Anne's Blog: Blog copyright theft on rise (arrgh!)

Every Friday afternoon I take a few minutes to do a quick Technorati or Feedster search for our company name. It's the equivalent of doing a Google search on yourself, only in this case you discover what millions of bloggers are saying about you.

At first, it was a sort of guilty pleasure. There's that tingle of excitement when you discover a favorable mention in a blog. Sometimes of course it's criticism, which is slightly painful but always worth learning from.

But, more recently I've begun to see an ugly trend emerging.

Bloggers have begun cutting and pasting the entire text of our articles into their blogs. Sometimes it appears as though they wrote the article, sometimes they give a little credit "from MarketingSherpa." Either way, I have to contact them with a little cease-and-desist note or risk losing the intellectual property that our company is built on:

"I'm glad you like MarketingSherpa, but please remove this article from your Blog. By posting an entire article, you are breaking copyright law. You are essentially a thief, stealing content it cost us hundreds of dollars to create. You can certainly write your own commentary or summary of our article and link to our site for your visitors to see. Thank you."

I've noticed these thieves come in two distinct colors -- the first are genuine fans. They are so psyched about an article they decide to cut and paste it under the misconception that it's a "compliment" that a copyright owner won't mind.

I appreciate the compliment, but just because a product is an article, rather than a shirt or widget, doesn't mean you can take it and give it away without the owner's permission.

The second group of thieves are profit-driven, generally seeking Google AdSense revenue. They publish as many blogs as possible populated with lifted content, and sit back to collect commission checks from Google on ad clicks. Some have created automated programs that suck up content from around the Web and post it without need for a human editor.

Worried publishers are forming task forces now to begin to address this threat. Ideas include limiting bots' site access and requiring registration. In the end, more walls go up around the Web and an atmosphere of distrust reigns. Too bad...

Feeling bummed out in muggy Rhode Island,

Anne Holland - Publisher
MarketingSherpa
feedback@marketingsherpa.com

P.S. As always, our Case Studies and articles are open access for about 10 days. Then they go into SherpaLibrary where you can research for a small fee. The links always remain the same.
http://www.SherpaStore.com

CASE STUDIES

#2. How Audi's Site Revamp Increased Leads Generated to Dealerships by 325%

Almost a million Americans and Canadians visit Audi's main USA site every month. Traffic wasn't the site's problem. Turning that traffic into hand-raising leads for dealers to close was.

How can you turn more window shoppers into engaged leads? Turns out careful use of rich media mixed with lots of duplicate navigation makes the difference. (Yes, includes before-and-after screenshots):
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/sample.cfm?contentID=3029
(Open access until July 22nd)

#3. How to Collect More Email Opt-Ins from Your Contact Us Form -- 7 Tactics

According to MarketingSherpa's new IT Marketing Benchmark Guide, only 9% of surveyed marketers called their site's Contact Us forms "very effective." That's pretty sad.

Here are seven specific tactics one B-to-B marketer uses to get a whopping 67.4% of prospects visiting his contact form to fill it out and submit it. Includes creative sample:
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/sample.cfm?contentID=3031
(Open access until July 24th)

PRACTICAL KNOW-HOW

#4. New Data Reveals 3 Key Tactics IT Marketers Can Use for Better Results (Including Blogs)

Exclusively for MarketingSherpa readers, discover the three biggest trends in IT marketing today... including new data on:

-> Does blogging help your IT marketing efforts?
-> Are email responses sagging for everyone?
-> What percent of your incoming leads should be "hot"?

Includes three all-new charts from our IT Marketing Benchmark Guide plus a link to sign up for a (complimentary) teleconference:
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/sample.cfm?contentID=3030
(Open access)

#5. Help Wanteds: 25 Jobs and 7 Seekers Available

The past week's new posts include positions from Microsoft, AutoTrader, Entertainment Arts, Quicken, and Visa. Plus, learn how to post your own opening (complimentary service).
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/sample.cfm?contentID=2522
(Open access = permanent)