MusTech.Net!

I’ve been noticing a number of Auto Blogs, Content Thieves, and SPLOGS stealing my content, word for word, even going as far as stealing my Post Slugs Verbatim!   I am going to begin actively changing a number of ways in which I syndicate this site over the next month to attempt to deal with these outcasts.

I’ve recently installed the “Anti Leech” plugin from Owen Winkler and will be considering a number of other changes to my content, including a specific policy with regard to content usage from MusTech.Net.  It is very hard to stop these sites from “snagging” your content especially if you use a full RSS feed like I do (Yes, I’m even considering turning that back to a partial).  One of the big issues with this kind of vile operation is that legitimate people looking for your content will find it on another’s site and end up getting the benefits from your hard work.

Although it’s relativivley easy for me to find out who is virtually copying my blog information verbatim (I have linkbacks, headers and footers in the RSS feed), it is hard to stop them as many of the sites do not respond to any form of contact whatsoever.   It’s very hard to find the actualy IP addresses of those stealing the content because they are using RSS Scraping bot agents that utilize different IP addresses than those of their sites (Even using Feedburner’s tools and my server’s Access Logs presents a challenge with regard to finding them out!).

I would recommend reading Lorelle’s GREAT article on “What Do You Do WHEN Someone Steals Your Content”as a starter for anyone experiencing this type of illicit activity.  I will also keep you posted as to what steps I’m implementing over the next month or so to thwart these undesirables.

I’m writing this post to the new ME bloggers, but it’s relevant to any new blogger starting out.  In the beginning blogging can be a little confusing, exciting, depressing, and overwhelming.   Here are a 10 tips to help you get the word out about your blog among other bloggers and friends:

1. Comment on other sites!  This is the fastest way for you to become noticed by others in your “circle”. 
2. If somebody comments on your site, moderate it quickly (if so required) and comment back to the commentator as soon as you can (Why not after you moderate it?). 
3. Add as many sites/people with related topics or topics you think your readership (future readership?) will be interested to your BLOGROLL.
4. Write a post linking to another bloggers post (make sure you include the link to the other blogger’s post in the body of your post).  This will create a trackback on the other blogger’s post linking back to your site and notify the other blogger about your post.
5. Write content that is interesting, informative, innovative, and newsworthy on your site.
6. Set aside two days a week, one day a week, two days a month, WHATEVER, to blog on your site, read other sites, and comment on other sites.  Be consistent.
7. Don’t be afraid to ask for help from other bloggers!
8. Make sure you have an “about you” page on your site that gives your readers the chance to know you a little better
9. Realize that you can’t know everything about everything and always treat other bloggers and commenters with respect.
10. E-mail your current friends and colleagues about your new site.  Tell everyone about it anyway you can!

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Just a quick note.  If you have a WordPress.com site, you have just been given a 60x increase from 50Mb to 3000Mb for free.  It is interesting that I just mentioned in a post last week that they will most likely increase the 50Mb in the near future…   This is the highest amount of free storage given on an free WordPress site.

Check out more about this here:
http://wordpress.com/blog/2008/01/21/three-gigabytes/

Ken asked me a great question about using the new ME Blogger Logos in the sidebar of a WordPress.com site.   Although it is easy to post a graphic in a regular post by using the upload featureof a WordPress post, posting a graphic in the sidebar is a little bit trickier.

This post will feature a step-by-step graphic tutorial of how do accomplish this using any standard (free) WordPress.com site.  In addition, I will include specific information for posting the ME Graphic in your sidebar while having it reference back to the 100-ME-Blogger Informational page located on this site.   I will also start a thread in the forums (ME HELP) to work with anyone who is having any problems following the tutorial.

Note: This is a LARGE post and you should print this if you are going to work through the following tutorial.

Part 1, Uploading the graphic file to your WordPress.com server

Step 1: PREPARE

Make sure you have downloaded the logo(s) you would like to use in your sidebar to your (local) computer (put them on your desktop or in your pictures folder so you remember where they are).  In the case of the ME bloggers, you can find these pictures here:
http://www.esnips.com/web/mebloggers

Step 2: Log into your WordPress.com account and click on the Write Tab

Step 3: Create a “Dummy” picture holder post

Once your in the WRITE location, choose “Write Post” and create a new POST called: Upload Picts (Do Not Post). Make sure you put the (Do Not Post) after the Picts so that later on you will remember not to post this.   You will be able to use this one “Dummy” post in the future to continue to upload pictures that will not be used in an actual post but may be useful in other instances such as using in your sidebar.

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