These fresh blog newsletter ideas by niche will get your creativity (and income) flowing whether you’re just starting or seeking to increase open and engagement rates.
Archives for August 2017
How to Pitch Brands with Extra Effort (and Secure the Partnership)
Learn how to pitch brands with extra effort and learn how to win more opportunities for you to make money blogging. A little extra goes a long way!
Blog Content Stolen! Checklist for What to Do and How to Do It
Have you had your blog content stolen? Whether this is the first or 50th time, content or images, you CAN take action to protect your business. Here’s how.
When you find out you’ve had your blog content stolen, it sucks.
There, I said it.
I am dealing with this YET AGAIN so I’m writing up the steps I take. We’d all rather be working on tasks to grow blog income, so these are the steps I use to get it taken care of quickly. Note: if you’d like this as a checklist, I’ve included for free in the Resource Library (sign up here).
I am not an attorney and this article does not constitute legal advice. Neither ND Consulting, Sarah Nenni-Daher, nor any business entity operated by Sarah Nenni-Daher will be held liable for actions taken based on this article.
There might be partner links used in this article which means, at no additional cost to you, I might receive a small commission.
How Can You Tell if You’ve Had Blog Content Stolen?
Do you know how to determine if you’ve had your blog content stolen? Let’s do a litmus test – it’s only a couple of questions…
Step 1: Do you have a copyright ON your blog content?
Ask yourself: did YOU write it? Did YOU take (or create) the images?
If the answer is yes, you’re done. In the US, you have a copyright on your content without having to do anything at all. Isn’t that nice?
Step 2: Was stealing the content malicious or just an honest mistake?
Your answer doesn’t matter in the eyes of the law with regards to stolen blog content. Surprised? Most people are.
The law doesn’t allow for ignorance as an excuse. If a new blogger unintentionally violates your copyright, the letter below usually does the trick to put them on the path to learning how NEVER to do it again.
Step 3: Educate yourself.
If you’re new or don’t quite understand the nuances of online content, copyright, trademark, and fair use, this is a very good area to dedicate time.
What NOT To Do When You’ve Had Your Blog Content Stolen
If you’ve had blog content stolen, the first step is to take a deep breath. IT. SUCKS. Really, it does. You worked hard on it. It’s yours and they’re big, stinky, poo-poo heads.
Now let’s take a deep breath and do not blast them on social media. We don’t need to get our tribe all riled up ‘in our defense.’ This is OUR business and we shall conduct ourselves professionally. It’s hard, but it is the right move.
Note: If your PHOTOGRAPHY was used without your permission, you can choose to follow this process OR you can request a license fee. It’s your choice. This is just a reminder not to go all “mama bear” without first attempting to get paid.
Steps to Take for Stolen Blog Content
The process of how to report copyright violations is relatively easy on the surface. You need to do a bit of work, they need to do a bit of work. Usually, that’s all it takes.
You can get this as a checklist in the Resource Library to put into your blog binder or PDF files to easily find later. If you’re not a member, get ALL.THE.GOODIES. by signing up for once-weekly emails.
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Step 1: Before You Take Action
Take some time to do the following research before sending the cease and desist notice. This WILL help expedite removal of your stolen blog content AND can also serve as a basis for legal action later. I usually put about 15-20 minutes into this first step.
- If your BLOG IMAGE is stolen, do a quick reverse image search on Google or use TinEye. Document the URLs.
- If your BLOG CONTENT is stolen, type in your content (a phrase or short paragraph) into Google’s search bar. Look it up on Copyscape to see if it is anywhere else the search missed. Document URLs.
- Take screen shots and/or use Wayback Machine to document the stolen content was live. You will have proof of the infraction, even if they remove it.
- Do some quick snooping on the offender’s social networks (including LinkedIn). If you find your content there, document URLs. You can report each and every share to the social network on which it was posted. Note: DO NOT report Pinterest pins without first looking up how to ensure you will not have your valid pins removed, as well. Hint: you want to choose “Strike” and not “Remove All.”
- Is the offender running ads? Indicate a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ here. We’ll take action on this later.
Step 2: Take Action
- Look up the offender’s domain’s host on Who Is.
- Send your cease and desist letter and wait 48 hours.
- Get a cease and desist template from Law Trades.
- Contact an online attorney to do this all for you (contact [email protected] who runs Biz.Love.Society., a free legal resource repository or Hashtag Legal.
- File the DMCA takedown notice.
- Report social shares to corresponding networks. Note: if you find multiple videos on YouTube from a single user, report the channel AND each video.
- (Optional) I send a note to their host via the host’s contact form. In it, I detail the copyright infringement, the official DMCA filing, and, if applicable, the refusal of their webmaster to acknowledge the issue.
- If the offender is running ads (of any type or provider), report their AdSense violations.
Step 3: Protect Yourself
- Get stolen content removed from search engines. This step makes sure the stolen blog content is removed from search once it’s been taken down. This gives the valuable search juice back to the rightful owners (start the process by selecting “web search” from the first set of options).
- If this happens to you a great deal, there are services like Pixsy (their sole job is to work for you to protect your intellectual property).
- Be sure you have your usage policy clearly displayed on your site, policy, and/or contact pages.
Additional Reading and Resources for Bloggers
- Read about your rights (US+, copyrights, etc.)
- Understand “fair use.”
- Copyright and Trademark for Bloggers
Summary
Discovering you’ve had your blog content stolen can be a kick in the stomach! If you follow a consistent set of steps to protect yourself, your content, and your income, you can deal with it legally. Please pin this to help all bloggers navigate the world of stolen blog content!
10 of the Best Places to Find Diverse Stock Photos
It can be difficult to find diverse stock photos for women of color, body types, and alternative lifestyles. This list has many cultural, ethnic, and alternative stock photography sources for bloggers and content marketers.
Diverse Stock Photos: The World is Colorful…
…but sometimes it’s hard to find good quality ethnic and culturally diverse stock photos in content marketing!
Recently, I had a perspective client mention on a discovery call (book your free, 30-minutes here), she couldn’t find people of color represented in stock photography. Adding to that, she couldn’t find plus-sized stock photography.
It made me sad, mad, and I’m always up for a challenge, so I went hunting for a few sites which would allow her to purchase or procure free diverse stock photography. Unlike my free sources for commercial use stock photography articles, this list is a collection of both purchased and free diverse stock photography.There are affiliate links in this article which means, at no additional cost to you, we could receive compensation for our recommendations. You can read our full disclosure policy.
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Color U Bold
If you’re looking for bright, fun, gorgeous images featuring women of color, Color U Bold is your new best friend. And y’all – her flatlay game is strong (she has a course on it, it’s so strong).
Jasmine is giving away 50 images (free, commercial use) for signing up (I signed up and they’re GORGEOUS)! Oh, and friends: this article on phone photography mistakes (and how to fix them) is choice reading. I might have a professional gal crush here.
This is one her her FREE images. See what I mean? Beautiful.
Creative Market
CreativeMarket has always been one of my favorite sources for stock photography and there are some amazing artists who focus on women of color, body types, and alternative lifestyles. Here are a few:
- Beauty Blow Flow – one of the BEST on CreativeMarket for women of color and all body types!
- Stefan & Janni – gorgeous, professional, and diverse.
- Isha Gaines – y’all, I just added so many of her stunning images to a private collection for a client.
- SkyNext – click on their ‘Collections’ tab to get started quickly.
Fotolia (by Adobe Stock)
Even if you don’t subscribe to the Adobe Stock, you can get the benefit of their vast photo library!
Fotolia allows for a package price for $5 less per month than Adobe Stock and the images are very high quality. A user can also buy credits to purchase royalty-free images with Fotolia (prices start from $1 for a small-sized image).
Focus Fitness
For FREE people of color stock photography for the fitness (or food) niche, check out Brian’s curated site, Focus Fitness. In addition to free commercial use, this site has images of items and food related to the health and fitness genre.
I’d like to note this site also includes men, too, which my clients and I find lacking in the diverse stock photography options. This is a curated source which can save you hours of searching.
50 Shades of Black Stock
First of all, it needs to be said: 50 Shades of Black Stock is one of the BEST website names. I chuckled for a good 5-minutes straight!
Second, if you sign up, you’ll get 6 free stock photos. Boom.
Create Her Stock
Read the about page on Create Her Stock. She’s written a social commentary beautifully and her business was born from making a difference. There is nothing better than that. And psst: her images are highly praised.
You can join up for only $7 per month – that’s a literal steal, y’all!!
Deposit Photos
You’ll need to utilize the search bar, but I’ve been able to find a plethora of women of color images within the depths of Deposit Photos!
I’ve found diverse stock photos, representing Arab, Asian, African, and Indian from Deposit Photos. And don’t worry about niches represented – you’re covered for the fitness, business professional, and food niches.
Additionally, DepositPhotos has stock photographs in the fitness, professional, and parenting, family niches for plus-sized and under-sized body types. This also includes images for under-sized and even anorexic images, which are hard to find in stock photography resources.
Summary
There are so many great sources to find diverse stock photography featuring women of color, alternative families, and so much more. Be sure to pin this to help others find great sources for stock photographs.