Having a site banned from Google or Yahoo! is an internet marketer's worst nightmare. All this talk about the duplicate content penalty has everyone shaking in their boots. While you certainly should respect the duplicate content penalty, there's no reason to let it bring your marketing campaign to a halt. In fact, the penalty doesn't even affect article marketers. Fear is paralyzing, not energizing and misinformation is dangerous. Fight the fear by becoming better informed.
First of all the whole thing is a misnomer. If Google finds a duplicate site, the owner won't find a bill for a fine payable within 14 days in his inbox. What he will find - or, rather, won't find - is his site anywhere in the page rankings. It will have sunken off the map. But this is for duplicate websites, not duplicate articles.
Submit your articles with freedom and rejoice when they appear in hundreds of places. That's the beauty of social marketing at work. As Google and Yahoo! web crawlers explore the Web, they'll see your links again and again on relevant sites and that will boost your site's page rank through the roof. That's the opposite of a penalty, wouldn't you say?
One word of caution, though: stay out of "bad neighborhoods" on the Net. You don't want to link to them and you don't want them linking to your site. Bad neighborhoods are sites that have been banned by Google and/or Yahoo! or are sinking in the rankings due to black hat SEO strategies and spam-like activities.
Remember the golden rule of SERP (search engine results page) surfing: you're writing and creating sites for actual human beings, not web crawlers or fancy algorithms. In fact, spiders and algorithms are programmed to detect site features that appeal to human readers. Human readers don't waste their time in bad neighborhoods.
There are sure signs that a site is in a bad neighborhood. For starters, they just look "spammy." They often employ black hat SEO strategies such as keyword stuffing and text cloaking. Does the site look like it was created for human beings to read, enjoy and learn from? If not, you're probably in a bad neighborhood.
Linking to one bad neighborhood probably doesn't spell doom. Just be careful out there. If you submit articles through a reputable site such as Article Marketer, you won't have to worry about this because submission site reputations are riding on the fact that they submit only to publishers who are on the up-and-up. This greatly cuts your chances of being linked to a bad neighborhood. And make sure that you don't add links to bad neighborhoods on your site.
Still feeling a bit nervous about duplicate content? Think about sites such as the Associated Press and Reuters news sites. Their articles appear all over the place, yet media sites that pick them up such as CNN, MSN and Fox News enjoy top rankings. That's because they're providing fresh, relevant, informative content that people want to read. And Google and Yahoo! want to give the people what they want, plain and simple.
Do you get overtaken by fear when faced with something new and different? I think we all have at some point and to some degree, some even to the point of inaction. When your fearful feelings have directed you to change your behavior, you have unknowingly chosen to allow the fear to be in control. When actually fear is not and cannot do anything to you, rather you are giving these feelings this power. It is all in your mind, you have total command of your thought and your feelings. You allow these feelings to run their course based on unconscious programming deep in your mind. Learning to handle these automatic thought cycles will greatly enhance your personal growth and development efforts along with your happiness in life.
When you get the fear feelings based on doubt, worry and uncertainty you choose to allow these thoughts to roil around in your head. You choose how you interpret them and how you react to them. A fearful thought does not come pre-packaged with a specific set of feelings and behavioral commands. Those too are of your choosing.
When you let yourself remain in the fear, you are choosing to have the fear guide your actions. It's a logical progression to react to the fear feelings based on how most of us have developed our perceptions around fear. But when you realize that you have created the whole cycle in your mind, you can begin to see that you have ultimate command over the whole cycle. You can change this existing cycle of perception, interpretation and reaction to one that is more supportive of the life you want.
Dr. Author Wayne Dyer is credited with saying, "When you change the way you look at things, the way you look at things changes". He is referring to your perception, which may appear at first to be totally automatic but it's not. Well it is and it isn't! Your fears and emotional reactions are currently on autopilot but you have the power to change this and have a new automatic behavior. Just because you now, as most do, react to worry, doubt and uncertainty with fear thoughts does not mean this is the only way or that it must be this way.
So how did your perceptions, interpretations and reactions get the way they are? And why does it seem that this is just the way they should be? Because you were taught these things by those you were around as you grew up. You took on the perceptions, interpretations and reactions of those who provided the greatest impression on you as you grew up. Your mind is accustomed to doing this since it was how it was in the environment you grew up in and were unaware that you were being essentially programmed. When most or all of the people you are around do it 'this way' there is no red flag raised in your thinking to question it, so you don't. Their way becomes your way.
This is how your behavior and that of groups, families and societies is formed and why it appears to be 'normal'. And the fact that many people behave in a certain way does not make it the best way, many times it is just the easiest way. It is easier to conform than to take a unique path. You don't have to remain stuck in the mode of allowing fear thoughts to control your actions. You have command of your thinking so you can change the whole cycle or mental chain of events that occurs with fear. Initially the thoughts of doubt, and some uncertainty are normal when you are facing something new, different or challenging but you don't need to let the heightened feelings well up and create this big fear thing that you then cater to.
You can change the way you look at doubt, worry and uncertainty. These thoughts are merely questioning something about what you are about to do. "Am I prepared?" "What if ____?" "Maybe I won't remember?" "How will they react?" "How do I look?" These are mostly logical concerns about what you are about to do and if you can answer them logically, without emotion, you can clear them up and soothe your mind. Some you can specifically answer and check off the list and others you will determine you can't do anything about, so you do not concern yourself with it any more. You don't need to include all the added nagative stuff that is not a part of the original question, they are your added emotional reaction.
Just because you are concerned with how you look, dies not mean you should stop from doing it. Just because you are wondering if you are prepared or not does not mean to turn and run. Just because you have not done this before does not mean you can't. You interpretation and reaction to the logical progression of thought leading up to your planned action is what causes you to freeze up. But even when you allow the feeling of fear to well up over these thoughts, still does not mean you must behave in a certain way. You can proceed with the fear, don't interpret the fear feelings as a stop sign. Just acknowledge those feelings and move on. Accept them, realize how they come about and let them be. Fearful thoughts and feelings by themselves cannot do anything to you, only when you choose to react to them do they. Choose not to react to them in ways that have you suffering and keep you from what you want.
It's your life, live it your way. Every day is a good day for personal growth and development.
Both Dana Davalos & John Halderman are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Dana Davalos has sinced written about articles on various topics from Personal Desktop, The Internet and web development. Dana Davalos, graphic designer and online biz whiz, shares her thoughts on internet marketing, design and life in general at her blog, . She is a. Dana Davalos's top article generates over 12100 views. to your Favourites.
John Halderman has sinced written about articles on various topics from . John Halderman wants you to live the life you desire, finally get information, tools, methods and tips for daily change and improvement. For newsletter and 45 page report,. John Halderman's top article . to your Favourites.