I got an email yesterday from pointing out a new site that was set up specifically to sell ebooks on a certain topic. The site is two pages: the main page listing four ebooks with brief descriptions of each and links out to their affiliate programs and an ‘about’ page. The person who emailed me pointed out that he thought the site is a great idea and was wondering if copying it would be ethical.
This is a question I’ve struggled with a bit. My main affiliate earner is actually an idea I got from another internet marketer who focuses on travel sites. He didn’t tell me what he was doing, but I noticed his site, thought it was a great idea and set one up for myself with great results and thousands of dollars in earnings. Since then, dozens of people have jumped on the idea with copycat sites so I’m happy I got in there early before the masses. He wasn’t bitter at me for using his idea and I certainly can’t blame anyone else for wanting a piece of the action. It’s the nature of business.
There are few barriers to entry in the internet marketing game, especially for simple concepts and sites without any fancy programming involved. A one-page website with a list of related affiliate programs is super easy to copy. The difficult part about affiliate marketing isn’t creating the site or finding the affiliates, it’s coming up with the idea for which keywords to target so that people who come to the site are ready to buy. When someone has already done this and goes into detail about how much they’re earning, it is tempting to want to grab a piece of the pie for yourself. Once you have everything set up it really just comes down to who is doing a better job at SEO.
I am happy to talk about most of my websites on this blog but you will notice from time to time that I mention a site without giving the URL or too many details away about the exact topic or revenue stream. The reason I keep them quiet is because they are simple sites and would be very easy to copy. In creating them I did a bit of keyword research, stuck up some simple sites and now I’m hoping for the best. Because anyone could spend an afternoon and replicate one of these sites, I prefer to keep them quiet, at least until they’re at number one in Google with a zillion backlinks.
So far these small, simple websites are based on ideas I have thought of myself and I have no idea if or when they’ll pay off. It would make a lot more sense for me to work on an idea that is already proven so if I stumble onto a website that I know earns money, I will study it, check out the competition and consider launching a copycat site. This isn’t something that’s happened yet, but my eyes are always peeled. If I don’t do it, someone else will.
What do you think? Is it ethical to copy an idea for a website (I’m not talking about copying at site word for word, just about the idea) and launching your own version? If you see a simple site and you know it earns and doesn’t have much competition… is it stupid to ignore it just because someone else got there first?
Kirsty – one of the reasons I like this blog so much is that you tend to be more transparent than other similarly structured sites. It’s quite informative.
That being said, yes, you’re making the right move by not disclosing the actual URL. For so many reasons.
Keep up the good work over here!
to Copy is probably too stronger a word, unless it is the source, or the actual text. Getting ideas from around ourselves & making them better or worse is how we are where we are today. Take the bicycle was it copying when someone added a motor?
Like yourself I will not talk about a few of my websites simply because they are simple & could easily be done better, should someone come along and create a similar site that started to do better than mine “knock me off those top positions in Google” I would probably just go improve mine the web & many other things are better today because of people making an idea better.
Well….ethical….I dunno, I think that’s up to each person to decide for their self. But what I really think matters is that the original person to have the idea isn’t going to make any money on it if they don’t also do heaps of SEO and marketing work to ensure that traffic is driven to their site. In the end, the person who works hardest is going to be rewarded the most. That hard work can encompass all facets from coming up with the original idea, networking, SEO, aggressively dissuading others from copying their idea, backlinks etc. My first thought would be that someone who’s basic idea is to copy a site simply isn’t going to profit from that act alone so ethics really doesn’t enter into the equation.
Hi there,
As someone else mentioned, the word copying is too strong a term for what most people do. I know that I have seen a few sites that I like the look of, especially the themes. I wouldn’t say that I was copying when I choose to use the same theme or something similar.
As long as people are not blatantly taking the whole site and replicating it 100% then there shouldn’t be a problem.
Since you bring it up I´d like to mention that it costs a little over $100 to buy a list of your 80 plus domain names, you could make an ebook about your active domains and sell for same price or more, especially if you include thoughts on each, what you are earning etc.
I´m sure there are some who would buy it, including myself since paying that $100 has tempted me, but you know, ethics is a b—h and I´m a believer in Karma. You will notice if you go to the right online espionage site that such a list can not be bought for neither nomadicmatt, workingnomad or goldfishcare above here because they all have private registration.
For me, copying the text isn’t even that much of a big deal because it’s right there in your face. Copying the affiliate program or the concept/idea isn’t, as well. But copying the keywords a person is going after… That’s like copying a car’s engine.
And as someone else said, you do well in not revealing you main niche/s.
Cheers, D.
There is no problem with copying someone else’s idea for a website. These days it is very rare to come up with an original idea for a website. Most good ideas have already been done over and over. So to establish yourself online, it is best to copy what someone else is doing, but do it better. Just be careful how much you copy them. You still want to present something unique that is not a blatant ripoff.
Interesting post and helpful comments. Thanks for giving me some new food for thought. I probably shouldn’t share my new URL’s until they’re a little more developed.
Yes, ignore it someone’s idea and content of website. It’s not good copy ideas for website.
@alan Thanks, transparency is my thing!
@will Ya, the real work, I am finding now, is in the behind the scenes stuff and there’s no way to really copy that. You or someone you pay will ultimately have to do the legwork to make that new site you’ve just made do anything.
@diogo That’s funny because I would say the opposite. Text is something a person has created and I would never copy or even reword someone else’s text. As for keywords, I’ve never really thought about it. I think a set of keywords would come to me when I saw the site, I would do a bit of research and them choose them that way. If it was obvious which keywords the site was using though I would obviously type these into the keyword tool as well and check them out.
I am finding now, is in the behind the scenes stuff and there’s no way to really copy that.
Hi there,
As someone else mentioned, the word copying is too strong a term for what most people do. I know that I have seen a few sites that I like the look of, especially the themes. I wouldn’t say that I was copying when I choose to use the same theme or something similar.
As long as people are not blatantly taking the whole site and replicating it 100% then there shouldn’t be a problem.
I’m comfortable with HTML/CSS, Photoshop, and a tiny bit of Flash…is it necessary to know PHP and other coding languages in order to build a website? And while I’m at it, what is the difference between HTML and other languages?