A Cheetah bite hurts! But this secret, 100% fail-proof tip will make sure you'll never have to lick your wounds again...
Cross-posting
Just like a lot of people here on SteemIt I already had a blog before I joined the platform. Maybe you too have a (self-hosted) Wordpress blog, a Blogger blog, a blog on Tumblr, on Instagram, a YouTube channel, and so on.
At first, SteemIt looked like an excellent medium to finally earn some real money from my blog posts. Before I joined SteemIt, the only earnings I had were the peanuts I got from Google Adsense and a couple of affiliate networks. I thought I'd finally found a way to be rewarded for all the effort I put into that blog.
So I joined SteemIt and started cross-posting articles from my blog.
It didn't take long before I got my first upvote. I was very curious who had upvoted the post of a complete newbie, but then...
BAM! :0(
At that time, this one little sentence ended my dream of being able to monetize my blog posts...
Fortunately, I've learned a thing or two along the way, and I discovered the one and only 100% fail-proof way to not get bitten again.
Cheetah
I already introduced you to Cheetah in one of my previous blog posts.
(Missed it? Read 'To Flag Or Not To Flag, That's The Question... now.)
She's a nice little kitty, but when she detects duplicate content, she bites you. She bites you in the form of a (worthless) upvote, and a message that says that duplicate content has been detected. With this message, she's warning your readers that your content might not be original.
It's up to your readers to decide whether they will give your post an upvote and/or a comment or not.
Getting a Cheetah bite is NOT an accusation of plagiarism, it simply means that the bot detected content that already exists somewhere on the web.
The Consequences Of A Cheetah Bite
Since SteemIt is all about original content, a Cheetah bite can have serious consequences.
Once your post has been found by Cheetah, it's unlikely that it will receive a lot of upvotes, let alone comments.
If Cheetah has to bite you repeatedly, the Steemcleaners will move in and you will not only lose part of your reputation score, you also risk to have your name put on the blacklist. This means your posts will be hidden from the public.
The Importance Of Original Content
Everywhere on SteemIt, it is stressed that you should be posting ORIGINAL CONTENT.
You may not be aware of it, but there are valid reasons for this.
Posting duplicate content has a negative effect on SteemIt's ranking in the search engines. The search engines' algorithms do not only detect duplicate content, they also know which copy was added first. As a result, the original article will get a higher place in the list, and the one with the duplicate content will be pushed down the list. I guess I don't have to tell you that this affects the amount of traffic the site gets.
But there's more...
If a website is adding duplicate content on a regular basis, it might end up on the blacklist.If blog owners start republishing their entire blog content, it sends out a wrong message to other people who do not understand the difference between cross posting and plain plagiarism.
If cross-posting is done right (more on that later), it is not considered to be plagiarism. Copying an article from a random website and posting it here on SteemIt is. And since plagiarism is illegal, SteemIt risks receiving DMCA notices and having to pay legal fees.
I assume we can agree that we don't want that to happen, right?!
How To Cross-Post Responsible
There are ways to cross-post your article without being penalized by Cheetah or the Steemcleaners. Below, you'll find some tips on how not to wake Cheetah.
(Always be careful when cross-posting. The tips below are guidelines but are not 100% failproof. Neither is Cheetah. There's only 1 tip in this list that can give you a full guarantee. I bet you didn't know about that one!)
1 - Post on SteemIt first. Wait a couple of days for the post to get indexed by the search engines and then post it to your blog. (To really be sure, you should wait until the post has reached payout.)
2 - Rewrite the article before reposting it. You can do this manually (which is always the best choice) or use a quality article spinner to do it for you. In both cases, check your rewritten article before posting it by running it through a plagiarism checker.
3 - If you use quotes in your post, make sure you use the markdown format and put '> ' in front of it. Also, do not forget to cite the source.
4 - Consider posting a self-written summary of your article and a link to the full-length blog post. (Do not shorten that link, or you'll be detected by @beerbot.) By adding a little extra (and unique) like a question, you instantly turn your article into an efficient tool that will increase engagement.
5 - Always add a link to the original article.
6 - Always credit your image sources.
7 - Replace any HTML code with Markdown styling.
8 - Repurpose your article. Here are some ideas on how you can use your content to create a completely different post.:
- Create a Slideshare presentation
- Create an infographic
- Create a video (series)
- Create a podcast
- Turn lists into summaries and summaries into lists
- Create a course, upload it to Udemy and post an introduction on Steemit
And the best tip of them all:
9 - Ask Cheetah to whitelist you before you cross post an article from your blog
Yep, I plead guilty: I've saved the best for last.
You can simply ask Cheetah for permission to repost one of your own articles.
I found out about this when I visited the Seemcleaners' Discord channel.
In the Cheetah channel, I discovered a pinned post that explained how to ask to be whitelisted and which rules you have to follow when reposting.
Basically, you need to contact @anyx with your request and wait for him to reply.
To get on and remain on the whitelist you need to follow 3 rules:
- Only repost new articles
- Include a link to the original article in your SteemIt post
- Add a link to the Steemit post to your original article on your blog
More information, thanks to @guiltyparties:
If cross-posting from a currently live site, I would suggest first of all putting a link to your Steemit profile from the site itself to verify it and then letting us know. We'll add it to the database of verified accounts. Then, simply adding a note to the bottom of the post. If Cheetah comments, reply to her. We read her comments for her.
Another update from @guiltyparties about ‘older’ posts on your own blog:
You may repost. New content is always suggested of course but there are no rules against moving older posts. Just make sure it's clear that this is your own work. People get confused otherwise.
I bet you didn't know it was this easy?! ;0)
I'd like to hear your stories:
Do you cross post your blog articles?
Have you ever been bitten by Cheetah?
Did you ever have to deal with the Steemcleaners?
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Image Sources:
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