| LED Digest 2526: Guide To Protecting Your Content |
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================================================== The LED Digest Moderated Discussion List "Effective Online Advertising, Since 1997" Data > Information > Knowledge > Wisdom www.GetWebContent.com/LED : the LED's Key Sponsor The Web's Most Experienced SEO Content Providers. www.SEOToolSet.com/training/ : the LED's Premier Sponsor Bruce Clay's Search Engine Optimization Training & Certification ================================================== List Moderator: Published by: Adam Audette LED Digest adam, led-digest.com http://www.led-digest.com .............................................. November 1, 2007 Issue no. 2526 .............................................. .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ==== CONTINUING ================= --== Content Copied by Another Designer ==-- ~ Ron Coble "I am in complete agreement with...going direct to the offender's hosting service..." ~ Grant Crowell "One time I even caught a pastor who copied nearly my entire site verbatim..." --== Social Media - What's the Point? ==-- ~ Al Toman "Well, time to blend up some more trouble for myself!" ~ Ronni Rhodes "Some businesses and companies are not candidates for the latest [trends]..." --== The (Non) Usability of Registration Forms ==-- ~ Michael Linehan "Treating people well snowballs." ======== CONTINUING =============================== From: Ron Coble Subject: Copied content > [A competitor] has copied my packages and price > list, which include search phrases, word for word, > and he is now moving up in Google for the same... > search terms which I'm sure is due to copying my content. - Sarah Hayes, LED Digest 2523 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1936/190/ I am in complete agreement with Mark Frank's suggestion of going direct to the offender's hosting service to get them to remove the stolen content. About 2-3 years ago, I was contacted by a gentleman from the UK who apparently had his site stolen in a similar manner. He contacted me to advise that he had somehow been tracking his offending party and that offender had now copied a good portion of our web site. I was totally unaware of this and he provided suggestions on getting it resolved. His first suggestion was to contact the hosting service for the offender. I sent them an email advising them about what their customer had done, gave them our URL, a link to the whois.sc site showing our original registration date and a link to the archive.org web site that had our URL already embedded in it. I think within a week or 10 days, the offenders site was gone. A little different situation occurred about the same time. We had a public domain image on our site that people began to direct link to. I noticed the web trends were showing bandwidth from a variety of sites, including ebay. I contacted the site owners that I could identify and was very polite in asking them to please, save the image because it was public domain, then put it on their own hosting server as they were using our bandwidth the way they were doing it. About 3 out of 5 emailed apologies and followed my suggestion, the others and the ebay sellers continued to use it as is. I finally determined it was not worth the hassle and the image was not really necessary so I took a public domain animated gif of a guy picking his nose, renamed it to the image name being hot linked and loaded it to my hosting server. Within a month or two, the image stealing stopped. Ron Coble Coble International Marketing Services http://www.importexporthelp.com -------- new post - same topic -------- From: Grant Crowell Subject: Content Stolen by a Competitor I've personally dealt with a large number of unscrupulous web designers who have brazenly copied original content from my own company website (since we appear #1 and #2 in Google for terms such as "web design tips"), who look at it as a short-cut to having their own site show up in Google rankings. One time I even caught a pastor who copied nearly my entire site verbatim and just switched the theme to promote themselves as a "Christian-based" web design firm. Can a competitor copying your content affect your own search results? Not initially at least, since you possess the original content and have had more time to build on link popularity. Could it appear a confusing to visitors and client prospects if they found the same listing by a competitor in a search engine results page (SERP) near yours? Possibly, since it dilutes the uniqueness of your listing, which can create doubts on its authenticity in the minds of those not entirely familiar with your business. While I've found it extremely rare for a copyright infringer to actually overtake the original content site owner in Google rankings, its still imperative for site owners to monitor the web for copyright infringement on a regular basis (at least once a month) so their own site content and brand does not suffer from dilution. Here is my advice on what I've found to be a successful approach in having the infringing content removed. * Step 1: Contact the infringer by email. Mention the page(s) in question and where it matches on their site, and request their compliance within 2 days and a notification that all instances of the infringing content has been removed. Usually this takes care of the majority of situations. If no response or compliance in 2 days... * Step 2: Look up the infringer's WHOIS information (available on domain registry sites such as Network solutions) to get all of their contact information and web hosting information. Contact their web host and request to speak with their department that handles copyright infringement claims on their client websites. * Step 3: Contact the infringer again by email and/or by phone, informing them that you have already contacted their web host regarding the copyright infringement. If still no compliance in 2 days... * Step 4: Find out what other sites have linked to this content, and notify them to the infringement (provide evidence that you are the original copyright owner to them as well), and request that they remove their link to the infringer's site. Also, find out what forums or other online groups the infringer belongs to, and post your infringement notice for others to read. The goal here is to remove some of the infringer's link popularity and bringing evidence of their questionable business practices, giving them an incentive to remedy and remove the infringed content from their site. If still no compliance in 2-5 days, and you truly believe that the copyright infringement is hurting your business or has the potential to hurt your business... * Step 5: Consider the services of an Intellectual Property attorney. For starters, you may be fine with simply copying an IP on your follow up e-mail to the infringer, to show them that you are taking the matter seriously. If still no response, having the IP attorney send the infringer a letter on their stationery or for them to directly contact the infringer's web host will be the next step. If still no response or compliance... * Step 6: Decide if its worth filing a suit for damages (that you can show), or if your time and efforts will be better spent marketing your own content online. Now, I can't stress enough that all website owners should register their website with the United States Copyright Office. The cost is only $45 and will provide you with both protection and much greater ability to go after statutory damages. Websites fall under "literary works" with the US Copyright Office, and all of the registration is available at http://www.copyright.gov/register/literary.html (Right now the office only handles postal mailing of websites, which I recommend putting on a CD. In the near future, the office will allow for online registrations.) For those interesting in learning more about online copyright protection tips for website owners, I would recommend some of the following articles I've written on the subject: * Copyright Law: What Search Marketers Should Know (2-part article series) http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=3622347 * Protecting your website from online thieves (3-part article series) http://www.grantasticdesigns.com/siteprotection1.html Grant Crowell, CEO Grantastic Designs http://www.grantasticdesigns.com ========= Begin Sponsor Message ========= Who *DID* Put The Jolly In Ol' St Nick? Santa's copywriter, of course! How incredible has that person's work been for the past four or five centuries? For SEO'd web content that's fresh as a Christmas rose and relevant as a reindeer, visit http://www.GetWebContent.com/LED today! ========== End Sponsor Message ========== -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Al Toman Subject: Social media > My question is - just how would pursuing some > kind of involvement in "social media" sites benefit > our business? Maybe I am just an old geezer, but > I don't see the point. - Anonymous, from Ask the Experts, Vol. 1 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1938/190/ Will It Blend? Once again, SEO entered into reams of sentences but have at yet hit the nail on the head. If I did that with web design, my clients would send me packing. Nail = cash. Head = in the bank. Or, if you prefer, Head = cash. Nail = in the bank. This "Social Media - What's the Point?" question can be answered in one sentence, maybe 10 words, at most. So, why isn't it EVER answered? Web design? One client. Fifteen hundred bucks - in the bank. See? How simple is that? For $1299 for a Will it Blend blender, I can go to my local Salvation Army, buy a blender for a buck, throw it out at the end of the day, go back and get another one for a buck and so on. At the end of the year, I can blend my heart out, buy a ticket to the West Coast, take the Adam guy out to dinner for a meal that he'll never forget, and still have money left over. Come On People! Mr. Michael Linehan (er... Mr. Mac) points out why Mr. Jacob Nielson IS the guru. Nice read. Well, time to blend up some more trouble for myself~! Will it blend? Al Toman studio9 web design -------- new post - same topic -------- From: Ronni Rhodes Subject: Social media > But, regardless of any internal changes > here, I have to say that social media just > isn't right for every client. - Beth Ann Earle, LED Digest 2525 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1939/190/ I have to wholeheartedly agree. Some businesses and companies are not candidates for the latest "trendy" internet activities. The article below, from Site Pro News, has some very useful insights on Social Media: http://www.sitepronews.com/archives/2007/oct/31prt.html Hope this gives you some food for thought. Kind regards, Ronni Rhodes Ignite Your Site with Sound and Motion! Make Your Marketing Memorable with Rich Media http://www.wbcimaging.com -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Michael Linehan Subject: Registration Forms > The reason for a free download is to get the > visitor / prospect in the sales cycle. Get a valid > email address, follow-up a week later asking > them if they enjoyed the downloaded item > and then push additional items. - Brett Atkin, LED Digest 2522 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1935/190/ A bee-yoo-ti-ful summary of the hypocrisy of so-called free, Brett. It's not free if my email address is demanded. That is a price. It's also not free if the company contacts me later. Now they're stealing my time. A double whammy. To me, these methods smack of the cliched user-car shark. You know the feeling --- you don't even want to walk onto the lot because you just know you're going to be hustled. How much more confident and respectful to truly give away something for free, with the expectation that the sheer amazing quality and value of the white paper / special report / software widget will have some people *wanting* to get back in touch. Those people will be high quality prospects --- much better than the droves who only give their email address with great reluctance and do not want to receive a sales call. Effective follow-up is one of the most central and crucial business activities. But not follow-up based on a forced and manipulated contact. As a generality, I'm tempted to say hustling people constantly requires new 'marks'. Treating people well snowballs. Michael Linehan, Marketing Alchemy www.marketing-alchemy.com (c) Copyright 1995-2007 Orange Wheel, LLC. 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