Blogging FAQS: Someone will steal my work / my content /my ideas

Am I the first blogger to tackle FAQs about blogging? Probably not. Am I swiping someone else's idea? Definitely not. Could someone look at this series and think, “I can do this better”? Maybe. Do I care? Not in the slightest. Should I? Nope.

Once your work joins the public domain, it's fair game for others to riff off, add their spin, or adapt it to their niche. It's courteous to tip your hat to your inspiration sources (plus, Google loves a good citation), and let’s face it, karma has a way of nipping at your heels if you don’t. Many bloggers think their audience only reads their content, but readers are savvy – they notice when content is copied, and they're not shy about letting you know.

If you're reading this and have your own blogging FAQs, I promise I haven't peeked. I deliberately avoided searching to prevent ‘Unconscious Absorption' – that phenomenon where you read something, forget it, then think it’s your own original idea. It's a common pitfall, and I wanted to avoid it for this post.

“But people are stealing my work!” you might lament.

There are those who will copy your work word for word, known as scrapers. It's like playing whack-a-mole across the internet to shut them down, but it's an uphill battle. Then there are the ‘legal' scrapers who repost your content under article marketing site terms and conditions, but sometimes forget the courtesy of attribution. I remember Bruce from Mississippi, who copied my article, delete out all UK references, and then claimed ignorance about my site's nature. Charming, right?

And then there are those sneaky souls who mix half your article with their intro, hoping you won’t notice – until CopyScape or CopySentry says otherwise.

You can try to safeguard your work with a Creative Commons license. There are six options to choose from, and it lets your readers know how they can use your content.

Deep-linking in your posts is another tactic. If someone's going to scrape your content and strip out the links, at least make them work for it!

Then there’s the outright theft of images or verbatim content. I had a blogger join Birds on the Blog who tried to pass off a Daily Mail article as her own. Needless to say, she was swiftly shown the door. Another blogger borrowed images from newspapers, even with attribution – still a no-no, leading to a purge of all those images.

Then you've got the drama of false accusations of content theft. A client of mine published a guest post that appeared elsewhere. The original site slapped us with a DMCA notice, despite the author’s claims to her copyright. It took ages and a battle with Google to clear that up.

Remember, copyright is retained by the creator unless they explicitly sign it away, like to a publishing house.

Lastly, PLR (Private Label Rights) users are in the clear if they rewrite the content enough to make it new. Buying PLR and reusing it isn’t theft – they've paid for the right to do so.

When blogging on multiple sites, staying original can be tough. I know from experience. But you can do it!

In these scenarios, it's not really content theft, though some might call it plagiarism which is different.

So, how do you discern what's theft and what's not?

As a reader, you might not always know, but content creators develop a sixth sense for this. With experience, you learn to pick your battles. Focus on promoting your content and branding it visibly, rather than fretting over potential theft. If someone does swipe your content, remember, that's on them and their karma, not you.

Ultimately, blogging requires a thick skin and a discerning eye. Your energy is best spent on creating and sharing great content, rather than sweating over the ‘what ifs'. Remember, in the world of content creation, your unique voice and authentic contribution are your strongest assets.

Sarah x