So the incomparable T.L. Pakii Pierce, philosopher, blogger and friend, has a great post today called How Not to Blog.

Turns out a company by the name of Internet Success Strategies (you can get the URL from his blog–I don’t like to give credit where credit’s not due) has pilfered his content for their own blog. Did they give him credit? Yes. A link back? Yes. Is it cool? No.

They’re using blog spam tactics to help themselves off of T.L.’s hard work. They’re piggy-backing off of his content to drive search engine traffic to their own sites to sell more advertising. (For a more detailed explanation, be sure to read T.L’s post.)

Search engine rank was a big reason why I was drawn to blogging in the first place. However, my philosophy is that one builds up good ranking over time by creating quality content. In the blogosphere this includes linking to and providing commentary on other people’s quality content.

In other words, slow and steady wins the race.

Unfortunately, legitimate marketers are always going to be competing against people and companies who are looking for a shortcut. It’s an unavoidable outcome of our instant gratification nation. The only upside of this is that these type of shortcuts are invariably self-defeating, as they will get you banned, dissed or blacklisted from the search engines.

Yes, there is often a shortcut that will get you to rank higher or attract more traffic and attention. But these tricks will come at the expense of your reputation. If you’re in it for the long haul, prepare for a slow, steady climb to the top.

Rich Brooks
The Turtle Had It Right