Give Credit where Credit is Due

A few years ago, a story I posted on my Collective Wisdom site, received national attention. I was even quoted on the Wall Street Journal website, WSJ.com.

Pretty amazing.

But there was a problem.

I didn't right the original story. I never claimed to have been the author. I simply used a story that was originally on the Fast Company website, added my two cents as an introduction and then posted the original story, complete with credits to the source and links to the original story.

My posting of the story really took off.

It ranked higher on Google than the original. And that's when people started getting lazy and not giving credit for the original story to the original source.

I spoke with the original author and even updated the beginning of my post to point people to the original source.

Here are some of the things you can do, and should do when you put someone else's words on your blog:

• Include links to the source.
• Include the by-lines, and names of the source.
• Use a different font, or color to differentiate your words from those you are quoting.
• Do NOT mis-quote your sources.
• Include contact information that will help promote the person or source you are using.

Want to see how it works? Click here to visit ScLoHo's Collective Wisdom.

image from: angeeleebutler.com