Is it possible to steal blog content ethically? The answer is yes, but if you follow these guidelines, you will be forced into actually thinking, thus creating your own original content. Don’t get the wrong idea from this article’s evil title! This is more about being influenced by other content and learning, not stealing. There are many different types of bloggers, and blogging means different things to different people. This is basically my personal blog and is not niche related, but I do apply some seo tactics to gain search engine traffic.

The thing is, unless you are just writing original poetry, fiction, creating your own art and so forth; your blog is not original (not 100% original). It is impossible to be 100% original because everything we do is influenced by things others have already done.

Let’s take a look at some particular blog models:

The News Reporting Blogger

Many bloggers re-report the news. Some are into politics, entertainment, trends and so on. If you are not the person who actually broke the story, you are stealing (according to the AP). A recent hot topic is media giant The Associated Press and their republishing guidelines. Take a look at it:

AP republishing guidelines

AP republishing guidelines

I do find the AP’s republishing guidelines to be ridiculous – those prices are a bit high. Every major news source (like CNN, Fox and others) has permission from the AP to use their stories, but they pay for it and give them credit. If I announce that comedian George Carlin died on my blog (like many did yesterday), I obviously heard it from somewhere – does that make me a thief? I don’t think so, but if it were up to the media corporations, you would be fined and charged with a crime.

In my opinion, the AP should be thanking and paying us to get their info out there! (as long as we give them credit)

If you put a picture of Britney Spears on your blog, but didn’t actually take the picture yourself, are you a content thief? In some people’s eyes, yes you are. Here are some basic ethical guidelines for using other people’s content.

  • If you use a picture from someone else, make sure you at least link and give credit to the originator. In blogging or Internet terms, links are good and you want lots of them – especially one way links to you. How many uncredited pictures do you have on your site? I have 12.
  • If you quote another blogger, give them a link and full credit.
  • Never copy and paste entire paragraphs from another blogger or site owner – it’s rude and wrong. Hell, I’ll drive across the country and burn your house down for doing that (ok, maybe I won’t…haha)
  • If another site owner has pictures which are clearly marked as their property, do not steal them and put them on your site. If you like it that much, ask them for permission. Some authors are really touchy about it.
  • Most bloggers like links and like to be quoted. If someone lets you know they didn’t like you using their information, remove it and apologize. You can quote me for free as long as I get a link.
  • Just give links and credit every time. I have been thanked for using other people’s quotes and pictures, but I give links and credit. I have never been asked to remove a link or picture.
  • Feel free to link to this post. I’d like it if you linked to all of my posts:)

The Money or Affiliate Marketing Blogger

This is where the most stealing happens of all blog types. I personally may or may not have other blogs in this niche that are not associated with this blog. I don’t want Google or anybody else knowing what I do or what I own. While some consider that in itself to be unethical, I think of it as being smart.

Here’s how I would go about creating content for this niche: Don’t steal outright. If you went to school, you should know how to write a book report. If you read ten articles about using adsense from other sites, you probably learned something from them. You can create your own unique blog post from those ten very easily. Read them, learn and add some of your own ideas – don’t just cut and paste. Don’t just change a few words, change it completely and make it your own. Check out my post on article marketing for a more in depth look into doing this.

It’s much like writing a song. There are thousands of hit songs that have the same exact musical chord progression on all of them. The songs are all different, but the general backbone is exactly the same. If someone had copywritten the D-C-G chord progression, thousands of number one singles never would have happened. Originality is your job. It is impossible to write a 100% original make money blogging post, but you can give it your personality and spin – that’s what gives you credibility and originality.

Now, blatant stealing happens every second on the Internet, but if you are at least honest, give credit and a link, you are doing better than 99% of everyone else. If you bitch too much about stealing and protecting every word you write, you are asking for congress to meter the Internet – we sure as hell don’t want that.

When you publish anything on line, it’s like putting a brand new Sony Playstation out on the street corner and not expecting anyone to steal it. They will steal it…period. Welcome to the Internet.

Having said that, I still don’t want new protection laws and Internet rules. If big corporations had their way, there would be two separate Internet’s: The fast lane for paid businesses, and the slow lane for everyone else. What big corporation wouldn’t want to actually own the Internet? Let’s hope that never happens and we retain net neutrality (click the link to see how you can help preserve our rights). Basically, you have to take care of your own backyard. If some scraper site republishes an entire post from you, take a look at the ads on their site. I recently had it happen to me. I reported an adsense violation to Google, and the site was removed in less than a week. So take care of your own content, give credit for every picture or quote you use and just be a good blogger…it’s not that much to ask for.

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