Just like when the band of slaves in the 1960 film Spartacus stood up to utter the immortal chorus that would save Kirk Douglas’s character from being singled out, content that duplicates another source or is repetitious of other online content can become masked in search listings.

Using the exact same piece of copy in online content will  find your post or page being grouped into a category where only the lead link will appear as a result. Meanwhile, it’s not only lazy, but it can also get you nowhere when it comes to attracting an audience.

If you have content that you want to repost, whether it’s a press release, manufacturers details or just an interesting article, you should always look at ways to add your own spin. You can do this in a number of ways.

Firstly, you could rewrite the content entirely. This can be a chore, but rewriting text is a way to freshen up a news story, message or information to be more informative, but also unique. You should also include references to the source material if you are stating elements of fact.

Another option is to break up the body of the content by including your own comment and opinion, such as how some industry news affects your business. By adding our own views or narrative to a piece, you will be making your version of the same information more individual, but also more appealing.

One of the benefits of creating and individualising your own content is to improve the quality. Some information that you may want or need to share with an audience can be dull to read or just not that engaging, so you can spruce it up first.

The key is to provide quality content with relevant information for your intended audience. By being individual you will attract traffic, and in being pertinent you will engage with readers… the next step is to convert them.

Richard Bell

Richard has a First in English Literature and Creative Writing, and has experience writing fiction and short stories (which he has published both online and in magazines).