how do I find out if My writer is stealing my niche ideas from me?

That seems strange to say the least... Hey, if content from a newly developed site is ranking without any backlinks, at least you know the keyword is fairly winnable.

Have you asked your writer about it?

I am a writer and internet marketer. I have gotten all my ideas about internet marketing from clients that I have written articles for. Once I write on an article or write on a niche that I did not know about, I get ideas. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this. This is a risk you get when you outsource your website work. But as ProfitFromMyDomain has put it, you may only be dealing with only one competitor. That is not too bad...

I am a freelance cop writer,and have done SEO.

I'm thinking the fastest way would be to get the writer's name and check the domain holder in the WHOIS database. Just Google it.

If they've covered their tracks well, you won't get anything, but if they haven't then you can call them on it.

There's no way to police this. Coming form a big agency offline background, I have two thoughts: get every writer you work with to sign a non-disclosure/non-competition agreement.

Also, there's more than room for one site on the top. Just do a better job of writing good content and back links. Use videos if you're comfortable, or do a press release. Both of these can rank quickly, and may be worth a shot.

Hope this helps.

Well that is more likely. Online writers always get a good advantage over clients niche. They don't have to research the keyword, they just creating the articles or contents.

Even if you find out that one of your writer's did create the site, there isn't much you can do except stop using their services. In fact, you should just go ahead and find two new writers, because you're not able to trust the ones you have now.

The majority of freelance writers don't do this kind of thing. Most are simply interested in working for others and won't bother using keywords clients give them. So, I suggest you move on and stop worrying about this one writer. Bad stuff happens online from time to time, but your time is better spent focusing on moving your projects forward.

when a person says "trust me i am not interested in stealing your idea..." RUN!

If they can, they probably will.

You have to be cynical in this game to survive.

if someone can run off with your money /idea/ product, presume they will do so.

This is the chance you take when you outsource your idea to writers. Now its not ethical but your writer has done nothing wrong unless you signed an agreement. I guess if your idea was worth a million dollars you could take them to court but that would determine on several factors like do they live in the same country.

I have acquired several IM courses that teach me how to find profitable websites, get their keywords and outrank the original site. There is even software you can use to look at sites to see their keywords, etc. So, it is possible that your ideas were stolen by another marketer watching your sites. I use a similar approach to find profitable items to sell on eBay. If I create a better description page, then I get the business.

I don't know if your two writers are related or if you just send them both the same topic to write on. However, you could split test them by coming up with separate topics for each writer. If your copies are consistent with the one writer, then you have an answer.

It was suggested above that you hire two more writers. Again, you can do that and split test. It is always possible that one of the authors or your communication link has a leak someone else is exploiting.

It is hard to know for sure and it could be impossible to find out. The best you can do is take steps to make sure your sites are the best out there on the topic.

Good luck

Competition is inevitable, whether it comes from your freelancers or strangers. There is no way to stop it, so it makes little sense to fret about where it comes from.

However, if you suspect disloyalty, you could always try communicating with (or pretending interest in buying something from) one of these competitor sites using a false identity, then seeing who responds.

It is not guaranteed to work, but it is an idea nobody else has mentioned yet.

Yeah, you can't really steal a niche, they technically aren't doing anything illegal.

If those writers stole your ideas, that sounds highly unethical to me.

Maybe in future, ask your contractors to sign documents to guarantee they won't use your ideas. To be honest I've never known a writer who's done anything like this, but maybe we move in different circles! I like to think most freelancers have far more of a conscience.

Stealing niche ideas? How? You can't protect ideas and it's highly likely that they are not exclusive to you. If you do a search here and the Internet at large for niche ideas you'll come back with thousands of ideas, maybe tens of thousands. Ideas are a dime a dozen, even great ones. What matters is having the smarts and the drive to cash them.

I thought I'd heard it all until yesterday when I watched a Youtube video where a guy accidentally fell into a great idea. He needed the Command key for his Macbook. But apple doesn't sell single keys. They sell the entire keyboard. So the guy goes on eBay and finds someone selling single Macbook keys and he pays $9 for the Command key. Then, a few weeks later he has the chance to buy 15 junk Apple keyboards for $20. And for the next two years he made several thousand dollars selling individual keys on eBay.

Sounds like a hot WSO.

If this is how you feel, just get out of this agreement and just stop working with this writer. Sometimes, you could tell based on how the writer treats you, and also if they try to maintain a professional reputation online (ie their own website etc.) to see if they will steal a clients work or ideas.

I have never experienced this specific problem, but that is also because I, too, used to be a freelance writer, so when I got to the point where I needed to outsource my content for my projects, I hired people whom I knew from before and also were reliable people that have been referred to me.

Noncompete agreements are a thing. If you don't know how to write one/can't afford an attorney to write one for you then this is part of the risk of doing business.

Were the two writers working on the same article or are they different people
unknown to each other? Because you went from "2 writers" to "this person", so
which of the writers are you referring to who did the alleged "stealing"?

-Ray Edwards

have something sgned by the writer and which states that all ideas stay with the payer

Hey man.. If you feel suspicious about your writer stealing your content ideas, then cut them lose and find another writer..Not saying another writer won't do it but I'm sure you'll find someone that you'll feel good about..Best of luck bro..

Depending on where you are sourcing from, this type of agreement can be hard to enforce. It's best to confront them, see if they admit it, and decide if you need to cut your losses and move on. If they both deny it, keep in mind that there is a chance that this is just some other random competitor.