Thanks for two great articles on Pinterest Susan. There is a lot of controversy around the re-pinning of third party content from around the web and Pinterest TOS. Photographers and Artists appear to be perturbed about Pinterest taking ownership, and being able to use their works without requiring permission.
Personally I like the ease of use Pinterest has introduced, sharing of information is global. [The] majority online love for their content to be shared. Any idea on copy right for the above mentioned, to protect their work?
I thought this was a great question and as I started writing my response, I realized that I had enough to say on this topic that it warranted a full blog post.
I, too, have followed the controversy on Pinterest, copyright, ownership, etc. It’s the same debate we’ve had for years about other sites, and I imagine the debate will continue. But because Pinterest is the newest platform to be engaged in the debate, I thought it worth mentioning today.
Of course, there are benefits to artists and photographers when people share their content on Pinterest. In the big picture, you generally do want people to share your stuff, because the wider dissemination of your materials, whether your “stuff” is art, photography, writing, products, or services, builds visibility for your brand, which should lead to more business. On the other hand, if people are sharing anyone’s content without attribution or permission, there’s no business benefit and obviously, that’s a problem that must be addressed.
(Side note: This isn’t an issue that affects only artists and photographers. I recently discovered that a stock photo I bought to use on the Business in Blue Jeans web site was pinned as an inspiration image for how someone wants to look in their blue jeans! The image was pinned directly from my site, so I received credit, but it surprised me a lot to see how that image was showing up.)
Unfortunately, we’ve had this problem since the early days of the internet. There are far too many ways to take content, no matter what kind of content it is. With writing, there are ways to find out if people are using your content without permission. For example, Copyscape is a fantastic site that searches the web to help you find out if your content’s been stolen. Their Copysentry tool will even track your site and content and notify you if and when anyone ever uses your content.
As an artist or photographer, it’s more difficult to locate if your images are being used inappropriately. There are, however, several strategies you can use to protect yourself, each coming with its own pros and cons (and most of these apply across the board, regardless of which social media or other site you’re worried about, with regard to infringement):
You can check http://pinterest.com/source/businessinbluejeans.com (replacing “businessinbluejeans.com” with your own domain name) to see what’s been pinned from your site. However, if someone has downloaded and posted/pinned your images, you won’t see it there.
You can embed your images with Digimarcs, allowing you to convey copyright information in the image, but this option comes with an annual fee.
You can use text to put a copyright and your business name on the image itself, though with the right skills and technology (read: Photoshop or similar), that can be stripped away.
You can use coding on your web site to prevent downloads, but I’m not sure that would prevent people from pinning images, and I’m certain it doesn’t prevent people from using screen captures to take those images anyway.
You can use TinEye, which is a reverse image search tool, but reviews indicate it’s not fully reliable.
You can hire a company like ImageRights to track down images being used without your permission and to get paid for their use (ImageRights takes a portion of the money they help you collect).
You can also use Flash, which can’t be pinned, to display your portfolio (just don’t use it for your entire web site or your SEO can suffer).
Post, upload, publish, submit, provide access to or transmit any Content that: (i) infringes, misappropriates or violates a third party’s patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret, moral rights or other intellectual property rights, or rights of publicity or privacy;…
Pinterest (“Pinterest”) respects the intellectual property rights of others and expects its users to do the same. It is Pinterest’s policy, in appropriate circumstances and at its discretion, to disable and/or terminate the accounts of users who repeatedly infringe or are repeatedly charged with infringing the copyrights or other intellectual property rights of others.
Then they go on to tell you what to do if you discover a copyright infringement on their web site.
As for Pinterest claiming ownership, they don’t:
By making available any Member Content through the Site, Application or Services, you hereby grant to Cold Brew Labs a worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, royalty-free license, with the right to sublicense, to use, copy, adapt, modify, distribute, license, sell, transfer, publicly display, publicly perform, transmit, stream, broadcast, access, view, and otherwise exploit such Member Content only on, through or by means of the Site, Application or Services. Cold Brew Labs does not claim any ownership rights in any such Member Content and nothing in these Terms will be deemed to restrict any rights that you may have to use and exploit any such Member Content.
I always find this kind of “We want to exploit your content” legal language somewhat distasteful, but frankly, it’s not uncommon to have this kind of language in a site where members contribute the bulk of the content. The company wants to use your content to market their site and they want to be able to distribute your content socially, which is the entire purpose of the site- they just need your permission to do so, and if you want to use the site, you have to give them that permission. That’s how all social media works, pretty much. You’ll find similar language on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and CafePress, for example.
I’m not sure what else Pinterest could do. CafePress has super-secret digital scanning algorithms that scan every image uploaded to ensure that you’re not using copyrighted materials to create products for sale. But Pinterest isn’t selling anything, thus the sharing of links and copyrighted content is and should be encouraged. The issue is in using the content inappropriately or illegally.
Philosophically, it’s difficult to know where the responsibility lies, if members of a site are engaging in copyright infringement. Is it the job of the social media platform to police its members, or is it the job of the artist and photographer to adequately protect his or her work? In this day and age, when it’s so easy to steal an image here and bootleg a DVD there, I imagine this debate is far from over.
Business in Blue Jeans has always been a green business. All of our products are electronic and most of what we do is digital. However, I confess that I’ve been a bit of a paper hound with my client work, printing out a lot of stuff each week, taking notes on paper, etc. As of this week, Business in Blue Jeans is going fully, 100% green! Thanks to my new team members (more on that soon), we’ve transitioned our systems so that instead of writing down my client notes, now I’ll be typing them into our new system, saving valuable paper and resources! By the end of April, we expect that we’ll be 99% paper-free!
My web team just e-mailed me, and apparently I haven’t been working them hard enough, because they’ve just told me they want to do some more sites. So we put our heads together and here’s what we’re offering, but these are special prices, only available until 2/19/10. AND, they’re only extending this pricing to FIVE small business owners.
OFFER #1: $1349
Initial consult with our web manager
2-3 initial customized web layouts to choose from within 1 week and up to 5 rounds of revisions.
Full WordPress integration (optional)
Integration of your e-mail newsletter or e-zine subscription form.
OFFER #2: $1649
Initial consult with our web manager
60 minute consult with me, Susan Baroncini-Moe, to develop your web strategy
Brand-new logo for your company
2-3 initial customized web layouts to choose from and up to 5 rounds of revisions.
Full WordPress integration (optional)
Integration of your e-mail newsletter or e-zine subscription form.
OFFER #3: $2199
Initial consult with our web manager
60 minute consult with me, Susan Baroncini-Moe, to develop your web strategy
Brand-new logo for your company
2-3 initial high-end, customized web layouts to choose from and unlimited revisions.
Integration of your e-mail newsletter or e-zine subscription form.
Integration of up to two videos.
Full WordPress integration with extra programming to add dynamic content to your home page.
If you’d like to be one of the FIVE business owners who get this pricing, and if you want a high-quality (but affordable) web site for your small business, one that you can easily manage yourself, e-mail leo@denimdreamteam.com and set up a time to talk about your project.
Remember, this offer is only good until 2/19/10, and they’re only offering it to FIVE small business owners, so make sure you e-mail asap!
Last time, I talked about why a strong web site is crucial to your business. Today I’m going to talk about five components your web site needs and why you need them. Bear in mind, however, that these five aren’t the only components you need. At the end of the article, I’ll mention a couple of other things you may want to include.
Now, you can’t just slap these components on a web site and have something great. You’ll still need some solid graphic design, good usability and ease of navigation, plus you definitely want to make sure your design, copy, and code are developed using principles of search engine optimization. With those cautionary notes aside, let’s dive in to the five components you need for a successful web site.
1. Opt-In Box
If you’re not capturing your visitor’s details with an opt-in box, you’re missing one of the greatest marketing tools available online today. An opt-in box is a place where people enter their name and e-mail address (or just their e-mail address, but I’ve found it’s useful to have more information), and then they subscribe to your e-mail newsletter or e-zine (pronounced “EE-zeen”). You can start building a relationship with your subscribers with regular, useful contact (defining “regular, useful contact” is a separate article in and of itself).
2. Who you are Generally speaking, if you’re selling either a product or a service, you’ll want your customers or clients to trust you. Part of building trust is sharing a bit about you and how your company got started.
3. What you do
Obviously, if you want to sell your products or services, you’ll need to talk about them. This is where good marketing copywriting comes in handy. If you’re not good at writing marketing copy that converts visitors into buyers, hire someone who knows how to do it well. Investing in good copywriting can make all the difference.
4. Sticky content Sticky content refers to any content on your web site that attracts people and keeps them there, kind of like flypaper. Consider your blog, articles, audio and videos, and other resources, to be the flypaper that keeps visitors “stuck” to your site. The longer they stay at your site, the more likely they are to convert into buyers. There is, however, a point where your content will hit critical mass and can be too sticky. If you give too much away, your potential buyers won’t need to buy. They’ll settle for the freebies and never convert into sales.
5. Contact Information Potential clients and customers will want to know how to contact you for several reasons. If they can contact you, they can buy from you with the assurance that if they experience any troubles with the product, they’ll be able to ask questions or process returns easily. Also, they can ask you questions before they buy. There’s a long list of other reasons customers and clients may want to contact you, and they’ll feel safer buying if they can contact you easily. So provide at least phone and e-mail, and if you can, provide a physical address as well. If you work from home, don’t post your home address. Instead, get a P.O. box or a box at the UPS Store and post that instead.
Bonus: RSS Feed If you have a blog on your site, set up an RSS feed, which will make it possible for people to follow your blog using an automatic feed of your blog, that goes into their RSS reader. This means people can read your blog, even without coming to your web site, which is a great convenience to your readers.
If you’re selling products or services online, in addition to these five components, you’ll do well to invest in a shopping cart system and a payment processing system. Forcing potential buyers to contact you to get purchasing information ensures that those buyers will go elsewhere most of the time. We live in a high-demand, instant gratification world. If someone is shopping in the middle of the night or on a Sunday and they want what you have to offer but they can’t get it when they want it, they’ll buy it from someone else who can deliver instantaneously. Don’t give your potential buyers a reason not to buy from you.
So how do you implement all this stuff? How do you get a web site with these components, plus good design, good usability, and strong SEO? Next week, I’ll talk about how to hire a web firm to design your site. I’ll tell you how to educate yourself so you know enough to ask the right questions and know when you’re getting the right answers, how to balance value and price, and what red flags to watch out for.
For most businesses, a web site is one of the most important investments you can make. Entrepreneurs are either overspending or underspending on their web sites, and many have no idea what they’re doing or why. So today I’m going to talk about why a good, solid web site really matters to your business, and in the next three weeks, I’ll follow up with articles on the core components your web site needs to work well for you, and how to hire a solid web firm to build your site affordably.
1. Your web site reflects you as a business owner and professional.
If your web site looks professional, your potential clients will think you’re a professional who has enough clients and enough income to have a site built for you. If potential clients visit your web site and it looks half-assed and home-built that’s how they’ll perceive you.
If you’re a web developer, by all means, build your own site, as that will reflect your capabilities. Everyone else, hire a solid company that can do a good job, not just in building your web site, but in getting it seen and in building it wisely to maximize the traffic you’ll get.
2. Your web site can mean extra local business.
Even if you’re primarily brick and mortar, having a solid web site can mean extra business. Local clientele often perform seaches online and find your web site, encouraging them to walk into your store. If they find your competitors and they look more reputable or solid than you (or if they have a web site and you don’t), you’ll lose business, just because of your web site. And, when you’re mentioned in the media or on review sites like Angie’s List, you’ll need a web site to help people find you.
3. Your web site can mean global business.
Did you ever think about getting orders from Australia or Malaysia? Launching a fantastic web site means you’ll instantly become a global business, allowing you to expand your clientele to a much larger audience. Your web site is visible in almost every country around the globe, and that means you expand your potential client base by millions. You’ll still want to keep your target market in mind, but an international audience may still find you appealing.
4. Your web site can generate media interest.
If a journalist is looking for an expert in your field to quote for an article, s/he is more likely to choose the business owner whose web site looks professional and clean than someone who looks like they don’t really know what they’re doing. And as most of you know, a mention in the media can be powerful for your business!
Don’t do your business a disservice by putting up a shoddy web site. Take care and invest wisely in your business web site by hiring someone who knows what they’re doing. Next week I’ll talk about what components you need in your web, then, I’ll cover how to hire a web company, and finally, I’ll talk about how you can help your web design team as a savvy consumer.
I’m the new Indianapolis Small Business Strategies Examiner for Examiner.com! I’m super excited to have my articles posted in yet another great location. If you’re in Indianapolis and have ideas about doing business in Indy, or know about something I should cover, let me know!
Check out my page on Examiner.com and my first article, on online social networking in Indianapolis! http://qurl.com/gj2y4
