Content Generation For Websites

Speaking generally.... any original work you create automatically attracts a copyright. This means that as the creator of the work, you have exclusive rights for a certain time period to that piece of work - which includes its publication, distribution and adaptation.

Patents, Copyrights & Trademarks For Dummies
(For Dummies (Business & Personal Finance))

Copyright laws differ country to country - but the basic principle is the same - an original work created by you - is yours exclusively. Someone can't take that piece of work and claim as their own.

This is important to remember when considering whether to, or how to use someone elses work.

Point To Remember: Always check the copyright provisions on content you wish to use and if in doubt - ask!

Attribution is simply the means of crediting a piece of work to the original creator.

Remember when you were at school and you had to reference the work in your projects and research? Well, that's a form of attribution.

Attribution is required by most copyright licenses and should be considered the most basic of requirements made by a license. By receiving the appropriate attribution for their work, an author is able to develop a positive reputation.

Most importantly - to me it is a great sign of respect and appreciation.

Attribution is the reason that most people write and submit articles to Article Directories or even blog. They are hoping that their work is compelling and interesting enough that others will want to use it on their sites or in their newsletters -- and receive the appropriate credit for its use.

I discuss the use of 'author resource boxes' on Article Marketing - Increase Sales & Traffic in 10 Days -- the author resource box is the way to ensure that you receive the correct credit for your articles.

When using someone elses work on my website or blog, it is important to attribute the work to them. One way that I like is:

On his blog, Blog Name, Joe Blogg said:
Excerpt of what Joe Blogg said etc etc etc

This way, the author gets a link to their website and I get the use of their content on my site.

Point To Remember: Unless you have explicit permission to use content without credit - DON'T! Always give credit to the original creator.

One way to generate content for your website, is to reprint articles about your subject.

This is a win win situation for you and the article writer. You get to use their content, and they get the benefit of the attribution on your site. If they are a savvy article writer, they will also have a link to their website in their Author Resource box so that when you publish an article on your site, they get a backlink - which is great for improving Search Engine rankings.

When using articles, you need to take care to use quality articles. Not all articles are created equally.

There are a couple of ways that you can reprint articles on your site:

1. Manually - by visiting the article directory and (by following the instructions on the site) copying the full article content and pasting it to your site.

2. Using a RSS feed and RSS Publisher on your site. Most Article Directories will have a RSS feed for each category that you can use to publish articles automatically with.

If you run a Wordpress Blog, I recommend the use of Auto Blogged Plugin.

When reprinting articles from Article directories, you must reprint the article as it is written, with all links.

You should also make yourself aware of the Article directory's Terms Of Service for publishers.

Please be aware that when you reprint articles on your site, you will be placing links to other sites on your site and may be providing your readers with a path off of your site. As such, care should be exercised with the number of articles you use and the frequency with which you reprint them.

Using articles from article directories in moderation, is a great way to add compelling content to your site.

This is a great question!

According to Google:

Duplicate content generally refers to substantive blocks of content within or across domains that either completely match other content or are appreciably similar...In some cases, content is duplicated across domains in an attempt to manipulate search engine rankings or garner more traffic via popular or long-tail queries.

Typically, Duplicate Content is frowned on by the Search Engines. However, when using articles to promote your site, products or services - the duplicate content debate becomes a little greyer.

Let's consider this: articles are written to be reproduced - so of course, there is going to be duplicate content on sites all over the Internet - particularly if your article is really good.

As a site owner, I strongly recommend that you only use other peoples content to add more depth to your site - not to wholly create your site. Write your own content on a regular basis - daily, weekly or monthly and make sure that is the real meat.

Duplicate Content Debate: Download A Free Report - no signups, just click the link - it's an immediate download.

This is a great idea and has only really been gaining momentum in the last few months (maybe 12 months).

There are now article submission services available that will 'post' articles not only to article directories but also to blogs and sites in their network. This gives us, as site owners the ability to become part of their submission network and accept content related to their niche.

Depending on the service, the way articles are published changes - although most require a small piece of code installed on your website.

As a member of the publishing network, you can select the number of articles you want to publish a day and the type of articles you want (normally by selecting keywords or specific categories).

Services that I have tested and useful are:

1. My Article Network - will publish directly to wordpress blogs

2. Syndicate Kahuna

3. Unique Article Wizard

The one thing that I have found is that sometimes the articles may be miscategorized and you need to review submissions on a regular basis.

If you are running your own blog or article section, you can always invite other experts in your niche to be guest authors.

The benefit to the guest author is that they are able to credential themselves further within their niche. Part of the agreement with your guest authors could be that they can link to their own sites (back linking to improve Search Engine rankings) and profile their own or affiliate products.

While the benefit to yourself as a site owner is that you get new content, related to your niche from an expert. This content will most likely be unique and certainly topical and up to date.

To ask an expert to be a guest author - all you need to do is 'just do it'. Find their contact details and speak to them - tell them what's in it for them and what you expect from the relationship and ask them to participate.

Using Guest Writers is certainly a great way to add content to your site.