Internet Marketing Business Strategies

Open Hand Or Clenched Fist? The Benefits Of Publishing Copyright-Free Articles On The Internet Via Creative Commons Licensed Content

The other day I was searching the web for an interview with a leading Internet marketer. I wanted to find an interview that I would be permitted to add to my site as part of a feature on building an “Internet Master Mind Alliance”. Unfortunately, every interview that was good enough to feature came with strict Internet copyright restrictions attached. Presumably the authors wanted to preserve the uniqueness of the content and restrict distribution to their sites alone.

That’s fine, but in doing so they are missing a crucial point about the role of Internet copyright free publishing…

One of the conditions of allowing other people to post your articles on their websites is that they also have to attach your signature (including at least one link back to your website) at the foot of the article. So, by refusing to share their work, many Internet publishers are missing out on one of the most effective ways of building links and getting free exposure on the Internet today. So, if you want to promote your website it makes much more sense to publish copyright-free articles online.

But what about protecting your copyright on the Internet? The good news is that when your articles are posted on other people’s sites they do not go unprotected.

Creative Commons

For example, if you publish your material as Creative Commons licensed content you can choose how freely you wish to allow your material to be used by others.

Depending on the licence you choose, you may allow your work to be completely remodified by others, or you may demand that it be left as you wrote it. With a Creative Commons copyright you may permit or deny the use of your work for commercial purposes, so you do not give actually up your Internet copyright, which remains legally protected.

Any article you attach a Creative Commons logo to will also be listed in the Creative Commons searchable database where people can search for it and add it to their websites. The difference between the traditional “all rights reserved” and a newer “some rights reserved” copyright is like the difference between a clenched fist and an open hand. The more open-handed we can be in our approach to Inernet marketing the better chance we have of thriving in a highly competitive market.

I too had been eager to keep my precious work under the seal of an “all rights reserved” copyright when I started out on the Internet. However, once I had grasped the advantages offered by switching from a traditional “all rights reserved” posture to a “some rights reserved” posture protected by the Creative Commons licensing system, I went straight over to and got myself one of their licences. The process is very straightforward and easy. It is also completely free.

Once you have signed up, you get to choose the best licence for you. For example, if you are looking to attract traffic to a business site then you should probably go for a licence that allows the other party to reproduce your article for commercial as well as non-commercial purposes. That way, your article stands a greater chance of being placed on related business sites where it is likely to deliver more highly targeted traffic back to your site.

Placing the license and logo beneath your articles is a simple cut-and-paste job. Once an article with the Creative Commons logo attached has been published it will automatically appear in the Creative Commons listings, channeling another stream of traffic to your site. Anybody who wants to publish your article can simply copy it from your site and publish it on theirs, with the Creative Commons logo and attributions attached.

So, to conclude, don’t be too possessive over your good copy. If you want to promote your website free of charge, publishing copyright-free articles online is a good way to do it. The more people who host your articles on their sites the better it is for you. You get the kudos, your name gets exposure, your website gets numerous relevant links and both your traffic and your search engine rankings go up. And, what’s more, with the advent of a free service like Creative Commons, it is not even necessary to give up any of your rights.

David Hurley
DavidHurleyArticles.com