A lot of websites nowadays use copywriters for the written content on their websites, in fact, more than 80 percent do. Why? Simply because it would involve too much writing as well as editing skills.
Many websites need a lot of written content, they therefore rely on freelance writers. However there are problems, which may arise when hiring a freelance writer, so it important to take a few aspects into consideration.
Some writers simply copy other writers’ content and claim it is their original work. If you do accept these articles and put them on your website, you can face copyright problems, in the event the original writer finds that you have published his or her work on your website!
This is why it is wise to create a contract, where you specify that the writer’s work must be original and that once you have paid for the work it becomes your exclusive property. This means it cannot be resold.
The best way to check that the content is, in fact, 100 percent original is to pass it through a copyright service such as Copyscape, with this service you can determine whether it has been copied from another website.
After having said that the opposite may be true. Here you are after having paid someone for a great article and your website is doing fine when one day you find that same article on another website.
This time someone has stolen the content from your website! Do not panic you can actually stop this process.
The best way to proceed is to contact the website owner, usually noted in the footer section, then send an e-mail requesting the copied text to be removed.
Do not fret or get angry, remember that most times the webmaster has been a victim of an immoral writer; just as you can be. If you do not get any response then find the owner’s name and number with the Whois.com and phone directly.
All the above procedures should work, if you still get no response from the website owner, then you can send a formal ‘Cease and Desist’ letter, you can get help from a lawyer for the format or over the Internet for format examples, then send it by certified mail.
Remember it is important to protect the authenticity of a web site and the money you spent in building it. Plagiarism is a crime, just as stealing is.
