Let’s talk about how bloggers should feature other bloggers’ content. I will confess, this blog post roots from a pet peeve of mine. It drives me crazy when I find an image on Pinterest that looks interesting and then I click it and it takes me to a post that has shared another blogger’s image and a link to their blog. Then, I have to click that link to get to the actual article.
In my opinion, this is the impolite way to feature other people’s content. You are using someone’s hard work to get traffic to your site. It’s kinda like stealing.
Don’t get me wrong, I think it is a great idea to feature other bloggers’ content! Many bloggers do round up type posts or something along the lines of “Friday Favorites” article. That’s great, but there is a polite way to do it.
Ask for Permission first
This seems obvious, but many bloggers forget. Before you post an article featuring another blogger’s content send them a quick email, tweet, or comment on the post asking to make sure it is okay for you to feature their post. Most likely, they will be flattered that you want to feature their article, but you should always check first. Asking for permission to feature another blogger has many perks: 1 you protect yourself from copyright laws and offending another blogger (Check out Taylor’s article if you want to read more about copyright laws and featuring bloggers images). 2 You are building a relationship with another blogger. 3 you now have people waiting for your article to post.
Now, let’s get on to how you can share other blogger’s articles. Below are two ways you can feature other blogger’s content
- Disable “pins” from other blogger’s content
- Use embedded pins to feature other blogger’s content
Disable “pins” from other blogger’s content
In my last blog post, I featured 5 other bloggers’ articles on things they wish they had known when they started blogging. This article is an example of how to share other bloggers’ images with out getting credit from their images via Pinterest. Go over and check it out, try to pin one of their images. You can’t (at least, you shouldn’t be able to if you are using the official Pinterest pin button). I don’t want people to pin Stephanie’s image and then later come back to read that article, I want them to be able to go directly to Stephanie’s article.
How to prevent pinning of a single image
In order to prevent readers from pinning an image on your site, you need to add some code to the image. Before we go through the steps on how to do it, I need to do a little explaining.
You already know that I love WordPress, but there is one thing about WordPress that drives me crazy. Sometimes, when you put code into the text editor and then switch back to the visual mode, WordPress will delete code it thinks is an error. It does this to help inexperienced HTML’ers out (yep, made up that word). But, it’s not always accurate. Disabling pins is an example of this. WordPress will want to delete the code we are putting in because it doesn’t recognize it. To get around this, you must publish the post without leaving the HTML editor screen. So, make this step the last thing you do before you schedule or publish your post. Okay, on to the details.
Once you have your post written, and the images located where you want them to be, switch to the text editor. Find the image you want to prevent from being pinned.
Add this code to the end of the image tag:
That’s all. Pinterest will no longer allow that image to be pinned. Repeat those steps for every image you feature other bloggers’ content within the post. Once you’re done, remember not to switch back to Visual mode. Hit Publish or schedule your post to publish later.
Use embedded pins to feature other blogger’s content
Another way to feature other blogger’s content in a post on your blog is to embed Pinterest pins in your article. This will encourage interaction on your Pinterest boards while linking directly back to the author’s article.
How to embed a Pinterest pin in your blog post
First, find the article you want to feature and then pin it to one of your boards. Open the pin and then copy the URL address.
Head to Pinterest’s Widget Builder, click on Pin Widget and then paste the URL into their box. Click Build it!
Once it is done, copy the generated code and go to your blog post.
Just like the instructions above, this works best if it is the last thing you do before publishing your blog. Switch over to the Text editor and go to the area you want the embedded pin to show up and then paste the code. Hit Publish or Schedule for later.
You need to make sure to include the pinit.js right before the closing </BODY> tag in order for this to work. The great thing is that you only have to do this once and then you can embed Pins in any post or page!
How to add the pinit.js to closing </body> tag
If you use a Genesis theme, this is super easy!
Head to Genesis > theme settings and scroll down to the Footer Script box and paste it in there.
If you don’t have a Genesis theme, you will need to install a plugin like header/footer scripts to complete this task.
How to promote a blog post with featured content
Now that you’ve given proper credit where it is deserved, it is okay to promote your post too! You did, after all, put a lot of effort into featuring the blog content.
Create a graphic for Pinterest that explains your post: Top 5 featured blog posts this week! or 20 Mason jar ideas. That is the content you deserve the traffic from.
One last thing, when you feature content that isn’t your, Pinterest is never the source. Ever. I have read countless blogs where they feature an image and then write “Source: Pinterest.” Track down the original author/creator and list them as the source.
There you have it, my first Blog Etiquette post. How do you feel about featuring other bloggers’ content? How do you feel about bloggers featuring your article?
Sources: http://help.pinterest.com/en/articles/prevent-pinning-your-site
Hi Kristy,
I’m glad I read this. I have a question. Someone wants to feature my blog post in theirs. Will this harm my content? Or is it good? I’m confuse because I have never done it!
Hi Diamond, it is an awesome opportunity to have someone feature you in their blog post. As long as they aren’t sharing all of it, being featured will be good for your content! Make sure to ask that they link back to the original piece of content (it’s good for SEO and exposure).
Hi Kristie,
As I have just started blogging I don’t have much experience in writing so I was looking if I can publish other’s blog posts in my blog and your article is indeed great and has explained in a very clear way for which I was searching for.
Thanks
Krish
Hi Kristie
just started this “blogging thing”, cos i kind of find writing fun and easy. Though i decided to blog on a particular niche i.e sports.
I would appreciate if i could get some guidelines on how blogs really works, and indeed how to be very successful at the long run.
Thanks for your time
Hi. Congrats on starting your new blog. You can check out my Successful Blogger Plan for more tips.
please give me hints creating a content post
Hi Chibuzor, you can read this post for how to create content.
Hey!
Thank you for sharing this!
I think its so important to give credit to the original owners! Blogging is a community to help each other!
Thank you!
Lauren
So important! We all grow together.
Hi Kristie, but what about Instagram?
I am so glad you blogged on this. I’m wanting to start a blog and have been researching everything. This was one thing I was worried about. I knew that I may want to share/reference another’s blog and wasn’t sure the correct way to go about doing it. Thank you so much for all the information you’ve shared on your blog!!
You’re welcome. Bloggers love it when you share their stuff, just make sure you’re not sharing it as your own and you’re good to go!
Hi, I did not know you can add the nopin=”nopin” to an image tag to prevent the pin it from displaying. Great tip!
I like using the nopin, sometimes WordPress deletes it though, so just double check!
Thanks for sharing. I just tried to disable pins on my wordpress blog and it didn’t work. I made sure to stay in text mode before publishing. Is there another way to accomplish it?
Do you want to disable pins on all images or just a particular image?
The poor sourcing drives me crazy! No, Pinterest is not a source! I frequently don’t even repin things unless I click through to find the original source. Do you have any idea how many poor websites that are clearly just clickbait will “borrow” images from other websites just for the Pinterest hits? This is also why I take the time to watermark my images. (Not that I’m that big of a blogger, but hey, I’m ambitious and optimistic!). And if I can’t find the original source (Google Image Search is my friend), then I just don’t repin it. I realize that some people upload photos directly, since I’ve done that myself, but I just can’t in good conscience repin something that links back to a website that stole the photo.
I jsut barely saw this comment, sorry! I think it is good to be ambitions and optimistic! I also always mark my images. I’m glad to know there are people like you who don’t pin if it’s not the original source!
This is fantastic! It’s not something I really do often, but I have thought of doing a “roundup” post lately, and this info is super helpful. I love all the stuff about Pinterest and your explanation was easy to follow.
And, YES to the last part about citing a source! I’m really big on this (whether it’s quotes or facts or images). I’m a photographer, and it is frustrating if I see my work floating around without credit. If I can’t find a valid and trustworthy source for something, I don’t include it.
Thanks so much for sharing! Definitely pinning this. 🙂
Hi Naomi! I bet that is frustrating when people post your photography work without crediting you. Glad you found this useful!