writes and they suspend accounts, PLR is of doubtful use unless almost totally re-written.
Hi Sean
Scraping is a new word to me that I have been reading here and there and now I get to find out what it is.
I am sure we can come up with new content and push past writers block. If the creative juices aren’t flowing then hiring a ghost writer would be the way to go. Hiring someone to write would be far better than ‘borrowing’ other people’s content.
I used to rely very heavily on research ideas in Ezine and Wikipedia to write my articles and is used to take a long time to ensure originaloty.
I now outsource my writing as it makes more sense time wise for me as I have a fantastic writer.
I am about to start submitting article directories now myself – and of course the worry now comes that other people are going to take the shortcut.
I panicked on Tuesday – I had a comment in my spam folder which was essentially a pingback? I think (or trackback….still learning the terminology) and there was an article I had just posted on Monday word for word, pictures and YouTube included on someone else’s site! Grrrrrrrr!!