I started my website(www.webpagelottery.com) last year, and today when I googled my keywords, I found a bunch of copycats who copy the idea of my website. And the worse case is they even rank higher than me. Is there anything I can do to protect my site? Like copy right my website or something. Thank you all.
No, you can't. Our whole society is based on people copying succesful things and improving on it. The less beautiful side to this is called plagiarism. And that's something you can't really avoid on the internet. Instead of spending too much time worrying about these things, work harder on your own site. Learn more about SEO, apply what you learn. BTW, there are no copyrights on ideas. On the other hand, if they actually stole the articles or the design from your site, it may not be the worst idea to sit down and write them an email - tell them about the legal consequences. If they don't answer your email, contact their ISP.
I think @Anders really summed up a good answer to you @dreteh. I'm sure its really frustrating for you too see these similar sites popping up - but think of it as a game that you're going to win! Anyways, good luck to you. I've also signed up on your lottery to show my support to you! cheers, - kenny
There is no law about copying another websites idea, you just need to work harder to take over these other copying websites position for their keywords, figure out what they are doing, copy what they are doing, but only do it better, so you over-take them in the SERPS.
Thanks everyone who gave me an answer. Especially Anders who described in detail. And of cause Kenny who suported my site =) I kinda understand now this is like a competition. The strong ones survive and the weak ones got forgotten. It is just that I use couple weeks to think and plan for my site, and a lot of failures. But poeple just use couple hours to come out a site just like mine. Also, this kind of expert copycats are very good in buliding links. It's frustrating....
You should always compare your top competitors if you don't want someone worse than you to become better.
Copying a rough idea of how a website looks is more like "taking inspiration from" and is impossible to do anything about. If you have unique content they're copying though, that's another matter. You have copyright protection there.
talk to the web hosting company of the offender.. that is the best bet of taking your copy cat off line.. file a DMCA complaint with the hosting company
contact their host and demonstrate they stole your content, ask them to shut down their website and account. I have seen this happen many times but larger hosts like godaddy rarely listen. email them to let them know you have contacted their host about having their account closed. This might get a faster response from them. Any company that the thiefs work with ask their partners to ask them to remove the stolen content.
well I am sorry to hear that but the fact is they will only copy sites that are successful so it means you are successful so why you not come with others ideas so you can win back?
Sadly, as long as someone doesn't steal code or images there's not much you can do. I've seen many sites that do the traffic lottery. Shoot there even a free script you can grab off the net called traffic lottery.