Research and quoting content.

[BrianP66]

I've paid to have a blog written for me and the first effort was a complete disaster. I had it written again by a second writer and although it was 100% better it still wasn't what I wanted. I was told by the second writer that some writers offer their services then outsource the work.
In my research I have found information that would look good in my blog, without plagiarising the content.
Something I'm concerned about is quoting news or statistics. If I read something and would like my readers to know that information can I use it. Here is an example. The French government has stated that if a domestic flight is less than a certain duration then you will be told to use the train. However if your flight has an onward connection then its ok. I think this is something my readers would like to know if they were traveling to France and planned to use domestic flights to get around. Can I use parts of this article in my blog without using names or do some people want to see the original source and hence I would have to insert a link which would take them away from my site.

 

[PayOp]

You can quote some parts of content, but try to keep your articles with a high uniqueness score, if you do care about organic traffic.
If you paste some charts, there are no problems with mentioning the source.

 

[T J Tutor]

I've paid to have a blog written for me

Never a good idea IMO!

I was told by the second writer that some writers offer their services then outsource the work.

One of the bigger issues with outsourcing content!

In my research I have found information that would look good in my blog, without plagiarising the content.

Research, re-read the content you like several times, then dictate the content you want into a software like Dragon Natural, that's what I use. You can record it to MS Word, or notepad, or any number of other text applications. It's easy and quick to edit, has spell correct, grammar suggestions, etc.

All in all, it is fast and it will be in our context.

Can I use parts of this article in my blog without using names or do some people want to see the original source and hence I would have to insert a link which would take them away from my site.

Always credit your sources with a subscript or backlink.

 

[Graybeard]

Government content is public domain IF publicly published. (not top secret )
So, if you say the the French government or any other government has said (or published) that's fine.
Generally, and NOT LEGAL ADVICE; Fair use is quoting a few sentences of some copyright content and then commenting on it and/or linking to it.
Images are not fair content use (usually). Very fine lines here...

 

[azgold]

As @T J Tutor said, it's best if you can write your own copy. That gives you complete control over content and to avoid any potential plagiarism issues.

If you are going to outsource it, be crystal clear on what you want, including the tone of the article. If you found sites you want information taken from, be sure to let the writer know. And if you do that, do you want portions quoted and cited, or do you want them to basically do a rewrite. Found an article that you hope yours will be like in tone, length, level of readability? Let the writer know.

Point is, the more information you provide, the greater chance you have for receiving copy that you'll be really happy with. If you find a writer you like, stick with that person. Why? Because that writer will get to know your preferences and provide copy you like, easier and maybe faster.

By the way, always check their clips (old print media term, means sample writings ) and any references. Be sure their native language is the one you want and hire them for an initial post before going further.

So, if you say the the French government or any other government has said (or published) that's fine.
Generally, and NOT LEGAL ADVICE; Fair use is quoting a few sentences of some copyright content and then commenting on it and/or linking to it.

I would err on the side of caution these days, regardless. For public government info, I would link to the page. Everything else, I would definitely cite and link to the source if I (fair) used it as part of an article.

 

[azgold]

ou may want to backlink for reference and credibility.

Agreed! It looks more professional, backs up the information and ups the trust factor.

 

[Graybeard]

Government info, data and images are public domain --tax dollars paid for it --the public owns that. You may want to backlink for reference and credibility.
Conversely, copyright use (license) is not established by backlinking (or trademark).

 

[Honeybadger]

Some ideas for quoting parts of publicly available records

1. When quoting a public source there is no international law (that I'm aware of) that says you must hyperlink to the source. Simply mentioning the name of the source is enough legally. Some websites demand hyperlinks to their content, which as far as I know is not legally binding
   
2. You can provide the hyperlink text of the source in plain text without creating a hyperlink
3. You can make a hyperlink that opens in a new browser window
4. Linking to government websites is generally a good idea for SEO, especially if the H1 title and content of the page you are linking to is highly relevant to the content of your web page
5. Create an archive of the linked to page in the Way Back machine to be clear on what the information was when you linked to it (web pages frequently change, or are moved/deleted)
6. If the information is in a foreign language and you translate to English without the help of a native translator then you may lose the context of the original content, so be mindful of this when using Google Translate
   
7. One way to avoid losing users attention is to place all your sources of information at the very end of your article
8. Use the quote feature in your publishing software for quoted text

Bonus tip

Use the markup property 'Quotation' and your content might appear in Google search as a rich snippet, linking back to your web page. See: Quotation - schema.org Type