Hello All, I wasn't sure if my question belongs in this thread or the content thread, so I'm hoping I'm in the right place. I'm trying to learn more about writing "unique" content and I'm finding that people have very different opinions on what unique content is. I'm hoping I can get some opinions or advice. Let's say that I'm planning to start a site about plasma TV's (just as an exmaple) and I want to offer readers the latest news or tips. So, every day I check the headlines for news that relates to this subject. I do some reading and research, pull together the information I've learned from various sources--to possibly include specs, etc.--and I write an article based on that info. Would you say this could be considered unique content, as long as I don't plagiarize or just re-write an article?
That should be considered as unique article. Article mixinig is hot nowadays. Even big bloggers do it. Just try to keep the percentage of your content higher!
You've said it all when you said you're getting information and then writing your own article. We are not islands, you need the information from somewhere. The 50%+ is for the SEs, but it's easy to accomplish more than this without being conscious of it simply by writing it based on the information and leave the CTRL+C & CTRL+V to a minimum
As long as you're not copying or simply re-wording others' articles, it's unique content. (Despite the fact that a lot do it here, re-wording articles is a violation of copyright law.) Adding something really "original" is even better, especially if the piece lends itself well to adding your own opinion or commentary.
Thank you everyone for your input. I've had this question circling in mind for a while now and this will really help.
I believe what you described is research We have to get our information from somewhere. It is best to research at least a handful places, take notes on things you consider important or meaningful. Get into the feeling of the article you are going to write, then start writing. Just don't copy and paste stuff for sure. Of course, you can take an excerpt here and there by using a quote or whatever... but give credit if you need to do that. And don't do it just to fill space, but sometimes something just can't be said better than it already was. Good luck!
I write my own, of course. But I'll read one I wrote, cut and past some of the tips and rewrite. It always comes out quite different.
Uniqueness is laudable, but unless you are an expert on something, you will probably have to take some existing info and do something with it. Even if you mostly rewrite something, you should try to improve on it. Maybe make it simpler, catchier, more concise, avoid unnecessary banter and so on. Something thus improved is as good as unique in my book.
Unique and copying isn't hard to define, copying is when the majority of the article doesn't come from your own mind, sourcing information is different, and as long as you know how to reference (Harvard Referencing System works best) your content is 100% unique, people understand what referencing means, and it is more professional to do so - it shows you can back up statements, etc. Hope this helped.