Automated Content - Is it worth the effort?

[TelegramSam]

Hi,

We have a lot of domain names which we haven't yet used. Some of them are pretty good (we think).

Anyway, time is our biggest constraint as we run a number of bigger sites which take up most of our time.

So we were thinking about getting some of these other domains up and running and then see if any prove to be interesting and popular to visitors. Then we would develop them further etc.

We were thinking that creating some kind of automated content set up would be the best way for us to get these sites up and running fairly quickly.

We would most likely use Wordpress.

We are investigated at the moment on which plug-ins to use and any comments about this would be appreciated.

I was also hoping to hear if these kinds of automated content sites (with some original stuff thrown in) are actually worth setting up.

Will these kinds of site still rank reasonably well if good seo is used and even though some of the content will already appearon hundreds and perhaps thousands of other websites?

Does anyone have success with these kinds of sites?

My main interest is to help generate some traffic and then over time educate the visitors onto our main sites etc..

Thanks,

Sam

[Teli]

Hi Sam,
My words of advise are be careful when setting something like this up because you can easily drift into the realm of plagiarism and should you step on the wrong toes, you could find yourself in hot water.

That said, I've seen aggregation sites work out. Usually those that post up an excerpt with a link back to the original source. Those sites tend to promote themselves as a one-stop-shop for the information within a specific niche. A great example is Linda Buquet's Affiliate Marketing Buzz website where she aggregates content from the various affiliate marketing blogs.

And, of course, throwing in your own original content every so often helps. Another option would be to use PLR content or hire a ghostwriter to maintain the blog.

[artwebster]

I have 22 blogs that run fully automatically. I use a service that avoids all plagiarism charges and the Automatic blog plugin. RSS feeds are also useful as are syndicated feeds from news and information sources - and plagiarism is not an issue at all with those (actually, I don't see how an automated process could create that problem).

It is definitely worth the effort because I get a steady flow of quality comments.

[Teli]

Originally Posted by artwebster

actually, I don't see how an automated process could create that problem...

If a plugin were to scrape the entire content of a post, then it's plagiarism if you didn't get the author's permission to republish the content in full.

There's a fine line between fair use and outright stealing of content. You can find a great post about blog plagiarism at Daily Blog Tips and Jonathan Baily has an excellent resource called Plagiarism Today.

[Paid Surveys]

Sam sounds like a good idea to get these domains set up. Personally I would opt for something like wordpress and encourage visitors to add content by writing their own articles on subjects that are relevant to the ste. There are numerous plugins available to acheive this method. Also there is a platform called Joomla which is a free Content Management System that is highly customisable and easy to use.

[Fox30]

I suggest using Caffeinated Content and Caffeinated World. CW will manage all of your blogs at once, it's awesome!

[Allegro]

Just a reminder regarding that plagiarsim discussion: With RSS, the blogger SENDS THE CONTENT TO YOU. You don't scrape anything.

[Eric Lorence]

It's syndication, and many sites allow it as long as it's in their TOS.

Some don't, so check.

As far as worth it, it depends on the amount of domains and if they can be tasked for certain niches.

People have been having problems with meaningless domain names like OUXT(.)com and so on.

If they are meaningful worded domains it's worth trying.

[TelegramSam]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for all the answers.

Firstly, let me clarify:

In NO way would we advocate stealing content, modifying others content somehow, plagiarism in any form or anything else like this.

We have a nice successful business which has a good reputation which we will not harm in any way.

We are thinking of others content, either written by commenters, article submitters, RSS feeds, syndicated content etc. etc. that is all legit and totally above board.

All the domain names are highly focused in a few niches and basically we want to get the ball rolling with them. We see many people talk about automated content etc and it does sound good.

Automated content may be too good to be true. Hence my opening question about whether it was actually tangibly worth it, either in terms of $$$'s, targeted traffic or subscribers etc.

Or should we just trundle along and develop our sites, page by page over the coming YEARS? (Even with outsourcing, it still takes a while to generate content).

Any further comments?

Sam

[TelegramSam]

Can any experienced folks shed further light on my above questions?

Thanks,
Sam

Sam,
I have a site I can direct you to that will allow you to use the authors articles, it is syndication.. No plugins, No Scraping, or anything... If interested send me a PM because I can not post the link here...

James