Kristen from We Are THAT Family has asked bloggers to share some blogging tips as part of Works for Me Wednesday this week. As I thought about tips I could offer, there was one issue that kept coming to mind.
Don’t copy.
Maybe it’s the fact that I’m a teacher. I think I’ve spent my fair share of time telling students not to copy from each other. Being an online teacher, I find that I’m forever telling students that copying and pasting from a website isn’t allowed.
The same is true for blogging.
Sure, bloggers share deals with each other. In fact, bloggers don’t mind if other bloggers “borrow” individual deal ideas (printable coupons, a great price on an item at a store, etc.). But I live by a few ground rules that are oh, so important:
- Give credit. If I received the deal via email straight from the company, then it’s mine. If I saw it on another blog, then it’s not. Sure, I can post it. I just need to give credit to the site where I found it, and link back to that site as part of my post.
- Don’t copy word-for-word. If I’m going to post the same deal that I saw on someone else’s site, I don’t just copy and paste it into my own site. I try to reword it so that it’s just a little different. I might even add my opinion.
- Don’t take entire store matchup posts without permission. If you’ve been hanging around for a while, you know that I recently started offering store listings for stores that I haven’t been covering. These posts are actually created by other bloggers. However, I. got. permission. I emailed each blogger, explained exactly how I was going to use the post, and only used posts with the original authors’ permission. In fact, a couple of them had special requests as to how the post was used. I was happy to follow their wishes. Using without asking = stealing.
- Share. If I find an exceptionally good deal, I’ll email it out to some blog owners who are part of my email list. I don’t share every deal that I come across… just the great ones. For example, when I found the $.75 off Goldfish crackers coupon last night, I did email that out. Hey, $.24 Goldfish crackers are enough to make any blogger want to share the news!
There is still much for me to learn as I blog the deals. This one tip is the one that is nearest and dearest to my heart. Do you have any blogging tips to share?
