So, you are browsing the Internet and you see a site, or article that reminds you of something you worked on a few weeks, months, or years ago.

Upon further review, you realize this is not just a common feeling of Deja Vu - this is not just a reminder of an article, but when you go back and look at your work (which is still published on your blog, or website) it is an almost exact replica - perhaps a few words changed here and there for effect. You begin to remember, the hours you spent sweating over all of the little details, making sure all of the links were live and valid, revising the article and tweaking it to make witty observations and the satisfaction it felt to realize you had created a tone with just the right amount of originality, humor, and valuable content for your readers. Not to mention the work you spent on the CSS, *.php or other formatting issues which came up to deliver the full reader experience.

You are left feeling violated and “ripped off!” What can you do? What could you have done?

Enter Copyscape - a service which not only allows you to search for copies of your page and content on the Web, but it provides many useful services. Its free services include

basic searches and plagiarism banner notices. Not only do the banners (some found placed in the article here) come in many different color schemes and sizes to fit the design of your site comfortably, but the folks at Copyscape have also centralized resources which offer information on plagiarism and a forum to network with other site owners and industry experts.

Some of Copyscapes offerings come at a very reasonable fee - I am not an affiliate of Copyscape, in fact, I do not think they offer an affiliate program, so feel free to use these links to get to their site, we make no money on this article or referral. Their two fee based services are Copyscape Premium, which comes at $0.05 per search and CopySentry which is a subscription based service for $4.95 per month. The CopySentry service is especially interesting as it continually monitors the Web for any content which appears to be a plagiarism or copyright infringement and notifies the subscriber upon detection.

I recommend their services and if you are an active Internet publisher, I would encourage you to check with them often to ensure that your copy stays where it belongs - securely in your hands.