Not many people know that Google recently changed its advanced search features (both universal and image search) to include Creative Commons usage filters. By using these filters you find tons of free content, both written content and images, that you can use on your Website or elsewhere. Yeah, OK but whats the catch?
We all know that nothing is free. The catch is that you have to follow the usage rules mandated by the creator of the contentlike keeping all links intact with no usage of the “no follow” tag. If you aren’t worried about diluting your site’s link juice, then handing out links in exchange for content can be a good deal for you and of course the author.
Remember duplicate content issues which will always be an issue in this type of situation. A quick and easy way to avoid duplicate content problems is to make that reprinted article as unique as possible. To do that, just put a small blurb at the beginning and end of the article you’ve republished talking about the topic and why you think it matters. This will help to set this article apart from the rest of them floating in cyber space.
When it comes to images, handing out links or even giving credit to the original owner may not be worth it because of all the inexpensive royalty free photo sites that exist. For just a few dollars, you can buy some high-quality images from these sites and your obligation has been completed. In other words, once you’ve purchased the image, they don’t require you to link to them or give them credit.
So when does giving a link out make sense? When you find something like a widget that really fits your visitors expectations and is highly relevant. A widget would be a great resource for your visitors. Take notice that most widgets will include their link into the tool which is pretty smart. This makes it easy to get links back to their site with the exact anchor text they chose. Not bad for a tool that probably cost less than $100 to create.
So, if you’re hungry for content and don’t have the time to outsource or create it yourself, go make some small changes to your Google Advanced Search options and start searching away. However, if you have content to spare (or a cool tool) and want to register it for reprinting, go to the Creative Commons site to get started building links to your site today.
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