How to repost a blog post with style and grace

Since I first wrote about people stealing my content last November, “How to blog, write, and speak with integrity” I’ve gotten lots of contacts asking me how to properly repost or cite blog posts, web articles, and news stories.

Here are some tips for reposting internet content with style and grace.

  • Never repost an entire article without permission from the site owner. First, its a breach of etiquette. Second, nabbing someone’s content without their consent is theft of their intellectual property. Third, even if you link back, most agree that search engines will punish both domains for duplicate content. How do you get permission? You ask! Email the author or use their contact form or just leave a comment on the post. Most will, happily and free of charge offer you their content.
  • Use an excerpt of no more than two paragraphs. Chose the part of the article that reasonated with you the most or makes the point most clearly, and excerpt it. You can wrap the excerpt in the context of a point you are writing about or simply post the excerpt with a question or thought for discussion. Bloggers consider this a high compliment. And news agencies (and other sources very sensitive about their intellectual property) won’t be concerned that you are trying to gain traffic off of their content.
  • Set your excerpt apart graphically. For any quote of more than two sentences use the block quote feature of any blog editor. To make it even more clear that I’m quoting something, I like to italicize the whole piece.
  • Link directly to the source content. Typically, I link to the source two times just to be absolutely certain my readers know the excerpt is not mine and where to find the source. I set the the quote up (or follow-up) with linking the article to the authors name. “I was reading Adam McLane’s dare for pastors the other day…” Then, after I’ve posted the excerpt, I link to the source with the words “Source” or “Read the rest.
  • Hat tips and Trackbacks are still good manners. A hat tip is simply a gesture that another person provided the idea for your post or otherwise recognizing another person for contributing to your post. (ht to Adam McLane) A trackback alerts the blog owner that you’ve linked to them. On some sites, the trackback appears as a comment on the original post while on other sites it never appears publicly but is tracked by the owners site software. In WordPress, I manually enter a trackback for every link I put in a post to a news site or blog.

I hope these tips are useful. Each of these things only takes a few moments but makes a big difference in creating professional quality content. More importantly, to your readers it communicates that you aren’t a slob with other people’s intellectual property.

Have more questions about this topic? Leave a comment!


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47 responses to “How to repost a blog post with style and grace”

  1. D. Scott Miller Avatar

    And, it have become more important for me and others to give credit from where we “lift/borrow” images and pictures. It’s just good courtesty. I’m not fuly consistent on that… but I’m getting better.

  2. adam mclane Avatar

    Indeed. My own rule (‘cos I got served with a nice little lawsuit once) is to use Flickr for most of my pictures, just search for Creative Commons stuff and link back to it in the approved way. If you see something here that isn’t labeled CC, I probably made it. (Or it’s a common image)

    And, like you, I’m trying to get better at it… but I’m not perfect.

  3. Ashley Avatar

    my rule of thumb- always link. link and link.

  4. Adam Avatar

    I link as well, it is just so easy.

  5. Becky Avatar

    Good, good, good tips! And thanks for clearing up what ht to …. means because I understood what it meant, I just didn’t understand that it stood for “hat tip.” That’s cute.

    I’ve been using wylio.com to find pictures when I haven’t taken my own picture. It works with flikr, etc. and gives you the code to place the pic in your blog so that it has the copyright info on it. I don’t want to steal anyone’s picture and I don’t want anyone to steal mine!

  6. Jonas Knudsen Avatar

    Thanks Adam,
    Always appreciate your care for blogging integrity!

  7. […] is an interesting guide to reposting etiquette by Adam Mclane. Use an excerpt of no more than two paragraphs. Chose the part of the article that […]

  8. eShopedia Avatar
    eShopedia

    Thanks for the lesson in etiquette about reposting someone’s blog on your own…

  9. barnabyjones Avatar
    barnabyjones

    This blogging virgin appreciates your educational article!  

  10. yoetama Avatar

    nice tips, happy to continue to learn from a better understanding as you.

  11. How to repost a blog post with style and grace…

    With the popularity of the last post on plagiarism, it seems fitting to continue this discussion by placing a spotlight on plagiarism in blogging. If you’re a blogger, then you likely read other blogs to see what people are talking about, what th…

  12. […] Social Fresh How to Use Content from Other Blogs without Violating Copyright Written by Adam McLane How to Repost a Blog Post with Style and Grace Social Media 101 Artizon Digital Jump Start Your Blog: Simple Blog Post Formula plus 5 Posting […]

  13. Shanna Snider Avatar

    Thanks for the tips, Adam!  What are your thoughts on reposting photos?  Especially if they’re used as a link back to the original site?

    1. Adam McLane Avatar

      You need to be careful with images. On a personal blog, you’re probably at virtually no risk for copyright problems, but it’s best to do your best to respect the copyright holders requests if they are available. Specifically, if you are making money from the site, it’d be best to be very careful. The best thing to do with a commercial site is to either use your own artwork or make sure you’ve properly licensed it from the copyright holder. (I use iStockphoto for most of my stuff like this)

      If I can’t create or take the image myself, I typically do a search for Creative Commons images on Flickr and make sure to link back to the source page. 

      There are some images that I’m more sloppy with, such as common images from promotional marketing, movie posters, stuff like that. 

      This is a pretty difficult thing to talk about since I’m not a lawyer or expert. But I just do my best to be above board with it. I’ve also had great success in just asking if it’s OK if I use the image. Generally, the copyright holder is happy to share and appreciates your attention and respect for their work. 

      1. Jessica Avatar
        Jessica

        I just came across this post, and thought it was great info! Thanks for sharing!

        I know some of this content is older, but I wanted to add my two-cents on some of the comments about the question of using images.

        As a photographer, I can tell you that there is great offense in using any copyrighted images freely. This is our art, (just as writing is yours) and when doing so, without permission, it is as bad of etiquette as copying an entire article to repost, even if you link back.

        If you are making money off of a site and use an image without written permission, that is usually against the terms of use for most photographers, and as you have discussed already, can very possibly bring on a lawsuit.

        As you said though, many photographers (although not all) will be happy to allow inclusion of their image when simply asked. Asking first is a sign of respect, and highly appreciated. But you may find it much safer to simply use services such as dreamstime or istock, where you can pay a fee to use as many images as you need from the site.

        1. Adam McLane Avatar

          @jessica – Even though this post is getting kind of dated most of it still applies. “Give credit where credit is due!” Seems so simple and yet I continually see my content ripped off.

          The longer I do this the more and more careful I get with images. Pretty much everything I’m using these days comes from Dollar Photo Club, which got bought recently by Adobe.

  14. azbooks Avatar
    azbooks

    Thanks for this, and the lesson in the proper way to cite!

  15. Mark Liederbach Avatar

    Please add a +1 button, thank you!

    1. Adam McLane Avatar

      I added the +1 button back. I can’t decide if Google+ is going to make it our not!

  16. Tri Haryadi Avatar

    Wow, your tips is highly classified :). Nice.

  17. Scottacoulter.com Avatar
    Scottacoulter.com

    Great tip. Just getting started and will use this in the future.

  18. lbwmarketing Avatar
    lbwmarketing

    Love this post. I will certainly apply these tips.

  19. […] Written by Adam McLane How to Repost a Blog Post with Style and Grace […]

  20. Nicole Bernd Avatar
    Nicole Bernd

    I just wanted to say thank you for this post. I am also a new blogger, and your blog is incredibly helpful and informative <3

  21. […] helpful instructions from Adam McLane for reposting blog posts…just like this […]

  22. Tayloe Marketing Avatar

    Question Adam: What about reposting your own blog across various sites: wordpress, tumblr, activerain, blogsphere, etc. Is there any harm in doing that, at least towards SEO? Thanks in advance!

  23. Justin Avatar
    Justin

    Just got busted for this …. Unintentional but I am now fearing for my life from the other youth pastor bloggers… Great post and lesson

  24. ikalwewe Avatar

    You mean it’s bad to repost an entire article even if you credit the writer and link bank? Oh no 🙁

  25. realestategonesocial Avatar
    realestategonesocial

    Can I copy the content of an article and paste it into my blog? Of course I would credit the source and link back to the real article. Is this acceptable or should I just repost?

  26. […] dictates that you ask a writer if you want to re-post their work in its entirety, according to Adam McLane, blogger and author of “A Parents Guide to Understanding Social […]

  27. […] out this architectural gem on a rare slice of Seminole County beauty: http://www.WekivaRiverHouse.com (5% commission to selling […]

  28. lin Avatar
    lin

    although i really love to have that personal archive of content, full print so to skip the tab hopping.. it does not need to be said, the usefulness of knowing and linking a source =)

  29. […] As I was putting together my training plan, I discovered this very useful list of reasons not to use folders in SharePoint from an article written by Gregory Zelfond. http://adammclane.com/2011/04/29/how-to-repost-a-blog-post-with-style-and-grace/ […]

  30. julierennerphoto Avatar

    Thanks for the helpful information – I will be using your tips!

  31. Valentina Vayntraub Avatar

    Lovely post on how to share some of my favorite bloggers content with my own readers. I always feel awkward posting others works but this is a great explanation of reposting manners.

  32. loadmate Avatar

    Awesome point and tips
    PS. I’m Going to share this 🙂

  33. […] Adam MacLane wrote something explicit in how to repost a blog post with style and grace […]

  34. Amara Heslin Avatar

    Really helpful tips! You just have to be creative and to always remember to never plagiarize! Try reading this article (http://www.siteabove.com/the-blog-and-social-media-connection/). Will definitely help!

  35. Emer Jennings Avatar

    Hi Adam. Again, I am new to blogging and found your tips extremely helpful. I have one more question: is there any point in creating a blog on your own site that references an article to an on-line subscription service, i.e. if the reader doesn’t have the same subscription, presumably they won’t be able to read the article? Personally, I don’t think there is any point but this has lead to some interesting discussions around here. Thank you.

  36. Jason Rasquinha Avatar

    Hi!
    My name is Jason. I would like to know your opinion on whether re-posting one’s own content, first published on a public blog, onto a personal blog is considered as a serious faux pas.

    Jason

    1. Adam McLane Avatar

      Seems like it depends on who the content belongs to. Like, if you posted it on a work blog for work… does it belong to you? That might tell you whether or not you’re allowed to repost it without permission of where it was originally posted.

      An easy practice, one that I see quite a bit, is to write framing content that points to the original post. Or add more thoughts or something like that. So it might be 50/50 new content and re-used. Does that help or did I just make the waters muddier?

  37. heathermac67 Avatar
    heathermac67

    Hi I have attempted to contact people to re-post but I have not received a reply what is the best thing to do in this situation – don’t use it or use it and credit as you mention

  38. sahil Avatar

    I take simple approach to this. Think of SEO as relationship building not only with your audience/ users but also with Google. Any website that is launched on a new domain is kept on Sandbox during the first 3-6 months.

    Think of SEO as reputation building for your brand. It will take time to build your site’s reputation. Read how long does it takes? – http://weqtechnologies.com/how-long-does-seo-takes-to-give-results/

  39. […] For, example, we drew information from WebsiteMuscle.com’s article “The Dos and Don’ts of Reposting Articles in Your Blog” and Adam McLane’s “How to Repost a Blog Post With Style and Grace“. […]

  40. ANNU Avatar
    ANNU

    I had some blogs on momspresso website. I asked them to delete them. They say that they deleted them but I can still see some of them on google search as catched pages.
    can I repost those blogs on my blogger website?
    Will it be safe for my relation with Adsense ..lol
    pls reply

  41. Agus Hardiman Avatar

    Hi Adam, thank you for the article!
    My article get post in different blog without my permission with the exact words-per-words.
    I can’t email the admin of the blog because it doesn’t have a contact form.

    What I would like to ask is, in my wordpress dashboard, there’s a linkback of that blog but it only have options to approve (besides spam it or trash it) and there is no unapprove option.
    So what should I do? Off course I can’t approve that content but do I have to ignore the linkback?

    Please help, thanks!

  42. Zeeshan Khan Avatar

    Hi Adam,

    Thank you for the article!

    I recently discovered that my article was posted on another blog without my permission, using the exact words. Unfortunately, I can’t contact the blog’s admin because there is no contact form available.

    Any advice on what steps I should take next?

    Best,
    Zeeshan Khan

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