Ask the Blogger!

Can I Quote Other Sources In My Blog Posts?

Question: Hi, I’m interested in starting a news blog on fitness and nutrition. I am under the impression that I can cite other sources on my blog as long as I put it into my own words and give them credit for their findings. It this true? What are some other legal rules that I can or cannot do?

Yes, you can quote other sources like blogs or websites or anything else in your blogs posts. In fact, doing so is one of the most popular forms of blog content out there today.

Is it legal? Yes, as long as you’re not copying the content over and repurposing it or reposting it as your own original content. That’s just wrong. The correct way to do it is to grab bits and pieces of content and blockquote it like this.

This is the content from someone else’s blog.

Then, make sure you attribute that content with a link to the blog or website. This is common blog courtesy. It all comes down to courtesy and intent. If you’re intent is to pass someone else’s copy off as your own, you’re in for trouble.

Always attribute and never, ever, duplicate someone else’s content. Not only could you get in hot water from someone’s legal team, but Google will surely have a thing to say about it as well.

Is My Blog Content Copyrighted? Can It Be Stolen?

Question: I am new to blogging and I would like to know if blogs are copyrighted or is anything I post up for grabs?

The cold, hard truth about the Internet is that ANYTHING you post can probably be ripped off from you. It’s the nature of putting content out there, if it’s valuable, then at some point some scammer is going to steal it and either reuse it for their own purposes (like a splog, which is a “spam blog”) or some other way.

So, the answer is yes, your content can be stolen. Never put anything online in your blog that you can’t afford to have stolen. That being said, you have to stop worrying about people stealing your content if you want to be successful.

Having your content stolen is part of the “cost of doing business” on the Internet. It happens. If it does, there are things you can do though. Here’s one of them.

If someone rips off your content and is reposting it as their own on their blog without attributing it to you, you can, and should, contact that person if possible and ask them to stop. If they don’t, contact their ISP (do a whois.net lookup) and find out who their host is and contact them and tell them one of their users is stealing your content. More often than not they will shut down that person’s blog or website.