An interesting thing happened the other day. I found a new way to promote our social media tools. After sending out an email blast to promote this to our personal friends, prospects and clients, we got a similar email promoting the same thing that came to us the next week.
In this day of content and ideas as a freemium (totally free), it makes sense to share content and ideas with others. So the question that comes up- is it stealing or plagiarism when you take someone else’s ideas or contents and use them as your own. The answer in my opinion, is yes.
Going this route not only hurts the developers of the ideas, creative and content, it also hurts your reputation in the online community. The online community can be a ruthless one. They have been known to find ways to blacklist you or start an online campaign against you. Obviously this is not something that you want to chance.
So how do you use other people’s ideas, graphics and/or content without stealing them or plagiarizing their efforts all the while still benefiting from using these things?
Here’s the answer.
Just give them credit and provide a link back to their site.
Wow! That’s it? Yep, that’s all you need to do to create a win-win for all. Now let’s look at what the benefits of this are:
- you get to use the idea, graphic or content to improve your brand/company
- you get to flatter the person whose content, graphic or idea you are using by mentioning their name and website
- those flattered people will see that you are just looking to build your business and since you gave them credit for their ideas/content they are probably willing to promote your usage of their content and push it out to their following which could bring you a whole new market and more business and followers (retweeted through twitter, etc.)
- on the same note, others will see you are an ethical digital citizen and would be happy to interact and share more ideas with you because it is mutually beneficial
- lastly, these digital citizens are more likely to promote or retweet your message because you are an upstanding digital citizen yourself- you know the old adage you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.
So for those of you out there who wanted to use other people’s ideas, graphics or content… I say have at it.
All I ask is please give the originator credit for all their hard work. These build stronger relationships instead of breaking relationships if caught in the act.
Also, here is an SEO tip to share when sharing an idea or someone else’s content, create a link with one of the originators keywords to link back to their site.
An example would be:
This article written by Tess Wittler The Builder’s Writer or
This idea developed by Dale Berkebile the inbound marketing expert or This photo taken by Stacey Pinkney of Simple Moments Photography
See you want to first give credit to the person you are borrowing the idea, content, photo or graphic from- then provide a link to their website. Using a keyword the originator would like to be ranked for in search engines helps pass on SEO Credit back to their website, blog or bio. Happy sharing and don’t forget to give credit to those who you learn from and share with.
Please share your thoughts or other ideas on this topic. Just leave a comment below. Thanks.
Here’s another way around it, pay for it! Sites such as iStockphoto.com offer a wealth of graphics, audio, etc. for very reasonable rates. Plus, they offer clear guidelines on how to use their content. Sure, links and credit are nice, but content creators need income just like everyone else. It’s win, win.
Here’s another way around it, pay for it! Sites such as iStockphoto.com offer a wealth of graphics, audio, etc. for very reasonable rates. Plus, they offer clear guidelines on how to use their content. Sure, links and credit are nice, but content creators need income just like everyone else. It’s win, win.
Heidi,
I am 100% behind paying for things as well. Since all blog articles should have photos, I think using Creative Commons items under Flickr can be very cost effective. I do not use iStockphoto, but it looks like this is a reasonable option to go as well and probably much more easy to search than Flickr. I tend to pay even more for photos through many other photo-houses or by hiring a photographer depending upon the level, quality and creativity needed for the project.
I agree content creators need income, but I find having links and credit drive more traffic back to my website. Typically the people sharing my ideas may not be able to afford my services so creating more inbound links to my site helps the active and qualified searchers find me better. So a link back to my website is huge and very valuable. I do not make money selling my content, I make my money building brands. Sometimes this includes developing content for customers, but it is not the content I create for my company that I get paid for, it is just a by-product to get found. So I would not write off getting credit and a link back to your site. The next step is developing a way to generate qualified sales leads or sales from your site. This is where you make real money.
This is what we help our clients do-
1. Get Found
2. Convert Visitors to Clients
3. Review monthly progress and improve next months marketing efforts for better results.
Heidi,
I am 100% behind paying for things as well. Since all blog articles should have photos, I think using Creative Commons items under Flickr can be very cost effective. I do not use iStockphoto, but it looks like this is a reasonable option to go as well and probably much more easy to search than Flickr. I tend to pay even more for photos through many other photo-houses or by hiring a photographer depending upon the level, quality and creativity needed for the project.
I agree content creators need income, but I find having links and credit drive more traffic back to my website. Typically the people sharing my ideas may not be able to afford my services so creating more inbound links to my site helps the active and qualified searchers find me better. So a link back to my website is huge and very valuable. I do not make money selling my content, I make my money building brands. Sometimes this includes developing content for customers, but it is not the content I create for my company that I get paid for, it is just a by-product to get found. So I would not write off getting credit and a link back to your site. The next step is developing a way to generate qualified sales leads or sales from your site. This is where you make real money.
This is what we help our clients do-
1. Get Found
2. Convert Visitors to Clients
3. Review monthly progress and improve next months marketing efforts for better results.
Thanks for the mention, Dale!
Thanks for the mention, Dale!
I happened to post to my blog today, giving credit to all those whose ideas have made a significant impact on me…hope people see this as giving credit and not stealing! How many ideas are really and truly yours, and not just build upon the mental giants that went before?
I happened to post to my blog today, giving credit to all those whose ideas have made a significant impact on me…hope people see this as giving credit and not stealing! How many ideas are really and truly yours, and not just build upon the mental giants that went before?
Sure thing Tess, always happy to help out.
Rhonda, giving credit and potentially a link is all that is needed in most situations. You are right that we are highly influenced by the people that have come before us. However if you use their exact words, images or ideas just give them some credit and a link to their site. People like when they are talked about in good light and happy to have other pass their ideas around as long as they are also credited with the development of the idea.
I too borrow ideas, thoughts, or articles from people. I do however always try to give my slant or take on their idea (you know add something of my own) and always give them credit and try to give them a link as well. This usually helps me build a stronger relationship with that person and sometimes we even start collaborating on how to share other ideas to better both of our situations.
Heidi Thorne of Promo with Purpose is a perfect example of this. We met through Twitter and we help each other often by retweeting each others ideas or by adding comments to each others blog article to help educate or bring up other ideas on the topic. This adds value to both of us.
So the point is use someone else’s ideas as a way to not only educate your following and improve yourself, but also as a way to build these relationships. In the end you will get more out of a relationship like the one Heidi and I have than you will if you just stole one of Heidi’s articles and repositioned it as your own without offering credit to Heidi.
I hope this helps!
Sure thing Tess, always happy to help out.
Rhonda, giving credit and potentially a link is all that is needed in most situations. You are right that we are highly influenced by the people that have come before us. However if you use their exact words, images or ideas just give them some credit and a link to their site. People like when they are talked about in good light and happy to have other pass their ideas around as long as they are also credited with the development of the idea.
I too borrow ideas, thoughts, or articles from people. I do however always try to give my slant or take on their idea (you know add something of my own) and always give them credit and try to give them a link as well. This usually helps me build a stronger relationship with that person and sometimes we even start collaborating on how to share other ideas to better both of our situations.
Heidi Thorne of Promo with Purpose is a perfect example of this. We met through Twitter and we help each other often by retweeting each others ideas or by adding comments to each others blog article to help educate or bring up other ideas on the topic. This adds value to both of us.
So the point is use someone else’s ideas as a way to not only educate your following and improve yourself, but also as a way to build these relationships. In the end you will get more out of a relationship like the one Heidi and I have than you will if you just stole one of Heidi’s articles and repositioned it as your own without offering credit to Heidi.
I hope this helps!