I scored a coup on my website

[KLB]

As many know, I run a website called EnvironmentalChemistry.com and I regularly publish new articles written by professionals in environmental chemistry related fields. Well today I published an article I would say was a real coup for me. The article is on the Russian ban of Norwegian farm raised salmon due to elevated levels of cadmium and Norway's efforts to cover up the truth about the cadmium and illegal nitrate use.

The reason the article was a coup for me is that it is actually written by an individual who was a senior scientist in seafood safety for the Norwegian government at the National Institute of Nutrition and Seafood Research (NIFES) and as a result was at the center of the storm when this issue broke and essentially became a whistle blower. American's may not have heard much about this issue, but in Europe (especially Norway) it has been very big news.

You can read the article at (be warned there is a lot of science): Norwegian farmed salmon production raises global concern (http://environmentalchemistry.com/yogi/environmental/200605norwegiansalmon.html)

It's not often that a small site like mine can pull in a big article like this.

:banana:(normally I hate banana man but this one deserves it!)

[stymiee]

Good for you, Ken. Yesterday I discovered someone added a link to my merchant account website in the wikipedia entry for merchant accounts (and the wikipedia "mods" left it intact). Needless to say that is a high quality link and something a new site like mine could really use.

(I also wrote the entry for merchant accounts in wikipedia).

[Cutter]

Very nice, I bet you are getting a great clickthrough rates on the adsense ads ;)

The truth is if you build a high quality site, eventually it will start to have a real impact. New publishers are very focused on our pagerank, daily earnings, and that sort of thing. I think people are forgetting just how much power a website that can be reached by anyone in the entire world can have. The good part is that ultimately these sorts of things push your revenue up and ultimately allow you to build an even better website.

[KLB]

The funny thing about Wikipedia is that many Wikipedia languages link to my site on a regular basis, but I have banned the use of Wikipedia for articles written for my site in line with the New York Times ban on the use of Wikipedia as a reference source.

[KLB]

Can you believe it, I posted this article on May 31, 2006 and already on June 1, 2006 somebody had ripped the entire article to their website. Apparently my copyright notice and "no reproduction or republishing, in whole or in part, without written permission" comment at the bottom of the page was not enough. I have now added a "page protected by CopyScape DO NOT COPY" button to the top of the page.

The sheer audacity of the way people steal content really pisses me off. What, do they think such content is produced for free? I have to pay writers $0.20 per word to get high quality articles like this. Sometimes a single article can cost me around $400. If anybody here lives in Australia I might have a favor to ask in regards to knocking on some doors, kicking butt and taking names (the latest offenders live in Australia).

[Emancipator]

i had an article ripped word for word by major companies and when contacted claimed studios gave it to them. They even had all the spelling mistakes, sheer class. So yeah i can believe it.

And DAMN you pay $400 for articles? You must make a killing in advertising to afford that. Or I am doing something seriously wrong, which could very well be :)

[KLB]

And DAMN you pay $400 for articles? You must make a killing in advertising to afford that. Or I am doing something seriously wrong, which could very well be :)

Well not for all articles cost me $400. I pay $0.20 and every now and then an article runs around 2,000 words. I try to keep articles shorter but some topics like this one just need to be longer. You must understand that I'm trying to attract PhDs to write articles for me and you must provide a really good incentive.

My hope is that on average it takes me nine months to one year for any article to recoup its up front cost. Basically existing content funds new content.

My hope is that each article will attract its own unique traffic, thus each article will be bringing in advertising revenue I wouldn't otherwise see. I look at it like an old steam locomotive working up a head of steam. As I get more articles generating more revenue I can buy more articles, which will in turn help me generate more revenue even faster. Right now my monthly budget is $400 - $500 for new articles. Eventually I'm hoping to increase my article budget to $1,000 - $2,000 per month. I do have to make a living doing this so no I'm not plowing all of my revenue back into articles.

For those new at this keep in mind I have been doing this for around 10.5 years and there was a time when I couldn't afford to pay for articles and had to depend people I knew who would contribute articles. Over time as I built my site up, it became more popular and began to generate enough revenue that I could start to buy better quality articles.

[Cutter]

Track down the person who owns the site that copied you and send them a $400 licensing invoice.

[KLB]

I sent the contacts listed on the website an email with a cease and desist notice and then called them (in Australia). The issue was cleared up within 1/2 hour of my phone call.

I'm now dealing with another copyright violation of one of my other articles which is on Dupont's coverup of the health hazards associated with Teflon (http://environmentalchemistry.com/yogi/environmental/200603tefloncoverup.html). In this case the offending website is hosted in the U.S. so it shouldd come down very quickly because of the finacial risk posed to the hosting company by the DMCA.

I always love to see a site hosted on a U.S. based server, it makes it so much easier to get the website shut down. Given how clearly I state on my website that articles are protected by copyrights and may not be reproduced, I have a take no prisoners attitude when it comes to copyright violations. If someone steals one of my articles and posts it on their website my goal becomes to get their entire website shut down and that account canceled by their web host.

Once I chased one guy around from web host to web host this way for about a year. I'd find one of my articles on his website and get that web host to shut him down and he'd move to a new host. Eventually he moved his site off shore, to a former Eastern Block country but even that host shut down the site once I found the right contact person.

Even if I don't sue someone for stealing my content, I do my best to make it a painful expierence such that they never think of doing it again.

[Giles]

If anybody here lives in Australia I might have a favor to ask in regards to knocking on some doors, kicking butt and taking names (the latest offenders live in Australia).
I am willing to kick asses in New Zealand, the going rate is $US100 plus travel costs. That goes for anyone. I can send photographic proof.