Well, now that I have your undue attention with my captivating link baiting tactics, allow me to explain why auto-bloggers must die. What are auto-bloggers? How do they do it? In this post, I will explain how auto-bloggers do their business and why they must die.
What are auto-bloggers?
Auto-bloggers are individuals who use automation in order to develop, popularize and grow income with the least amount of effort. With the right synthesis of seo optimizing tools, plugins, and content-grabbing software, they are able to make loads of money. It’s obvious why they do it, to make money. At what cost? Just keep reading and I’ll tell you why. They could make, say, 30 websites with select niches (this requires heavy statistical analysis and eventually good execution) using a variety of tools. You can use them yourself in order to SEO-optimize your posts, one of them is obvious–SEOPressor. Whilst it does not automate, it aids in the automation process by propelling your posts to higher SERPs with relevant keywords.
According to Darren Chow:
In theory, an auto-blogger could make 100 websites, which generate only $2 of ad revenue per day for a total of $6,000 per month. Over the course of a year, those websites, which after initial setup would be largely self operational, could produce a hands free income of $72,000.
Sounds very attractive, right? Well, it comes at a heavy price–my fanatical desire to kill all auto-bloggers. It’s not jealousy, it’s just simple ethics.
How do they do it?
Example of Auto-posting Capabilities
As stated above, they could use serious semi-automatic tools like SEOPressor or more destructively using fully automated systems to propel unnatural website growth and popularity. SmashingShares.com explains in this post five WP robots one could use to dominate in the SERPs and SEO:
- WPRobot
- Autoblogged
- ZipPoster
- PLR to WordPress
- DataFeedr
These plugins are sometimes semi-automatic, but when it comes to information stealing, it’s fully automated. One of the most debilitating features for REAL bloggers is that these auto-bloggers use article spinners, here’s an example:
Autopost Rewriting
Knowing that your article is out there on the internet waiting to be snatched by an article spinner and an entire machine that automates it all is pretty f*cking daunting. You can’t just one day decide to become an auto-blogger, it takes actual knowledge of how these work in case you end up with some huge complicated problem. While I’ve shown you what they can do, you need to know why you must die if you choose to become an auto-blogger.
Why Auto-Bloggers Must Die
In that list above, you can see that they use ArticleBase.com articles. I recently submitted an original post titled “10 Reasons why you should invest in Forex”. It was a unique article that took a little bit of research to prepare and some effort. Guess what? Got snatched by a f*cking auto-blogger. According to ArticleBase, “Our TOS basically states that you must keep full author credit with all its respective links, a link to ArticlesBase.com, must keep the article intact (no editing) and keep all links active.” The auto-blogger used this article from ArticleBase and guess what? No active links back to my website, no credit, no nothing, plaigarized and for what? To make an extra buck? Matt Ward got it right when he said:
I find auto blogging tremendously uncool. To me, it amounts to little more than ripping off other people’s content, and as someone who works really hard to write and create high-quality articles for my own blog, it really makes me mad when I find some other site – usually with a poorly implemented WordPress theme – ripping off what I worked so hard to create.
You can find my original article here and its blatantly violated plagiarized version here. At the bottom of the posts, you can see the difference:
Before Auto-Post Theft
After Auto-Post Theft
Holy Sh*t, Right?
Now let me demonstrate what happens when original articles get caught into a deadly automation and article spinning. In another post, you can easily see what happened before and after:
Before Article Spinning
After Article Spinning
Holy damn, look at that? The spun article did not even undergo simple proofreading. Can you believe these people try to make money off of this crap? They referred to my staff as “employees” and me as “it” and retitled my brand and website as “the blatant facts” instead of “The Glaring Facts”. Now you know what I mean, it’s a pretty simple conclusion: auto-bloggers must die. You in?
Twitter: Jajodia_Saket
says:
Yes I am in… Even someone also tried to still my content using my RSS… I just Hate them..!
Saket Jajodia´s recent blog post ..See Historical Images And Places In Google Earth
We need to start a coalition, some serious organization partnered with DanHatesSpam.com, hahaha
The Glaring Facts´s recent blog post ..How Much Do Prepaid Credit Cards Really Save You
Twitter: dragonblogger
says:
The only solution to this problem is for Google to know content of pages and list them in the SERP only based on oldest posting date, others would get no SERP listing if they had 100% content match and posted at a later date than original article. Of course these scans would have to examine every word in a post for % of match not just words in same sentences and it could get complicated.
I myself after seeing thousands of fake pingbacks on my own blog seeing hundreds of site steal my own RSS feed to make articles on their own site thought about an auto content “news aggregator type sites” though I would only ever use summaries and link back to original source it could be enough to bring in a visitor and collect a few clicks, really that is the only purpose of such as site anyway is to collect CPC revenue.
Justin Germino´s recent blog post ..Kikolani Answers Blogging Questions
Twitter: BlazingMinds
says:
I hate these auto bloggers, they are the scourge of the blogging world, they steel content and throw it of as their own, which in turn takes visitors away from our blogs, which we have worked our preverbial butts of to grow and gain respect from fellow like minded bloggers.
GGRRRRRRRRR! That’s better, now that’s off my chest
Karen´s recent blog post ..A Google PageRank Update For Blazing Minds
I feel that if someone does use an autoblogging method they should at least give credit where credit is due. Most people make money using autobloggers with amazon, clickbank, ebay aff, etc – so I do not know why people would strip links from articles. Most article submission places do not allow aff links to be placed in the body so if someone does steal your content you should get credit for it. I do agree that it is BS!
zoopco´s recent blog post ..Buy Nintendo 3DS And Make Money TODAY
Haha, those bastards shall pay once I report
The Glaring Facts´s recent blog post ..How Much Do Prepaid Credit Cards Really Save You
Interesting little rant, here, but maybe just a bit over the top. I don’t think autobloggers need to die, necessarily, though I would prefer that they don’t steal my content. But here’s the thing…that unreadable spun garbage is never going to outrank the original article. Especially if it’s on an autoblog. The autoblog owner is not going to put the effort into backlinking and promoting, so while it might have a short spike of SERP love, it won’t last.
The only thing these kinds of autoblogs are good for it CPC campaigns. They’re no good at list-building (why in the world would I sign up to get more of that?), they have no reader retention, and there is no community. In other words, they’re a flash in the pan at best, making a few bucks a day with Adsense. To put it bluntly, they are definitely NOT my competition, so I don’t give them a second thought.
Speaking of Adsense, however, if you find a site in violation of your copyright and it has Adsense ads on it, do report it to Google. They take this sort of stuff very seriously, and will terminate the Adsense account of the offender.
cindybidar´s recent blog post ..5 Opening Paragraph Strategies- or Why You Should Stop Writing for Search Engines
Hey Cindy!
Thanks for your awesome feedback! I actually DIDN’T know I could do this, I’m so doing this right now. I’m on constant surveillance of my articles and I always know where my stuff is. It’s nice to know that Google takes this seriously, if it didn’t, I’d be even more pissed.
And yes, it is a little over the top, but the over-the-topness really adds to article drama
I love to write crazy titles like that, hahaha
The Glaring Facts´s recent blog post ..How Much Do Prepaid Credit Cards Really Save You
Wow, yeah just a little over the top I think also.
Dirk´s recent blog post ..Home
Haha, let’s not take the title too seriously. It’s meant to be shocking and entertaining, not serious like a death march. I’m calling for a blogging revolution, not a massacre, haha.
The Glaring Facts´s recent blog post ..How Much Do Prepaid Credit Cards Really Save You
Twitter: luckyandvin
says:
Holy moly! This is scary! Yup Auto bloggers must die! What a cheap way to make money. Isn’t there anything we can do to stop them in their tracks?? I like the idea given by cindybidar though.. Report them to Google and get their Adsense accounts frozen/banned. This would deter them from such fraudulent activities!
Vin´s recent blog post ..Lady Godiva by John Collier
Twitter: DiTesco
says:
Oh, I’m definitely in. And I maybe will go one step further say, die, then die again
It is obviously and totally uncool to have your article spunned, rewritten and “others” getting credit for it. Even worst, they are making money based on other people’s work and that is totally F**Ked up.
Anyway, it appears that Google, according to an official statement they released recently, is on to this and hopefully would be able to detect “autobots” (sounds like the transformers, lol), and get rid of these nasty things. We’ll see.
Twitter: Apposl
says:
I do agree, just ripping articles off and providing no credit is absolutely wrong.
I have thought about autoblogging and the use of something WP Robot for myself for a couple of my niche sites, however. I haven’t gone beyond “thinking about it,” but it’s a move I’ll have to make in the future. Basically I need a program to streamline the data-compilation portion of the updating – for example, RecentUFOsighting.com. I don’t have time to search the web daily to update with sightings – I need a plugin that’ll do that for me, even pull the posts in to my drafts section, so I can write an intro, cut off the end of the article, and link to the original post so viewers interested can check out the original full-length story.
I’m sure this falls under a legitimate use of an autoblogging plugin, as I’d be crediting and linking to the original story, and not even including the full post (or is using the whole post acceptable, as long as you credit the original?).
I’m curious if anyone can suggest the best plugin for that use – and hopefully I’m not viewed by this as one of ‘those who must die.’
Thanks for the article and insight!
fuzzylogic´s recent blog post ..Wikileaks to reveal secret UFO documentation
You’re on the right track; however, the only problem with auto-blogging is the lack of exposure and uninterested, frequently bouncing visitors. You somehow have to make people’s visits lengthy, entertaining, provoking, and enjoyable. I think that providing credit is a really good thing, those writers slaved their asses off with each post.
You also have to be careful with duplicate content and trying to make money off of an auto-blog might not provide you as much cash in your pocket as you had initially hoped. The prospect of completely automating the entire blogging process seems attractive, but there won’t be a personality. You site would essentially become an archive of all those articles your plugins have ripped.
The Glaring Facts´s recent blog post ..How Much Do Prepaid Credit Cards Really Save You
Twitter: shaxx
says:
this has been debated many times before and the fact that plugins exist in the first place shows that there are people who support such methods. I personally feel that autoblogging tools are just tools. It is the usage that makes the difference. A knife in a wrong hand can be fatal… I would say that those blogs that abuse the tools must die!
I hope I am getting the concept right here as things can be done in such a way that it would be a win-win situation as described by fuzzylogic above.
papabear´s recent blog post ..LHDN going after Bloggers!
I believe that humans will most often think what first satisfies themselves rather than how useful they can be to everyone else. It’s this psychology that makes us primitive. I believe that these tools were not designed to be used in a “cute” way, there’s nothing acceptable about these methods.
The fact that these tools exist reflects our need for dominance anyway possible and pushing one’s material through an article spinner that changes your brand name from “The Glaring Facts” to “The Blatant Facts” and continues to completely alter the entire content gives me (since my name is on the article) a really bad reputation.
The Glaring Facts´s recent blog post ..How Much Do Prepaid Credit Cards Really Save You
Hi Sufi,
Loved the rant! Yes, perhaps it WAS a little over the top. But it made me laugh and I hear ya. Yes, I am in! Sort of… At least with the plagiarism. It’s theft, pure and simple.
In my mind it is a short term gain for these people. Like Cindy mentioned, the search engines are onto this and eventually sites like that get blacklisted and/or shut down entirely. It’s what I refer to as short term thinking. It just won’t last, so enjoy that $2.
I really like what Papabear said, too. Autoblogging software is a tool. If used correctly, it can be a great tool that benefits everyone involved.
Great post, though. Sometimes a good rant is just what the doctor ordered.
Vincent Parker´s recent blog post ..How To Add A GDI Image- GDI Banner Or GDI Link
Hey Vincent! I’m glad you enjoyed the post
It’s not meant to be serious, it’s meant to be a long-winded speech to rally some blogging revolution!
I honestly think creating an organization partnered closely with DanHatesSpam combatting the issue of duplicate content, plaigarism, and horrifying online brand theft would be incredible, feeding information to Google and search engines to stop auto-bloggers (who steal content and not give credit) where they stand.
Imagine the difference that would make in the blogging world, I mean, I absolutely HATE IT when I see an auto-blog higher in SERPS than an actual blog with real content. Things need to start changing Vince, or else I’ll start this organization soon, muahahaha
The Glaring Facts´s recent blog post ..How Much Do Prepaid Credit Cards Really Save You
The debate can go on and on. I agree with you totally. The auto bloggers steal your content and the worst part is that they don’t even give you the credit. You rack your brains up writing an article and next you get to see, that these auto bloggers have just stolen and altered your content according to their need. They should definitely die.
shree´s recent blog post ..Upcoming SEO Trends Of 2011
I agree with what Matt Ward, auto blogging is tremendously uncool. I think this is mainly due to the fact that auto-bloggers don’t have any respect for other people’s hard work. I think the death of auto-bloggers is inevitable because I believe it is a trend that will eventually fade away.
The good news is you can always report any plagiarism and get the auto-blogger’s plagiarized content removed, and even get his site shut down. It was good to hear your thoughts on this.
John´s recent blog post ..Put An End To Sweating Problems
“No active links back to my website…”
“Active” seems to be the key word here. I’ve had sites reprint my articles from ArticlesBase or another directory, and while they may retain my resource box, the link to my site is NOT active, meaning no backlink for me and very little likelihood that anyone will visit my site from that article.
I’ve come to the conclusion that submitting to article directories is not the best use of my time.
Twitter: elizobihfrank
says:
I get your frustration as anyone who puts effort into writing a post knows it does take work. What a shame that they continue to get away with the practice of stealing other people’s content for money. Your post title got my attention and I hope that, over time, the practice will be blocked via Google and other sources. Did you try appealing to WordPress?
You said in one of your comments that “I’m on constant surveillance of my articles and I always know where my stuff is.” What do you do to keep abreast of where your hard work is showing up? As a relative newbie, I’m always interested in learning more about blogging best practices. Do share!
Btw, I am 100% behind you on this one.
Best,
Eliz
ElizOF´s recent blog post ..Perseverance- Seeing Each Blog Post Through the Challenge…
It’s so easy and fun to publish your own ideas to the world. And it’s so rewarding!
Seems like these auto-bloggers don’t know the true rewards of writing an authentic blog, yet.
Alice Hive´s recent blog post ..So- who is this blogger and how is she qualified to talk about personal development
definitely I agree with what Matt Ward, auto blogging is uncool. I think this is mainly due to the fact that auto-bloggers don’t have any respect for other people’s hard work. im newbie so i need to learn more about blogging..
Twitter: Almost60Really
says:
I’ll be damned. I just clipped part of an article about HOW to use those spinning machines to my Evernote…(love it!) Not to steal or copy it, but to refer to it as something that sounds so absolutely stripped of any fun, any sense of accomplishment, and anything to be in the least proud of or anything else…because I couldn’t believe how DULL it sounded!
Maybe the folks who do this are the ones who can’t actually write on their own anyway, and this is how they do their bidniz. ??
I’ve been needing to learn niche marketing, as I DO need some income. I didn’t know it was so tacky and tawdry. IS there a decent way to do niche marketing and earn a bit? Dang, I sure hope so!
Paula Lee Bright´s recent blog post ..The Coolest Way to Explore the Twitterverse—Ever!
What is even more damning is that it seems he could post the article legitimately using attribution at no charge!
retrocollage´s recent blog post ..Collage for Toy Trains- The Art of the Obsolete
Twitter: tips4pc
says:
I have tried autoblogging and it is a load of crap and doesn’t really work anyway. I also hate people steeling my content without including a link!!!
But should they die??? No..Google already knows they are junk websites because they do not work like a normal website…I had 20 or more websites and threw them all in the bin….and kept about 5 real ones only….
I use SEOpressor though to keep my posts right…I don’t see anything wrong with that!
If you are thinking of autoblogging…don’t waste your time!!!!
Mitz´s recent blog post ..Computer Tips – Import Facebook Contact Emails Into Yahoo Mail And Gmail