Blog content question

If it's duplicate content you're probably wasting your time.

With blogging it's really okay if you don't post daily. Better to have good quality, original content posted less often. Even 1-2 times/week is fine. Heck, I'm subscribed to some blogs that don't even update that often!

Thanks, Megan. My blog has a PR of 4 but the reality is it is duplicate content. I'll take your advice and do my own thing.

Re-purposing copyright content, anyway you do it, is really scummy IMO (in this case you would presumably be removing the atuhor's credit, right?). It's like stealing a car and repainting it so it can't be found again. You can look for sites with an open source content lisence, and there are lots of places where you can get free articles to reprint on your site. Most of those do have a requirement that you include the original author's credentials, which could really destroy the credibility of your blog.

The best thing to do is write it yourself. That's the only way you're going to build credibility and a strong audience. I don't think you need to write all that often. Quality is more important than quantity - one blog I read is going for the quantity route to try to gain influence and it's getting them a lot of criticism. If people have RSS readers they don't mind if they only get a post from you a week. In fact, they might prefer it that way. Who has time to read all your content anyway?

I'm not sure that reposting content is such a bad idea.

Okay, you're a webdesigner... people in the same occupation are likely to come across your blog. Even if it's not your own content, it's a single place to find good articles regarding that occupation. In the meantime, not only are you getting potential return visitors, you can also promote your own services on your site.

Adam

It's not bad if you're doing it according to the conditions attached to the content. Which usually means including the other author's name and credentials (I got the impression that previous posters were recommending using content without crediting it). I do think it's really sleazy to re-write someone else's work and present it as your own. Wait, that's callled plagarism.

Another good idea would be just to link out to other stuff. Subscribe to a bunch of good RSS feeds in your industry and be a go-to point for people who don't want to follow all the other sites themselves. You tell them what's worth reading, add a few sentences of your own ideas about the article, and you're good to go (you do have ideas of your own, right?). Lots of blog posts consist only of links.

You can also take other people's work as a starting point. Someone else posts an idea, you provide your own comments. They don't have to be long. In that case you also get to leave a trackback to the other site, which means that other person will see your link, read your work, and (if they like it) maybe link back to you too.

I think both of these options are much easier than trying to re-write someone else's content.

I'm happy you saw it that way

I also think it's fine to summarize what other people are posting. That makes your blog a great value for people who don't have time to read through a lot of other stuff. So when others post a 5 paragraph blog entry, you summarize it in 1 paragraph. Then you can also leave a link back to the full post if people want to read it (and a trackback too!).