Finding Good Content with the Public Domain

Posted on December 16th, 2008 by Urbain

When you establish an Internet presence, you’ll need to add written content. Lots of content.

You’ll need articles for your website and blog. You’ll need to write articles for your article marketing campaigns. You’ll need to write informative content for your newsletters.

For the new website or blog owner, this can seem overwhelming.

Once you get rolling, however, you’ll find that writing content is not so hard after all. I personally use a number of methods to come up with writing ideas. Today, let’s take a look at one of the most informative resources at your disposal that’s absolutely free: The public domain.

What is the Public Domain?

The “public domain” is an excellent source of content that you can research and rewrite. Intellectual property that is not owned or controlled by anyone is part of the “public domain” and is not subject to copyright. Accordingly, this material is considered to be “public property” and available for anyone to use for any purpose.

The Public Domain Online.

A huge source of public domain material comes from the government. You can visit Google’s “Uncle Sam” search and find public domain information on just about any subject. Here’s the link:

http://www.google.com/unclesam

Use the keyword research tools we talked about at the end of November (click the “Google” tag in the tag cloud to the right). Use some keywords that interest you in the public domain search that is linked above. Pull the information that interests you and then rewrite it to suit your style. You can reference the source to give your content authority.

The Fair Use Practices.

Make absolutely sure that you are not stealing or using someone’s copyrighted material. If you have any questions about whether you are using public domain material, either include a reference link and/or include a fair use reference.

Help With Article Writing and Ideas.

One of the most powerful programs that I have used for writing articles on a variety of topics is a piece of software called Instant Article Wizard (I use the Pro version) which will scan tons of material, including public domain materials, for virtually any keyword that you want to write about. Here’s a screen shot:

Article Wizard Pro can help you on a very basic level with your article structure; i.e., the opening paragraph, the body, and the conclusion. Basically, here is what you will want:

A lead paragraph that will “snag” your reader;
The body of the article that addresses the “who,” “what,” “where” or “why” that your lead paragraph introduced; and
A conclusion.

Typically, your article will be 400 – 700 words.

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