DMN3 Blog

Website optimization is all about writing good copy. Whether creating online articles, white papers, web page copy, or other Internet content, the importance of good, creative and original copy can not be overstated. I am referring to “conversion optimization” and “search engine optimization” (SEO).

Conversion optimization is utilizing persuasive copy and design elements to get website visitors to take your most favored actions when they come to your website. SEO is inserting specific keywords into copy to achieve higher SERP (search engine results page) rankings when Internet users search using those keywords.

SEO includes SEM (search engine marketing) for my purposes, although SEO sometimes refers to only the efforts making the website itself search engine friendly for certain keywords. This is an important distinction in that web page, or “on page,” optimization is completely necessary, but it is only a small part of what it takes to achieve high SERP rankings for competitive keyword search strings. Providing keyword optimized copy is fundamental to these efforts, as well.

As someone who writes copy for the web for both purposes, I am often researching topics for blogs, articles, etc. The Internet is a wonderful medium to do research. With just a few clicks you can learn more than you wanted on just about any topic. There are several drawbacks as well to the Internet as a source of information.

The two that bother me the most are:

1. Accuracy of the Information
2. Theft of Content

Accuracy of Information: Anyone can post information on the Internet and everyone is an expert, but this does not make the Internet accurate. It is your responsibility to make sure that what you say is valid. Often people spread false information on the Internet, while some of the time there is a deliberate attempt to deceive others. Often it is just the sloppiness of authors who propagate bad information because they don’t take the time to investigate the accuracy of the information they post. The easiest way to make sure that your information is accurate is to obtain it from a valid and respected source. Which would you trust, the National Institute of Health or some unknown blogger on a health issue? You get the point. At the DMN3 Institute, one of our missions is to propagate evidence-based marketing strategies. That means that there is evidence, or research, that the strategy works.

Theft of Content: Unfortunately it is common practice for original copy, which you may have worked long hours to research and write, finds itself used by others on other sites. That has become a fact of life in today’s Internet practices. Theft is a strong term - perhaps plagiarism is better for what goes on when people scramble to create and publish content on the Internet. While some of this is a result of ignorance on the part of authors/plagiarists, a lot of it is done utilizing specific web tools that crawl sites and scrape content from others. The intent of this is to duplicate the content from a site and place it on another site. The result can be multiple sites with the same content on them. I will get more into web-crawling later..

Protecting Your Website Copy: What Can You Do?

Prevention: Not much to prevent theft or plagiarism in the first place if it is displayed in a browser (notice I am restricting my comments to text copy, not html code, etc.). The only thing you can do is make it a little more difficult for those who would “borrow” your content. 

For example; the simplest approach to prevention is to make the visitor aware of the original nature of the content and that its use without permission is forbidden. You can:

• Post copyright notice prominently on the site
• Post notices such as “All Rights Reserved,” “Do Not Copy,” etc.
• Tell them how they might legally gain permission to use the information

To discourage visitors you can also utilize embedded JavaScript, html code and PDF copy-protected documents. Such things enable you to:

• Disable right mouse clicks
• Prevent printing
• Disable the clip board
• Prevent copy selection

Perhaps one of the best ways to discourage people from using your copy is to personalize it. Make it yours with links to other pages within your site that give the copy meaning and credibility.

In the end, such tactics may just remind the visitor that you do not want them to copy your content. In some cases that may be enough. While there are software suppliers who claim to protect content and code, experience dictates that unless you put content behind a secure login and password, plagiarism is always possible

After the fact: There are tools, e.g., copyscape (www.copyscape.com), that allow you to search the web for duplicate content. If you find egregious examples of theft, you can:

• Send a message asking that the plagiarized content be removed to the web contact or owner,
• Inform the webmaster or hosting company of the infringement
• Have your lawyer send a “cease and desist” letter
• Contact the search engines with your plagiarism issues
• File a copyright infringement lawsuit if the content is that important.

In my next post, I will discuss the implications of content theft and duplicate content in terms of its impact on search engine rankings.

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