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How Bloggers Can Protect Themselves Online: Tonight’s #Blogchat Topic With Kerry Gorgone!

Kerry

Here’s the transcript of tonight’s #Blogchat, click Transcript on the left!

Tonight (Nov. 3rd, 2013) we’ll be tackling a couple of legal areas of blogging that have always been requested at #Blogchat.  The one and only Kerry Gorgone will be joining us to discuss blogger disclosure rules as well as how to protect our work, especially if its stolen.  Tonight’s #Blogchat is sponsored by Pencils.com, please follow them on Twitter and check out their blog!

To prep for tonight’s topic, there’s two posts by Kerry that I want you to read and BOTH are bookmark-worthy.  Seriously you will want to save both of these posts and if you work for a blogging company you’ll want to share them with your team internally.

The first is a post on disclosure rules that Kerry wrote on her blog.  This covers exactly what you need to disclose when working with companies and how to do so.

The second is a guest post that Kerry wrote for us here on Friday covering how to protect your works online.  Please read both and make sure you are following Kerry on Twitter!

Here’s the schedule for tonight’s chat:

8:00 pm-8:30pm Central – How to Protect Your Content Online.  This for everyone that’s wondered what their options are when they see someone has published their post without the blogger’s permission, or is using a photo without permission, etc.

8:30 pm-9:00pm Central – Blogger disclosure rules.  If you are taking sponsors or working with companies, how do you disclose that relationship via social media?  Do you always have to?  Kerry will explain all!

 

I think this might be the most informative #Blogchat ever so make SURE you get your list of questions together for Kerry.  I’ll be posting the transcript here after #Blogchat so you can have that as well.

And make SURE you have turned your clocks back so you arrive on time.  See y’all tonight!

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Register, Rinse and Repeat: Protecting Your Creative Works Online

DarthKerryNote from Mack: This is a guest post from Kerry Gorgone, who is the special co-host of #Blogchat this Sunday!  Besides being a prolific blogger and podcaster, Kerry is also a lawyer, so she’s perfectly suited to help us understand the legal aspects of blogging.  Her topic will be How Bloggers Can Protect Themselves, discussing disclosure rules, as well as protecting your creative works, which she talks about here.  Please follow her on Twitter and join us on Twitter at 8pm Central on Sunday with the #Blogchat hashtag!

 

“Only one thing is impossible for God: To find any sense in any copyright law on the planet.” ~ Mark Twain

Creating something worthwhile is never easy. The process of writing a blog post, painting a portrait, or recording a song is time consuming and, at times, physically and emotionally demanding. But once your masterpiece is completed, your work, in some ways, has only just started, because protecting your copyright is a never-ending job.

First, some good news: you own copyright in your creative work as soon as you “fix it in a tangible medium.” Essentially, as soon as it’s out of your imagination and down on paper, you own it. This holds true also for blog posts and other digital media, once created.

Copyright doesn’t last forever, but it lasts for a long time. If the work is your own, individual piece, copyright lasts for your life, plus 70 years. For joint works involving more than one artist, copyright lasts for the life of the last surviving author, plus 70 years.

If you create a “work for hire,” meaning there was a written agreement signed before you started the work indicating that the company commissioning the work would own it, then copyright lasts for 95 years after publication or 120 years after the date of creation, whichever is shorter. Note that, in this instance, the person or company who hired you owns the work, not you.

 

A few key points:

  • Use the copyright notice on all your work.
    • Ex: Copyright Mack Collier 2014; or
    • Copr. Mack Collier 2014; or
    • © Mack Collier 2014
    • Register your work with the United States Copyright Office

 

You can’t sue for infringement until your work is registered, which limits your options. You at least want to be able to invoke the possibility of a lawsuit in order to motivate the infringing party to stop using your work without permission. It costs $35 to register your work online, so it’s well worth the money and effort. If you have a large number of blog posts, consider registering them together as a compilation: one registration, one fee.

If you can, register the work within 3 months of publication, so you can seek statutory damages and attorneys’ fees. This is critical, because it’s sometimes difficult for bloggers and artists to prove actual damages, or specifically how much money they lost as a result of the infringement.

Even if you miss the three-month mark, register, because if you register within 5 years of publication, it’s prima facie evidence that your copyright is valid. This means that the defendant will have to prove otherwise in your lawsuit. Think of it this way: the less proof you have to produce, the less money the litigation costs you.

If you want to permit some uses of your work, consider releasing it pursuant to a Creative Commons license. These licenses allow people (or companies) to use your work, so long as certain conditions are met.

Creative Commons licenses range from attribution only (credit), to more restrictive, such as licenses allow use, but disallow any changes to the work. You also have the choice of using a Creative Commons license that forbids commercial use, if you don’t want other people profiting from your blog posts or pictures.

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Here’s what to do in the event someone uses your content without permission (e.g. scrapes your blog, makes t-shirts out of your photograph, or uses your song as their podcast bumper).

  1. Contact the person using your work directly, and ask them either to attribute it properly or stop using it (at your election).
  2. If they fail to respond, you can send a more formal cease and desist letter. There’s no formula for this, but you can see an example here.
  • You really should have a copyright lawyer review this (if not draft it for you), because what you say in the letter can be used as evidence should the case go to trial.
  1. Issue a takedown notice pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DCMA”). You can send this directly to social networks and sites like Twitter, YouTube, Vimeo, or Pinterest) or to the ISP hosting the infringer’s website where the content is posted.You can find information and resources relating to issuing a takedown notice here: https://copyrightalliance.org/2012/03/in-plain-english-a-quick-guide-to-dmca-takedown-notices#.UnFnRpRATn4

    One thing to note is that if the other party contests your takedown notice, your only remaining option may be to bring a lawsuit.

  2. File a complaint with Google and request that they remove the infringing party’s site from search results
  3. File a copyright infringement lawsuit (very expensive)

 

Those are your options, from most palatable to least. You might well elect not to pursue infringers in some instances, especially if they’re clearly outside the jurisdiction of a domestic court, or if they are unlikely to have any money to pay a judgment.

Your best course of action is to monitor for infringing uses of your work, proactively use the copyright notice, register your creative works, and watermark images that you create for use with your blog posts.

Addressing infringement is never fun, but take some solace in the fact that your work is good enough for someone to want to steal. (I’m a glass half-full kind of girl.)

Pic via Flickr user Brenda Starr

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Announcing #Blogchat’s November Sponsor, All Topics Plus Special Co-Host!

PencilscomLogoI’m thrilled to announce that Pencils.com is #Blogchat’s sponsor for November!  Pencils.com sells fine pencils and other tools for the artist and writer, so I was thrilled when they decided to sponsor #Blogchat!  Please follow them on Twitter and you can also read their blog which features some stunning pencil artwork, incredibly detailed!

Now to tie in with Pencils.com sponsoring #Blogchat in November, we’re going to make the theme of #Blogchat this month be on creative writing!  It’s a natural fit for both Pencils.com as well as #Blogchat!

(Cue late-night informercial voice) But wait….that’s not all!

KerryThis Sunday will start the month with a bang by having Kerry Gorgone join us as special co-host!  Kerry will be discussing a topic that’s always been requested among the #Blogchat community: Disclosure rules for bloggers.  In addition, she will also be discussing how to protect your creative works!  In fact, look for a guest post from Kerry here later today that gives you some tips for what to do when you see that someone has taken your post and is using it on their blog.

Here’s the topics for every week in November:

November 3rd: Disclosure rules and protecting your creative works with Kerry Gorgone!  Again look for a guest post here later today from Kerry on this topic!

November 10th: The creative process.  We’ll look at how we write our blog posts, and also look at the digital and analog tools we use in the writing process.

November 17th: Guest posting.  We’ll discuss how to get guest-posting gigs as well as how to bring on people to guest-post on your blog.

November 24th: OPEN MIC!  No set blogging topic although I will probably have some questions about finding creativity in our writing in line with this month’s theme.

I’m really excited about this month because we’ve never had a theme for the entire month, especially not with a sponsor.  But the topic of creative writing is such a perfect fit for Pencils.com since they are literally selling the tools that help us create our own works of art!

BTW if your company wants to sponsor #Blogchat in December, here’s all the details as well as the price.

See you this Sunday and don’t forgot to check back in a few hours for Kerry’s guest post!

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Want to Make Money From Your Blog? Get a Sponsor

Hundred Dollar Bills Folded in a Money ClipYesterday I wrote about how you can increase your chances of getting paid for the content you create.  How to monetize a blog is one of the most requested topics among the #Blogchat community, so today I wanted to talk about another option for making money from your blog:

Getting a sponsor.

The problem that many bloggers run into is that they want to start making money as soon as they launch their blog.  Which is understandable, but they simply don’t have the large platform and readership that most advertisers are interested in.  Years ago I was approached by one of the major blog ad networks about having them place advertisements on my blog.  At the time (this was 2009 or so) they told me that a blog had to have a minimum of 800,000 monthly pageviews before they could accept them. I had about 1% of that at the time.

Many bloggers will add Ad Sense ads or something similar to their blogs as a way to generate revenue.  The problem is this usually gives them pennies at best, and ends up detracting from the reader’s experience and clutters up the content on the blog.

But a sponsor can be a much better solution.  First, it gives you control over who the sponsor is.  You can bring on someone you are comfortable, and that’s a good fit for your blog’s focus, and your readers.  Second, you have control over what the sponsorship entails.  Third, if you’re smart you can work with the sponsor to enhance the experience on your blog, not detract from it, which is what a lot of ads do.

While I don’t have sponsors here, I have been selling sponsorships at #Blogchat for the last 3 years.  It’s worked out pretty well for everyone.  Here’s the framework I follow with #Blogchat and you can easily do the same with your blog.

First, make sure the sponsor understands what the sponsorship does and does not include.   I have created a special page for sponsoring #Blogchat so that potential sponsors know what they are getting.  You should do the same for your blog.  Think about what you can offer sponsors.  Will they get exposure on your blog itself?  As part of the #blogchat sponsorship, I give sponsors the option to have an ad on the right sidebar, and 1 sponsored post for the month of their sponsorship.  I also promote the sponsor here and on Twitter.  I let them know the bare minimum of exposure they will get but I always try to go a bit above that so that they will be pleased with the coverage they are getting.

Second, make sure the sponsor is a good fit for you and your audience.  This is highly subjective and you will have to figure out what works for you and your audience.  Basically I have two rules for potential #Blogchat sponsors: That they understand that they cannot use the #Blogchat chat itself as a promotional tool, and that their sponsorship doesn’t detract from the #Blogchat experience.  As I tell any potential sponsor, if the #Blogchat community is upset with the experience of the chat based on a sponsor’s involvement, then that makes both myself and the sponsor look terrible.  And yes, I have turned down sponsors that wanted to use the chat itself as a promotional tool for their business.  My suggestion is that you not promote a sponsor on your blog to the point that the sponsor is overshadowing the content.  If that happens then your readers will notice and likely be disappointed.

Third, create a win-win-win situation.  This is where you need to get creative.  You want to find a way for the sponsorship to benefit three parties:

1 – Yourself

2 – The sponsor

3 – Your audience

If you can bring on a sponsor and have all three parties benefit, then you’ve hit a home run.

First, think about what you want.  Do you want cash?  Do you want a product?  Do you want a service?  Again consult yesterday’s post for some great ideas on how to get paid.

Second, explicitly ask the sponsor to tell you what they want to happen as a result of the sponsorship.  Do they want to drive traffic back to their website?  Get more downloads of their new white paper?  Encourage more free signups of their new software product?  Ask them to tell you what they want, because that will greatly influence how the sponsorship is structured.

Finally, how will your readers benefit?  At bare minimum, you don’t want the overall experience on your blog to suffer as a result of the sponsorship.  The last thing in the world you want is for someone to read your blog on November 1st and think ‘Aw shit, he’s got another sponsor!’  You want them to either not notice the sponsor is there or (the best alternative) you want them to be excited that the sponsor is involved!

When I bring on a sponsor for #Blogchat, I am always careful to think about how the community will benefit as a result.  For example, when I bring on a sponsor for #Blogchat, the topics get set for the entire month at the start of the sponsorship because I work with the sponsor to cover topics that interest them, that will also appeal to #Blogchat.  So there’s one benefit.  Another is that each sponsor gets a guest host, so #Blogchat knows if we have a sponsor for the month, they also get an expert guest-host.  Finally, the sponsor will frequently offer #Blogchat members a special deal or discount on a product.  For example, this month’s sponsor, AllergEase, created a special offer to give away its product for free to #Blogchat members.

How to Get Started Landing Sponsorships on Your Blog

1 – Create a page spelling out exactly what a sponsor gets.  Here’s mine for #Blogchat as an example.  This communicates to potential sponsors that you are accepting sponsors, and tells them exactly what they will get.

2 – Figure out who your ‘ideal’ sponsor would be.  For example, if you are a tech blog focusing on startups, then tech startups.  If your blog focuses on parenthood, especially new parents, then a company that makes products for toddlers and newborns might be a good fit.

3 – Do your research and figure out if these companies are active on social media now, and more importantly if they are already working with bloggers and doing sponsorships!  From the above example of a parenting blog, let’s say you do some checking and uncover that Graco is currently sponsoring other bloggers (I have no idea if they are), then you could reach out to them and let them know that you are offering sponsorships on your parenting blog and explain to them how it would be a good fit for their brand.

4 – Focus on the win-win-win.  Figure out how a sponsor’s involvement on your blog will enhance your blog, not detract from the experience you have.   What do you get from the sponsorship, what does the sponsor get, and what do your readers get?

If you are willing to do your homework and some leg-work, you should be able to start getting some sponsors for your blog.  Something else I have noticed with #Blogchat is that it is MUCH easier to sell sponsorships when you are selling sponsorships.  I went all year without selling any sponsorships to #Blogchat, then suddenly over the course of 3 weeks I sold the sponsorships for September, October and November.  So if you can ever start getting sponsors on your blog, it become much easier to keep getting them!

If you accept sponsors on your blog, what has worked for you?

 

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Writing Great Blog Posts vs Writing Great Newsletters, Tonight’s #Blogchat Topic!

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Here’s the link to tonight’s #Blogchat transcript (Click transcript on the left)

More and more bloggers are deciding to launch a newsletter in addition to their blogs.  So tonight(10-20-13) we’ll discuss how you can create an effective newsletter and how the content you create differs from your blog content.

To be clear, when I say a newsletter, I’m not talking about giving your readers a way to get your blog posts via email, I am talking about writing a newsletter as a separate source of content from your blog.

As with every Sunday this month, tonight’s #Blogchat is sponsored by AllergEase.   You can click here to receive a completely free 21-pack lozenge product sample, just for #Blogchat participants!  AllergEase makes an all natural allergy lozenge that’s designed to help relieve the affects of seasonal allergies.  You can learn more about their products here.

Here’s what we’ll be discussing tonight, starting at 8pm Central:

8:00-8:30PM: What makes a great newsletter?  Also be ready to share examples of your favorite newsletters and why you like them.

8:30-9:00PM: How your blog & newsletter can work together.

That’s it, and you can follow #Blogchat right here, starting at 8pm Central!

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How Do You Create Content For a Niche Audience? Tonight’s #Blogchat topic!

Girl Taking Photograph

Here’s the transcript from tonight’s #Blogchat (Click Transcript on the left).

Tonight’s #Blogchat topic (10-13-13) will be How Do You Create Content For a Niche Audience?  #Blogchat begins at 8pm Central, and you can follow the hashtag on Twitter.  In October every #Blogchat is sponsored by AllergEase, and you can click here to receive a completely free 21-pack lozenge product sample, just for #Blogchat participants!  AllergEase makes an all natural allergy lozenge that’s designed to help relieve the affects of seasonal allergies.  You can learn more about their products here.

If your company would like to sponsor #Blogchat, the first available month is December, here’s the price and details.

Here’s what we’ll be discussing tonight during #Blogchat:

8:00pm-8:20pm Central – How do you create content for a niche audience?  

8:20-8:40pm – How can a business blog create that’s valuable for readers, yet not overly promotional?  What are some examples of companies that do a good job of this?

8:40-9:00pm – How does the recent Hummingbird update to Google’s search engine change how we should write content?  

 

So that’s what we’ll be discussing tonight during #blogchat, starting at 8pm central!  Hope to see you there and please follow October’s sponsor, AllergEase on Twitter!

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Sheila Scarborough Co-Hosts #Blogchat Tonight Discussing Blogger Outreach Programs!

Here’s tonight’s #Blogchat transcript, click Transcript on the left!

I’m thrilled to announce that Sheila Scarborough will be joining #Blogchat tonight (10-6-13) to teach us about how to create and execute effective Blogger Outreach programs!  #Blogchat starts tonight at 8pm Central, and is sponsored this month by AllergEase!  Please make sure you are following both Sheila and AllergEase on Twitter!

Here’s the schedule for tonight’s #Blogchat discussion on Blogger Outreach programs starting at 8pm Central:

8:00-8:15pm – How to get started with a blogger outreach program

8:15-8:30PM – How to decide who you are targeting with your outreach program

8:30-8:45PM – How to structure the outreach if a product is involved

8:45-9:00PM – How Blogger Outreach campaigns can generate more WOM and product reviews, and how to encourage these

 

It will be a fabulous discussion tonight, and I hope you can join us!  I’ll be posting the transcript here when the chat ends.

Also, as part of AllergEase’s #Blogchat sponsorship this month, they are offering a special product giveaway just for #Blogchat members!

1 – Go to Aedrops.com, and add the AllergEase 3-pack into your cart.

2 – Enter code AEBLOGCHAT.

3 – This will reduce your order and shipping total to $0.00 and you will receive a free pack of 21 AllergEase lozenges!

Each pack has 21 lozenges, and by entering the code AEBLOGCHAT you’ll get 21 lozenges for free, and AllergEase will even cover the shipping, so there’s no risk for you!  I don’t deal with allergies, thankfully, but my sister does and she tried the lozenges and said they really did work!

So please take advantage of this special offer that AllergEase has for us, and claim your free pack of 21 AllergEase lozenges.

Hope to see you at #Blogchat tonight!

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AllergEase is #Blogchat’s Sponsor For October!

AllergEaseLogoI’m thrilled to announce that AllergEase is the #Blogchat sponsor for October!  AllergEase makes an all natural allergy lozenge that’s designed to help relieve the affects of seasonal allergies.  You can learn more about their products here.

As part of their sponsorship, AllergEase has come up with a special product giveaway just for #Blogchat members!

1 – Go to Aedrops.com, and add the AllergEase 3-pack into your cart.

2 – Enter code AEBLOGCHAT.

3 – This will reduce your order and shipping total to $0.00 and you will receive a free pack of 21 AllergEase lozenges!

Each pack has 21 lozenges, and by entering the code AEBLOGCHAT you’ll get 21 lozenges for free, and AllergEase will even cover the shipping, so there’s no risk for you!  I don’t deal with allergies, thankfully, but my sister does and she tried the lozenges and said they really did work!

So please take advantage of this special offer that AllergEase has for us, and claim your free pack of 21 AllergEase lozenges.

Now as for #Blogchat this month, here’s the topics we’ll be covering:

This Sunday (October 6th) we’ll be covering Blogger Outreach Programs with a special co-host, Sheila Scarborough!  Sheila is a long-time friend of #Blogchat and will have a ton of great advice for us on how to properly craft and execute blogger outreach campaigns.  I’ll have more information on this topic coming up here this Sunday.  For now, if you aren’t already make sure you are following Sheila on Twitter!

October 13th we’ll be chatting about how to find and connect with niche bloggers.

October 20th we’ll be chatting about the issues involved with marketing to a specialized or narrow group online via social media.  Such as connecting with children, what are the issues involved, etc.

October 27th we’ll have OPEN MIC!

I’m so excited to have both AllergEase sponsoring #Blogchat this month and Sheila joining us on Sunday!  Please make sure you take advantage of AllergEase’s offer of 21 free lozenges! And make sure you follow them on Twitter!  See y’all on Sunday!

PS: Want to sponsor #Blogchat? November’s sponsorship is on hold but December’s is still available, here’s price plus details.

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Sponsored Post: CCF Introduces ‘The Conscious Consumer’

Note from Mack: This is a sponsored post from #Blogchat’s sponsor in September, Clarity Coverdale Fury.  Check out their blog here, and please follow them on Twitter.  Here’s their new post, How Brands Can Win With Conscious Consumers.

 

“My consumption impacts myself, my family, my community and the world at large. I consider issues of health, environment and social responsibilities when I make decisions.” – The Conscious Consumer

More and more people are adapting habits and behaviors that are based on shared values versus the “winner take all” mentality of our not-so-distant past. They are considering how their actions impact others and the world around them. What was once a small percentage of the population is now at a tipping point. This notion of “conscious consumption” and a more Conscious Consumer is no longer on the fringes but is heading mainstream.

American consumers who are practicing yoga or meditation, shopping organic or at Whole Foods, eating vegan or vegetarian are no longer in the millions, but rather the tens of millions. As we wrote in our definition of Conscious Consumer (you can read it above) they are being more mindful. More mindful of not only their own health and personal wellness but how their actions impact the world around them.

As we’ve written about this over the past year we have discovered a lot. Not only are consumers taking action but many companies are as well. In our backyard, General Mills has created Small Planet Foods, an offshoot that houses brands such as Food Should Taste Good, Cascadian Farms and Larabar. LifeTime Fitness has gotten into the business of conducting running and biking races by expanding on their triathlons with nationwide events like Commitment Day held on New Year’s Day. They have also purchased others like the famed Leadville series in Leadville, Colorado. And by doing so, have given themselves a platform to sell other services to an audience of fit-minded individuals. You can visit our blog and read more at blog.claritycoverdalefury.com.

To learn more we recently completed a study with Mintel. It shows just how much momentum there is behind Conscious Consumerism. Over the past month and through November we are releasing a large part of this data in a series we are calling Think. Every two weeks we issue a new Think report highlighting information and insights from the study. You can access the reports here.

Please feel free to use the information in your posts, presentations or articles.

We believe the momentum is there. The question for us is how entrepreneurs and marketers will leverage this momentum. And how consumers will take to manufacturers and service providers who adapt along with them.

We’ve enjoyed the journey, including our sponsorship of #Blogchat. And we hope that through this data we can provide you with some insights. Or maybe more importantly, some inspiration.

For more insights on the Conscious Consumer, follow us on our weekly blog.

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How Blogs Impact Purchase Decisions, Tonight’s #Blogchat Topic!

Here’s tonight’s #Blogchat transcript (Click Transcript on the left).

Tonight (9-22-2013) at #Blogchat we’ll be chatting about how blogs impact purchase decisions.  All month long #Blogchat is sponsored by CCF.  Tonight’s topic ties into CCF’s latest blog post about the role of brands in easing the mind of consumers.  CCF also references Chiptotle’s viral video The Scarecrow, which is embedded here:

Here’s the flow for tonight’s topic, which begins at 8pm Central:

8:00-8:20 pm – When researching a purchase, are blogger reviews more or less credible than reviews from ‘professional’ site?

8:20-8:40 pm – Have you ever influenced someone via social media to buy a product? If so, what did you do?

8:40-9:00 pm – Are certain products or services easier to sell via a blog? If so, which ones?

BTW a sidenote:  CCF’s team selected this week’s topic as they did last week’s.  Last Sunday night’s #Blogchat was one of the biggest chats in the 4-year history of #blogchat.  It was a very interesting topic and discussion, and I think tonight’s chat will be equally engaging.  Please check out CCF’s newest post to help reference tonight’s topic.

So make sure you are following CCF on Twitter, and also follow Rob, who will be joining in as well.

You can follow #blogchat right here: