Potential and pitfalls of government-produced information for AdSense content
A few weeks ago we received a flashy brochure from our provincial government. The topic was how to stop smoking. You can see the brochure on this page from the Ministry of Health Promotion of Ontario. Since no one in our household smokes I had no real interest in the brochure itself, but it highlights an important source of information for AdSense publishers: government-produced information.
Take a look at the page I just mentioned, which presents the information from the brochure in HTML form. Just look at these documents it provides, including for example:
It would be ridiculously easy to build a targeted “stop smoking” site around based almost entirely on this information. Compiled by a groups of experts at the ministry, you can bet that the information in the brochure and on the ministry site is authoritative and up-to-date.
The thing is, governments are always producing information like this on a regular basis and it's an often untapped resource that AdSense publishers can use to create original content for their own sites. Even the most obscure topics get coverage. For example, check out the Recommendations for Honey Bee Control. Your tax dollars fund research into all kinds of areas, research that is often published on the Internet for interested parties to access.
Note that I said AdSense publishers can use this information to create original content for their own sites. I did not say “copy the information”. It is true that in the United States works produced by the federal government (but, importantly, not any of the other levels of government) are in most cases NOT covered by copyright, meaning that they can be used by anyone for any purpose (this is referred to as being “in the public domain”). However, this does not apply to governments in other countries (see Crown copyright for more information) and nor does it apply to works created for the government by third parties (see Work of the United States Government). To be safe, you should assume that the government-produced work you're using is in fact protected by copyright. What you need to do is rewrite the content in your own words, without copying any of it verbatim. Or, if you've determined that the information is truly in the public domain, copy parts of it but add in your own thoughts and analysis.
So the next time you get a government brochure or newsletter, don't immediately place it in the recycling pile. Take a close look at it and see if it could form the basis for some good, quality content.
Eric Giguere is the contextual advertising expert who wrote Make Easy Money with Google and Uncommon AdSense. You can read this blog by mail if it's more convenient for you, just send a blank email to memwg-blog@aweber.com to subscribe.
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