Copyright law does not protect blog posts and ideas, yet, but if you want to keep blog etiquette and resist a flamed reputation, reference to blogs that give you food for thought.
It’s polite in the blogosphere and necessary if you’re in the same niche. Otherwise, it’s called stealing.
Link back to the original blog post and add to it. Taking an idea and putting your own spin is the most beautiful things of publishing your own content, however, re-writing an idea in your own words is the stuff of Year 7 essays. Rise above it! If you were a journalist, you’d have limitations and rules but you’re a blog writer so do as you please, but be polite about it and add your own unique twist.
Link and expand, not re-write. As Brian Clark of copyblogger.com says, “Understand first that a unique perspective simply means you see a connection that others do not. So, you can still cite your sources and yet speak in a truly new voice, because the connection makes all the difference.”
And remember, when copyright does get rewritten, “protection arises automatically, without any action taken by the author, from the moment the work is fixed in a tangible form so that it is perceptible either directly or with the aid of a machine or device.”
A social media marketing blog claims that you shouldn’t apply for any job available, even if you have some experience in the field and even in these economic times. Instead of spreading yourself too thin on all accounts, Annelie Näs states that during the young stage of a career you should pick your niche, narrow it down even further and then go for it like a bull seeing red. How refreshing! When everything in the news is doom and gloom, it’s good to see someone sticking to their guns and ploughing the future they would like to have.
This also explains why it hasn’t worked for me so far, I’ve been going about it completely wrong. I have experience in technical writing, graphic design, journalism, sub-editing and (perhaps the most fun of all) selling timber furniture and because of this pile of jobs, I’ve applied for everything under the sun. Yet all I want to do is take photos for a living.
In looking for other things, my lust for photography “cordial” has been so diluted it’s tasteless. Wow, the metaphor is killing me.
So how do you pick your niche? My gut tells me to just go with something you love but I’ve read Tim Ferriss so much that I have a little Tim on my shoulder when ever I make a decision and little Timmy would say to pick a niche that no one else has exploited, find mentors and copy their foot prints.
Three simple things that I challenge you to address today:
- Pick a niche that you love. Only apply yourself to that.
- Find a mentor or several. If you can’t do that, read auto-biography books by people whose career you want to emulate.
- Take notes and copy their foot prints.
If you haven’t read the 4-Hour Work Week, read the blog and see if you like what Tim does.