Using Syndicated Content

Should You Use Off-the-Shelf Content?

Here we'll look into using articles that are already written and out there for you to use - either for free or for a small fee.

Depending on your niche, this may be a possible alternative for some (not all) of your content.

Even if you decide not to go this route, as a web publisher it’s worth knowing what’s available in your niche and where to get it.

You also need to be aware of the drawbacks to such content, as well as the advantages, and to think about how – and whether - it could help you build deep, rich content on your site.

Using “off-the-shelf” articles is at best only a supplemental part of your site-building strategy. You can’t expect to continually post articles that can also be found on other sites, and have visitors keep coming back for more.

Types of Off the Shelf Articles

Generally, there are two kinds of off-the-shelf articles that you can use – “wysiwyg” (what you see is what you get) articles with content you have to use unaltered, and “re-write” articles which you buy and are free to change (within defined copyright limits).

Using "Wysiwyg" Articles on Your Site

“Wysiwyg” articles are the articles submitted by site owners and writers - just like you – to article directories and libraries all over the web.

They are written with the objective of being picked up by other web publishers looking for content and they inevitably contain a signature file with a link back to the author’s web page. They are available for free use – provided that they are reproduced exactly as they are, without any changes and including the signature file and live link.

The advantages of using “wysiwyg” articles on your site include:

They can be well written articles by professional authors with highly relevant content.
They don’t cost you anything and you get good content without any effort on your part.
They can help build your content quickly.
Smart authors will have optimized the content for relevant keywords in the niche.

All well and good, you may think – but what about the disadvantages? Well, there are quite a few and you need to bear them in mind before you get carried away with the thought of all that free effortless content:

You are putting an external link on your site and it could take the reader to a competitor site with better content. The external link may leak your page rank especially in the early days.

They may be poorly or crassly optimized for niche keywords.

The keywords may be too generic and not the keywords you want to aim for – particularly if you are going for the long tail.

It’s unlikely they will reflect your individual voice and they may include opinions you are not entirely comfortable with.

If they don’t express opinions they may be so bland your readers will fall asleep reading.

They may have been used everywhere you can think of around the web. Original content this is definitely not. The more competitive the niche the more likely you are to be using content that can be found elsewhere.

You may have to do an awful lot of frog-kissing to find your prince. You may think off-the-shelf articles save you time, but if you can’t easily get good content this way you may find it was easier and quicker to write it yourself.

Proceed carefully with these articles. Using a good article source is a first step. Google ‘free articles’ and you can work your way through a host of other article directories. By and large the better ones are those you would consider submitting to yourself – those offering a good range of content within your specific niche.

Suggested article directories to investigate:

TIP: One of the best ways to use off-the-shelf articles is to put an original paragraph of your own right before the beginning of the article, and again after it. For this original commentary, you can introduce the author, say why you like the content, and add a summary at the bottom. You can introduce your own keywords in the commentary and bring your own individual voice into the article this way while still sticking to the copyright rules. You're also adding value from your visitor’s perspective.

Using "Re-write" Articles on Your Site

You can also buy articles which you can alter and republish (within defined copyright limits) on your site.

The sources of these articles are the same as for the ‘wysiwyg’ articles – online libraries and directories. Generally these will be written by professional writers in order to earn money from their use by web publishers.

The articles will come with pre-defined copyright limits telling you exactly what you can do with the article and where you can publish. The advantage of these purchased articles have is that you are free to alter the content (copyright permitting) so you can optimize them for the visitor and the search engines, and give them some degree of uniqueness.

The big disadvantage of re-write articles is that they can often be bland and superficial to the point of not being worth the price you pay – even if it’s only a few dollars. Articles like these are reproduced all over the web – often on AdSense sites without any amendment or alteration.

Your best bet is to use them only as a base for a better article by improving the content. Sometimes you can get started quicker if you have a base to write from. For some people, adapting and improving an article can be easier than staring at the blank screen for hours.

Some suggestions:

Change the headline – often less than compelling

Break up the text – add sub-headers to guide the reader through

Create a list from the content

Add a couple of quotes from other sources

Add an image or two

Use them for basic topics only and strictly as additional content

Don’t spend much if you are going to change the copy

Don’t waste a lot of time changing the copy – otherwise you may as well write it yourself

Go for a low-cost article if you're going to change it. Then see how easily and quickly you can turn it into a much better article which your visitors will enjoy reading.

You may decide it's not that short of a shortcut to content for your site!