Clarifications, Learnings and Peace
Learnings
My blog post yesterday about duplicate content and it's effects on your site (and others) has stirred up a bit of a hornets nest - which was absolutely not my intention.
My reasons for writing the post were simply to share learnings with everyone else here at WA about the negative effect that copying and pasting content from somewhere else onto your site can have both on you and the place from where you took it.
If you wish to use content from another site on your own then you should write about it, rather than copy it. Reference the original source of the content and provide a link for a reader to go and see the original article for themself.
Everything you publish on your site should be your own original content if you want to attract rankings and organic search traffic, Publishing original content also shows you to be a genuine and trustworthy marketer,
Clarifications
Several people made comments on my post yesterday about what a terrible thing it was for the person to have done, especially as they are a WA member who should have known better.
I want to make it abundantly clear that I am satisfied that the person in question had no intention of causing any harm to our site and their actions came from ignorance and not malice.
I have been accused in places of publicly shaming another WA member.
At no point have I ever mentioned the name of this person and I have no intention of ever doing so. The only people who know who was involved are me, Heidi, the person involved, and Kyle (because I asked for his advice in dealing with the situation). I believe that the matter was correctly dealt with in private. I also believe that I was correct to publish the post to share learnings with other WA members and hopefully prevent others from experiencing a similar scenario.
Peace
The thing that makes WA such a special place is you - the members of this fantastic site.
I would like to put on record my thanks to everyone who has offered support both publicly and in private. I can assure you that Heidi and I are extremely grateful to you all.
While this incident has been an unfortunate and unnecessary occurrence which has been a bit of a setback in our plans, it will in no way deter us from achieving the goals we have set for our business this year.
In any business you are going to experience crises, problems and setbacks. The secret of success lies in how you react to them. I firmly believe that there is no point in dwelling on it. Deal with the incident and then move on. None of us can change the past but all of us can shape the future - particularly our own future,.
I bear no ill-will to the person involved (and neither should anyone else). I accept that it was an honest mistake. As far as I am concerned the matter is now closed.
I have tried throughout my time here at WA to help other members as much as possible. If anyone doubts that then I refer you to when Heidi and I offered a free copy of our book to any WA member who wanted it, prior to us publishing it.
I have no interest in falling out with anyone and I will continue to help anyone who asks me, if I can.
My focus will continue to be on building my business with Heidi, working on achieving my other goals, and helping others where possible.
I wish you all every success in your businesses for 2020
Regards
Dave
Recent Comments
50
Hey Dave, I read this post and didn't know what you were referring to, so I searched back on my emails that I haven't read yet and read over yours. I didn't see anything negative in your post, except don't do what this unknown person did. I may write my research down word for word, but when I am putting together my posts, I put it in my own words.
Take care
Charlotte
Hi Charlotte.
That the exact right thing to do. We all do research and glean ideas from others everywhere online.
The key is to write your own personal and individual version of what you think on the subject.
Many thanks
Dave
What a strange world we live in...how anyone could have read your post yesterday in any other way than how you intended is beyond me, but alas we are not all the same so I guess that's the way the world revolves.
I wouldn't give it a second thought Dave to be frank, folk will think what they like...and there's nothing you can do about it.
Be true to you is all you can do! Jules
Hi Jules
I was a bit surprised at a few comments but as you say - we all see things in our own way.
I thought I would just add some clarification and then draw a line under the matter.
We will continue to be true to our values, work hard, share learnings and enjoy the journey!
Thanks for your support
Dave
Hi Dave,
Not that I felt an explanation was needed, I felt the sincerity of your post yesterday. “Innocent ignorance”, nothing more, no malice. I know how I would have felt if I were the person who caused this brief setback for you and Heidi!
My takeaway is that the more you and Heidi learn during your journey the better it is for all of us! You could have remained silent, you chose to share, something that Heidi and yourself do so well.
And now...you have taken it a step further by putting this out here to not only clear the air but extend the olive branch as well. I’m hooked, I am always going to be in your corner! It’s called building trust, the two of you excel at it!
Gerry 😊👍🏻
Thank you so much Gerry. I really appreciate your kind comment and support.
I have always tried to share learnings with people on this site. I have taken in so much great teaching that I like to give something back in return. I hope most readers took it for what it was and learned a valuable lesson from our experience.
I assure you that I am very honoured to have you in our corner!
Thanks again
Dave
Oh! Thank you Dave, your contributions are fantabulous! Just keep doing what you do my friend!
Gerry 👍🏻
A second clear and concisely written account of what happened, how you feel about it and a learning outcome shared for the benefit of all of us.
I hope that people will take this in the positive spirit it is meant, many thanks for sharing, Sue 😊
Thank you so much Sue. I appreciate that very much and I am glad you can see it for what it is. I hope others have learned something for it. If they did then that's all I wanted.
Thanks
Dave
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Hi, Dave...
The one area where I disagree somewhat with what you have pointed out is with using content from another site...
"If you wish to use content from another site on your own then you should write about it, rather than copy it. Reference the original source of the content and provide a link for a reader to go and see the original article for themself."
There are instances, as with images, when it can help your article to post excerpts of a post, article, or book, etc. and cite the source in your article (give credit and link)...
There are caveats of course.
(1) The quoted material should not make up the bulk of the article (or it is not yours, it is then the person who you are quoting),
(2) Proper annotation/citation should be provided (i.e. highlighting the quoted content by making it bold, italicizing it, and placing quotation (i.e. ") marks to make it clear that this is not your content.
(3) It should be clear to readers that you are using the material to support your own points in the article. This means to me that your original ideas are backed up by the quoted text, infographic, or image...
There are many websites that use materials, infographics, and images even from other sources and it is perfectly fine. They do not get dinged by Google or other search engines.
It really is a fine line sometimes, but if done properly, it will not harm the rankings of the website where you are quoting the information from nor your own website.
In writing tons of papers for schooling back in the dark ages, this was a standard and demanded practice. Plagiarism was not accepted and it was checked for by the profs out there.
We used the APA guidelines if I remember correctly, and not only was this a point to pay attention to details, but there were a number of other things they checked for.
Later, writing Army regulations, field manuals, training manuals, and contracts, there were a different set of standards we had to follow, but the thing was all had norms to follow if not explicit guidelines
Obviously whoever did the copy and paste drill did not follow the norms we have for blogs and content as online marketers, nor did they follow the steps I mention.
That is unfortunate, but the good thing is that it was early on in your campaign for the book, so you have plenty of time to recover and the traffic was likely not that great a number yet...Better to have this happen now if it had to happen at all...
Cheers!
Dave : )
Hi Dave.
Fair point and worthy of clarification. Adding excerpts from other sources is fine as long as you follow the point 1 that you mention as opposed to the wholesale copy/paste which happened to us.
As you say, the traffic was only tiny at this stage but it was disappointing to see the steady growth in it come crashing down.
We live and learn!
Thanks
Dave