Why Do Some People Want "Unique" Articles?

As long as there is not any duplicate problems in this case I don't see what the problem is. I do understand why everyone wants unique content on their websites however. Google will not rank your site high if it has duplicate content as everyone knows.

No ... you get it: she probably doesn't.

Remember that many, many people don't understand the difference between duplicate content and syndicated content, and some of them even imagine that there might be some sort of "Google penalty" against their site, if they syndicate articles previously published elsewhere. :rolleyes:

It's all pretty screwy and nonsensical, obviously, but this is what many people believe. :p

No, of course not. It's absolutely loopy. But notoriously difficult to educate people on these matters, because many have graduated from the Urban Myth School of Interent Marketing and/or have got their information from people who have, and/or from people who will say anything for the sake of selling "SEO services" of whatever kind.

And - to be fair to her - it's probably true that syndicating articles will be of smaller SEO benefit to her than having entirely "unique content" and having the initial indexation rights to it.

The thing is, there are so many people about who think the same way that she does, that some don't even find it "unreasonable", and if she can get away with it, she's found a way of getting people to produce "unique content" for her without spending a penny on it, hasn't she?

You just have to decide whether you yourself want to do it.

It's her site and she gets to make up the rules, just like we do on ours.

Personally, I don't do this and wouldn't dream of it, but if you think she perhaps has (or will have) floods of highly targeted traffic that you really can't reach any other way, it could even - theoretically - be worth doing, from your perspective? :confused:

So let me get this straight.

She is launching a NEW website and she was the one who contacted you. She has absolutely NO leverage at all for asking new content considering the fact her website is new.

Interesting perspectives here. The question is: why wouldn't she want unique content that can't be found elsewhere? It's not a matter of 'duplicate content' and perceived penalties or any of that stuff. It's more that people would prefer to have content on their website that can't be found elsewhere: that's what gives value to a site.

I do understand your perspective, Christophe, and I wouldn't want to write a whole bunch of fresh stuff for a new website that had no traction either.

YOU might know that there are no duplicate penalties for this, but many folks THINK that there are. That's why this person wants "unique" articles.

I'm going to be a lone voice here - but I don't think people are necessarily asking for, or offering, unique articles solely because they believe in the duplicate content myth.

I suspect it is more because of the potential seo benefits. Ok, this person is building a new site, so probably can't send you traffic right now. But remember that a unique article (not an existing one that you've spun) might draw it's own traffic.

When such an article is put on an established site, I personally think it's only fair to write a unique article IF it is asked for as the site will, after all, be hosting a link back to your site.

Tell her you're going to have to charge her if she wants you to re-write all of your articles.

Great answers in this thread! Thanks!

That's what I thought. Basically I'm going to offer my existing articles as is and I'm not going to re-write them. Take it or leave it.

One other question... I'm writing a ton of new articles for my own website and each one has a soft sell for my ebook at the end. This is something that someone else in my niche is doing.

Basically I write a great, content filled article and at the end I transition smoothly to a "if you want to learn more about this, than check out my new ebook. Here's the link blah blah blah...," blurb.

These are for articles already on my own site and there's also an opt in box at the top of every article and in the side bar.

BUT, for my articles on other sites, (for example my syndicated articles) doesn't it make sense to have a blurb going to my landing page at the end of each article instead? And this landing page will have an opt in box, not a "squeeze page" really, but a landing page.

I figure my main objective is to get readers who find my articles on other sites onto my list first. Conversely, readers already on my site will likely already be on my list and are ready to be offered a paid product.

I learned new stuff from this great thread. Thank you all for sharing your knowledge.

Having unique highly targeted content on your website is obviously a huge part of getting pages ranked high on google.

Sure you're probably not going to get penalized for having syndicated articles on your website but your pages aren't going to rank high on google either.

One unique article that is optimized for a low competition long tail keyword phrase is likely to rank in the top 4 spots on google for that phrase...near number one if you get a few good quality backlinks.

If a website owner doesn't want to create that content themselves they should be willing to pay a reasonable price for high quality unique content.

Instead of seeing this as a problem and something to get annyoned about why not see it as an opportunity?

Did you consider telling this website owner you can do it but there's a premium cost for creating unique website content?

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh

Thanks, will consider doing that.

Normally, just getting lots of targeted traffic would fulfill the "what's in it for me?" requirement but since she's launching a new site, this likely won't be the case.

Back to your question, (Why Do Some People Want "Unique" Articles?), one answer could be...because they don't know Video Marketing (where google can't analyze its content in depth as it does with articles).

I'll flip the question around and ask:

"Why do/might YOU want to be published on THEIR site?"

The answer to that question is more relevant, imho.

If there's a good reason to, then you just do whatever it takes
to get published on their site.

If there's no reason to, then you simply turn down the request
for "unique content" and offer them articles to syndicate.

It's actually quite simple... though too often, we try to make
it more complicated!

All success
Dr.Mani