[mjcarpe]

Hi everyone,

I've just installed a second blog on my site. It is automated, it's only posts come from blog feeds. It seems to work pretty well, and was not that hard to do.

I am curious tho, is there a way to get the original author info to show in the feed?

The title links back to the original source, it just doesn't include the author name in the feed. Is there an option to include it that I may have overlooked?


Thanks for any input you may be about to post!

[i24hrs]

Hi Michael,

Thanks for posting this one 'coz I have a question also about automated blog.

First of all, are you using Wordpress for both blogs in your site?

My main question actually is, does automated blogs, whether hosted (Blogger blog) or self-hosted (Wordpress blog) gain page rank over time and eventually help your main site to rank in the search engines?

I tried the co-op for one month and they set-up a Blogger blog for me and auto-post to it like 2 articles a week. I stop the service now so I assume they will stop posting too. Does it make sense for me to continue posting to it? I also noticed that a lot of Blogger blogs have zero or no page rank at all. So, if it doesn't gain page rank, why continue, right? Or does it have benefits too?

Now if it does help our site in any way, it's probably worthwhile to have one too.

Michael or anybody experienced with these, could you please share with us how to set-up an automated blog using blog feeds? A good resource would help too.

Thank you in advance.

[houdy]

From the other end of the "Automated" blog and constantly battling content theft. Probably most of the traffic you will get are from angry bloggers telling you to stop scraping their content.

[Alan Mater]

Originally Posted by houdy

From the other end of the "Automated" blog and constantly battling content theft. Probably most of the traffic you will get are from angry bloggers telling you to stop scraping their content.

Yeah, I have an automated blog setup on its own domain, and I've been wondering what the people think of me pulling their feeds and using the content. There is a right and wrong to do this. So far I haven't had any complaints, and it's been about a month now.

The easiest way I have found to automate the posting is to use the WP-O-Matic plugin. Very simple to use and setup.

Michael, I already had a chance to check out your blog and it looks good. BTW, I don't care if you use my content. It makes me feel honored that you like it

i24hrs, I have a blogger blog that has a PR of 1. It's not duplicate content, though. I use it to post short summaries of posts on my WP blog and link to those posts.

[mjcarpe]

Back links are one of the main reasons to have an automated blog.

Also possible income from adsense, content (if it isn't duplicated), blogging is a great tool for your business. Some people make their living solely from blogging, I believe it is something we all need to do if we are going to succeed.

As for my blogs, yes both are word press. I also have my own reasons for the feeds I have chosen. It is a pretty simple one: If you want to see quality content you can learn from, they are some of the best I have seen. Plus by doing this I don't have to use a feed reader, I just go to my site (spend a lot of time there anyway, right).

As for pr, mine are terrible, but my main blog has a higher pr than my pips home page. But my pips page is still bone stock.

I managed to do my own install,had to do it 3 times due to apparently having a bad wp download. I used the guide available from wordpress. I was very apprehensive about working with the data bases on my site, this turned out not to be as difficult as I thought.

I don't think I'm qualified to try to explain how to do these things. I can tell you, IF YOU DO ANYTHING ON YOUR SITE, make backups of all data bases and files first.
I can say with experience, you can lose some stuff if you do the wrong thing.

Hope this helps you,

[houdy]

I guess it depends on how you feel about your blog content. On my Work At Home blog I mostly use PLR articles and could care less if someone scrapes them. But On my WordPress site the posts are all my original content. What really pisses me off is when a search for one of my post titles shows the same exact one in the search results that is from a scraper blog.

[Jeff Casmer]

Hi Jeff,

Remember that with PLR articles you are supposed to rewrite them not use them as is.......

Take care
Jeff Casmer

[mjcarpe]

I would think most we be kind of happy, there is a link to the original post, and isn't the point of it to get your articles out there?

Maybe I should take it down?

I thought I was saying something good about the authors of those feeds, I read and learn from each one of them.

Houdy,
Sorry if I offended,


By the way Robert,
search Houdy's posts here, you will find some great info on word press.

Thanks Alan

[Alan Mater]

Originally Posted by houdy

I guess it depends on how you feel about your blog content. On my Work At Home blog I mostly use PLR articles and could care less if someone scrapes them. But On my WordPress site the posts are all my original content. What really pisses me off is when a search for one of my post titles shows the same exact one in the search results that is from a scraper blog.

I can see your point and why you would be annoyed. I've had junk blogs post my content and articles on their site, and I feel the same way. Blogs like that provide no value whatsoever.

What Michael is doing is a little different, and I have no problem with that. It also helps that I at least know who he is and can contact him. These crap blogs don't, so there's no way to get them to remove your content.

Houdy I have a question for you. Does it hurt your rankings at all by having blogs like that use your content and link to it? What's your experience with this?

Thanks!

[Alan Mater]

Michael,

I'd leave it up. But that's up to you. I think the idea is great... your favorite content all in one place where you can learn from it. Sounds like a winner to me. I don't see why it wouldn't get PR after a while either. Of course you can place Adsense and other ads on it as well.

[mjcarpe]

I have removed all posts' and disabled the feeds for now. I will put them back up as I get permission from the Author to use their feed in this manner.

Hopefully all will understand, this is meant as a compliment.

[Alan Mater]

Originally Posted by mjcarpe

I have removed all posts' and disabled the feeds for now. I will put them back up as I get permission from the Author to use their feed in this manner.

Hopefully all will understand, this is meant as a compliment.

Michael, I already gave you permission, so feel free to leave mine up if you want. Thanks for the compliment

[Cunique]

hello, great info.

[i24hrs]

By the way Robert,
search Houdy's posts here, you will find some great info on word press.

Yeah, I've read Houdy's posts here. I visited his blog also...really good info...a lot of happy customers too

Houdy, I can also understand why you can get annoyed...

I'm just about to put up my own blog. We want to learn good practices here

So, if somebody already has an automated blog, what could be considered a good practice...will adding original comment before and/or after the blog post help?

[Alan Mater]

Not to budge in as I'm sure Houdy has some good insight on the matter, but good practice to me would be linking to the original source. It would be the same as publishing someone's article on your blog and keeping their resource box intact. The same idea exists for using blog posts. You can view an example by visiting my automated blog site at Nintendo Video Games | Nintendo Game News, Reviews, Releases and More...

[houdy]

I do sort of rewrite the PLR articles, always change the title and then substitute the keywords with my own. But I don't care if those get scraped. I am talking about posts that can sometimes take hours to research and write.

Before people start tearing apart their automated blogs let me explain:

I make a post called "Title Of The Post" and publish it. This is my original content and I own it. Then about 10 minutes later I get a few trackback notices and they are from junk blogs with the same exact post title and the same content, usually the excerpt. Yes there is a link back (trackback) to my original post (that's how I know) But I just don't want it anywhere but on my site. Some people may not mind but I do. Besides I don't need the link at this point especially on a scraper, junk, AdSense blog.

That is what I am talking about that PO's me. Now if I submit that same post or any article to an article directory then I probably gave up my rights. That is fair game because most article directories are for others to republish.

If you write an original post and reference mine and link to it then no problem, even use an excerpt from it, but not the original title and excerpt/content with nothing else.

Or if you do a "Best Of" type post say gather a few posts from different blogs and then create an original post title and write a short blurb about the posts and link to it, no problem. In fact I think there might be an automated blog script that will do this because I get trackback from a few of these with each new post pretty quickly. But it looks natural, like someone actually read all the posts it references and links to but I don't think a person can read 10 different posts and write a sentence about each one and post it as fast as it does.

Funny because I tried the auto stuff once too and got many emails from PO'ed people. At the time I didn't have any decent content online and couldn't see from the original authors point of view. So make sure to ask if you are using a personal blog for a feed.

Then there was once someone pointing their WordPress customers to my site to get support, I was getting questions from people I never did any work for! I had to make a page on my site private for a time because of that.

I can't say these sites using the same post title and content has hurt, I really have no way of knowing. But when I search one of my post titles and the content thief's blog comes up before mine in Google, well....

Remember this is just me, I know there are many others out there that feel the same and then some who don't care. If you are using the same post title and content then you will eventually find out from the ones that do care.

[i24hrs]

Houdy, Alan & Michael,

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experiences with your own blogs. I learned a lot just from your posts here. I think I have a pretty good idea on how I'll proceed with my own blog too.

Good luck on your blogs and projects too.

[dsampson]

Lots of good info here. I've been looking at auto blogging also. Doesn't seem to be such a great idea. I'll investigate further before I make a decision on it.

Thanks,

Dale

[mjcarpe]

Originally Posted by dsampson

Lots of good info here. I've been looking at auto blogging also. Doesn't seem to be such a great idea. I'll investigate further before I make a decision on it.

Thanks,

Dale

Dale,

Don't be discouraged from an auto blog, that's why we post and read here.
It is always a good idea to get opinions from those whom have been there.


Alan,

I like the new blog. I hope it does well for you.

[Alan Mater]

Originally Posted by houdy

Or if you do a "Best Of" type post say gather a few posts from different blogs and then create an original post title and write a short blurb about the posts and link to it, no problem. In fact I think there might be an automated blog script that will do this because I get trackback from a few of these with each new post pretty quickly. But it looks natural, like someone actually read all the posts it references and links to but I don't think a person can read 10 different posts and write a sentence about each one and post it as fast as it does.

Houdy,

Would you happen to know the name of that automated blog script that you referenced?

[Alan Mater]

Originally Posted by mjcarpe

Dale,

Don't be discouraged from an auto blog, that's why we post and read here.
It is always a good idea to get opinions from those whom have been there.


Alan,

I like the new blog. I hope it does well for you.

Thanks Michael. Going with what Houdy said, I'm gonna try something a little different as to not upset the owners.

Another idea is to subscribe to the feeds that you want to use, and then create your own version. That way it's original and in your own words. A lot of my posts include videos or pictures only, so my job is a little easier in that sense.

I always try to re-word the title of the post. Adding your own tags and using All-In-One-SEO is something you should do as well. This will help your rankings for sure.

[houdy]

Originally Posted by Alan Mater

Houdy,

Would you happen to know the name of that automated blog script that you referenced?

Sorry Alan, like I said " In fact I think there might be an automated blog script that will do this"

I think there might be but I don't know for sure if it is a script or the blogger is real fast making up these posts.

And please people don't let my opinion on scraper blogs stop you from building them, if you can find the right feeds to use that people don't mind being used then go for it. I just have a strong opinion about my original content.

[Alan Mater]

Thanks anyway, Houdy.

I like the idea of having an automated blog due to time constraints. Of course I don't want to make anyone mad either. A couple of feeds I use I can tell are personal blogs, but a couple others I'm not too sure.

The worst part in setting this up is finding a good feed because they're many feeds I would like to use, but the feeds don't include the entire post, just a couple lines.

[GreenEyes]

Originally Posted by Jeff Casmer

Hi Jeff,

Remember that with PLR articles you are supposed to rewrite them not use them as is.......

Take care
Jeff Casmer

Speaking of which, can you or anyone recommend a good outsource just for rewriting PLR content at a reasonable price?

Thanks!

[Alan Mater]

Originally Posted by GreenEyes

Speaking of which, can you or anyone recommend a good outsource just for rewriting PLR content at a reasonable price?

Thanks!

Hi Mirza,

I have experience in re-writing articles and could do this for you if you would like. I try to shoot for 60% - 80% change in the article, and I have software that calculates this for me. If you're interested you can send me a PM. Thanks.

[Jake Law]

Originally Posted by GreenEyes

Speaking of which, can you or anyone recommend a good outsource just for rewriting PLR content at a reasonable price?

Thanks!

Excuse my ignorance. What is a PLR article or PLR content?

Thanks!

[Alan Mater]

Originally Posted by Jake Law

Excuse my ignorance. What is a PLR article or PLR content?

Thanks!

Hi Jake,

PLR stands for Private Label Rights. For articles, it simply means you have the rights to do whatever you want to the article. Use it as is and put your name on it as the author (not recommended), or re-write the article and use it as your own (recommended!).

PLR can also be software or any other digital product such as an ebook.

Hope that helps