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Autoblogging And Misconceptions

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There is a pretty good discussion taking place over in the SitePoint forums around the topic of Autoblogging. The thread starts off like this:

What do you think about Auto Blogging to posts? Is it work getting software to do it?

Is anyone doing it with success in terms of an increase in traffic/SEO results?

Within the discussion, someone mentions that Autoblogging is content theft. The truth is, no it’s not. However, if you set up your autoblog to publish content from RSS feeds that you do not own or have the permission to use, that is content theft. Here is another misconception published in that thread:

Auto Blogging isn’t content theft. What do you think the RSS feeds are for? The writers want their content distributed.

Are you kidding me? Yes, most bloggers want their content distributed but on their terms. You can’t just go around using anyone’s RSS feed anyway you like. Lets keep in mind that the content within RSS feeds is copyrighted by the content author. Besides, do you really want to be called a human scraper?

So what I’m wondering is this. Do you autoblog? Is there any situation in where autoblogging makes sense? What are your thoughts on autoblogging?

How Do You Advertise Affiliates?

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Since the launch of WPTavern.com, I’ve received numerous offers from companies asking if I would like to join a higher tiered part of their affiliate program which offers higher than average payouts when compared to a normal affiliate. I’ve always had a problem with affiliate advertising in that, I don’t think you should advertise just for the sake of advertising. I’d much rather someone paid me directly for display advertising rather than placing an ad on my site, hoping people click through and then hoping even more that they make a purchase.

However, where affiliate advertising makes complete sense is when you advertise for a product or service you have used and can stand by. This enables you to have that trust factor, stand by your claims for the product/service and chances are, you’ll probably have an easier time convincing people to purchase through you.

So how do you handle affiliate advertising on your site? Do you advertise for anyone/everyone or only those things you can vouch for?

Akismetting Spam Is Good SEO

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Matt Mullenweg recently published a great little article over on the official Akismet blog where he shares three reasons why eliminating spam is good SEO for your site. There are three things you definitely don’t want to encounter when running a blog and that is:

  1. Undermineing Your Sites SEO
  2. Attracting More Spammers
  3. Damaging Your Reputation

I wanted to also bring to light a new technique that these comment spammers are using which I discovered through Growmap.com. Apparently, spammers are taking bits and pieces of already published comments and re purposing them into their own comment. This means their content is generally on topic and makes it harder to distinguish than a random, off the wall comment. According to Growmap, Akismet flagged a few of these comments for them so it’s good to see the spam catcher on the ball but I’m willing to bet a few novice bloggers will be publishing these as legit comments. How well has Akismet worked on your blog?

Google Analytics API Now Available To Developers

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Google recently announced that the Google Analytics Data Export API which was in beta is now currently available to all developers. The API provides read-only access to your analytics data. On top of that, any data which is available through the standard analytics interface is available through this API meaning you could create your own desktop application to monitor your site versus using your browser. Now that the API is available to all, it will be interesting to see various widgets, gadgets, and applications spring up which allow you to easily keep tabs on your data in not so traditional ways.

For more information check out the official analytics blog post.

Are You Filtering TinyURLs?

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With only 140 characters to get your point across on Twitter, thank goodness for services that create TinyURLs. However, I’m starting to notice at least on my blog that commenter’s are linking to things using these types of links. While TinyURL.com does allow you to create a special URL which contains the ability to preview where the link is going to go before you arrive their, all it takes these days to have your PC compromised is one click. I’ve started to remove those URLs from the comments made on my blog. Have you noticed the same trend? If so, are you allowing TinyURLs to be published on your blog or are you removing them?

Jonathan Bailey Launches CopyrightFail.com

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Jonathan Bailey who has been a longtime contributor to Performancing.com, especially within the Legal section of the Performancing forums has launched a brand new sister site called CopyrightFail.com. The site aims to be a collection of links, quotes, images, and other tidbits of information showcasing copyright stupidity from across the web. Jonathan does a great job with PlagiarismToday.com and I expect his CopyrightFail blog to be a success considering the amount of stupidity that exists around the subject.

On the topic of copyrighting, be sure to check out our own Copyright Management Service.

Content scraping is one of the biggest headaches a blogger faces. Once you hit that publish button, your articles are prone to automatic copying and republishing by not-so-trustworthy websites who do not link back. Some of these scrapers even earn from your hard work by slapping on some advertisements, text links or affiliate links on their own sites, as if it were their own.

The Performancing Copyright Management Service does the hard work for you. Our copyright experts will track down websites, blogs, forums and other sites that infringe on your rights as a publisher. We will then give you a comprehensive report with suggested courses of action. If you choose to, we can also act on these violations on your behalf, by initiating takedown notices and making sure your original content stays where it should–on your blog! Price includes initial consultation, tracking, initial report and appropriate action on three (3) infringing sites.

Get Started Now For $300

Brian Clark Releases Outsourcing Report

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Brian Clark who operates Copyblogger.com released a report he calls The Outsourcing Conspiracy. While much has been said regarding Tim Ferris and his 4-hour work week, the other side of the story doesn’t seem to have had much attention. Too many people believe that you can do very little and just outsource the rest but thanks to this report, you get a down to earth reality check regarding the costs involved with outsourcing, legal ramifications, how to get FREE help, the myths involved with outsourcing, and finally, how people like Brian Clark and others got started without outsourcing.

The report is free and you don’t need to give them an email address to download it. Make sure you have a PDF viewer installed on your computer as the report is in PDF format.

Keep On Top Of Trends With TrendPedia

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With everything that takes place on the web, keeping track of trends can be a tough process. Although Google provides a Trend search of their own, TrendPedia looks to have its place in the trend search market. The front page of TrendPedia showcases the hottest trends from the previous month as well as popular trends from the previous week.

At the top of the site, you are provided three text fields which will add combine all three trend searches into a comparable graph chart. In my test drive, I compared MovableType, WordPress, and LiveJournal.

For whatever reason, I could not get any trend results for MovableType. For LiveJournal and WordPress, the chart showcases WordPress in the lead with 68% of articles around WordPress with 32% dedicated to LiveJournal. Search results for each trend are shown in their own tab at the bottom of the site and consists mostly of blog posts. This means you can use TrendPedia to get a grasp on blogs staying abreast of the latest trends.

I think Google Trends has a nicer interface and a cleaner way of presenting the information but I find TrendPedia cool because of the mentions of blog post in the search results. At any rate, it’s nice to have more than one site in this market.